外国人 in Context

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A NEW WORD HAS BEEN UNLOCKED 

外国人 

Usage 1 - "foreigner": 

Sentence：

有很多外国人现在开始学习中文。

English:

There are a lot of foreigners starting to study Chinese now.

Top-Down Words:

现在 xiànzài - now, at the moment
学习 xuéxí - to study

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Sentence：

外国人很友爱。

English:

Foreigners are very friendly.

Top-Down Words:

友爱 yǒuài - friendly, fraternal love

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*Sentence：

那你知道哪些有名的外国人?

English:

Which famous foreigners do you know?

Top-Down Words:

知道 zhīdào - to know

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*Sentence：

中国人的名字和外国人的名字有什么不一样呢？

English:

What is the difference between a Chinese name and a foreigner's name?

Top-Down Words:

呢 ne - (grammatical particle placed at the end of a non-yes no question to emphasize the inquisitiveness.）

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Need a Reminder?

The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words

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Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

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Christopher Thompson

A couple of questions about this sentence...
那你知道哪些有名的外国人?
First, I see many sentences that begin with 那. The 那 seems to have no necessary grammatical purpose, but works, I guess, like "so" in English. Sometimes "so" implies a connection to a previous statement. For example, a friend tells me that she was at a party last night, I might say, "So you are a little hungover this morning, eh?" because that conclusion follows her statement. On the other hand I might approach a group of friends and ask, "So, what are you doing?" which simply softens the question. Is that about right?
Second, what about 知道 in this sentence? Is this a different "know" than the one in 我认识你? Is it like the difference between "conocer" and "saber" in Spanish? In Spanish you use the first for people, meaning you recognize them, they are familiar to you. You don't use the latter for people, but for subject matter or skills.
So you might say that you 知道 celebrities, meaning you know their names and faces, but you are not friends with them, but 我认识你 means I actually know you.

Mandarin Blueprint

Regarding "那/那么": When placed at the beginning of the sentence, they both mean "so..." or "in that case..." In short, your analysis is correct!
You're also correct about the difference between 知道 and 认识. I know (知道) who Brad Pitt is, but I don't *know* (认识) him like I do a friend.

MB Team

Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGOkHhpBYxQ&t=1678s