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Best way to say "some" as in "some people" when making a general statement?

I Have a Question
#1

I would like to write a sentence in Chinese that means “Some people [verb] [object]” such as “Some people paint mountains” or some other general statement of fact/habit.

I am wondering about the best way to translate “some people” so that it is plural, general, and (ideally) only two characters.

  • I don’t want it to be a specific statement that could mean “some people painted a mountain [at a particular time in the past]”.

  • I don’t want “person” to be singular, so I don’t want it to mean “someone painted a mountain” or “there is a person painting a mountain [right now]”. I am okay with a sentence that means “there are/exist people who paint mountains”.

  • I would prefer for the phrase “some people” to be represented by two characters rather than three, corresponding to the original number of words in the English sentence.

So, what is the difference in meaning between these four translations of “some” (and any others that I should consider)? Which is the best to use for my sentence?

有些人yǒuxiērén

有的人yǒuderén

些人xiērén

有人yǒurén

1 Like
#2

May be something like this, i have been away but that was the only construct i have learned or heard,
有的人画画，别人游

#3

It is difficult catch your meaning for me,but I think this is the answer:
There is no this usage “些人” in Chinese.Then “有些人”,“有的人”,“有人",they are all used in general statement.The difference between them is “有些人” refer to some persons (over one),is plural;“有的人”,“有人” refer to person(one or over one).Example:广场上真热闹，有些人（有的人、有人）在画画，有些人（有的人、有人）在读书，还有些人（有的人、有人）打球…(The square is busy,some are painting,some are reading,and some are playing ball…)They are all right.

#4

Thanks for your reply! It’s useful because it confirms one of the patterns I was curious about.

#5

Thanks so much for your reply!

I’m a little sad that I cannot use “些人”, but it is really useful to know that.

Since my target sentence is talking about a habit and not something that is happening at this moment as in your example, I think I do not want to use “在”.

It seems that “有人” can mean “one person” or “two or more people”. So if you hear only “有人画画” do you imagine it probably means “some people paint” or do you imagine it probably means “someone paints”?

#6

Hi ,one person can say"有人",several persons also can say “有人”,it and “有些人”,“有的人”,there is no exact number.If you hear only “有人画画”,probably means “someone paints”,but if you find “some people”,do not be surprised.
I am not understand you exactly,but "在” have many usage habits.It can express something is happening at this moment,also can express something was happening at the moment that has passed.

1 Like
#7

Okay. Thank you very much!