Questions tagged [expressions]
Questions about more or less fixed expressions.
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Understanding 有上月了
I came across the following passage in a Taiwanese short story titled 水鬼學校和失去媽媽的水獺.
「哪時可以參觀池塘？」
「胖大媽，不急呢！」我們扛起水缸離去，說：「現在是戒嚴時期，學校遭小偷了，我們得先抓到賊呢！」
這事情有上月了，只是這三天很嚴重。
I’m having trouble understanding how ...
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What is the difference between 把握and 掌握in Chinese
In college we were asked that questions and I couldn't get any answers till now
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感同身受 English equivalent
As the question says, Im wondering if this 成語 has an English version.
The best I could come up with is "I feel you" in English, but I feel the Chinese version has a deeper meaning. Any ...
user31212
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"Set the priority straight" in Chinese?
What is Chinese for "Set the priority straight" ?
Or is there any Chinese fable or ancient story that relates to the idea of setting the priority straight?
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What is the translation of "objet trouvé" into Chinese?
What is the standard translation of "objet trouvé" or "found object" into Chinese? I am looking for an authoritative translation based on some Chinese reference work in art history ...
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十万八千里 meaning great distance?
In Chinese, 十萬八千里; 十万八千里; shí wàn bā qiān lǐ, 108,000 li, means a great distance. Does anyone knows why they chose 108,000? Is there a poem or historical reason behind this number?
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How would I say "change the laundry"?
I use the phrase "change the laundry" to mean "move the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer." I would like to know how to say this in Chinese.
I checked Pleco, and found ...
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The meaning of 打 in 邊個打邊個
In Cantonese, 唔知邊個打邊個 means "don't know (confused) who is who"
The verb 打 (hit; attack) here seemingly occupy the position of 'is' in this phrase
But the meaning of 'is' is not included in ...
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Slogan 社会……方何 on a Maoist poster
What is the slogan, mostly obscured by the typist, on the poster that hangs behind him, on this poster from 1956?
Since the artist chose to obscure the poster, it must have been easily recognizable at ...
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How should I parse "有过之而无不及"?
Chinese-study newbie here! I recently saw the idiom "有过之而无不及," which the online dictionary translates as "to not be inferior in any aspect." I understand this on an idiomatic level,...
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How do I express "I don’t envy you" properly in Chinese?
It's basically translated to
我不羡慕你。
My Chinese colleague has a difficult task, and maybe have to work overtime. When I consoled him,
我不羡慕你 (I don’t envy you)。
He asked back,
为什么要羡慕我？
I realized ...
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What is the translation for 以后还得了?
So I came across seeing this post and I find that I can't translate "以后还得了" to English.
But based on my knowledge, this post is saying that her daughter would be very clever if she knows how ...
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Understand 憎人富貴厭人貧(窮)
The Cantonese expression 憎人富貴厭人貧/窮 (hate the rich, discriminate the poor) illustrated a mentality that is considered unhealthy. I am trying to find a simple description of this attitude
I came up with
...
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Is the construction 连A带B meaning "both A and B" a general construction or limited to fixed expressions?
The Pleco dictionary mentions the construction 连A带B meaning "both A and B" in the definition of 连, but I can't find any other discussion of this structure.
I see it in fixed expressions like ...
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What 'nostril's hair move' have to do with fear? (嚇到鼻哥窿都冇肉)
嚇到鼻哥窿都冇肉 literally means 'Scared to the point of even nostrils have no flesh'
I was wondering what 'nostrils have no flesh' have to do with fear, so I did some search and found the following article:
...
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Is the term 有色人种 ("colored races") normally used by Chinese people?
和奥巴马一起帮民主党候选人拉票的还有佐治亚州前州长候选人艾布拉姆斯。拜登能在此次大选中让佐治亚州“翻蓝”，艾布拉姆斯功不可没。她在2018年的州长选举中惜败，之后一直在佐治亚州多个地方组织动员新选民，特别是鼓励有色人种选民投票。此外，拜登表示他将参与佐治亚州参议员的竞选活动，但没有指明具体时间。
美两党为控制参议院再战佐治亚，2020年12月07日
I was reading the ...
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What is 輸打贏要? (Cantonese expression)
In this puzzle game I included a Cantonese expression 輸打贏要. and explained it as 'Very bad sportsmanship'
A user asked what it means in the comment section. I replied he can Google it, but the result ...
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Adj. + 到 to express an extent
I've just stumbled across this sentence:
"吃土" 表示自己没有钱了，很穷，穷到只能吃土的状态了
I'm interested in 穷到只能吃土的状态了. It means "so poor that they can only eat soil". But it seems that adjective + 到 ...
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Can someone please explain this: 都没吃饭吗
I was watching a drama and in the scene, the coach was speaking to her team:
Coach: 希望每个队员都能拿出最好的状态。能不能做到 (I know all of you can do your best。 Can you do that?)
Team: 能！(Yes!)
Coach: 都没吃饭吗 (Not loud ...
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What is the Chinese equivalent of "time to [A]"?
In English, we have a "time to [A]" phrase that indicates something like "now is the appropriate moment to [A]" or "now is the moment at which [A] will happen".
Examples ...
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What are the repeatedly used structures in 4-character expressions (e.g. chengyu) and what do they mean?
In today's reading, I encountered the expression 敬而远之. However, I noticed this x而y之 structure is repeated in many other 4-character expressions (Pleco search ?而?之):
敬而远之
大而化之
等而下之
分而治之
换而言之
久而久之
取而代之
...
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“你我未来，由此展开。” Is this a real Chinese expression?
Is this an authentic Chinese expression? If it is, then why is the only place I see it in use on the Chinese-language version of the US Census website?
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Why is 我的朋友今年住在美国 translated to both "my friend [is living in / lived in] America this year"?
Here I am trying to translate two different English sentences to Chinese.
"My friend is living in America this year."
He is still living in America at the point of stating this fact.
Translation :...
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How old is the expression “老百姓”？
I have searched on line text bases, especially for 三国志 since the 2010 television version of that is what made me wonder. But I do not seem to get reliable results that way. Perhaps if I understood the ...
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What does 他得经历九九八十一难 refer to?
I was watching a 西游记 adaptation from Little Fox Chinese and I've come across a sentence with numbers I can't quite understand. I read the translation but yet it doesn't make sense:
"观音菩萨吃惊地看着信使。“...
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What does 我知道 and 应该的 mean in this dialogue?
There's this dialogue here: (3:20) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yelfxueMlvc
请问，洗手间在哪里？
洗手间？在那边。在那里的右手边。
哦，好。我知道。谢谢.
不客气，应该的。
So... "我知道" certainly doesn't mean "I know" here. ...
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Chinese of “No one will think you’re mute because you don’t speak”
Does anyone know the correct Chinese expression that goes something like no one would think you’re mute because you don’t speak? And how it’s correctly written in Chinese?
I’ve read the translation a ...
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Is there an expression similar to the English "gut feeling" in Chinese?
Is there a metaphor or idiom that has a similar meaning to "gut feeling", as a metaphor for "intuition" or "instinctive feeling", in Mandarin Chinese?
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Is 噷 a common way to express thinking?
I'm looking for a way to express "hmmn" as in "hmnn... what should I do?" when I stumbled upon 噷. In wikipedia, it says that it is a way to 'indicate thinking' but in baidu, it doesn't appear to have ...
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What does the expression 方便倒是方便 mean?
"方便倒是方便" seems like a fixed expression, and from context it seems to be rejecting "is it convenient?" as a reason for doing something. I can't find an actual definition, though.
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How to say 反常识的 in English?
How to properly translate 反常识的 to English in academic writing? I want to express a surprising and unusual phenomenon that shouldn't appear in an experiment, which is not expected and against the ...
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Usage of 能骗就骗 (if you can cheat, then cheat)
There is a Youtube video by a popular Youtube blogger who lives in China and is married to a Chinese woman, and he says in that video that the Chinese language has the idiom 能骗就骗 ("if you can cheat, ...
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讷 as nò, an exclamation meaning "Here you go"
Encountered this in the Pimsleur transcript:
Nánrén: Wô gêi nî yìdiânr Rénmínbì. Nò.
Shí jiû kuài Rénmínbì. Xiànzài nî yôu
duöshâo qián?
男人：我给你一点儿人民币。讷。 十九
块人民币。现在你有多少钱？
Man: I’ll ...
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Usage advice: 什么时候vs哪个时候
I am writing a formal business email to a client, and at the end I would like to ask him when would be his most convenient time to have a phone call. The sentence goes like this:
请您让我知道哪个时候您最方便接电话。
...
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Selling it as soon as you've bought it — Chinese expression
In college, I had just started a physics class in relativity and I was so excited that I began explaining everything I had learned to my Taiwanese roommate. Perhaps my tone was a bit too arrogant or ...
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How to express "tend to ~" in Chinese?
According to a dictionary, tend to ~ is translated into the following words:
倾向
易於
走向
有～的倾向
But I think all of them are not used as often while reading, and thus is very awkward if I use them in ...
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Mnemonics for 汉字: examples and resources
Where can one find other mnemonics similar to
横戌点戍空心戊 and 已半, 巳满, 不出己 ?
Also, what in your opinion are the most common, useful or interesting such mnemonics? What is the term for such mnemonics in ...
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Chinese expression for "go out early and return early"
I'm Looking for a Chinese expression that means something like "go out early and return early" or "the sooner you leave, the sooner you can come back". It expresses a wish for a person who is leaving ...
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Meaning of the expression 黄毛小儿
Is 黄毛小儿 a sort of idiomatic phrase? Literally it would mean a "yellow haired child."
I saw it on a TV drama, but from the child in question was definitely not yellow haired. Since the speaker was ...
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In 很高兴认识你 is there an implied 我 at the front or is 很高兴 modifying 认识 as in "happily meet"?
I know that I'm asking about an expression which doesn't have to follow the normal rules of grammar. But if it makes sense to ask, I'd like to understand if that sentence is literally structured as "...
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Is it okay to ask 你的电话号码是什么?
Is it ok to ask:
你的电话号码是什么? (What is your telephone number)
Or do I have to say:
你的电话号码是多少? which is the translation on Duolingo.
Also, can I just say:
"你的电话是多少?
because 电话 already means ...
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How to say "head" and "tails" when flipping a coin?
While talking about probability with mainland Chinese students I asked what they say for heads and tails of a Chinese coin. I was tossing a one Yuan coin, and they decided I could say in English "...
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Is there an expression in Chinese for saying "I'm taken"?
In English you can say "I'm taken" to express that you already have a significant other (girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/etc.) and are not open to romantic advances from other people.
Is there an ...
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What is the meaning of 臭石头 (slang)?
I remember that my dad used this occasionally when he was arguing with my mom. Google translate just returns smelly rock, but I know it's gotta be some sort of slang, as whenever my dad said it, my ...
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How to say "until when do you stay here?" correctly?
In the following conversation:
I: 你住在首尔吗？
X: 来玩的
I: 那你到几天在这边吗？
X: 对啊
I tried to ask "Then until when (which day) do you stay here?", but the opponent seems to take it differently, possibly ...
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Usage and Grammar of 看我这脑子
Came across this phrase in episode 35 of Growing up with Chinese on CCTV. The father is having trouble sending an email and he says to his son,
咳，看我这脑子，我怎么把这事忘了。
Usage: I feel like 看我这脑子 would be ...
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Why is 大家们 (dàjiāmén) a thing?
Searching Baidu for 大家们 (dàjiāmén) gives 8,770,000 hits.
Question: Why is 大家们 a thing?
It is surprising because 大家 (dàjiā) means everyone, and 们 (mén) is used to turn a few select words into plurals....
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What does 三声无奈 mean?
There is this Min song called 三声无奈, lit. "three sounds helpless". This seems to be an idiomatic expression. I am not totally sure what it means though. It seems to mean "completely helpless". This is ...
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Why is the boss called 老板?
The primary meaning of 板 is 'board'. So why does 老板 or 'old board' mean 'boss, chief'?
