# 要多問問題



## ouzhantekin

Here's an excerpt from my textbook:

"老師常常鼓勵我們上課的時候*要*多問問題， 不要只聽老實說。"

Here, in this sentence, could anyone please tell me what the function of the bold "*要*" is. Can we take that out? Or the meaning would change then? If so, how? Thanks in advance...


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## GamblingCamel

ouzhantekin said:


> 老師常常鼓勵我們上課的時候*要*多問問題， 不要只聽老實說。
> Here, in this sentence, could anyone please tell me what the function of the bold "*要*" is.



Good question. Wish I could answer it.
It must have some purpose, given that 10.8 million Google examples show up for 要多問問題.

MDBG dictionary:
要 yào important / vital / to want / will / going to (as future auxiliary) / may / must

I am at a very elementary level of CHinese grammar. I don't even know yet how to form the future tense.
But maybe 要 functions in your sentence "as a future auxiliary" since the teacher is talking about what you should do -- or might do.


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## fitter.happier

This is a really nice question. 

I'm actually finding it hard to translate this sentence into English while mantaining the meaning expressed by 要, which by the way is not used as a future auxiliary here. The meaning, as far as I understand it, is _have to_.

You are right that the sentence works without 要. Compare these two sentences.

- 老师鼓励我们多问问题
- 老师鼓励我们要多问问题

To be honest, I'd translate them both as _the teacher encouraged us to ask more questions_. 要 in sentence #2 is used to emphasize. Literally, _the teacher encouraged us that we should ask more questions_, but I doubt that's correct English.


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## GamblingCamel

fitter.happier said:


> The meaning, as far as I understand it, is _have to_.


Maybe 要 alters the meaning of 鼓励 from _encourage_ to _push_.


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## xiaolijie

When trying to understand a word or phrase in a foreign language, it may be better not to try to see how to translate that word or phrase but see what it does to the sentence and try to find the most natural way to express that sentence in your own language, even if the word may then be lost completely in the translation.
(Sorry for this. I've actually just come out of a lecture )

Anyway, in the above example, you'll see "*要*多問問題" and "*不要*只聽老實說", "*要*" vs "*不要*", and so it's about "DO this" and "DON'T do that". So, try to put these in English the most natural way you can and the meaning of *要* as used in the sentence will become clear to you (and the conflict of *要 *with any other word you originally saw will also naturally melt away).


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## viajero_canjeado

I think it also serves a grammatical function. To elaborate: 他跟我們說問問題 sounds, to my ears, like it's missing something, the same way "she told us ask questions" is missing something. My point is not that 要 means "to" in this case - though maybe that argument is with merit - however it flows much more naturally with the 要 in the sentence. It sort of sets apart what was said from the person describing it:
他跟我們說 / 要問問題. She told us / we ought to ask questions.
It all kind of blurs together if you just say 他告訴我們問問題.


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## bamboobanga

she encouraged that we raise more questions.


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## ouzhantekin

fitter.happier said:


> This is a really nice question.
> 
> I'm actually finding it hard to translate this sentence into English while mantaining the meaning expressed by 要, which by the way is not used as a future auxiliary here. The meaning, as far as I understand it, is _have to_.
> 
> You are right that the sentence works without 要. Compare these two sentences.
> 
> - 老师鼓励我们多问问题
> - 老师鼓励我们要多问问题
> 
> To be honest, I'd translate them both as _the teacher encouraged us to ask more questions_. 要 in sentence #2 is used to emphasize. Literally, _the teacher encouraged us that we should ask more questions_, but I doubt that's correct English.



As far as I know 鼓勵"某人" 做 "某事" is the way that this verb is used. So I find it really hard to understand why do they feel the need to put that 要 there... For translation, I totally agree,  I don't sense any difference in meaning.



xiaolijie said:


> When trying to understand a word or phrase in a foreign language, it may be better not to try to see how to translate that word or phrase but see what it does to the sentence and try to find the most natural way to express that sentence in your own language, even if the word may then be lost completely in the translation.
> (Sorry for this. I've actually just come out of a lecture )
> 
> Anyway, in the above example, you'll see "*要*多問問題" and "*不要*只聽老實說", "*要*" vs "*不要*", and so it's about "DO this" and "DON'T do that". So, try to put these in English the most natural way you can and the meaning of *要* as used in the sentence will become clear to you (and the conflict of *要 *with any other word you originally saw will also naturally melt away).



In the capacity of a person who got four years' education in translation and interpreatation, I totally agree with your remark with regard to translation and getting the meaning, however, what I want to understand is the way that the Chinese grammar works so that I can also start using it naturally before thinking about where to put or take out "了", "就", "才" or of course "要". During interpretation communication is what matters.

The reason why I try to do this is that I plan to teach Chinese in several years so I have to be prepared for any kind of question that may arise in the class so that I become a competent teacher.




viajero_canjeado said:


> I think it also serves a grammatical function. To elaborate: 他跟我們說問問題 sounds, to my ears, like it's missing something, the same way "she told us ask questions" is missing something. My point is not that 要 means "to" in this case - though maybe that argument is with merit - however it flows much more naturally with the 要 in the sentence. It sort of sets apart what was said from the person describing it:
> 他跟我們說 / 要問問題. She told us / we ought to ask questions.
> It all kind of blurs together if you just say 他告訴我們問問題.



I understand your point. For me, the same feeling of something being missing, but why? Is there no such rule that says 要 gives that meaning and in these specific situations you need to use that?



bamboobanga said:


> she encouraged that we raise more questions.



Thanks for the translation bamboobanga, but could you please explain for us?


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## ouzhantekin

Thanks for the dictionary definition. At least I can see the meanings that 要 give and its limits. But, for me, when I see this sentence it gives me a strange feeling. It is like "Teacher encourages us that we should ask more questions." Actually can we say like this in English?


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## tomlearnenglish

ouzhantekin said:


> Thanks for the dictionary definition. At least I can see the meanings that 要 give and its limits. But, for me, when I see this sentence it gives me a strange feeling. It is like "Teacher encourages us that we should ask more questions." Actually can we say like this in English?


 i do not know its ok or not to say like that in English.But i will not translate 要to English in this case, it could be ignored.


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## Lamb67

要 reminds me of how confusing the English modal verbs could be. I will give my take as the teacher is making it *clearer* by 要 that we are supposed to have a lot of room to improve; We should not be complacent.What follows are important; Our plan in the future is...etc. The audience would give their own different interpretations because of many nuances of a single Chinese word.


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## xiaolijie

ouzhantekin said:
			
		

> In the capacity of a person who got four years' education in translation and interpreatation, I totally agree with your remark with regard to translation and getting the meaning, however, what I want to understand is the way that the Chinese grammar works so that I can also start using it naturally before thinking about where to put or take out "了", "就", "才" or of course "要". During interpretation communication is what matters.


That's good to know, but you seem to have missed what you were looking for in the bit I was trying to indicate that if you understand "*不要*" in the sentence means "DON'T" then it's easy to see that "*要*" means "DO":


> _in the above example, you'll see "*要*多問問題" and "*不要*只聽老實說", "*要*" vs "*不要*", and so it's about "DO this" and "DON'T do that"._


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## ouzhantekin

xiaolijie said:


> That's good to know, but you seem to have missed what you were looking for in the bit I was trying to indicate that if you understand "*不要*" in the sentence means "DON'T" then it's easy to see that "*要*" means "DO":




Actually I could ask the same question about that 要, either. I can guess what the teacher implies is that students should DO...., and not DO ... . However, maybe I couldn't make my question clear, what I need to know is why do we need that 要 there and why not just say:
"老師鼓勵我們多問問題， 不聽他講課"

Would this change the meaning at all, or is it just a matter of "sounds weird"? 

That is my question. Thanks


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## GamblingCamel

xiaolijie said:


> I was trying to indicate that if you understand "*不要*" in the sentence means "DON'T" then it's easy to see that "*要*" means "DO":


Good point. 
I didn't even take note of 要 in 不要 the first time I read the text.

OUZ > Good afternoon! I have a feeling that you'll intuitively start to understand the use of 要 as you speak Chinese more.


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## ouzhantekin

GamblingCamel said:


> Good point.
> I didn't even take note of 要 in 不要 the first time I read the text.
> 
> OUZ > Good morning! I have a feeling that you'll intuitively start to understand the use of 要 as you speak Chinese more.



haha  I have nothing to say than "I hope!" ..


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## xiaolijie

> "老師鼓勵我們多問問題， 不聽他講課"
> Would this change the meaning at all, or is it just a matter of "sounds weird"?


Your sentence is not ok as a whole but *nothing is wrong with the first part*:
"老師鼓勵我們多問問題".

*But the original sentence*
"老師常常鼓勵我們上課的時候*要*多問問題， *不要*只聽老師說."
*is better with* *要*, because it forms a contrasting pair with *不要* in the second part, and thus sounds better to the Chinese ear. It however can live without *要.*


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## Lamb67

老師鼓勵我們（要）多問問題， 不要光聽他講課。你的原句的后一半是不对的。see Supra*14.
多少的对比暗含在里面了，但是这里用光更加地道。Having said'more' or 'duo(1)', its contrary 'Less' is expected just in the same manner as the 'Do' and' Don't.


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## ouzhantekin

xiaolijie said:


> Your sentence is not ok as a whole but *nothing is wrong with the first part*:
> "老師鼓勵我們多問問題".
> 
> *But the original sentence*
> "老師常常鼓勵我們上課的時候*要*多問問題， *不要*只聽老師說."
> *is better with* *要*, because it forms a contrasting pair with *不要* in the second part, and thus sounds better to the Chinese ear. It however can live without *要.*



Oh, so especially if there were no second part to this sentence, it can do without 要, but now it works as reinforcing the idea of 不要 in the second part. Phew..  Thanks xiaolijie...


Lamb67 said:


> 老師鼓勵我們（要）多問問題， 不要光聽他講課。你的原句的后一半是不对的。see Supra*14.
> 多少的对比暗含在里面了，但是这里用光更加地道。Having said'more' or 'duo(1)', its contrary 'Less' is expected just in the same manner as the 'Do' and' Don't.



可不可以用多一點英文解釋一下給我們聽？ 我看不太懂Supra*14是什麽， 而且·光·的功能是啥？感謝！


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## Lamb67

光，here means only. I assume that it means the opposite of 多多,in great number.
不要光聽他講課. Don't merely listen to me in the class.

Supra, Latin word for above, Above number 14th post.

老師鼓勵我們（要）多問問題， 不(要)光聽他講課.


不聽他講課 does not fit into this context because it means students are boycotting the the school.


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## BODYholic

ouzhantekin said:


> "老師常常鼓勵我們上課的時候*要*多問問題， 不要只聽老實說。"


The 要 means 应该要/必要/一定要. You may translate it as 'There is a need to ...'.


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## ouzhantekin

Lamb67 said:


> 光，here means only. I assume that it means the opposite of 多多,in great number.
> 不要光聽他講課. Don't merely listen to me in the class.
> 
> Supra, Latin word for above, Above number 14th post.
> 
> 老師鼓勵我們（要）多問問題， 不(要)光聽他講課.
> 
> 
> 不聽他講課 does not fit into this context because it means students are boycotting the the school.



ah, ok.. later I realized I made a bad sentence.. sorry for that. I think I got it.. It is just a matter of getting used to it and then suddenly I will get it.. All I need is to see more examples... thanks guys!


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