en
cs
da
de
it
plCommon errors
1. Syntactic error
Incorrect position: Learners might place a negation in the wrong position.
*我家不离学校远。/ *我家不離學校遠。
我家离学校不远。/ 我家離學校不遠。
*你家离不离学校远? / *你家離不離學校遠？
你家离学校远不远？/ 你家離學校遠不遠？
2. Semantic error
2.1 When expressing ‘distance from’ learners might confuse ‘离/離’ and ‘从/從’.
When talking about distance from somewhere ‘离/離’ must be used.
*你家从学校远吗? / *你家從學校遠嗎?
你家离学校远吗? / 你家離學校遠嗎?
When talking about movement from somewhere ‘从/從’ must be used.
*他们离大学出发了。/ *他們離大學出發了。
他们从大学出发了。/ 他們從大學出發了。
2.2 Learners might overuse the verb 有 when discussing a specific distance.
你家离大学有多远? / 你家離大學有多遠?
你家离大学多远? / 你家離大學多遠?
By including ‘有’ in the sentence the speaker assumes the distance is large.
3. Pragmatic error or inappropriate usage
Learners often tend to use the entire structure every time. However, especially if one of the reference points is ‘here‘ or ‘now,‘ the first noun phrase is often omitted from the sentence because the context is clear. This happens mostly in a conversation.
现在离考试只有三天了。/ 現在離考試只有三天了。
离考试只有三天了。/ 離考試只有三天了。
4. Error caused by native transfer
Both ‘离/離’ and ‘从/從’ translates into ‘from’, which can easily lead learners to uncertainty about when to use which word.
The following two sentences are both grammatically acceptable but have a different semantic focus.
地铁站离学校不远。/ 地鐵站離學校不遠。
Focus is on the distance between the two places.
从地铁站到学校不远。/ 從地鐵站到學校不遠。
Focus is on the travel distance from one place to another.
Another common error is to use an ‘imitative’ approach and transfer ‘is’ directly by using the verb 是.
*商店离学校是六十五公里。/ *商店離學校是六十五公里。
商店离学校有六十五公里。/ 商店離學校有六十五公里。
The shop is 65 kilometers from the school.
*超市离你家是远吗? / *超市離你家是遠嗎?
超市离你家远吗? / 超市離你家遠嗎?
Is the supermarket far from your home?
When discussing the distance between two places and one of them is ‘here’, it is usually put after ‘from’ in English. In Chinese ‘这里/这儿’ / ‘這裡/這兒’ can come either before or after ‘离/離’.
超市离这里太远了。 / 超市離這裡太遠了。 The supermarket is too far from here.
这里离超市太远了。/ 這裡離超市太遠了。 It’s too far from here to the supermarket.