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I never understood the usage of 弄 for example in this sentence 婶婶找来几片叶子，给雪弄了一双耳环 why is there a 弄了? The sentence makes sense without it.

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    弄 means 做 here. Is the dictionary not helping you or do you have a more specific problem with this word?
    – 杨以轩
    Nov 13, 2013 at 1:49
  • Just an FYI, I've edited your question as we discourage the use of greetings or adding thanks in questions to improve readability.
    – going
    Nov 13, 2013 at 3:35
  • @QuestionOverflow thanks. I did not get that from my C-E dictionary. It says nong = play with; fool with; do; manage; handle; get into a specified condition. How does 给雪弄了一双耳环 and 给雪一双耳环 differ in English?
    – rabbid
    Nov 13, 2013 at 3:50
  • 玩弄 = play, 弄好 = done, 弄了一双耳环 = make a pair of earrings, 给雪 (雪人?) = for snow (snowman?)
    – Casper
    Nov 15, 2013 at 7:35

2 Answers 2

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I assume the object in your question is actually a snowman 雪人 not just 雪. So I think it should be "婶婶找来几片叶子，给雪人弄了一双耳环".

So we have in English: "Shen Shen found some leaves and made a pair of earrings for the snowman."

If you check the dictionary meaning of 弄 you will see it is quite similar to the English make. In the Chinese sentence you have 弄了 so that changes "make" into "made".

Without this, if the sentence was "婶婶找来几片叶子，给雪人一双耳环" the sentence would be: "Shen Shen found some leaves and gave them to the snowman." Now this could technically still be correct based on the context of what's going on, maybe it's a magical snowman who is getting earrings as a gift, but you should be able to see how removing 弄了 changes the meaning of the sentence completely.

"婶婶找来几片叶子，给雪人*弄了*一双耳环"

"Shen Shen found some leaves and made a pair of earrings for the snowman."

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  • 3rd paragraph very clear. I can't believe I didn't realize that. Thank you very much!
    – rabbid
    Nov 13, 2013 at 4:17
  • I think 弄 means 'get; manage'. The meaning of 'make' is actually implied from the context. Without the first phrase, '我给雪人弄了一对耳环' only means 'I got a pair of earrings for the snowman' and doesn't have connotation of 'I made them' at all.
    – NS.X.
    Nov 13, 2013 at 6:40
  • @NS.X., I think that is quite arguable without 来 behind 弄.
    – 杨以轩
    Nov 13, 2013 at 8:23
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    雪 is likely to be a person's name in the example above.
    – 杨以轩
    Nov 13, 2013 at 8:26
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    @xiaohouzi79 雪 could be someone's first name. If it's a young girl then it's not odd to use one-character first name to call her. Thinking of replacing 雪 in this sentence with some girl's first name that couldn't be otherwise a typo, such as 静 or 瑶, the sentence reads just fine.
    – NS.X.
    Nov 13, 2013 at 18:34
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弄 means “ to do， to make”. In this sentence if you omit “ 弄”， it will change to another meaning: 给雪了一双耳环。（ Gave Xue a pair of earings.)

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