Is the 有 in 你有想要买什么吗 some kind of auxiliary verb?

Question

I was going to the convenience store and asked my local friend how to ask in Chinese "Do you want anything?"

Her answer was: 你有想要买什么吗

I wasn't sure what to make of the 有 before the verb 想要 meaning "to want" and as a native speaker she could not explain it though she did understand my questions about its grammatical function.

Is it a kind of auxiliary verb in this sentence? Or is it a case of the special Taiwanese 有 that can be used for some references to the past but which also has other uses? Or is it something entirely different?

Answer 1

你有想要买什么吗. It sounds more like Taiwanese usage of 有 to my ear. I found they often put 有 between subject and verb. E.g. 我有去过；我有看过；where I often just say 我去过；我看过. In this case, I'll probably say 你想要买什么? or 你想要买什么(东西)吗?.

Answer 2

Are you sure she didn't say "你有什么想要买吗?" which would be a correct way to say "do you want to buy anything?"

"你有什么想要买吗?" means "Is there anything you want to buy"

你(you) 有什么(is there something) 想要(want to) 买(buy) 吗?

~

"你有想要买什么吗?" means " Have you intended to buy something?"

你(you) 有想要 (have intended to) 买(buy) 什么(something) 吗?

[有+verb] indicate [perfect tense ]

Example:

想 = intend to

有想 = have intended to

有想過 = had intended to

去 = go

有去 = have gone

有去過 = had gone

看 = see

有看 = have seen

有看過 = had seen

Answer 3

Chinese is often best understood by what it leaves out.

Maybe it is:

你（有没）有想要买什么？= 你有没有什么想要买的东西？

Answer 4

关于这个问题，其实很简单。它只是台湾话的一种说法。普通话里没有这个“有”字的用法。 About this question, it is really simple, it is just a Taiwanese exprssion. There is no this usage of 有in Mandarin Chinese. 普通话的“有”字句是这种形式：It is this form of 有-sentence in Mandarin 主语+（动词）有+宾语。 “有”是动词不是助动词，它后边可以带动态助词“过”“了”但不能带补语。 Subject +(verb)有+ object . 有 is not auxiliary verb. It can be followed by dynamic auxiliaries “过”“了”but no complement. 例如： 这个城市有了很大变化。/ 图书馆里有过这本书。 “有”字句的否定形式是：The negative form of 有- setence is always 没有 主语+ 没有+ 宾语 例如：今天我没有时间。 而它的正反问句的形式是：有没有 The affirmative-negativ of the 有-setence 例如：今天你有没有时间？