How many children do you have

Урок № 23 Английский язык по методу доктора Пимслера

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Listen to this conversation.
Mr. Petrov is speaking with Mrs. Johnson.
A — How many children do you have, Mr. Petrov?
B — Two. My wife and I have two children a little girl and a little boy.
A — Are they here in America with you?
B — Yes, they are and tomorrow we are going to Long Island. How many miles is it to Long Island?
A — Sixty miles. It’s sixty miles to Long Island.

Say in English «машина».
Car

Say «в машине».
In the car.

Say «в семье».
In the family.
In the family.

Say «в нашей семье».
In our family.

Ask «сколько человек?»
How many people?
How many people are there?

Say «в вашей семье».
In your family.

Now ask «сколько человек в вашей семье?»
How many people are there in your family?

Answer «пять человек».
Five people.

«В нашей семье пять человек». Не забывайте о порядке слов.
There are five people in our family.

У нас трое детей.
We have three children.

Один мальчик и две девочки.
One boy and two girls.
One boy and two girls.

Try to say «девочки здесь, в Америке».
The girls are here in America.

C нами.
With us.

Наш маленький мальчик в России.
Our little boy is in Russia.

Правда?
Really?

Наша семья большая.
Our family is big.

У нас большая семья.
We have a big family.

Try to say «у нас небольшая семья». Дословно по-английски это будет звучать так «у нас нет большой семьи».
We don’t have a big family.
We don’t have a big family.

Мы хотим большую семью.
We want a big family.
We want a big family.

Say «но мы можем подождать».
But we can wait.
But we can wait.

Say «в нашей семье три человека».
There are three people in our family.

«У нас маленькая семья».
Listen and repeat.
We have a small family.
Small
Small
a small family
We have a small family.

Слова «small», «little» переводятся одинаково — маленький. Но они используются в различном контексте. Говоря о семье или машине, американцы используют слово «small».

Скажите еще раз, что у вас маленькая семья.
We have a small family.

Try to say «и у нас маленькая машина».
And we have a small car.
small car

Спросите, где туалет.
Where’s the bathroom?

How do you say «это там».
It’s over there.
Can you wait?

Say «да, мы можем подождать».
Yes, we can wait.

In English how do you say — как сказать по-английски
In English how do you say «бензин»?
Gas
Gas

У вас достаточно бензина?
Do you have enough gas?

Now say «пять галлонов».
Five gallons.

Этого достаточно.
That’s enough.

Ask «правда?»
Really?
Really?

Ask me if that’s enough.
Ask me if that’s enough.
Is that enough?
Is that enough?

Подождите
Wait
Wait

У меня 30 долларов.
I have thirty dollars.

Now say «и я хотел бы 20 галлонов бензина».
And I’d like twenty gallons of gas.

Say «моя машина слишком большая».
My car is too big.

Ask me if I have a big car.
Do you have a big car?

Попробуйте дать короткий положительный ответ.
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.

Я хочу маленькую машину.
I want a small car.
a small car

«Я хочу машину поменьше».
Listen and repeat.
I want a smaller car.
smaller
er small
smaller
smaller

Say «я хочу машину поменьше».
I want a smaller car.

Помните, как сказать «дороже»?
More expensive.
More expensive.

При образовании сравнительной формы в английском языке к длинным словам, так, например, как «дорогой», нужно добавлять слово «more» «more expensive». В случае с короткими словами, к концу слова добавляется «er».

Скажите еще раз, что хотите машину поменьше.
I want a smaller car.
a smaller car

Now ask «у вас достаточно бензина?»
Do you have enough gas?

Пожалуйста, дайте мне 16 галлонов бензина.
Please give me 16 gallons of gas.

Подождите
Wait

Now say «дайте мне 10 галлонов бензина».
Give me ten gallons of gas.

Помните, как спросить, где Парковый Проспект?
Where’s the Park Avenue?
Where

Попробуйте спросить, «куда вы собираетесь?».
Where are you going?
Where

Обратите внимание, что по-английски «где» и «куда» обозначаются одним и тем же словом.

Спросите еще раз «куда вы собираетесь?»
Where are you going?

Say «я собираюсь на Лонг-Айленд».
I’m going to Long Island.

Ask «сколько миль?»
How many miles?
How many miles is it?

Сколько миль до Лонг-Айленда?
How many miles is it to Long Island?

«Это далеко».
Listen and repeat.
It’s far.
far
far
It’s far.

How do you say «это далеко»?
It’s far.
Long Island is far.

Ask me if Long Island is far.
Is Long Island far?
Is Long Island far?

Say «я не знаю».
I don’t know.

«Семьдесят миль». Попробуйте сказать слово «семьдесят».
Seventy
Seventy

How do you say «семьдесят миль».
Seventy miles.

17 миль
Seventeen miles

73
Seventy three

Say 75
Seventy five

Say «нет 71»
No, seventy one.

Say «подождите».
Wait

Вы говорите слишком быстро.
You speak too fast.

Say 74
Seventy four

And now say 64.
Sixty four.

How does she say «Лонг-Айленд далеко»
Long Island is far.
It’s far.

Ask «у вас достаточно бензина?»
Do you have enough gas?

Дайте короткий утвердительный ответ.
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.

Скажите, что у вас маленькая машина.
I have a small car.

Try to say «я хочу машину побольше».
I want a bigger car.
a bigger car

А как сказать «но это дороже»?
But it’s more expensive.
more expensive

Помните, как спросить, куда вы собираетесь?
Where are you going?
Where

Сейчас она хочет спросить, по какой дороге можно проехать на Лонг-Айленд.
Listen.
Which is the road to Long Island?

Сначала выучим слово дорога.
Listen and repeat.
Road
Road
The road

В английском языке существует много слов для обозначения различного рода автодорог. Спрашивая или объясняя, как проехать в то или иное место, вам чаще всего придется использовать слово «road».

Скажите еще раз «дорога».
Road
The road

Try to say «дорога на Лонг-Айленд».
The road to Long Island.
to Long Island

Вот как спросить «по какой дороге можно проехать на Лонг-Айленд?»
Listen and repeat.
Which is the road to Long Island?
Which
Which
Which is Which is the road to Long Island?

Try to say «Лонг-Айленд? Это далеко».
Long Island? It’s far.
It’s far.

Ask «сколько миль?»
How many miles?
How many miles is it?

Answer 75.
Seventy five

Ask «по какой дороге можно проехать на Лонг-Айленд?»
Which is the road to Long Island?
Which is the road to Long Island?

«Это прямо».
Listen and repeat.
It’s straight ahead.
ahead
head
ahead
straight
straight
straight ahead
It’s
It’s straight ahead.

Say «это прямо».
It’s straight ahead.

Say «подождите».
Wait

Say «это дороге не на Лонг-Айленд». По-английски дословно вам придется сказать «это не дорога на Лонг-Айленд».
That’s not the road to Long Island.
That’s not
That’s not the road to Long Island.

Дорога на Лонг-Айленд.
The road to Long Island.

Дорога на Лонг-Айленд там.
The road to Long Island is over there.

Ask «прямо?»
Straight ahead?
Straight ahead?

Say «да, прямо».
Yes, straight ahead.

Ask him how much gas he wants.
Ask him how much gas he wants.
How much gas do you want?
How much gas do you want?

Say «пожалуйста дайте мне 16 галлонов бензина».
Please give me sixteen gallons of gas.

Say «большое спасибо».
Thank you very much.

Как ей нужно ответить?
You are welcome.
You are welcome.

How do you say in English «подождите»?
Wait

Куда вы собираетесь?
Where are you going?
Where

Ask «Лонг-Айленд далеко?»
Is Long Island far?
Is Long Island far?

Answer «нет, не далеко».
No, not far.
It’s not far.

78 миль
Seventy eight miles
Seventy eight

«Это дорога на Лонг-Айленд?»
Listen and repeat.
Is this the road to Long Island?
this
this
Is this
Is this
Is this the road
Is this the road to Long Island?

Ask again «Это дорога на Лонг-Айленд?»
Is this the road to Long Island?
This

And how do you say «это дорога не на Лонг-Айленд».
That’s not the road to Long Island.
That’s

Слова «this» и «that» достаточно близки по значению. Они часто используются для выделения того, или иного предмета из общего ряда.

Спросите еще раз «На Лонг-Айленд ли эта дорога?»
Is this the road to Long Island?

Ask «по какой дороге можно проехать на Лонг-Айленд?»
Which is the road to Long Island?

Дорога на Лонг-Айленд — прямо.
The road to Long Island is straight ahead.

Скажите, что у вас маленькая машина.
I have a small car.

Say «наши дети вместе с нами».
Our children are with us.
Our children are with us.

И я хотел бы машину побольше.
And I’d like a bigger car.

Say «но Лонг-Айленд не далеко».
But Long Island isn’t far.

Допустим, что вы со своей семьей едите на Лонг-Айленд. Вы останавливаетесь для того, чтобы заправить машину и уточнить маршрут. На вопрос работника бензоколонки ответьте, что вы хотели бы 5 галлонов бензина.
Good morning, ma’am. How much gas do you want?
Five gallons of gas. I’d like five gallons of gas, please.

Ask «по какой дороге можно проехать на Лонг-Айленд?»
Which is the road to Long Island?

Сейчас спросите его, на Лонг-Айленд ли эта дорога.
Is this the road to Long Island?
Is this the road to Long Island?
Yes, it is. Long Island straight ahead.

Спросите, сколько миль до Лонг-Айленда.
How many miles is it to Long miles.
It isn’t too far. Sixty or seventy miles.

Поблагодарите его.
Thank you. Thanks.

Он заметил детей в вашей машине. Как он скажет «у вас большая семья»?
You have a big family.

Say «да, в нашей семье 7 человек».
Yes, there are seven people in our family.
There are seven people in our family.

Попрощайтесь с ним.
Good bye, sir.

Отлично! Можете перейти к двадцать четвертому уроку.

How many children /kids do you have?

sinukg

Senior Member

Please see the following sentences and tell me which of them is natural and used by native English speakers.

How many children do you have?
How many kids do you have?

The Newt

Senior Member

DonnyB

Member Emeritus

Some people seem to object to the informality of «kids» but it sounds fine to me in ordinary common everyday use.

I think in BE I’d ask «How many children/kids have you got?» rather than «. do you have».

Thomas Tompion

Member Emeritus

Please see the following sentences and tell me which of them is natural and used by native English speakers.

How many children do you have?
How many kids do you have?

They are both fine, Sinukg.

Kids is more informal. I won’t use it at all, but for many people it’s the standard word.

MagEditor

Senior Member

Kids is not only common, but preferred in American English, except in formal instances.

Реакции: sinukg и DonnyB

sinukg

Senior Member

velisarius

Senior Member

In BE it’s not all that easy to ask someone about their offspring. I too feel that kids is very informal, especially if the youngsters are over the age of about five. If a stranger asks about my «kids», I assume they don’t like them much.

How many kids you got? If someone asked me that, I’d find it mildly offensive.
How many kids do you have? Okay if it’s said by someone I’ve just met down the pub.
How many children do you have? This is what I’d expect to hear from a stranger. It’s polite. (My friends already know how many children I’ve got.)

How many children should you have?

It is sometimes said that both large families and small ones feel sorry for one another. There’s some truth in this. But is it better to have one child and focus all of your attention and resources on them? Or should you have two children, or several, so they always have each other, as well as you? There’s no ‘correct’ answer, but the following points might help if this is a dilemma you’re pondering.

Authored by Dr Mary Lowth ·
Reviewed by Dr Sarah Jarvis MBE

04-Dec-17 · 6 mins read

Only children

It goes without saying that there is a huge difference between having one child and having none. Your life will change dramatically and your choices will, from now on, involve another person. But having one single child is often said to be very different from having more than one.

Parents of ‘only’ children will point to many advantages. For instance, being able to focus all your resources on one child instead of having to share things out.

It’s also true, that parents may need to adjust their lives less if they have one child. This can be a good thing if everyone is ‘catered for’, although it can be a bad thing if it results in the child always having to participate in adult activities, without the reverse happening.

What do only children say?

Single children have generally positive things to say about being an only child. These include: undivided attentions from their parents, no sibling rivalry and greater independence.

However, some parents say there’s an increased risk of spoiling an only child and are concerned their offspring may turn out selfish. Some only children wish for a sibling and also feel greater pressure to succeed as your ‘only hope’. And, on a darker note, if you need support in your old age, your only child may wish they weren’t solely responsible for looking after you.

Two children

Research suggests that having two children is still most people’s idea of the ‘ideal’ family size. Having said that, according to the Office for National Statistics, one-child families have been on the increase over the last two decades. And by 2012 there were more one-child families than parents with two children.

Some people say that having two children reduces the chance of spoiling and gives your current child a companion. It also means pregnancy is generally more straightforward the second time and clothes and toys can be handed down. Having a second child can also provide reassurance; if you’re someone that worries a lot about what would happen to your children if something happened to you, you know they have each other.

But there are disadvantages to consider too. It will be tiring, particularly if your children are very close together. And it will of course be more expensive. There’s also sibling rivalry to bear in mind.

Siblings

Children who have a sibling have lots to say about what that means for them. Comments include:

Three children

Parents of three or more children often say that the ‘jump’ from two to three children felt bigger than the jump from zero to one. Others say that it was easier than the jump from one to two. Some of the things that parents say online about having three children include:

The practicalities of life become more complicated when you are trying to juggle the demands of three. This can be stressful and exhausting and at times life can feel really chaotic.

Cars are expensive. A third child means a jump up in price from a car that will carry two plus two comfortably to one that carries two plus three, particularly if all three need child seats.

The rewards of having three children that love you are just as multiplied as the stresses.

So many holiday and restaurant packages are for ‘2 plus 2’. Hotel ‘family rooms’ hardly ever accommodate five.

The things that people say about having three children become magnified in families who have four or more. These families have many positive things to say about large family size. Because they will have moved gradually, and mainly through choice, from being a large to a very large family, they generally are people who have already decided that the trade-off between the stresses and the advantages of lots of children is worth making.

Families with lots of children talk about the experience being exhausting, chaotic and physically wearing. They talk about the need for their children to understand financial discipline, and to share and to hand things down. However, they also talk about massive benefits of support between siblings and from children to parents, about the fun and excitement large families generate, about how rewarding this can be and about feeling reassured that their children will always have each other.

The impact on your relationship

Having a baby is an enormous task. Whilst it is a wonderful one, a new baby will take your attention away from each other. It can bond a good relationship, and enhance it with a new, shared task that makes you appreciate each other more. It can also mean you need to work harder to keep your relationship as good as you want it to be.

There is evidence, from large studies of families, that having children makes couples more likely to stay together but less likely to feel happy and fulfilled by their relationship.

How many children do you have? What if you can guess that THEY are adults?

This actually happened with me. As I moved into my new apartment, the society was also new to me. There is an old couple (aged above 50, I guess). I asked the elderly person (after I became a bit familiar with them) how many kids he has. And he coolly replied, «Two sons, but they are not kids anymore!» Both of us laughed but this triggered a question to my mind.

His answer is valid. How many kids do you have? This means now. The answer is ‘NONE’ because those two sons are not kids anymore!

What should be an alternative way to express this question?

How many kids/children did you have?

but then this means they are dead
How many adults do you have?

A neutral question that works for sure.

How many sons and/or daughters you have?

But we generally don’t ask this. How many kids/children do you have? is way more common.

1 Answer 1

As many comments have said, «kids» can refer to children of any age, and the dictionaries support that.

That said, it’s peculiar how the meaning of the word can shift with the right pronoun or reference. If I saw your grown sons standing in the kitchen, but didn’t know who they were, I would say, «There are two people in the kitchen» – I’d never refer to them as «kids» or «children». But if I’m aware of the relationship, everything changes. In that case, I would probably say, «Your two kids are in the kitchen,» even if they stand taller than me, have successful careers, and have kids of their own.

Incidentally, this makes «Two sons, but they are not kids anymore!» a valid answer to your properly-worded question. Your friend wasn’t correcting the wording of your question, he was simply providing further information about the ages of his children.

How many kids living with you?

meijin

Senior Member

Hi, please compare the following two questions I made up, imagining they are being asked by someone who you have just met and chatted for a few minutes.

1. So, how many kids are living with you?
2. So, how many kids do you have living with you?

(People usually ask «Do you have any children?» first, but let’s imagine the speaker didn’t do so.)

If someone else’s children currently live with you (and there’s no reason to hide the fact), you would count them if the question was #1 but wouldn’t count them if it was #2. Am I correct?

london calling

Senior Member

I would avoid the use of ‘kids’ in a survey. It’s informal and some object to it.

I prefer no. 2 (How many children do you have living with you?) but fail to understand the difference you are trying to make. This could be a reference to your own children and somebody else’s, as could your first sentence.

rituparnahoymoy

Senior Member

london calling

Senior Member

The OP said, and I quote:

(People usually ask «Do you have any children?» first, but let’s imagine the speaker didn’t do so.)

So:
a) we are not talking about your (the person answering the survey) children.
b) Kids is not an option is a survey.

Myridon

Senior Member

meijin

Senior Member

I didn’t use the word «survey» this time.

(Yes, I wouldn’t use «kids» if it was a survey.)

Myridon

Senior Member

«I have three children.» means the children are yours. It is idiomatic.
«I have three children living with me.» without context could mean «Three children (no relation) are living with me.»

I have three coal miners. There is no idiomatic meaning for this sentence. It sounds like you have taken them hostage.
I have three coal miners living with me. (Three coal miners are living with me. I rent rooms to them.)

london calling

Senior Member

I didn’t use the word «survey» this time.

(Yes, I wouldn’t use «kids» if it was a survey.)

meijin

Senior Member

Myridon

Senior Member

london calling

Senior Member

Hermione Golightly

Senior Member

rituparnahoymoy

Senior Member

What do you mean by children here?

That person’s own kids(is the person a parent of those children)

or has he rented out his house to a lot of children. Is that a hostel then? Or the children are actually teenagers.

london calling

Senior Member

The OP said, and I quote:

(People usually ask «Do you have any children?» first, but let’s imagine the speaker didn’t do so.)

So:
a) we are not talking about your (the person answering the survey) children.
b) Kids is not an option is a survey.

See my answer to you above:

The OP said, and I quote:

(People usually ask «Do you have any children?» first, but let’s imagine the speaker didn’t do so.)

So:
a) we are not talking about your (the person answering the survey) children.
b) Kids is not an option is a survey.

meijin

Senior Member

So «kids of yours» works. Good to know. «Children of yours» sounded all right to me but I wasn’t sure about «kids of yours».

(Don’t BE speakers use «kids» in a friendly chat with someone who they have just met?)

london calling

Senior Member

meijin

Senior Member

meijin

Senior Member

rituparnahoymoy

Senior Member

So «kids of yours» works. Good to know. «Children of yours» sounded all right to me but I wasn’t sure about «kids of yours».

(Don’t BE speakers use «kids» in a friendly chat with someone who they have just met?)

I don’t think it is a question about English anymore?

A: Do you have (a child/any children).

Stranger: No, I haven’t started my family yet.I am unmarried and a virgin.

A: How many of your children still live with you?

Meijin, would you ask the last question to a stranger (without knowing how many children the person has)?

rituparnahoymoy

Senior Member

Ok, fine then. Joint family.

How many of your relatives children are still living with you at your house?

london calling

Senior Member

MarcB

Senior Member

I would call them brats. Not only do BE speakers object to using kids, I find that some people reserve the expression for goats, others only use it informally and there are those who use it all the time.

london calling

Senior Member

I would call them brats too.

I quote my mother, who on many occasions has said she doesn’t like to go to places full of ‘screaming kids’. She would never ask a friend or relative how their ‘kids’ are (or ‘grandkids’, God forbid, even I object to that). I might, as it has become such a commonplace thing to say.

Myridon

Senior Member

Unmarried people have children. People in the US who are not close friends do not talk about their virginity status with each other. (Especially, when the «still» in your question implies that they look old enough to have adult children.)

If you want to have a natural conversation like a native speaker, you will ask if they have children first. It’s rather pointless to discuss the situation of what you would say in an unnatural conversation. What do you say to a stranger when they are riding a unicorn?

meijin

Senior Member

rituparnahoymoy

Senior Member

Unmarried people have children. People in the US who are not close friends do not talk about their virginity status with each other. (Especially, when the «still» in your question implies that they look old enough to have adult children.)

If you want to have a natural conversation like a native speaker, you will ask if they have children first. It’s rather pointless to discuss the situation of what you would say in an unnatural conversation. What do you say to a stranger when they are riding a unicorn?

But I didn’t ask the strange set of questions? I was just giving an example which in real life is highly unlikely to happen.

I don’t think anyone would ask a stranger «how many children does he have»? without first trying to know whether he is married or not.

I gave a suggestion to Meijin.

How many of your relatives children are still living with you at your house?

Should I have used the possessive clause with relatives’s.

How many of your relatives’s children are still living with you at your house?