a few dogs
  • a few dogs
    which is correct?
  • The latter would work. You could also say

    It also depends if by "a few" you mean "some" or "not many". All the above mean "some". 少数(しょうすう)の犬(いぬ) would be "not many.". (ほんの)少(すこ)しの狗 is somewhere in between (a little, a bit), but not so common.

    (replace 匹 by 頭(とう) for large dogs)
  • Blutorange, why are you using 狗? Sure, it's in the dictionary, but I feel I've almost never seen it in use. Stevenwool, the generally used kanji for いぬ is 犬.
  • thank you both
  • >Blutorange, why are you using 狗?
    I guess I'm just in the mood right now because I'm reading a V(isual)N(ovel) with lots of creative kanji usage (己=おれ, 巫山戯る etc.) right now and I'm really enjoying it... but yes, use 犬 when in doubt (but I suppose the TS is not learning kanji yet anyway). Same goes for 幾疋, which is usually 数匹.

    (PS: I've heard that 狗 is the common character in Chinese.)

Howdy, Stranger!


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