Lesson 8, pattern 5: Tell and Ask

The English words "ask" and "tell" each have multiple dimensions of meaning, and this sometimes poses problems when students express themselves in Chinese. There is a different word in Chinese for each dimension of the English word "ask." If your meaning is "ask a question" you must use 問, but if your meaning is "ask or invite someone to do something" the correct Chinese equivalent is 請. Similarly, each dimension of the meaning of "tell" requires a different Chinese verb. If you mean "tell someone a fact," you should use 告訴, while "tell someone to do something" requires a verb such as 叫. Note that 請 and 叫 involve pivotal sentence structures, while 告訴 and 問 are used with the double-object structure. The second object can be a noun phrase or a complete sentence (statement or question). Note the examples below:

• 請 invite/request someone to do something:
• S請人 (verb phrase)
• 我請你到我家來。
• I invited him to come to my house.
• 問 ask a question:
• S問人 (noun phrase)
• 我問你一個問題。
• I am asking you a question.
• S問人? (full sentence question)
• 他問我你什麼時候回來。
• He asked me when you were coming back.
• 告訴 inform of a fact:
• S告訴人 (noun phrase)
• 他告訴我你的名字。
• He told me your name.
• S告訴人 (full sentence statement)
• 他告訴我你明天要考試。
• He told me tomorrow we are having a test.
• 叫 tell someone to do something
• S叫人 (verb phrase)
• 老師叫我們說中文。
• The teacher told us to speak Chinese.