[General] Have you just come back from abroad?

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I saw a foreign in my community and I thought he might just come back from his own country, maybe US or the UK or somewhere else. So I asked him "Have you just come back from abroad"? I want to ask if he was asked to quarantine when arrived China.

Is my italic sentence natural?

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes, it is, but the rest of your post needs a lot of work.:-(

 

[Silverobama]

Yes, it is, but the rest of your post needs a lot of work.:-(

I think "abroad" most of the time is an adverb. Why not just say "Have you just come back abroad"?

 

[Silverobama]

'Abroad' as an adverb can contain the idea of 'to' or 'at', but not 'from'.

'Home' is similar.

I'm a bit confused now, teacher. Do you mean that "Have you just come back from abroad" is not natural?

 

[GoesStation]

'Abroad' as an adverb can contain the idea of 'to' or 'at', but not 'from'.

'Home' is similar.

I'm a bit confused now, teacher. Do you mean that "Have you just come back from abroad" is not natural?

Abroad contains the idea of "to" or "in" when it's an adverb: I enjoy traveling abroad (I like going to places that are not my home country). I forget about my everyday cares when I'm abroad (I relax when I'm in another country). It doesn't work that way in the other direction. You have to specify from abroad.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.

I saw a foreigner in my community and I thought he might have just come back from his own country, maybe the US or the UK or somewhere else. So I asked him "Have you just come back from abroad"? I wanted to ask if he was [STRIKE]asked[/STRIKE] required to go into quarantine/quarantine himself when he arrived in China.

Is my italic sentence natural?

Please note my corrections above.

Did you mean that you asked him the question you quoted and you then went on to ask him if he had had to go into quarantine? At the moment, your post suggests that you asked him "Have you just come back from abroad?" in order to elicit the answer to the question about quarantine. That doesn't make sense. You haven't actually asked him anything about quarantine.

 

[Silverobama]

Thanks a lot for the explanation, Piscean and GoesStation. I read it a few times and I understand what it means now.

Did you mean that you asked him the question you quoted and you then went on to ask him if he had had to go into quarantine? At the moment, your post suggests that you asked him "Have you just come back from abroad?" in order to elicit the answer to the question about quarantine. That doesn't make sense. You haven't actually asked him anything about quarantine.

I agree with you, ems, totally. But the foreigner soon understood what I meant. If I directly asked him "Were you required to go into quarantine" and it might sound a bit rude. That sounds like he is infected with the virus.

Hmm, but I wonder if my question in bold italic is natural; I want to use it in a different context.

 

[GoesStation]

If I directly asked him "Were you required to go into quarantine" and it might sound a bit rude. That sounds like he is infected with the virus.

Hmm, but I wonder if my question in bold italic is natural; I want to use it in a different context.

It's natural and couldn't be taken as rude. The few people traveling internationally know very well that most countries currently require a two-week precautionary quarantine when they arrive from abroad. There's no implication that they're infected, but even if there were, it would not be rude.