In the context of:
你能向他撒娇。
How would 撒娇
be translated?
If 撒娇
is translated as flighty in the context of the sentence, it sounds a bit unnatural:
You can get flighty with him.
Chinese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Chinese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityIn the context of:
你能向他撒娇。
How would 撒娇
be translated?
If 撒娇
is translated as flighty in the context of the sentence, it sounds a bit unnatural:
You can get flighty with him.
To understand 撒娇, you need to understand 撒尿。撒尿 means peeing or urinating。note, 撒 is the ing part of peeing. the word, 尿, is pee part of peeing. so the word 撒 simply means giving out something very comfortably and naturally, just like what you feel when you pee. for example,.仙女撒花,means goddess giving out flowers.
娇 means loveliness, or cuteness. so 撒娇 means giving out your cuteness to someone very comfortably and naturally. in short, it can be translated to English with a single word, flirting. but there is a twist. a little girl can 撒娇 her daddy. In that case, flirting is not correct. you should just use showing cuteness instead.
the first two definitions:
to act like a spoiled child
to throw a tantrum
are the usual meanings of this word.
Think of a kid who has got a boo-boo, it doesn't really, super, hurt, but the child would love the attention of his mom and dad. So the kid puts on a show, cries and wails a little - the parents come running over to coax their kid. This is 撒娇.
perhaps something like: act a sourpuss / whine
你能向他撒娇。
You can whine to him.
You can be pettish with him.
or
You can garner his attention.
You can be attention-seeking with him.
Something like this.
edit: sulkily