"Got a light?"

[Gestalt]

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster.

This is a pretty basic question.

I'm learning Mandarin (coming from a strong Japanese background) and I watched the movie "Beijing Bicycle" the other day. Unfortunately the DVD only had English subtitles and at the moment my comprehension/listening skills in normal conversation are still pretty bad. In one scene a guy asked another if he had a light for his cigarette. The subtitle was "Got a light?" and it sounded to me like he said (actually, mumbled)

火?

Is my hearing correct? Is huo3 the common term for "a light"?

In Japanese 火 ( = "hi" ) is used colloquially to mean this, so it would make sense. I'm trying as much as possibile to find similarities between the two languages to help my progress..

Thanks in advance

[roddy]

Yeah, [pop=have/yǒu]有[/pop][pop=fire/huǒ]火[/pop][pop=吗/ma]吗[/pop]，and [pop=lend/jiè]借[/pop][pop=/ge]个[/pop][pop=fire/huǒ]火[/pop] are used where English would have 'got a light?' and 'give me a light.'

[goldie]

Gestalt,

Hi there. I just wanted to point out that I went the other way. I was fluent in Mandarin before I learnt Japanese (although my Japanese is rusty), it does help a great deal knowing one or the other language, so good luck!

goldie

[Prodigal Son]

is it more common for people to say 有打火机马？

I've never heard someone say 有火吗, but my Chinese isn't tremendous.

[Jose]

I think the difference between 有打火机吗 and 有火吗 is the same as that between saying "have you got a lighter?" and "have you got a light?" in English.

The expression 有火吗 is perfectly correct, as far as I know. It makes perfect sense for me because that's how we say it in Spanish ("tienes fuego?"). I think they say it like that in German too (Hast du Feuer?).

[peterwelm]

有火吗 is more suitable than 有打火机吗 in most case in colloquial chinese.