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Here my focus is to understand the correct usage of 怎么走 and 到.

The English sentence is, "How do I get to your school". This is in terms of asking the directions to reach the school.

I found three possibilities to ask the question in Chinese :

1. 到你的学校怎么走

2. 怎么走到你的学校

3. 你的学校怎么走

I know the individual meaning of these words/phrases but don't know which of the above sentence conveys the meaning in the best sense.

It would be great if someone could explain how do these words go with each other (generally) when asking for directions and even if there is a better way to put this sentence!

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8 Answers 8

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1.到你的学校怎么走

3.你的学校怎么走

They are ok,and 3. is a very authentic way to say it. but,

2.怎么走到你的学校

it will suddenly make Chinese know that you don't speak Chinese. You can add one word to make this sentence authentic:

2'. 怎么走到你的学校去

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All of the three sentences work. People can know what you want to express without problem occurred.

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  • Okay. But how would native Chinese speakers put the sentence "how do I get to your school"? I got this sentence in Duolingo and the first one was the translation, which many native speakers said was never heard.
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 7:20
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    I think this problem is summed up by a meme: 你是哪里人？. Basically there's many ways to say "How do I get to your school?", and Duolingo chooses one as correct. (There's a discussion at Duolingo.)
    – Becky 李蓓 ♦
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 9:42
  • That meme shows amazing numbers of ways to ask where are you from. But in my current 3 translations, when I use Google to translate 你的学校怎么走 to English, I get the result as "How is your school going?". So, I don't get how will people interpret this statement. And ironically, I got confused due to the same Duolingo discussion and therefore asked this question ;)
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 7:42
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    @aymusbond I have a feeling that using google translate to translate a whole sentence is unreliable.
    – 000
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 13:58
  • Completely agreed. That's why it would be great if you could tell me what would "你的学校怎么走" mean to you?
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 14:12
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It should be"你的學校要怎麼走"or"我要怎麼到你的學校"

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  • Thanks. What sense would the 3rd translation "你的学校怎么走" make to you?
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 13:19
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    How do I get to your school
    – Ricky
    Commented May 6, 2020 at 0:36
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What is the best way to get to your school?
去你学校的最佳方式是什么？

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  • 2
    lol, this sounds unnatural...
    – Toosky Hierot
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 11:49
  • After getting such a variety of answers, I can actually relate to the meme shared by Becky : i.redd.it/nkdce1vbc9241.jpg ;-)
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 13:31
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    根据朱老师句子不‘unnatural'. Could change fangshi to 路线
    – Pedroski
    Commented May 5, 2020 at 23:47
  • I would translate What is the best way to get to your schoolto 去你學校最好的方式是什麼? in spoken language.
    – 高鵬翔
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 15:01
  • （谚）达到目的的方法不止一种; There is more than one way to skin a cat.
    – Pedroski
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 21:39
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Another option is 去你學校該怎麽走？ (To your school, how should we go about it?)

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How should I go to your school? 我应该怎样去你的学校呢？

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The second one 怎么走到你的学校 reads as "how to walk to your school". You should avoid use this expression if you are trying to traffic with other methods (public traffic, vehicle for example).

你的学校怎么走 or 要去你的学校，我该怎么走 means "how to traffic to your school". Based on your context, it includes all transportation method.

我该怎么去你的学校 literally "how can I get to your school". It could be asking the route of traffic. But based on the context, it may also mean "what should I do so I can get permission to enter your school" (maybe a someone have to file a form for any visitors), or even "what should I do so I can study in your school".

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Also can say like

1.我該如何去你的學校?
2.我該怎麼去你的學校?
3.要到你學校該怎麽走?

It's not really same using 怎麼走到你的學校 Because the word "走" in here is just like walk, but if in the 3rd one is means how to get there as a spoken language. So 怎麼走到你的學校 is more like How do I walk to your school. You can also use 去 like go to or to go . 怎麼去?== How to get there?

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  • Okay, so 走 is used only when referring to "walking'? Is there any other difference?
    – aymusbond
    Commented May 8, 2020 at 2:48
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    If only ask "How to get there" we will say "怎麼走" as a spoken language, but in middle of sentence, "走" is mostly means "walk". Other meaning like leave "走開" ="go away",direction "走向" = "Towards" , lose the original "走樣"="Lose shape"...
    – 高鵬翔
    Commented May 8, 2020 at 3:00
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    And a special in classical Chinese "走" is "run". Like "不脛而走".
    – 高鵬翔
    Commented May 8, 2020 at 3:03

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