# Only Friend in the U.S.



## Hyperpolyglot

我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?

I want to ask my friend in China if I'm the only friend of his that is in the U.S. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?

Thanks.


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## englishelp

The 3rd sentence is not grammatical. So it is out.  

Given the situation you describe (that your friend is in China, not in the US), your 1st sentence is best: 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗? I would probably use this very sentence. 

Your sentences 2 and 4 are appropriate if your friend is actually in the USA. 





Hyperpolyglot said:


> 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
> 我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
> 我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
> 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
> 
> I want to ask my friend in China if I'm the only friend of his that is in the U.S. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?
> 
> Thanks.


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## Hyperpolyglot

englishelp said:


> The 3rd sentence is not grammatical. So it is out.
> 
> Given the situation you describe (that your friend is in China, not in the US), your 1st sentence is best: 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗? I would probably use this very sentence.
> 
> Your sentences 2 and 4 are appropriate if your friend is actually in the USA.



Then I shall stick with the 1st one. Is there any other ways of saying it? Any better ways?


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## englishelp

I can't think of any really, given the context.  




Hyperpolyglot said:


> Then I shall stick with the 1st one. Is there any other ways of saying it? Any better ways?


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## LOK

Hyperpolyglot said:


> 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
> 你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
> 我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
> 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
> 
> I want to ask my friend in China if I'm the only friend of his that is in the U.S. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?
> 
> Thanks.


 

Answer you intuitively.
No. 1,3,4 sound strange, but still meaningful. I can understand them if I know you are a foreigner.

I would say "我是你唯一的美国朋友吗?" or "我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?".


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## BODYholic

LOK said:


> I would say "我是你唯一的美国朋友吗?"



No, this won't work.

Thread-starter was asking for "the only friend of his that is *in* the U.S". We ain't sure if this friend is an American.




LOK said:


> ...  or "我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?".


This is correct but isn't this the first option given by our thread-starter? ^_^"


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## LOK

LOK said:


> Answer you intuitively.
> No. 1,3,4 sound strange, but still meaningful. I can understand them if I know you are a foreigner.
> 
> I would say "我是你唯一的美国朋友吗?" or "我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?".


 
Oh , sorry Hyperpolyglot. And thank BODYholic.


The first one is good.

I do not know what happened... Something hindered my eyes or my mind...


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## Lingfan

我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
are perfect grammatically and make sense.

我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
is understandable.

我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
is wrong because it's in English grammar. But you can understand? If you have a little tweak like this 我是你唯一的朋友吗，在美国?, it would be perfect. After all, we are talking about spoken Chinese, aren't we?


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## cerruti1881

hyperpolyglot said:


> 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
> 我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
> 我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
> 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
> 
> I want to ask my friend in china if i'm the only friend of his that is in the u.s. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?
> 
> Thanks.



你的四句中文基本都成立。

1，2，4的意思基本是一样的。表达的都是我是你在美国唯一的朋友，背后的意思是你在其它地方还有其他的朋友。

第三句的意思有点不同，中文的准确意思是，我是你唯一的朋友（你在这个世界只有我一个朋友）在美国。背后的意思是，你只有我一个朋友，我在美国。

不知道我说清楚了没有。呵呵。


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## DavidCornell

I think the only way sentence 3 can be said to be correct is when it is understood as a "patch-up sentence". By patch-up sentence, I mean sentences like:

王老师走了，已经。
两块钱，才。
这么晚了，都。

In colloquial Chinese, sometimes you forgot to add an important word to a sentence you have uttered, but then you have to patch it up. So you have to add that important word at the end of your sentence, because you cannot undo your utterance.

Similarly, 我是你唯一的朋友，在美国吗？can be understood as a patch-up sentence for 我是你在美国的唯一的朋友吗？But still in this case, I would put 在美国 after 吗, i.e. 我是你唯一的朋友吗，在美国？



cerruti1881 said:


> 你的四句中文基本都成立。
> 
> 1，2，4的意思基本是一样的。表达的都是我是你在美国唯一的朋友，背后的意思是你在其它地方还有其他的朋友。
> 
> 第三句的意思有点不同，中文的准确意思是，我是你唯一的朋友（你在这个世界只有我一个朋友）在美国。背后的意思是，你只有我一个朋友，我在美国。
> 
> 不知道我说清楚了没有。呵呵。


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## DavidCornell

one more thing, 在美国的朋友 and 美国朋友 are different. 在美国的朋友 can mean a friend who is Chinese but only resides in the US currently, although it can mean an American friend. I think the first reading is more prominent here if you use the preposition 在. On the other hand, 美国朋友only means American friend.

Therefore from what you said, I think you are your friend's only American friend. So I would actually say: 我是你唯一的美国朋友吗？

我是你唯一的在美国的朋友吗？seems to me like saying "am I the only friend of yours who resides in the US", and in most cases this 我 should be Chinese as well.



Hyperpolyglot said:


> 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
> 我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
> 我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
> 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
> 
> I want to ask my friend in China if I'm the only friend of his that is in the U.S. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?
> 
> Thanks.


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## DavidCornell

also your sentence #4 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗 is ambiguous. It can mean the following two things:

1. We are both in the US. Am I your only friend here?
2. You have friends in many countries, but in America, am I your only friend?

Without proper context, I think the reading #1 is more prominent for your sentence #4. Thus I wouldn't use this sentence in your situation.




Hyperpolyglot said:


> 我是你唯一在美国的朋友吗?
> 我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗?
> 我是你唯一的朋友在美国吗?
> 在美国, 我是你唯一的朋友吗?
> 
> I want to ask my friend in China if I'm the only friend of his that is in the U.S. Will one of the above sentences work? Is there any grammatical error? Is there a better translation?
> 
> Thanks.


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## cerruti1881

davidcornell said:


> i think the only way sentence 3 can be said to be correct is when it is understood as a "patch-up sentence". By patch-up sentence, i mean sentences like:
> 
> 王老师走了，已经。
> 两块钱，才。
> 这么晚了，都。
> 
> in colloquial chinese, sometimes you forgot to add an important word to a sentence you have uttered, but then you have to patch it up. So you have to add that important word at the end of your sentence, because you cannot undo your utterance.
> 
> Similarly, 我是你唯一的朋友，在美国吗？can be understood as a patch-up sentence for 我是你在美国的唯一的朋友吗？but still in this case, i would put 在美国 after 吗, i.e. 我是你唯一的朋友吗，在美国？


严格来讲，第三局确实是个病句，因为它不能基本完整地表达一个意思。但如果是一个中文理解能力不时抬差的人的话，也基本能明白那句话的意思。但是，如果是在中文考试中出现这种句子，基本上得分就是零蛋啦。呵呵。

至于您讲到的补充，这个在实际上没有严格的定义，什么可以补充什么不可以补充。无论中外，人们普遍喜欢把要说的主要事情放在前面，起到一种倒装的作用，尤其是在英语里。但汉语不大一样，汉语强调的是“主谓宾，定状补，主干职业分清楚”，汉语更强调句子的公式化，无论你想说什么，都应当是主谓宾这个顺序。这也许就是汉语和英语的最大区别吧。

但实际中，语言的随意性完全歪曲了汉语标准性，怎么说都变成可以的了。在这样的条件下，楼主纳四句汉语，也可以说都说得过去了。毕竟，日常讲话不时语文考试。呵呵。


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## DavidCornell

对于您说的“语言的随意性完全歪曲了汉语标准性，怎么说都变成可以的了”，我不同意。什么话是对的，什么话是错的，这个在绝大多数情况下是很明显的。我所说的patch-up sentence是口语里经常出现的句子，这个是正确的用法，而且哪些句子成分可以放在后面补充，哪些不可以，也是有规律可循的，不是像您说的完全没有规律。比如说很多这样的补充词汇可以说是某一类的副词性成分。当然具体规律是什么，有专门的语言学研究论文可以参考，我就不列出来了。

口语里的特殊用法和一般来说的错误用法是有质的区别的。当然对于学汉语的学生来讲，他们的句子就算不是完全合乎规范，我们也不必大惊小怪。不过如果他们希望知道一个正确的说法，我们还是应该承认是有章可循的吧？



cerruti1881 said:


> 但实际中，语言的随意性完全歪曲了汉语标准性，怎么说都变成可以的了。在这样的条件下，楼主纳四句汉语，也可以说都说得过去了。毕竟，日常讲话不时语文考试。呵呵。


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## redot

我是你在美国唯一的朋友吗? is right


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