# 你每幾天洗一次車？



## fredisaking

你每幾天洗一次車？

How do you say this in English? Is there an equivalent in English?
It's like

How often do you wash your car in terms of days?
Every what days do you wash your car?

See how awkward the translation is?


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## sapho

I would say :
"How often do you wash your car in a year ?"
or "How often do you wash your car in a month ?"... This way you are more likely to have the amount given in days.


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## fredisaking

I wanna know this so bad...like...so bad.


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## samanthalee

The closest equivalent is "How often do you wash your car?"


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## SophieXu

这句中文有问题，一般我们会说
“你几天洗一次车？” 没有“每”字。



fredisaking said:


> 你每幾天洗一次車？
> 
> how do you say this in english? Is there an equivalent in english?
> It's like
> 
> how often do you wash your car in terms of days?
> Every what days do you wash your car?
> 
> See how awkward the translation is?


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## samanthalee

sophiexu said:


> 这句中文有问题，一般我们会说
> “你几天洗一次车？” 没有“每”字。


这个……是不同地区的语言习惯啦。我也是说“你每几天洗一次车？”的；少了“每”会觉得有东西被卡在喉咙。就好像有些地区的人不用“儿化音”会觉得别扭，有些地区的人却对“儿化音”很陌生。（忽然想起台湾偶像剧《命中注定我爱你》里的“陈林西施女士”，每次遇到上流社会的亲家就乱“儿”一通。）


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## startrack

深有感触，我的马来西亚华人朋友讲话就是这样，
每几天这样的，
习惯了就没什么了，不过感觉同样是说中文，差异还是有的，
有时候要解释很多遍，他才能听懂我的意思

ps：一般都是说how often do you wash your car的
不用说every year，不然就是你一年一几次车的意思了
这里什么都不加，别人也会懂你的意思


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## w84u

Maybe you can say 'How often *by day* do you wash your car？'


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## viajero_canjeado

"How often by day.." doesn't sound right to me.

Like samanthalee said, probably the most natural way to express your thought is simply "how often do you wash your car?" since adding in days seems superfluous anyway. But if you for some reason must know the precise number of days, you might say "How many days do you go between car cleanings/washings?" or maybe "How many days do you normally wait before washing your car [again]?" Those sound a bit stilted, though. You might also include a suggestion of your own, in days, "So you wash you car, what, like every other day?" That way, your response is more likely to include a specific number.

A suuuuper colloquial way to say that would be "every how many days?" It's seems like it should be the proper question, since a quite typical answer would be "every six days/every other week" but if you say "every how many days?" you will sound informal at best and maybe even uneducated. Hope that helps..

Oh yeah, other suggestions might be "how regularly do you wash.." or "what's the normal time lapse between car washes?"


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## w84u

Oh, it seems that there is real difficulty to say that thing in English.  

'How often do you wash your car' makes enough sense, so there is no need to make a litterally equivalent interpretation, I think.


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## fredisaking

viajero_canjeado said:


> "How often by day.." doesn't sound right to me.
> 
> Like samanthalee said, probably the most natural way to express your thought is simply "how often do you wash your car?" since adding in days seems superfluous anyway. But if you for some reason must know the precise number of days, you might say "How many days do you go between car cleanings/washings?" or maybe "How many days do you normally wait before washing your car [again]?" Those sound a bit stilted, though. You might also include a suggestion of your own, in days, "So you wash you car, what, like every other day?" That way, your response is more likely to include a specific number.
> 
> A suuuuper colloquial way to say that would be "every how many days?" It's seems like it should be the proper question, since a quite typical answer would be "every six days/every other week" but if you say "every how many days?" you will sound informal at best and maybe even uneducated. Hope that helps..
> 
> Oh yeah, other suggestions might be "how regularly do you wash.." or "what's the normal time lapse between car washes?"


That helps BIG TIME!! A thousand times thank you!


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## viajero_canjeado

Another good option occurred to me: How often in [terms of] days...

Using the preposition "in" with the clarification "terms of" is an especially good-sounding way to ask your question.

How often in terms of hours does the tide reach its lowest point?
How often in terms of seconds does the average person take a breath?

Perhaps it sounds a mite unusual to me still, because "in terms of" preserves a note of formality or literariness while asking about carwashing seems so quotidian. But hey, why not?

How often in terms of days do you wash your car?


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## fredisaking

fredisaking said:


> 你每幾天洗一次車？
> 
> How do you say this in English? Is there an equivalent in English?
> It's like
> 
> How often do you wash your car in terms of days?
> Every what days do you wash your car?
> 
> See how awkward the translation is?


 
I was right!!!


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## viajero_canjeado

Good instinct - 你好聰明啊! Maybe it doesn't make a big difference, but it seems more natural to have the "in terms of" directly after the interrogative "How often" rather than at the end of the sentence. Just my opinion~


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## sunspotzsz

sort of.  when you are absolutely interested in knowing exactly how often in terms of days do you wash you car, you can say so.



SophieXu said:


> 这句中文有问题，一般我们会说
> “你几天洗一次车？” 没有“每”字。


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