Questions tagged [mandarin]
Question specifically about the Mandarin dialect. (Not for arbitrary questions that happen to involve Mandarin.)
610
questions
3
votes
0answers
70 views
Are there any multi-syllabic words in Chinese without a glottal stop?
Are there any words in Chinese of 2 more syllables where there isn't a glottal stop between the syllables such that each syllable is not pronounced clearly, that a final consonant and initial ...
1
vote
2answers
105 views
What does “我牛起来” mean?
I know what each of the characters mean, but I'm confuse on how to put it into a sentence.
我 - I
牛 - ox
起来 - up
1
vote
1answer
49 views
Can someone translate what is written in this photo please?
Please i need help translating this into english. I have no idea what it says.
0
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3answers
76 views
How to discuss preferences / ask which do you prefer in Mandarin
How does one discuss preferences/ask what someone prefers out of a series of options?
Do you just list each option followed by 好不好？
Thanks
1
vote
1answer
91 views
what does 上疾 mean in this sentence (她在网球场上疾如闪电。)
I have the sentence 她在网球场上疾如闪电。I know that it means "she is as quick as lightning on the tennis court" What role does 上疾 have in the sentence it clearly doesn't mean, on disease!
Are there ...
2
votes
4answers
90 views
What is the difference between 没 and 不 when used with 又?
What's the difference between these sentences:
他又没来上课
他又不来上课()
Here: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22again%22_in_the_past_with_%22you%22#Negative_Form
it says both 没 ...
3
votes
1answer
91 views
What tone for retroflex r?
The retroflex r is not the consonant r in a word (pinyin) like in 人 rén.
The retroflex is added as a suffix in the Beijing area, or as a diminutive suffix.
Would it be pronounced with the second tone,...
0
votes
2answers
72 views
Is 摆有 a word in MSM?
桌上摆有一卷书
(source: example sentence in a publicly available flashcard deck - no other context provided).
None of the 40+ dictionaries I consulted carry this lemma, and google offers precious little too....
1
vote
1answer
67 views
Chinese-characters learning software for Ubuntu (Linux)
I am looking for a software that shows a Chinese alphabet/word on my desktop with its pinyin and meaning in English, and each day it will give a different word.
Since I am using a Linux (Ubuntu 18.04) ...
0
votes
3answers
95 views
Hello! Can someone please translate: 'My Little Ghost' to Chinese?
I'm creating a story with this title and the setting I'm supposed to have is in ancient China. It would be helpful if you can show me how it is spelled and if the translated version sounds more like ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
There is this song that I can't find the Pinyin lyrics to on Youtube
Can someone help me find it please? This is just copied and pasted from what should be the songs title 凌震 尤金 多看一眼
1
vote
3answers
318 views
Exactly how bad is it to call a family member by their given name?
I hear it is taboo to call any family member by their given name, especially if you are speaking to an older relative. Or if not taboo, then at the very least it is extremely rude. Do people ever call ...
0
votes
1answer
52 views
How to say financial trader in Mandarin?
How does one say "trader" in Mandarin. I am meaning a financial trader who invests in the stock market. Would it be 股民？
谢谢
1
vote
1answer
70 views
How to say “What was your favourite subject” and “tell me something interesting about you”
I want to know how to say "What was your favourite subject" (i.e. school subject when younger) and "tell me something interesting about you" in Mandarin.
Would it be something like:...
0
votes
1answer
97 views
Can someone translate these lyrics in English?
爱恨廉价 似苍苍蒹葭
苦艾后劲 皆贪共与他
望光亮 两世皆行走潇洒
破万枷 散馀霞 众相皆渡他
Ref 众相渡他·2020肖战生贺原创曲
I used Google Translate and a dictionary to find the meaning, but it doesn't make sense.
4
votes
2answers
112 views
In a 还是 question, do I need to repeat the verb?
I'm learning Chinese from a book, and there are some examples regarding the use of 还是. In some cases, the verb is repeated, like in 你喝茶还是喝咖啡？ (note the two 喝 here). In other places, the second ...
3
votes
1answer
106 views
Are there any Mandarin dialects with three tones?
有只有三个声调的官话方言吗？东干语有四个音素的声调，但是在没有变调的上下文只有三个不同的声调, 例如在短语的末尾。有没有在每个上下文都用三个声调的方言？
Are there any Mandarin dialects with three tones? Standard Dungan has four phonemic tones, but only has three in contexts ...
2
votes
2answers
105 views
Translating as Past or Present tense
I am translating an excerpt of a Chinese short story. In general, do any indicators in Chinese grammar exist that would require the usage of past tense (in English) instead of present tense? In this ...
2
votes
1answer
66 views
What are some examples of stative -le and iterative aspect in Mandarin?
I'm a graduate student studying how bilinguals interpret certain aspectual expressions in Mandarin. I'm currently preparing all of my stimuli, but I'm hoping for some help from native speakers since I'...
0
votes
1answer
57 views
Usage of negation 没 with 在 and 着 particle?
Hello I start learning Chinese since not long, after I fell in love with the Expanse book series. (Chinese explorers are one of the first to colonise Mars planet).
I studied that 在 and 着 are particles ...
1
vote
3answers
59 views
How to say “can/can’t use” in Chinese?
How can I say “my wechat is not working, I can only use alipay.”
Is this right?
我的微信坏了， 我只用支付宝。
I wanted to know what are the other ways to say can or can’t use?
0
votes
2answers
94 views
2
votes
4answers
111 views
How to say “free yourself” in Mandarin"?
I'm going to do a tattoo, so I'd like to know how to write "free yourself" in mandarin; I'd like to write it in mandarin, first because I'm a mandarin student, so I'll know how to read it ...
-2
votes
2answers
289 views
Hokkien name to Mandarin
A friend of mine has a Hokkien name of 'eng leng' (leng is long and means dragon). However, I have no idea of this 'eng'. This name was given by her ancestor who is really passed. So I am helpless ...
9
votes
1answer
254 views
How did Middle Chinese “hæwk” evolve into Mandarin “xué”?
So I was wondering why the on'yomi reading of Japanese 学 was "gaku" and the Korean reading of 學 was "hak", since I knew that in Mandarin, 学 was "xué", which is radically ...
0
votes
4answers
172 views
Which one is correct? 他们是我的老师们/他们是我的老师
家好
请问一下，这些句子哪个对，哪个不对 ?
Which one is correct and which one is wrong?
他们是我的老师们 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我的老师 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我老师们 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我老师 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我的朋友们 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我的朋友 (两个以上的老师)
他们是我朋友们 (两个以上的老师)...
0
votes
2answers
516 views
Which one is correct? 给我打电话/打电话给我
can you help me which one is correct and which one is wrong?
你给我打个电话
你给我打电话
你给我电话
你打给我个电话
你打给我电话
你打电话给我
Thank you.
2
votes
1answer
244 views
Besides the radical, what meaning does the rest of a Chinese character have (especially when it was originally created)?
I am a beginning student of Mandarin Chinese. There is a key thing about Chinese characters that I am trying to understand. Besides the radical, what purpose does the rest of a character have? Was it ...
2
votes
4answers
431 views
How do you refer to multiple people with the same surname?
I was wondering if Chinese people ever get confused addressing multiple people with the same last name.
For example, let's say you are at a gathering and you meet many people who are from the same ...
2
votes
1answer
99 views
Is “就快下雨了” correct Mandarin?
I've been watching Peppa Pig to improve my Mandarin, but here at 1:59, the mama pig says “就快下雨了” meaning to say that it will rain soon. However I thought that the phrase "就快" was Cantonese ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
Is it normal to not use abbreviation for titles in Mainland China?
I notice people in mainland China use abbreviation for almost all titles.
Example:
習總裁 --> 习总
郎(平)教練 --> 郎教
任隊長 --> 任隊
This kind of abbreviation even appears in Hong Kong's TV dramas.
...
1
vote
3answers
148 views
Is this a valid riddle in Mandarin?
I came up with this 看图猜謎 based on Cantonese jyutping. Is it a valid riddle in Mandarin?
猜一句詩 (guess a verse in a poem)
Answer:
2
votes
3answers
970 views
Does Chinese require more context to avoid ambiguities than English?
After some time learning Chinese, I feel Chinese language is more ambiguous than English or Spanish, in the sense that a single sentence without some context can easily have multiple distinct meanings,...
-1
votes
1answer
66 views
Resources for Chinese in formal situations [closed]
I am looking for a comprehensive guide of formal Chinese for business emails, memos, laws, newspapers, etc. I am aware that some sentence patterns are only used in a formal context. For example, ....均....
0
votes
2answers
91 views
How would I say 'what …' in Mandarin
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?
1
vote
3answers
59 views
“Still better than” informal translation — X 还是比 Y 好 abbreviation
I want to say "X is still better than Y :)" in a kind of joking/offhand manner. This is just a simple text message, so I would further like to abbreviate it like: "still better than Y :)"
My ...
1
vote
1answer
154 views
Is there a difference between 夂 and 夊, radicals 34 and 35 and 攵, Kangxi 66?
The excellent Olle Linge asked the similar question "Is there a difference between 夂 and 夊?" about seven years ago. The learned answers at that time missed the fact that 攵 appears more commonly in ...
0
votes
1answer
77 views
What is the Chinese lady in this 5-second video clip saying?
https://streamable.com/e/n5fhft?autoplay=1
I finally cut it out, uploaded and asked about it after wondering about it for years. What is she saying?
2
votes
2answers
134 views
Help with a Taiwanese expression
I had friends from Taiwan many years ago who often used an expression that seemed to mean something like "praising an idol, or bowing down" not sure. Sometimes said with a bowing down motion. It was ...
2
votes
3answers
108 views
When can nouns be used as verbs?
I’ve heard quite a few people from Mainland China say something like this:
每个周末我都会和我的父母一起视频。
I video call my parents every weekend.
Now, 视频 just means “video”, which means it is a noun.
The ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Can 得 be used as a stand alone answer?
The following question/answer combinations are correct to my knowledge.
他能去吗？能。
他会去吗？会。
他可以去吗？可以。
What about the following question/answer combinations ?
他应该去吗？应该。
他该去吗？该。
他必须去吗？必须。
他得去吗？得。
...
4
votes
1answer
215 views
What is the meaning of the tone numbers shown in Wiktionary's Mandarin pronunciation?
According to Wiktionary, the word 游泳 is pronounced as /joʊ̯³⁵ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/. What exactly is the meaning of the numbers 214-21(4)? The first three numbers indicate the standard falling then rising ...
10
votes
3answers
404 views
Why is the Pinyin for 波 bo1 not buo1? And why is 多 duo1 instead of do1?
Recently I started to learn Pinyin. The system is relatively easy to follow but some ambiguity does exist. For example, I found the usage of finals o and uo confusing: why the Pinyin for 波 is bo1, not ...
1
vote
5answers
181 views
How to say “the fourth floor of that building”?
My doubt is in translating this sentence:
"That apartment is in the fourth floor of that building."
Is there a grammatical structure to say things like "the fourth floor of that building" in Chinese?...
0
votes
4answers
338 views
How to write date and number in Chinese?
I need to fill a part of a form in Chinese, does anyone here could help me?
I've tried to use google translate, but unfortunately, I know nothing about Chinese and I'm afraid I was wrong, please help ...
0
votes
3answers
128 views
Does the chinese letter mean the number, one?
As I browsing around on the internet, I was looking at what a sentence meant in English. But the issue is that I was not sure if this is the Chinese letter for "1" or does it have a different ...
3
votes
2answers
244 views
-uan pinyin pronunciation
It seems to me that in Mandarin, two different vowel sounds are used for words whose pinyin ends with -uan.
In some words, like 全 (quán) and 元 (yuán), the vowel sounds like "oo-en" (the nucleus/coda ...
1
vote
1answer
65 views
What happens when you use the individual characters in 姓氏 and 名字?
姓氏 refers to surname, and 名字 refers to personal name.
But I’ve heard people using the separate characters to talk about surnames and personal names.
For example:
我的中文老师姓姚
林氏集团 (Lin’s Corporation, ...
3
votes
3answers
152 views
Does 一个 mean *exactly* one? Or can it mean *at least* one?
If someone (truthfully) says "I have a car" then they have at least one car. If someone says "I have one car" then they have exactly one car.
How does this idea work for "我有一辆汽车" ?
Could someone say ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
In Mandarin Chinese, what is the correct pronunciation for three or more third tones in a row? [duplicate]
只有我想了解你
zhíyǒu wǒ xiǎng liáojiě nǐ
OR
Zhíyǒu wó xiǎng liáojiě nǐ
我很好
wǒ hén hǎo
OR
wó hén hǎo
我也很好
wó yě hén hǎo
OR
wó yé hén hǎo
OR
wǒ yé hén hǎo
我也很想你
wǒ yé hěn xiáng nǐ
OR
wǒ yé hén xiǎng nǐ
...
