rdearman wrote:...I find that mandarin has a more laxidasical structure when related to number.
laxidasical: lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
Thank you for your reply, rdearman, and yes, Chinese is a language not compared to English so precise and thus more flexible in general. And that's what have puzzled me when I was trying to figure out a proper translation in English (as my personal language practice.)
You see, the original sentence is , let me number each sentence,
「1我要買玩具*,2我要買玩具。3買一個**,4我要買玩具。」
[*]我要買玩具 can mean "I want to buy a toy" or "I want to buy toys."
[**]買一個 is literally "buy one".
The third sentence is very informative. Not until it do we know he only wants to buy one toy. And the information implies more when it comes out of a pre-school kid. He is subconsciously reminding himself.
Having received suggestions from some other cyber-pals, I made a translation (S1) and it's two variations (S2, S3). Your comments please (esp. if S2 and S3 are grammatical)? Thank you.
S1. I want to buy toys. I want to buy toys. One. I want to buy a toy.
S2. I want to buy toys. I want to buy toys. Buying one. I want to buy a toy.
S3. I want to buy toys. I want to buy toys. To buy one. I want to buy a toy.