1

I saw this sentence on a textbook:

漂漂亮亮地参加晚会

Without more context information, what is the translation of that sentence?

I think it has a meaning of "(a girl) dress up beautifully before going to a party", but I'm not quite sure.

3 Answers 3

5

Your understanding is correct. This sentence is equivalent to

打扮得漂漂亮亮去参加晚会
2

There is a special point:

If you say this word with a pronunciation piàopiàoliāngliāng (i.e. XX阴平阴平) but not piàopiàoliangliang, it also means "well done", "a neat job", "in style", "chicly",or "be not a procrastinator".

E.g.:

他漂漂亮亮地把事儿给办成了。 -- He did a neat job!

That's natural + welcome Chinese:)

2
  • How does this answer the question?? Oct 24, 2012 at 7:43
  • @JamesJiao I guess that 0xB2CC's answer should be a comment instead.
    – dusan
    Oct 27, 2012 at 23:48
1

Seems it's out of context, but:

In the case of adjectives composed of two characters (morphemes), generally each of the two characters is reduplicated separately: piàoliang 漂亮 (beautiful) reduplicates as piàopiàoliangliang 漂漂亮亮 (source: wikipedia).

And as we know, the function of reduplication is to extend the meaning of the words. So, since the 漂漂亮亮 has no first subject to mention (i.e.: The woman, etc.), 漂漂亮亮 can't stand alone for only 漂亮, So, the subject here is: 漂亮. And it could means:

  1. The beautiful woman dressing nice (before/while) attends the party;
  2. 'The beautiful man' dressing nice (before/while) attends the party.

'The beautiful man' just the same with the handsome guys.

2
  • Oh, I thought you can't use 漂亮 with "man".
    – dusan
    Oct 22, 2012 at 17:10
  • 1
    @dusan: Of course you can use it.. There is no restriction about the usage of that word. You can use it whenever you see something really good and just saying: 漂亮..
    – mrjimoy_05
    Oct 24, 2012 at 0:51

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