ND, you are a very good learner, I have to say.

I think your questions refers to “Where are you from” in this experience. In Mandarin, we say “ni shi na guo ren”. you’re right, here we say “na”. But actually if we translate directly, it should be “ni cong na li lai”. “Where” is still “na li”.

But Chinese don’t ask this questions like this way, they say “ni shi na guo ren”, which literally means “what’s your nationality”. “na guo” means “which country”. So you can see, “na” means “which” here, that’s why don’t add “li”.

Let’ me know if you have further question.

You may already knew ‘lai’ means ‘come’, but here it’s not. ‘Rang wo lai’ is an usage, meaning ‘let me do something’. For example, ‘Rang wo lai kan yi xia’, meaning ‘let me take a look’. But ‘lai’ can be omitted: ‘Rang wo kan yi xia’.

But you can’t omit ‘lai’ when we just say ‘rang wo lai’. Here it becomes a sentence, which means ‘let me do it’ or ‘I will do it’, for example, if somebody ask: anybody can finish this job? You can answer him if you are confident: Rang wo lai!!

“lai” literally means “come”. But the native speaker will use “lai” as “do” sometimes. Eg:rang wo lai . meaning :let me do it. so in the sentence which you mentioned “rang wo lai jie shao” is exact the same meaning with “rang wo jie shao” which means " let me introduce"

Hey, rang wo jie shao one situation which people use “lai” a lot . when you are in a bar or restaurant . when you want to order some food or drinks. you can say" lai yi ping pi jiu". pi2 jiu3 means beer. it is the most popular expression people will use. hope you will enjoy it.

sorry for this late reply. looking forward to your feedback

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Benny, till now I was assuming that ‘shen me’ always comes at the end of the sentence. But here, you have used ‘shen me’ in the middle. Is there any specific reason? Or can I still say ‘Ni jiao ming zi shen me?’

And also, is the same ‘shi’ used to mention ‘is’, ‘are’ and ‘am’… ‘Wo shi Siva’ (I am Siva).. ‘Ni shi Benny’ (You are Benny).. ?

Hao Ji le, Benny.
Although I have tryed practicing and some Chinese say they understand using the same words others say they don’t? I understand different languages Cantonese and Mandarine.

ni hao laoshi..
qing wen, how do u say filipino people in chinese?…
xiexie!…

Ni hao Benny. Thanks a lot for your teaching. A question: can I say just ¨ni jiao shen ma?¨ omiting the word mingzi. thanks

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