All Questions
5
votes
2answers
150 views
我(也)很好 and tone sandhi
What are the (resultant) tones in those sentences, where all the words in isolation have 3rd tone?
我很好。
我也很好。
Reading tone shandhi rules on Wikipedia, there is no explanation about tree or ...
3
votes
2answers
179 views
Difference between 好累 and 很累
我很累。
我好累。
What's the difference between those sentences? Both seems to mean "I'm tired".
1
vote
3answers
125 views
What's the subject of this sentence?
I found a short sentence on tatoeba.org and I'm not exactly sure what it means.
好像找到了。
My best guess is that it means, "Seems like you found it." Is that right?
2
votes
3answers
236 views
Is this sentence ambiguous out of context?
My newsletter says this sentence
我五分钟后就回来。
is translated as "I'll be back in 5 minutes".
I am curious to know whether this sentence could be translated as "I came back 5 minutes ago", or does ...
7
votes
5answers
583 views
Why were some letters like Q, X, C, chosen for Pinyin which confuse non-Chinese speakers?
A romanization system is basically a system in which roman (latin) letters are used for languages that use non-roman scripts. This has the obvious benefit that people who can (maybe only) read roman ...
2
votes
1answer
220 views
What dialect could this be? (Southern China)
I was yesterday in a bus in the HK neighbourhood called 上環/soeng6 waan4. A guy nearby was talking in a strange, almost alien-sounding, Chinese dialect. At some point he mentioned (what I suppose is ...
5
votes
1answer
94 views
What is the difference between 升, 陞 and 昇?
There are some characters in Chinese which give me severe headaches, especially those that have the same pronunciation and mean more or less the same thing.
I have learnt three characters which are ...
4
votes
9answers
477 views
Is 我很对不起你 a unique sentence structure?
I'd never seen or heard this before until I recently watched a TV series and had to ask my wife to explain.
My initial guess was that it meant "I feel sorry for you" when in fact it means something ...
10
votes
2answers
256 views
Informal ways of beginning/ending an e-mail
I have been writing quite a few e-mails recently and I feel that I want to expand my vocabulary regarding acceptable phrases to use both at the beginning and end of an e-mail. When I say informal, I ...
4
votes
5answers
212 views
In this sentence, what is the purpose of 的?
Consider this sentence:
你说的是什么？
I understand that 的 permits creating adjectives, like 我的 would be "my". But here, I can’t see how it works. What is its purpose?
5
votes
1answer
124 views
2
votes
4answers
185 views
Meaning of 我知道的就这么多了 [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Translation of “this much and no more”
I found this sentence on Tatoeba:
我知道的就這麼多了。 (Simplified Chinese: 我知道的就这么多了。)
Beyond this I know nothing.
I ...
16
votes
6answers
664 views
的-地-得, when do you use which?
So the age old question of 的-地-得, when do you use which? When spoken, it all sounds the same, but on paper it depends on if it's a verb, noun, adjective. But I don't quite remember if that is all that ...
6
votes
2answers
141 views
Why was 滾 (gǔn) simplified to 滚?
Why was the traditional character 滾 simplified to 滚? It's only one stroke less so it seems doubtful that it was done to make the character simpler to write. Does it change the meaning of the character ...
3
votes
5answers
579 views
Origin of 呆在 vs 待在
Both 呆在 and 待在 are acceptable ways of writing dai1 zai4 meaning "stay at/in". For instance, a couple sentences from iciba:
我们因天气寒冷呆在家里。 Because of the cold weather, we stayed at home.
...
12
votes
2answers
310 views
Words referring to the shape of Chinese characters
Some words in English use (capital) letters to describe the shape of the object to which they refer:
A-frame, C-clamp, I-beam, O-ring, T-shirt, T-intersection, T-bone, U-turn, V-neck
Chinese ...
3
votes
3answers
211 views
What is the function of 已 in 好像她已出去好几天了。
What is the purpose of 已 in the following sentence？
好像她已出去好几天了。
The English translation given is:
It looks as if she's gone away for a few days.
Or is this an incorrect-character, supposed ...
2
votes
2answers
198 views
pronunciation of 人 - regional or gender differences?
To my English tuned ear, these audio files of people pronouncing 人 sound very different.
My colleague (a native Mandarin speaker) insists they are the same sound, and thinks I am just confused ...
9
votes
3answers
318 views
血: xuè , xiě, what's the difference?
Is there some sort of logical rule for when 血 is xuè and when it is xiě?
2
votes
1answer
171 views
Pronunciation differences between pinyin 'zh' and 'ch', and between 'qi' and 'xi'
Although this question states that these sounds can be often mixed (though mainly in dialtects...)
Do you know where I could find a detailed description of position and movement of the tongue
for ...
3
votes
5answers
422 views
What's the difference between 了解 and 理解？
I've asked some of my Chinese friends what the difference was. Most couldn't explain. Some said that you 了解 people but you 理解 things. What's the difference?
3
votes
4answers
193 views
What's an appropriate conversational response to 这是什么？
In English, if someone points to a book and says "What's that?", "A book" is a sufficient reply. In Chinese, if someone points to a book and says "这是什么？", can you say "书" or maybe "一本书"? What's the ...
2
votes
3answers
300 views
What is the meaning of 老不死 exactly?
I'd like to know in depth detail, what is the meaning of this expression?
How come there is only a few people saying it? Old and not died is a good thing in my mind.
5
votes
2answers
262 views
Pronunciation of 一 in 一个
When I first learnt the numbers, I learnt 一 with the first tone yi1.
But now, during a Memrise lesson, they teach me that 一个 should be pronounced yi2 ge4 or yi2 ge5.
Is this correct and, if so, is ...
9
votes
4answers
248 views
Can Chinese readers scan large amounts of text faster/more accurately than their alphabet-using counterparts?
I was browsing one day and came across this comment in this discussion(italics mine):
I feel English is a reading language, if you are reading an English book, you watch the word and make sound in ...
9
votes
4answers
543 views
How to pronounce “下载”
How to pronounce the word "下载", "xià zǎi" or "xià zài"？
Most Chinese people pronounce it "xià zǎi", but there are some people insist on pronouncing it "xià zài". There are different also different ...
1
vote
3answers
121 views
Should the temporal indicators be in a certain order?
To translate “what did you eat today at lunch?” in Chinese, I have 午饭 to translate lunch, and 今天 for today. Do they have to be located at the beginning of the sentence?
今天午饭你吃了什么？
or can I put ...
2
votes
3answers
170 views
What's the difference between 快 and 快要?
I started to learn Chinese like one month ago and I'm facing a first misunderstanding.
In my book it says that 快 can be used to say "soon" but 快要 is also used to express the same thing. Is there a ...
2
votes
5answers
241 views
Table-tennis table: 乒乓球桌, 乒乓球台 or 乒乓球案子?
I have found those translations of a "table-tennis table":
乒乓球桌
乒乓球台
乒乓球案子
Searching for pictures of them, all 3 appear to be the same thing. On http://www.mdbg.net/ I only found 乒乓球台 .
Are ...
1
vote
2answers
144 views
Authoritative source for 一 changing to 4th tone before 1st, 2nd or 3rd
In another users answer http://chinese.stackexchange.com/a/2046/38 they said:
一 is pronounced in the first tone when it stands alone. It is
pronounced in the fourth tone when it precedes a ...
5
votes
1answer
193 views
Pinyin “ying” has an “o” sound?
Look at 1:54 and 5:22 of this video: Chinese Pinyin in 6 Mins
Is ying really pronounced with an "o" sound? This seems counterintuitive, especially when yin (at 1:49 in the video) sounds as a native ...
5
votes
3answers
323 views
Is there an equivalent for the Cantonese phrase “Ng Goi”
The Cantonese phrase "Ng Goi" has many meanings;
"Excuse me"
"Thanks" (casual)
"Hey"
Does it have a 普通话 equivalent? And how can I write it in pinyin? Is it even possible?
3
votes
4answers
223 views
That mystical 就 again
Here is a sentence:
厨房壁炉架上的那面镜子就把哈利吓了一跳
Below are my translation variants. Bold letters should be a 'jiu' english analog here.
The mirror on top of the kitchen's fireplace scared Harry the ...
3
votes
2answers
156 views
Tips for multiple-pronunciation characters (多音字)
This is a broad request for tips, but I have a specific question in mind as well.
尽 can be pronounced as "jin4" or "jin3".
In Pleco, the definition for "jin3" is "to the greatest extent" while one ...
6
votes
3answers
299 views
Difference between 与，和 and 跟?
Do the following three sentences mean the same thing, that is, can they be used interchangeably?
她的父母就来我们家与我的家人见面了。
她的父母就来我们家和我的家人见面了。
她的父母就来我们家跟我的家人见面了。
2
votes
2answers
136 views
Difference between 活 and 住?
I read that both 活 and 住 both refer to the verb "to live". Is there a difference between the two?
1
vote
2answers
142 views
Ordering food from a menu in a restaurant
How should I order food from a menu in a restaurant?
In English I'd usually say something like 'I'll have the beef' or 'one of these and two of those' while pointing.
In the past in China I have ...
0
votes
4answers
102 views
Are these correct headings for a spreadsheet?
The spreadsheet is related to food safety (processing, handling, storage, etc.)
ID: 编号 (项目?)
Process: 制程
Food category:食品类别
Standard: 标准
Frequency (as in how many times per day or every how many ...
1
vote
2answers
169 views
What effective methods exists for visual learners to get Chinese grammar?
I want to learn Chinese grammar (e.g. sentence structure), however, I am a highly visual person and feel a visual learning process would help me the most.
I have already taken a beginner Chinese ...
13
votes
5answers
392 views
What is a good technique for remembering tones?
I find it a great struggle to try and remember tones for all the new vocab I learn, and aside from gradually picking up tones by listening and talking with native speakers, I can't really remember ...
4
votes
3answers
122 views
Visual puns and phrases
Some characters are visual puns: 尜 (小大小), 尖 (小大); others are a phrase written as a single character: 膥 (未成肉), 籴 (入米), 汆 (入水), 奀 (不大).
What are some other characters which fit into these categories?
2
votes
3answers
191 views
Tonal difference between 浪费 and 糟蹋
Both 浪费 and 糟蹋 mean "to waste." (I'm not really concerned with the other uses of 糟蹋 right now.)
I've seen the collocations 糟蹋粮食 and 糟蹋人才, and 浪费 is very common in phrases like 浪费时间 and 浪费水.
Are ...
15
votes
5answers
301 views
How to differentiate between “On Top” and “Above”
If I wanted to translate the prepositional phrase "on the bed" to Chinese, I know to say "床上", but I don't know what the translation would be for saying "above/over the bed".
From what I can gather, ...
1
vote
3answers
228 views
国家 vs. 国, when can 国 be used alone?
In the Chinese book for beginners by Bellassen, it is stated that 国 cannot be used alone: it doesn't have a meaning on its own, and thus the word country/fatherland is 国家 and not 国.
However... I am ...
2
votes
2answers
214 views
留学: Why the use of “留”?
I'm sure like many students of Chinese, my first encounter with the character 留 was in the word 留学, meaning "to study abroad".
Some time later I encountered 留 as an independent word, meaning "to ...
7
votes
5answers
489 views
What software can correct pronunciation?
What software is available which can record my voice and warn me about problems with my pronunciation and tones?
9
votes
4answers
287 views
How is 就 (jiù) used?
Pimsleur's Mandarin course teaches "I'm leaving very early tomorrow morning" as:
我明天早上很早就走 (wŏ míngtiān zăoshàng hĕn zăo jiù zŏu)
It says that 就 (jiù) doesn't have a corresponding meaning in ...
-1
votes
2answers
94 views
Is there any website of where I can look up the origins of a Chinese character? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What etymology dictionaries are available?
What was this online dictionary's name with ancient traditional and simplified characters and etymology?
I always wanted to ...
0
votes
1answer
118 views
询问奸雄所见略同的由来 and how does it relate to chinese
The quote"我很想询问奸雄所见略同的由来" seems very interesting to me. And in Google Translate, it translates to "I would like to ask the king's men great minds think alike the origin of." It doesn't seem to make ...
1
vote
2answers
96 views
What is 被 doing in sentence “这种病在三十年前就被根除了”?
I understand that the sentence means something like "This disease was eradicated 30 years ago", but I have no idea what role does 被 have in it?
Is the sentence okay if we remove it? Does it convey ...
