# 您几位 nin2 ji3 wei4



## piano0011

In my book, it says that we can use nin ji wei in the following sentence:

nin ji wei shi na guo ren? 

but not in this sentence:

ni shi yingguo ren ma?

Can you also say..

ni ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?


----------



## Billy Zhong

Do you mean 您几位 ?
In Chinese it is a very polite way to say “you guys”.For example,when a waiter is welcoming guests but he(or she) is not sure how many guests there are,he(or she) would ask "您几位？"
And in declarative quotations,you can also use this phrase.But it is only used when you are talking to a stranger and those not so intimate people.


----------



## piano0011

Correc


Billy Zhong said:


> Do you mean 您几位 ?
> In Chinese it is a very polite way to say “you guys”.For example,when a waiter is welcoming guests but he(or she) is not sure how many guests there are,he(or she) would ask "您几位？"
> And in declarative quotations,you can also use this phrase.But it is only used when you are talking to a stranger and those not so intimate people.


correct me if I am wrong but the reason why I can't use it in this sentence....

ni shi yingguo ren ma? is because if I am saying...ni ji wei yingguo ren ma? I will be asking, how many of you are englishman which doesn't make sense.... I guess that is why... ni shi yingguo ren ma is already correct as if it asking... are you englishman?


----------



## Billy Zhong

piano0011 said:


> Correc
> 
> correct me if I am wrong but the reason why I can't use it in this sentence....
> 
> ni shi yingguo ren ma? is because if I am saying...ni ji wei yingguo ren ma? I will be asking, how many of you are englishman which doesn't make sense.... I guess that is why... ni shi yingguo ren ma is already correct as if it asking... are you englishman?


ni ji wei ying guo ren ma？is grammartically wrong.It's just like"You guys Englishman?"in English.
You can say _ni shi ying guo ren ma _or_ ni ji wei shi ying guo ren ma._


----------



## piano0011

Billy Zhong said:


> ni ji wei ying guo ren ma？is grammartically wrong.It's just like"You guys Englishman?"in English.
> You can say _ni shi ying guo ren ma _or_ ni ji wei shi ying guo ren ma._


no... according to my book.. we can't say.... nin ji wei shi ying guo ren ma?

I believe that because it sounds weird.... it is liked.... everyone is already an englishman and you are asking, are you an englishman when you already know the answer....


----------



## Billy Zhong

piano0011 said:


> no... according to my book.. we can't say.... nin ji wei shi ying guo ren ma?
> 
> I believe that because it sounds weird.... it is liked.... everyone is already an englishman and you are asking, are you an englishman when you already know the answer....


Alright. As a Chinese, I don't even know that.😂


----------



## SuperXW

piano0011 said:


> *nin* ji wei shi na guo ren? (Which countries are you from?)
> 
> *ni* ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?


*nin* ji wei shi yingguo ren ma? (Are you English?) 

There's only *您*几位, but no *你*几位.
几位 is honorific, which can only be connected with 您 nin, but not 你 ni.
It's not about the whole sentence, but the above phrase.


----------



## piano0011

SuperXW said:


> *nin* ji wei shi yingguo ren ma? (Are you English?)
> 
> There's only *您*几位, but no *你*几位.
> 几位 is honorific, which can only be connected with 您 nin, but not 你 ni.
> It's not about the whole sentence, but the above phrase.


oh.... so you cannot have ni + ji wei? but it has to be nin + ji wei? I guess because all characters have to be in its polite form?


----------



## piano0011

I just checked through my book again and my understanding might be a bit off here but according to my book.... it wants me to say:

nin shi yingguo ren ma?

and not

nin ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?

It doesn't want to count how many people?


----------



## SuperXW

piano0011 said:


> oh.... so you cannot have ni + ji wei? but it has to be nin + ji wei? I guess because all characters have to be in its polite form?


You are right. The theory of "polite form" is my personal explanation. Whatever the reason is, ni + ji wei is not idiomatic.


piano0011 said:


> I just checked through my book again and my understanding might be a bit off here but according to my book.... it wants me to say:
> nin shi yingguo ren ma?
> 
> and not
> nin ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?
> 
> It doesn't want to count how many people?


There's no grammar problem with nin ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?
It's strange if your book forbid to ask that.
Could you show us the full context of your book?


----------



## piano0011

SuperXW said:


> You are right. The theory of "polite form" is my personal explanation. Whatever the reason is, ni + ji wei is not idiomatic.
> 
> There's no grammar problem with nin ji wei shi yingguo ren ma?
> It's strange if your book forbid to ask that.
> Could you show us the full context of your book?


My other misunderstanding would be that perhaps, you only use jiwei when there is more than one person correct? The book just asked me to use my judgement to use either nin or nin + ji wei in the following sentence:

ni shi yingguo ren ma?

I guess here, it is asking one person if he or she is an englishman and hence, I don't need to use ji wei.....


----------



## SuperXW

piano0011 said:


> My other misunderstanding would be that perhaps, you only use jiwei when there is more than one person correct? The book just asked me to use my judgement to use either nin or nin + ji wei in the following sentence:
> 
> ni shi yingguo ren ma?
> 
> I guess here, it is asking one person if he or she is an englishman and hence, I don't need to use ji wei.....


Of course. 几位 ji wei literally means "several people (honorific)".


----------



## piano0011

SuperXW said:


> Of course. 几位 ji wei literally means "several people (honorific)".


I think that is why it is wrong to use ji wei here in my book because the original sentence starts with ni shi yingguo ren ma and I have to use polite form whether it just be nin or nin and ji wei...


----------

