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I would like to know what Chinese people say in general when saying "you should be ashamed of yourself". In Google translate I get the following:

你应该为自己感到羞耻

In my opinion this is way too formal. Is there a slang / phrase that Chinese / Cantonese people use in general?

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    see jukuu： ３。你应当自惭。４。你真是不要脸！
    – user6065
    Sep 20, 2016 at 14:39
  • for precision see e.g. bkrs: 自惭 feel ashamed 自己感到惭愧 听了他这番话, 我更感自惭 与他相比，我自惭形秽。 Compared with him, I feel inferior. 不要脸 bùyàoliǎn [What effrontery!lose all sense of shame; shameless] 不顾面子, 不知羞耻 不要脸的人 bù yào liǎn to have no sense of shame shameless 不知羞耻（骂人的话）。 bù yào liǎn 骂人不知羞耻。 如：「你真是个不要脸的东西！」 不顾面子，不知羞耻。 bù yào liǎn shameless; brazen; have no sense of shame; no shame at all: 真不要脸! What a nerve!; Shame on you! 只有不要脸的人才能做出这样不要脸的事。 Only those who have no sense of shame can do such shameful things.
    – user6065
    Sep 20, 2016 at 18:33

5 Answers 5

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Mandarin:

你应该为自己感到羞耻 we still say it in general and it is much mild comparing to 你真不要脸

Cantonese:

In Cantonese we would say 你应该感到羞耻 but it is more formal, in slang/daily i usually say 我系你我會搵窿捐

Reference: I am a native speaker for both

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    你真不要脸= you have no shame,
    – Tang Ho ♦
    Sep 21, 2016 at 11:19
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你怎么好意思 Which means why you do not feel shamed?

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  • This is a perfectly valid answer. 你们怎么好意思downvote呢?
    – Wang Dingwei
    Sep 27, 2016 at 7:57
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Maybe: 感到羞愧

你应该感到羞愧。 I don't think the reflexive 'yourself' is used much in Chinese.

For ashamed of myself there is a phrase 自惭形秽： 真让我自惭形秽。

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  • 自惭形秽 already contained in comment #2 line #1, last 3 characters + 1st character of line #2
    – user6065
    Sep 21, 2016 at 1:03
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    自惭形秽 (feel ashamed / feel unworthy) is used in a comparative sense. For example: a pretty girl may feel 自惭形秽 when standing next to a beauty queen, a rich commoner may feel 自惭形秽 when talking with a royalty.
    – Tang Ho ♦
    Sep 21, 2016 at 5:02
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I would suggest using a rhetorical question to express the emphasized tone to the next degree:

你难道不为自己的行为感到羞愧吗？Don't you think you are shaming yourself?

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你应该为自己感到羞耻

It is a correct translation for "you should be ashamed of yourself". The reason you feel it is too formal is because it doesn't omit anything, which is very rare in actual conversations.

Therefore,

你应该感到羞耻

would sound much more natural. I am a native Cantonese speaker, so I would say

你應該覺得慚愧至係！

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