# Cantonese has (5) more tones than Mandarin.



## yuechu

大家好！

I have a rather basic question to ask. Would anyone know how to say "Cantonese has (five) more tones than Mandarin." in Mandarin? I'm a bit unsure of the grammar.
Thanks!


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## dojibear

I don't know which is better:

1) 粤语比普通话多五个声调。
2) 粤语的声调比普通话多五个。


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## AquisM

dojibear said:


> 1) 粤语比普通话多五个声调。


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## yuechu

Great! Thank you both for your help! 

How about if you wanted to say "Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin." (without specifying the number)? Would it be "粤语比普通话多声调（声调多？）"?


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## dojibear

不知道。我中文说得不太惯用的。


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## Jonny W.

dojibear said:


> I don't know which is better:
> 
> 1) 粤语比普通话多五个声调。
> 2) 粤语的声调比普通话多五个。


As a native mandarin speaker, I think both are correct.

But the first one is more natural.


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## Jonny W.

yuechu said:


> Great! Thank you both for your help!
> 
> How about if you wanted to say "Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin." (without specifying the number)? Would it be "粤语比普通话多声调（声调多？）"?


If you want to say,"Cantonese has more tones than Mandarin." (without specifying the number)

粤语的声调比普通话多。
粤语比普通话有更多声调。


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## yuechu

Thanks for the translations, Jonny W!


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## Jonny W.

dojibear said:


> 不知道。我中文说得不太惯用的。


Hi, dojibear. You could say 
我中文説得不太溜。

This is more natural~😀
(溜 means “smooth")


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## gonecar

Jonny W. said:


> Hi, dojibear. You could say
> 我中文説得不太溜。
> 
> This is more natural~😀
> (溜 means “smooth")


By"惯用", I guess dojibear possibly meant " idiomatic". 
So, 我的中文说得不太地道 might be the meaning intended. 
I don't know.


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## gonecar

dojibear said:


> I don't know which is better:
> 
> 1) 粤语比普通话多五个声调。
> 2) 粤语的声调比普通话多五个。


They are equally good, I personally think.


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## dojibear

gonecar said:


> By"惯用", I guess dojibear possibly meant " idiomatic".


Yes. I didn't know "idiomatic" so I used Google Translate for that word.

Then again, maybe 惯用 isn't idiomatic in that sentence.


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## gonecar

dojibear said:


> Yes. I didn't know "idiomatic" so I used Google Translate for that word.
> 
> Then again, maybe 惯用 isn't idiomatic in that sentence.


Considering that it's not easy to learn a language when one is not in the environment, you are doing respectably good already.


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