那个是我工作上的东西
Why is there a 上 in this sentence? How does it change the meaning? Ie, what's the difference between 工作的东西 and 工作上的东西? When should 工作上 be used as opposed to 工作?
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2 Answers
上 here means about（相关）.
Try to understand it like this: 那个是我工作相关的东西
If you omit 上, it'd be understand as the item used for work rather than about.
那个是我工作的东西 sounds a bit like 那个是我工作用的东西.
Anyway, both are rarely spoken for native Mandarin speakers. You'd better provide more context.
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That sounds right. Someone I know accidentally sent me an email and I asked what it was about. Mar 8, 2014 at 11:12
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I agree, not used so often, since someone who knows you typically knows what you do and you don't need to explain your work to them.– j5shiMar 8, 2014 at 11:32
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Sometimes this happens. For example, you are a professional engineer at NASA, your family would surely ask you a lot when they see your equipments. In this case you may answer
那个是我工作用的东西or那个是我上班用的东西rather than那个是我工作上的东西Mar 9, 2014 at 1:06 -
I am not sure what you meant by 'both are rarely spoken'? Why would they be rarely spoken? Mar 12, 2014 at 22:14
Actually, there's not so much difference. 工作上的东西,工作的东西both mean something related to your work.
And 上actually doesn't mean too much , Chinese language is not that strict as English, you don't have to understand every word.
More examples about 上
-孩子,你在看什么?(Son, what' are you viewing?)
-妈妈,我在看学习上的书(Mom, I am just viewing some academical books)
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Chinese language is not that strict as English - I agree. But I don't think Chinese people will ever say something like
我在看学习上的书. That is too weird. Mar 13, 2014 at 3:54 -
@AwQiruiGuo Well, sometimes I said it. Yes, we often said
学习方面的书. Mar 13, 2014 at 3:57 -
I'm just curious are you native? (please don't take it personally) I think in this particular case, a child would be more likely to say
妈妈，我在看书or妈妈，我在学习. Personally when using上, I often use it with事情following, for example:这些都是工作上的事情. Mar 13, 2014 at 4:04