Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

asking about distance

47.5

To ask if an object or place is near to another object or place, say:

noun phrase 1 离/離 lí noun phrase 2 近吗/近嗎 jìn ma?

你家离图书馆近吗？

你家離圖書館近嗎？

Nǐ jiā lí túshūguǎn jìn ma?

Is your house close to the library?

Note

As in english, the question ‘is it far?’ is more neutral than the question ‘is it close?’ When the speaker

asks ‘is it far?’ he or she typically does not necessarily expect the answer to be ‘far.’ However, when the

question is ‘is it close?’ the speaker often expects the answer to be ‘close.’

To ask if an object or place is far from your present location, say:

图书馆离这儿远吗？

圖書館離這兒遠嗎？

Túshūguǎn lí zhèr yuǎn ma?

Is the library far from here?

or

图书馆离这里远吗？

圖書館離這裏遠嗎？

Túshūguǎn lí zhèlǐ yuǎn ma?

Is the library far from here?

C28.1

47.5.2 asking about specific distances

To ask how far one object or place is from another object or place, say:

你家离图书馆多(么)远？

你家離圖書館多(麼)遠？

Nǐ jiā lí túshūguǎn duō(me) yuǎn?

How far is your house from the library?

or

你家离图书馆有多远？

你家離圖書館有多遠？

Nǐ jiā lí túshūguǎn yǒu duō yuǎn?

How far is your house from the library?

C28.6