5

I got this from the Spoonfed Chinese shared deck on Ankiweb. The translation, which was included in the deck, was "Did you find me about something?" and Google says "Are you looking for me?".

If I translate it character by character I get "Do you find that I have something", but 找 apparently doesn't have the meaning of "think".

2
  • 有事:bkrs:to be occupied with sth to have sth on one's mind,there is something the matter, 你找我有事吗:one possibility: are you looking for me with something on your mind, or closer to Q: Did you look for me about sth.
    – user6065
    May 31, 2016 at 1:15
  • 2
    do you want to see me about something?
    – user6065
    May 31, 2016 at 1:28

7 Answers 7

6

找 in this context means to contact/approach/seek/come to see. The whole sentence is very idiomatic and is a good pattern to remember. Roughly, we are asking Is there a particular reason/cause for coming to see me?, or Are you looking for me, because you have something to discuss?

You could also ask, 你来看我有事吗? (Literally: "You come to see me because of some issue?")

Or even, 你给我打电话有什么事? (Literally, What is the (particular) cause for calling me?)

You can use this pattern to express the goal/reason [e.g. to discuss something] of some action [e.g. to seek someone]. In Chinese, you don't need to express everything explicitely, e.g. a causative relation between to actions, as above, from the context this will be clear.

2

Actually 找 here cannot be translated to find or look for. According to the context, the word here means approach. The sentence literally means "Do you approach me for something?". In everyday Chinese, the sentence can be translated as "What's the matter?".

1

Google's translation is correct. Character by character translation: Are you looking for me for something? 找 means find, look for, not think.

1

An English equivalent would be :

  1. Can I help you?
  2. What's up?
  3. Do you require assistance?
  4. What do you need?

Or in Singaporean-English:

  1. You look for me for what?

Number 5 would be the most literal translation. Drunken Master's example of :

"你来看我有事吗?"

Although there's nothing wrong with a non native speaker saying the above, we normally wouldn't say that because 看 means more of "look"

Eg. 你看那女孩儿好正哦

Literal: "you look at that girl, awesome"

If: "你看我有事吗?"

The above has a different meaning. It means more of "Do you think there's something wrong with me?" "Do you think there could be something wrong with me?".

0

It actually means, Is there anything I can help you with? or Do you have any questions to me? Sometimes, we just say "有事吗?" in a more casual situation.

0

It has a short form: 有何贵干。

有何 means :What is……

贵干 is a honorific which means what others gonna to do.

-2

This mean:Do you have any problem need my help?

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