<p>Sometimes, it helps to know the names and background of the people you're reading about. The appearance of the name <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soong_Ching-ling" rel="nofollow noreferrer">宋慶齡</a> in the text should instigate an immediate background check.</p>
<ul>
<li>宋耀如 is 宋慶齡's father - his proper name is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Soong" rel="nofollow noreferrer">宋嘉澍</a>, and 宋耀如 is his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name" rel="nofollow noreferrer">courtesy name</a>.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>一個星期天，宋耀如一家用過早餐，準備到一位朋友家去。</p>
<p><em>One Sunday, the house (family) of</em> 宋耀如 <em>had breakfast and planned to go to a friend's house</em>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <em>friend</em> should be primarily assumed to be that of 宋耀如, and by extension a family friend.</p>
<hr />
<p>FYI: 用餐 is another way of saying 吃飯, if not a bit more old-fashioned.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-21T04:36:10.807Z
2019-06-21T04:42:48.930Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
dROOOze
<p>the problem you met is a common problem in Chinese, how to split a sentence into words(commonly known as tokenization in natural language processing). Actually, there are sometimes more than one way to split a sentence, such as 用过 and 过早 are both meaningful words, however, we would like to pick up the most probable way for splitting. In your case,  用过/早餐 is more often than 用/过早/餐. If you are not sure about your case, you may try some tools like <a href="https://www.toolnb.com/tools/fc.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.toolnb.com/tools/fc.html</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-23T23:17:53.317Z
2019-06-23T23:17:53.317Z
zpgao
<p>One sunday, 宋耀如's family is ready to go to a friend's house after finish their breakfast</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-23T23:22:48.780Z
2019-06-23T23:22:48.780Z
wilson zhang
<p>This sentence is from the 3-rd grade 语文 book I'm studying (the exact pages are <a href="http://www.nanshansi123.com/kewen/sannianjishangce/1200.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>一个星期天，<strong>宋耀如一家用过早餐</strong>，准备到一位朋友家去。  </p>
</blockquote>

<p>It says "One Sunday, [something], ready to go to a friends house."</p>

<p><strong>Question</strong>: How do I parse 宋耀如一家用过早餐?</p>

<p>I think:</p>

<ul>
<li>宋耀 is a man's name,</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%80%E5%AE%B6/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">一家</a> go together to form "household",</li>
<li>I don't know what 如 is doing here (possible "like", as in "like a household"),</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E7%94%A8%E8%BF%87" rel="nofollow noreferrer">用过</a> = used (past tense),</li>
<li><a href="http://youdao.com/w/%E6%97%A9%E9%A4%90" rel="nofollow noreferrer">早餐</a> = breakfast (but this seems mismatched with "used").</li>
</ul>

<p>Or maybe <a href="http://%E8%BF%87%E6%97%A9" rel="nofollow noreferrer">过早</a> = premature.  I'm totally lost here.</p>

<translation>
How do I parse 宋耀如一家用过早餐?
# How do I parse 宋耀如一家用过早餐?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-21)

This sentence is from the 3-rd grade 语文 book I'm studying (the exact pages are [here](http://www.nanshansi123.com/kewen/sannianjishangce/1200.html)):

> 一个星期天，**宋耀如一家用过早餐**，准备到一位朋友家去。

It says "One Sunday, [something], ready to go to a friends house."

**Question**: How do I parse 宋耀如一家用过早餐?

I think:

* 宋耀 is a man's name,
* [一家](http://youdao.com/w/%E4%B8%80%E5%AE%B6/) go together to form "household",
* I don't know what 如 is doing here (possible "like", as in "like a household"),
* [用过](http://youdao.com/w/%E7%94%A8%E8%BF%87) = used (past tense),
* [早餐](http://youdao.com/w/%E6%97%A9%E9%A4%90) = breakfast (but this seems mismatched with "used").

Or maybe [过早](http://%E8%BF%87%E6%97%A9) = premature. I'm totally lost here.

**Tags:** translation


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-06-21. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Sometimes, it helps to know the names and background of the people you're reading about. The appearance of the name [宋慶齡](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soong_Ching-ling) in the text should instigate an immediate background check.

* 宋耀如 is 宋慶齡's father - his proper name is [宋嘉澍](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Soong), and 宋耀如 is his [courtesy name](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtesy_name).

> 一個星期天，宋耀如一家用過早餐，準備到一位朋友家去。
>
> *One Sunday, the house (family) of* 宋耀如 *had breakfast and planned to go to a friend's house*.

The *friend* should be primarily assumed to be that of 宋耀如, and by extension a family friend.

---

FYI: 用餐 is another way of saying 吃飯, if not a bit more old-fashioned.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2019-06-23. Score: 1

the problem you met is a common problem in Chinese, how to split a sentence into words(commonly known as tokenization in natural language processing). Actually, there are sometimes more than one way to split a sentence, such as 用过 and 过早 are both meaningful words, however, we would like to pick up the most probable way for splitting. In your case, 用过/早餐 is more often than 用/过早/餐. If you are not sure about your case, you may try some tools like <https://www.toolnb.com/tools/fc.html>.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2019-06-23. Score: 0

One sunday, 宋耀如's family is ready to go to a friend's house after finish their breakfast


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