# What colour is your bag? Is it the red one or the black one?



## Mieka

Hello! I'm supposed to translate this:

A: What colour is your bag? Is it the red one or the black one?

I think I have the first part, I have 

你的包是什么颜色的?

But now I'm stuck on the second part, how to begin it? I looked in my book and I can't find the vocabulary to sort this one out, all I know is that they give me the names for black and red, but further than that I'm stuck.

是的 红色 还是 黑色


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## xiaolijie

I'd say something like this: "是 红的 还是 黑的? "


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## Thime

I'd say "是红色的还是黑色的？" I am not sure about 色


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## xiaolijie

Thime said:


> I'd say "是红色的还是黑色的？" I am not sure about 色


色 is fine. Your version may be fuller than what I suggested, and there's no problem with that.


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## BJren

"你的包是什么颜色的？ 是红的还是黑的？"。 ”红的；黑的” 更口语化，“红色的；黑色的” 更书面化。一般在口语中我们会用“红的”说法。

比如：
a：我昨天买了件上衣
b：什么颜色的？
a：我买了件红的。


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## Skatinginbc

Mieka said:


> 你的包是什么颜色的?


I would say "你的袋子是什么颜色的?" or "你的包包是什么颜色的?"


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## BODYholic

Mieka said:


> 你的包是什么颜色的?



Don't just say "包" out of the blue. In another word, do not utter it alone without a context. Because we (at least from where I am) instinctively relate "包" to buns. I would suggest 包包 which sounds a little cuter or feminine. And even if people knows what are you talking, it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth (pun unintended) when one refers to a USD1000 Prada bag as a 包. 

But let's get back to the subject, for the most laziest version, I would simply say "你的包包是什么颜色的? (是)红的还是黑的？".

Edited: Apparently, my reply are echoed from #02, #05 & #06. My apology.

In Singapore, we do differentiate 包包 and 袋子. The latter is a generic term for plastic carrier or paper bags. Tote bags can also be called 袋(子). 包包 is understood as handbags or purses/clutch bags. It is also common for parents to refer to schoolbags as 包包 when talking to their kids.


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## SuperXW

There will be a regional difference on the term for "bag", as you can see Skatinginbc and BodyHolic have their concerns. 
But in Beijing and northern China, we do call bags (backpacks, satchels, handbags) 包. 
And we would call "plastic bags" 袋 or 袋子.
And only kids and girls would say 包包.
For a Chinese bun, we call it 包子; for a bread bun, we call it 面包. We may refer to a certain kind of bun as 叉烧包, 奶黄包... But we never use the separated character 包 for a bun.


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## Mieka

Given that my textbook constantly refers to bags as 色, I'll stick with that. But thank you guys for all the info about this! I had no idea that in certain dialects it could be so different, so 谢谢!!


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## stellari

Note that 包包 sounds very childish / girlish in northern China. This usage is gaining popularity in recent years, but is still mainly used among girls.  If both parties in the conversation are girls, and they intend to sound cute, then 包包 is fine; In general, 包 is the right word to go. Or if you want to be more specific, you can say '皮包' or '挎包' or something along the line. Maybe it is just me, but I feel rather uncomfortable when guys say '包包'. 

'包' alone never means 'buns' in northern China, unless used in a word such as '包子', '面包' or '小笼包'. 

The difference between 包(包) and 袋子 mentioned by BODYholic exists in Mainland China as well.


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## Dragonseed

Interesting regional differences: here in Taiwan, everybody says "包包", men and women alike...


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## SuperXW

Mieka said:


> I had no idea that in certain dialects it could be so different, so 谢谢!!


 Oh. This difference on "bag" is quite a minor one. We can still understand each other even we choose a different way of expression, like American English vs. British English. 
In the other hand, you should check other "Chinese dialects" like Cantonese and many others. They are arguably "other languages". People can't communicate at all if they don't learn the dialects for a long time.


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## Mieka

SuperXW said:


> Oh. This difference on "bag" is quite a minor one. We can still understand each other even we choose a different way of expression, like American English vs. British English.
> In the other hand, you should check other "Chinese dialects" like Cantonese and many others. They are arguably "other languages". People can't communicate at all if they don't learn the dialects for a long time.




That's true, it's still very interesting to find out these small quirks in languages to me. It is quite curious for example, that the word thong in Australian English is quite common, being a type of sandal; but you'd avoid saying that in the UK for fear of some eyebrow raising!


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## Skatinginbc

In Taiwan, 包, as a free morpheme, means "bump or lump on the skin." (e.g., 頭上長了一個包).  "你的包是什么颜色的" is asking what the color of one's skin bump is.  Although 包 also means "bag", it is a bound morpheme that appears only as part of a larger word or a multi-syllabic phrase, e.g., 皮包, 書包, 荷包, 腰包, 背包, 公事包, 手提包, 旅行包, etc.  It is perfectly fine to say "你的皮包是什么颜色的".   
Ancient terms such as 招文袋 and 便袋 explain why Taiwan Mandarin have 背袋, 書袋 (掉書袋 ),  公事袋, 手提袋, 旅行袋, and so on, and 袋子 means any bag, whether be it made from plastic, leather, cloth, paper, or whatsoever materials.


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