# What is your name?



## jana.bo99

Hello to all again,

I want to know that [What is your name?] in Chinese with explanation, please.

Thank you in advance!

jana.bo


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## Flaminius

您贵姓?
Nín guìxìng?

It is literally "Your honourable family name?" but answering your full name is not out of place.  It looks to me the most ordinary phrase for an adult asking the name of a stranger.


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## Dragonseed

Correct, but quite formal.
A more colloquial way to ask would be:
你 叫 甚麼 名字?
Litteraly "you - call - what - name?"
You'd use this to ask a child his name. Or a friend of a friend.
A slightly more formal way would be:
怎麼 稱呼 你?
"How - to address - you?"


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## jana.bo99

Hello Flaminus,

Thank you for answer and explanation. 

Hello Dragonseed,

I can do nothing with all small squares. Can you please, give more explanations?

Kind regards to both of you,
jana.bo


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## samanthalee

Hi jana.bo99,

Since you frequently visit the Chinese forum, perhaps it'll be worth your while to install Chinese fonts on your computer.
After which you may use an online tool that parses Chinese text (Simplified and Traditional forms) in English with Pinyin
http://www.popjisyo.com/WebHint/Portal_e.aspx


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## jana.bo99

Hello Samanthalee,

Easier said than done!

I have seen and it looks good. To study all that is not that easy for us Europeans.

I leave you for a while, so you will have peace from me. 

Kind greetings,
jana.bo


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## samanthalee

Hi jana.bo99,
I understand the difficulty of the Chinese characters for beginners.  Hence I've suggested you use an online tool to parse the Chinese text. The website I've given in my previous post has been a great tool for me learning Japanese. I'm sure it will be useful to you learning Chinese.


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## jana.bo99

Hi Samanthalee,

I don't want to study Chinese, but to know at least 10 - 20 sentences. That is all.

About Chinese and Japanese: I can't see any big difference. For you is that as for me to study Spanish. We have almost the same letters.

Nice day,
jana.bo


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## J.F. de TROYES

Drgonseed wrote these sentences :

1- 你 叫 甚麼 名字? = * ni jiao shenme mingzi ?
*Litteraly "you - call - what - name?"
 You can hear the word "jiao" here (there are several "jiao"; so look up "jiao = call, to be called ) :
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/php/search.php?eng=&p_input=jiao&c_input=&search_limit=2&search_type=exact

and "ming zi" here :

http://hua.umf.maine.edu/php/search...+zi&c_input=&search_limit=2&search_type=exact

2-怎麼 稱呼 你? =  *zenme cheng hu ni ?
*"How - to address - you?"

"zenme" :  http://hua.umf.maine.edu/php/search...+me&c_input=&search_limit=2&search_type=exact

"cheng hu"  ( and what's your name ? ) :   //http://hua.umf.maine.edu/php/search.php?eng=&p_input=cheng+hu&c_input=&search_limit=2&searc

Hope it helps.


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## shivasprogeny

J.F. de TROYES said:


> 2-怎麼 稱呼 你? =  *zenme cheng hu ni ?
> *"How - to address - you?"



Doesn't 稱呼 ask for the title of the person?  So an answer could be 老師 or 主人 or 經理?  Or can it be used for asking a title or name?


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## Dragonseed

In Taiwan, we use 稱呼 to ask to someone we just met how they would rather be addressed. So the answer could be the full name (e.g. 林萬松 - Lin Wan Song), a nickname (e.g. 阿松 - A-Song), or maybe a title + family name (e.g. 林老師 - Lin Laoshi "Pr. Lin").
At the same time, the respondent will somehow propose a level of familiarity between the two persons, depending on what "name" they propose (full name is quite formal, as is a name coming together with an honorific title, Mr/Ms + familiy name is neutral, and nickname is really frequently used in unformal occasions).


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## yui.hime

and 怎麼 稱呼 你? =  *zenme cheng hu ni ?
*"How - to address - you?"

seems more polite ^^

你 叫 甚麼 名字? = * ni jiao shenme mingzi ?
*Litteraly "you - call - what - name?"

may use it when you talk to kids or young boy/girl


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## INEEDHELP345

你的名子叫什麼?

what is your name?


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## shivasprogeny

^I'm not a native speaker by any means, but this sounds odd to me.


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## Kangy

^ I don't think it's correct.
First off, the 4th character should be 字 not 子. And then, if you translated that literally, you'd be asking "What's your name's name?" 

I was taught that the commonest way to ask this is:

你叫什么名字？ [nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?]

I might add that "您贵姓？" [nín guìxìng?] is used in formal situations to ask for somebody's surname.


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## kareno999

shivasprogeny said:


> I'm not a native speaker by any means, but this sounds odd to me.


Acceptable except that it should be 名字 not 名子. And by the way, not very polite


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## moonflowersong

That seems about right to me. It's a very casual way of asking for a person's name, usually directed towards a younger person than yourself. It may be used from adult to adult but it's a bit informal for that use, I would say...


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## ThePellican

您们都好！
As it is written in the title , is it possible to use [你的名字什么？] to ask for someone's name? 
Or do I always have to use 你叫什么名字？

谢谢你们！


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## YangMuye

> 您们都好！





> 你的名字是/叫什么


You have to add a linking verb to be grammatical.
叫 is more idiomatic than 是. But I think 你叫什么名字 is the best of all the three.
If you are asking a stranger, you probably will say 怎么称呼您.


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## ThePellican

Thank you for your reply, so I have two options.
1 “你的名字是什么？”
2 “你的名字叫什么？”
Just one last question, [...]
Moderator's note: The new question has been moved to a new thread.


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## SuperXW

As Yang said, although both 1 and 2 are correct, 你叫什么名字 is more common. Very informally, just 你叫什么 could do.


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## Skatinginbc

To be polite (e.g., a receptionist asking a customer): 請問尊姓大名, 請問您怎麼稱呼, 不知如何稱呼您
To be intentionally neutral (e.g., a teacher asking a student): 你的名字是什么, 你的名字叫什么
To show dominance (e.g., a policeman interrogating a suspect) or to be casual (potentially rude): 你叫什么名字


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## fyl

I second YangMuye and SuperXW that 你的名字是/叫什么 is less idiomatic than 你叫什么(名字). Maybe there are regional/dialectical differences.
So far 您贵姓 and 怎么称呼 are polite ways to ask names accepted by everyone. And they are indeed the most common ones (unless you talk to a small kid).
Be careful with 請問尊姓大名, it's a bit over complimentary to me.


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## ThePellican

Thank you all for your replies.
How do I usually answer this question  "你的名字是/叫什么？"
I mean do I have to say just my name or both my name and surname  ? As in : 你叫什么（名字）？我叫王力。


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## retrogradedwithwind

Every Chinese has a full name consisted of 2 to 4 characters like 李然，王大吉，龙楼神冥（said it's a real name）, so we say our full names. For foreigners, if it's not a very long name, saying full names is appropriate.


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## SuperXW

retrogradedwithwind said:


> Every Chinese has a full name consisted of 2 to 4 characters like 李然，王大吉，龙楼神冥（said it's a real name）, so we say our full names. For foreigners, if it's not a very long name, saying full names is appropriate.


Yes. Usually Chinese people answer their full names. Occasionally, say, in a very casual party, they may answer just their given names or nicknames, but it must be more than two characters.
Chinese would only feel strange if your answer is "too short": just one character or one syllable, or "too long": more than three characters or syllables. 
Because foreign names often consist more syllables, Chinese tend to simplify them in various ways, including omitting the family name or given name.


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## Nexsus

Hi everyone !
Since I can say both 你的名字是什么 ？and 你的名字叫什么？
Can I do the same with surnames ? 
您的姓是什么？
您的姓叫什么？


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## SuperXW

Nexsus said:


> Can I do the same with surnames ?
> 您的姓是什么？
> 您的姓叫什么？


That would be pretty redundant and unnatural. We usually ask in these ways:
您姓什么？ (“姓” becomes a verb here.)
您贵姓？ ("Your honored surname?")


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## Nexsus

Thanks for the reply !
To be honest, my mother tongue teacher told me that "您的星是什么？” could be used by us beginners .
Obliviously it wouldn't be our first choise ...
One more question , if I want to introduce myself to a group of people I don't know , would it be fine if I said " 你们好！我姓。。。。。。，叫。。。。。。”
Or should I avoid this by using only “我叫。。。。。。”?


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## SuperXW

Nexsus said:


> Thanks for the reply !
> One more question , if I want to introduce myself to a group of people I don't know , would it be fine if I said " 你们好！我姓。。。。。。，叫。。。。。。”
> Or should I avoid this by using only “我叫。。。。。。”?


In 95% cases, Chinese treat 姓名 as a whole. We rarely separate them.
So, using 我叫... would be nature. Unless people are asking specifically your surname, or you have a very special surname or given name (including foreign translated names) that you really want to address them separately.


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## Johnny519

Nexsus said:


> Thanks for the reply !To be honest, my mother tongue teacher told me that "您的星是什么？” could be used by us beginners .Obliviously it wouldn't be our first choise ...One more question , if I want to introduce myself to a group of people I don't know , would it be fine if I said " 你们好！我姓。。。。。。，叫。。。。。。”Or should I avoid this by using only “我叫。。。。。。”?


Sorry, I don't quite get at  "您的星是什么？" 星"(Xing 1) refers to star, Did you mean 姓(Surname)? If you want do a presentation and introduce yourself to some people, here next are some options:1.大家好，我叫xxx(Surname+given name)2.大家好，我是xxx(Surname+given name)3.你们好，我叫xxx(Surname+given name)4.你们好，我是xxx(Surname+given name)5.大家好，我姓x名xxetc..


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