4

I want to convey the idea: My residence is in the neighborhood of a bridge.

Initially I got: 我住宅在附近的一座橋樑。

Wǒ zhùzhái zài fùjìn de yīzuò qiáoliáng.

But after listening to myself saying that, I think I got the "de" out of place.

X de Y is the Y of the X. So the neighborhood of the bridge is the qiáoliáng de fùjìn.

So I think I should say:

我住宅在一座橋樑 的 附近。

Wǒ zhùzhái zài yīzuò qiáoliáng de fùjìn .

I welcome any corrections of obvious mistakes, but I think the second version of the basic grammar and syntax is correct. However, I am not sure whether this sounds natural and idiomatically correct.

Does this sound like a native Mandarin speaker would say it?

Thanks.

Improve this question
1
  • It should be "我家在橋的附近。".
    – Joshua LI
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 7:32

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
4

住宅、桥梁 这两个词语太书面化了。

The more natural way is to say:

我家附近有座桥。/我家边上有座桥。/我家在桥边。

Improve this answer
7
  • The first choice sounds very natural, and the second and third are also good. Thank you.
    – Rick
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 14:03
  • @Rick: note that the first one, "我家附近有座桥。", the focus is on 橋 but not 家, it is like saying "there's a bridge near my house." The third one "我家在桥边。" is the closest one to your original sentence: "my house is near a bridge."
    – Stan
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 14:11
  • Is it the case that 座桥 is a two-character word meaning "bridge," or is 座 a counting word for bridges? Thanks.
    – Rick
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 14:11
  • 1
    @Rick: 座 is the measure word. "桥梁/橋樑" is a two-character word for "bridge".
    – Stan
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 14:33
  • @Stan. Yes, I also considered about the literal translation, so I added the third choice. But the third one sounds not good enough, isn't it? Do you have a better translation?
    – shuangwhywhy
    Commented Nov 11, 2013 at 14:43
2
  • My residence should translate to 我*的*住宅. Alternately you could consider using a verb "I live", i.e. 我住在, or 我居住在.
  • 附近的一座橋樑 means "a bridge nearby". 一座橋樑的附近 means "near a bridge". So use the latter because the former means you live in a bridge :)
Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you. Your answer seems to suggest that the first form could conceivably be used in some other circumstances. When would it be correct to use grammar of the form: 附近的一座橋樑. In English, we could say, "We don't know the address of the restaurant, but we know there is a bridge nearby."
    – Rick
    Commented Nov 13, 2013 at 23:23
1

There are two ways to express your idea:

  1. 我住在一座桥附近。I live beside a bridge.
  2. 我家在一座桥附近。My house / residence is neighborhood of a bridge. Why I don’t use “住宅”, because “住宅” is a noun, means “ house, residence”, , and it’s very formal, usually you may say “家” or “房子” instead. Why I don’t use “桥梁” is because it is also very formal, we usually use “ 桥” instead. And why you can’t say 我住宅在一座橋樑的附近, because “住宅” is a noun, but here you used it as a verb, that not correct, if I translate it to you, it could be :“ My house in the neighborhood of a bridge”.
Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.