Loadful of questions!

Hello everyone, I have quite a few questions that I can't seem to solve for myself, so I need your help. 1. What is the difference between 航班 and 班机? Both are used in different lessons but refer to a flight. Maybe synonyms? 2. If 他，她，它 are all pronounced exactly the same (same tone). How do you know which one of them are you using when you are speaking? 3. In the sentence: 我计划下个月去中国旅行 , it means I plan to travel to china next month. If 旅行 means travel, why is the word 去 used in the sentence? Isn't this repeating verbs that have similar meanings? 4. In a lesson I learned that 这个 meant "this", however in a future lesson 这是 was used as "this is". How do I know if I use 这 only or 这个? 5. If the sentence 女士们先生们 means "Ladies and Gentlemen", why isnt the word 和（and) used between each noun? 6. What is the difference between 会 and 可以? I think thats all for now, sorry for the amount of questions. But I progress faster when I keep clearing new doubts about chinese :) Thanks in advance.

1. Synonyms. Except 航班 can also refer to boats because of the 航 character. 2. Context 3. 我计划下个月去中国旅行 --------------- in order to travel, one must first go to China, according to the Chinese grammar mind. 4. Measure word or not ------- Not infrequently we see measure words left out on signs such as in newspaper ads the same as we use ad lingo in English "2 bdr 4 rent". If you started doing this in ordinary speech it might sound a bit unnatural since I believe this was actually quite common in older writings, since it could make you sound like Confucius a bit much haha. Besides this, a measure word is often excluded before 是, but note do not end a sentence with *.....是这* and no measure word. Finally, In this case think of it as : 这是我妈妈 this is my mom 这个人是我妈妈 this person is my mom 5. If the sentence 女士们先生们 means "Ladies and Gentlemen", why isnt the word 和（and) used between each noun? ----------- Chinese just really doesn't like to use conjunctions and grammatical filler words when the meaning is clear. 6. What is the difference between 会 and 可以? 可以 implies permission. If a terrorist said to his prisoner 现在可以吃了 ”you can eat now" it is giving permission. 会 implies one can do sth thru a learned skill. If we said 你会吃饭 it would sound a little strange since eating is not a skill you have to learn. On the other hand we could say 我会说汉语 since we learned how to speak Chinese. A native Chinese maybe could distinguish this even further and say that they “能“ speak Chinese since it is just a natural ability for them and natural abilities fall under the domain of 能. Besides this 会 also has a future tense grammatical role in some cases that 可以 does not.

Excellent Oggie and thank you so much :) Regarding #3: Does that mean that if I want to say "I plan to live in China next month" I need to say 我计划下个月去中国住在 ? --------------- Also: In the example "mom" sentences you wrote shouldn't you use 我的 instead of just 我?, since 的 is like possesive, so far ive learned. 这是我的妈妈`

No problem~ I always like to help out when I can 1) With the sentences written about 妈 either way is fine. Talking about relatives one is close to often sees the 的 dropped, whereas in 我剪刀* could sound funny because jiǎn dāo just means scissors. Eventually you will come across sentences where there is no 的 possessing mere material items such as the aforementioned 剪刀 but this is because the sentence contains many places where 的 could be placed but in order to make the sentence not sound too 的-y some are left out. For example ： My magnificent red scissors 我的（红灿灿）的剪刀 （hóng càn càn） could be rephrased as 我红灿灿的剪刀 This is the most typical example I can think of (not specifically magnificent red scissors! but..) but there are many more times when it could be dropped but if you keep using it as taught in RC then you definitely won't be wrong. Just as a native learns this maybe you will get tired of saying too many 的 one day ^^ 2) With the other question, just remove the 在 at the end and then it is fine.

Superb :) A thousand thanks. I have seen that indeed 的 could be on average the most potentially repeated character, so I guess it makes sense. Just came up with another one. Compare these sentences: 下一个航班是在。。。 and 我计划下个月。。。 Notice that both refer to a "next flight" and a "next month". However, the first sentence uses the word 一 before its measure word, and the 2nd one doesnt. Why is this? Are these two kind of things interexchangeable?

Ah this question opened here could keep one busy for quite some time! It is an interesting one. I have been reading "Chinese a Comprehensive Grammar" by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington. In this fantastic book there is a section about the prosodic features of Chinese. That is, the rhythmic features of the language. According to the authors, the rhythmic quality of a sentence/phrase can actually affect the "grammaticality" of a sentence. It is not ungrammatical per se; maybe I can explain more with the following examples lifted straight from the book Xx // Xx // Xx // X 我想 // 再买 // 一杯 // 酒 wǒ xiǎng // zài mǎi // yì bēi // jiǔ I'd like to buy another glass of wine The large X's are accented and the small x's are unaccented. According to Po-Ching and Rimmington this is a "well-formed sentence on all counts". However, let us try to introduce a 去 to this sentence below. The sentence is still grammatical but is now rhythmically unbalanced because of two stressed syllables next to each other. Xx // Xx // X // Xx // X 我想 // 再去 // 买 // 一杯 // 酒 wǒ xiǎng // zài qù // mǎi // yì bēi // jiǔ I'd like to go buy another glass of wine If the rhythm is adjusted to make the verbs after 再 unstressed, then the emphasis on 'buying' is lost. Xx // Xxx // Xx // X 我想 // 再去买 // 一杯 // 酒 wǒ xiǎng // zài qù mǎi // yì bēi // jiǔ I'd like to go buy another glass of wine If the first syllable is changed to an introductory syllable then emphasis on 'another' is lost. xXx // Xx // Xx // X 我想再 // 去买 // 一杯 // 酒 wǒ xiǎng zài // qù mǎi // yì bēi // jiǔ I'd like to go buy another glass of wine The preferred rhythm in a Chinese sentence is called a trochaic rhythm. If we force this rhythm on our sentence like below, it comes across as a bunch of non sense that a native would have to decipher. Xx // Xx // Xx // Xx 我想 // 再去 // 买一 // 杯酒 wǒ xiǎng // zài qù // mǎi yì // bēi jiǔ *Now, below, let's look at Yip Po Ching and Don Rimmington's solution to improve this sentence* Xx // Xx // Xx // X 我想 // 再去 // 买杯 // 酒 wǒ xiǎng // zài qù // mǎi bēi // jiǔ *The key point to take here is that the 一 before the measure word 杯 was removed solely for rhythmic reasons without changing the meaning.* This was a long explanation for this, but maybe you know of a time when you were speaking with an otherwise very educated foreign speaker of English who spoke perfectly grammatical sentences with a very strange rhythm that was still difficult to understand. Just like the person in that hypothetical situation, when we speak Chinese the same things apply to us and that is why I personally study the rhythm of Chinese as much as grammar and vocab. Side note 1: unstressed syllables in Chinese have 'less tone' but still have tone! *Side note 2: In my sentence examples the slashes do not align the entire column together and thus is harder to read than the original. I apologize for any difficulty in reading since I cannot organize it like I intend since extra spaces in the comment box are just ignored. Anyone with experience in html codes that could help out? *

Hi there, Wow Oggiedoggy, you have well and truly taken over my job and have a very clear and understandable way of explaining the intricacies of Chinese grammar. Jaime_Andres it looks like your questions have been well taken care of and I will simply say good luck for your Chinese study and keep those questions coming. Keep up the good study - Lin Ping

林老师太和蔼啦！此鄙人不敢当~将来必然还需要见教