I think the French ce qui/que says it better. This is what I mean:
I do what I want. (Je fais ce que je veux, in French)
How would the 'what' be translated?
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Probably use "this" or "that" as a filler in Chinese. Like: 我做这个我想做的, 我想做那个我想做的. – Shaw Jun 11 '20 at 20:39
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I see. Is it optional? – Cookie Dough Jun 12 '20 at 7:46
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Yes, it is optional, chinese hate wordy sentences. Or the translation can go like this: 我做我想做的(事) – Shaw Jun 14 '20 at 20:33
You can say 我做我想做的. Here I use 我想做的 to represent things that I want to do. Since I use I use 我做, I use 做 after 想。 If I want to say that I drink what I want. I would say 我喝我想喝的。 Here I use 我喝 so I use 喝 after 想 too.
If you want to simplify it, you can say 我做我想要的(I do what I want).
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So 的 nominalises 我想做 and 我想喝? Oh yeah, I never considered that. Thanks – Cookie Dough Jun 11 '20 at 14:45
If you are doing something somehow bad:
我为所欲为。
I always think of 所 as 'thatwhich' but it may be 'this' or 'what'
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Interesting translation, I wonder how it compares to the more "direct" translation above – information_interchange Jun 13 '20 at 20:40
