New answers tagged meaning
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For this particular sentence, it is much more natural to use the first expression. The second one is grammatically correct but I have not seen this usage among native Chinese speaker/writer. Though it is to common say something like 你吃你的我吃我的 [Eat your (food) and I eat mine] in other context.
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I think people got lazy as the 之 is easier and quicker to write than 知 and both sound exactly the same in Cantonese. In any case everybody knows what it means, so no problem.
It's like "Christmas" and "Xmas"
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After exchanging comments with 水巷孑蠻 I did further research and found this entry in CantoDict
話知: used to express indifference on the part of the speaker
It confirmed "話之' and "話知" are indeed variant of each other. The question is: "which is the original?"
Base on my interpretation of "話之": ["say it" --> suppose --> suppose (whoever) are (whatever), I ...
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i would treat it as “話知”:
i acknowledge (知道) from your speech (說話) that . . . [but]. . .
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The problem that such an innocuous term could have sexual connotation stems from the ingrained cultural inhibition of the Chinese people, (using this term loosely), towards anything sexual thus leading to the conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts or desires.
To overcome this, euphemisms provided a "comfortable" way out to express sexual acts, ...
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It just sounds weird. Indeed 舒服 is usually used for physical comfort. As a native speaker, the most common usage I know is for checking someone being sick or not (不舒服 mostly means sick, in all possible contexts). In other contexts it can ask about posture and so on, but if you ask it outright without any physical context, of course it can sound pretty sexual....
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歪了歪了…… I can see why 你舒服吗 will be easily interpreted as sexually comfortable.
Because without any context, we will not use 舒服 to describe relaxation of mind. And extremely structurally simple sentences are often uttered in sexual intercourse...(Think about it.)
Avoiding using words that have ambiguous meanings like 舒服, however, is an option.
The best ...
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I think the problem is the way you use it. 你舒服吗 normally isn't used for greeting, while 你不舒服吗 is. 你舒服吗 or 你不舒服吗 is usually used when you see someone is in a uncomfortable position. But you are not entirely sure, so you would ask 你舒服吗. It's like saying, By doing so, do you feel comfortable? or Keeping this position, do you feel comfortable?, which would be ...
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As I understand, aside from it's normal usage, 舒服 = "comfortable" is a euphemism for "sexually pleasurable" (or "sexually comfortable") or "comfortable with having sex". It might also be used as an indirect question asking for consent.
If you go to ZhiSex.com and search for 舒服, you'll find a lot of examples. Here's some below:
Examples (warning: explicit)...
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你舒服吗
In ordinary, everyday parlance, it simply ask,"are you comfortable?" in a physical sense.
There are, however, many nuances to this apparently innocuous question, depending as always on the context and the circumstances when it is used.
Just like in English you have "that feels good" which can have multifarious meanings and innuendoes depending on the ...
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得弄, are neither one word nor two words because they are not to be read together.
The sentence structure is:-
首先, (first and foremost),得弄清楚, (decide / work out clearly), 我们需要什么, (what is it we really need)
The sentence works just as well without the 得 as, in my view, it is superfluous.
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First of all, 好点了吗 is same with 好一点了吗.
Yes, the word 一点 means "one o'clock", but also means "a little bit". Sometimes, we say 一点点 for emphasis, means "liiiiittle bit".
Well, to explain the objective of the question.
It is NOT asking if your health (or 100 HP) recovered from 50 to 51, which is really "little"
It is supposed to ask for any progress of ...
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"你现在好了吗?" means "are you completely fine now?"
"点" indicates better but not completely fine.
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This example should warn us not to convert / translate too directly when dealing with languages.
As explained by other contributors, 走 in this phrase is not a repetition; it appears so only when a direct conversion is made into English.
往前 is used when merely indicating or moving or wishing to move towards a certain direction.
往前走 is used when physically ...
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In English it'll be, "catch me if you can"
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There isn't a repetitive meaning in 往前走.
往: towards; in the direction of;
前: forward; ahead;
走: go; walk;
往前走: walk in the direction of 'ahead'
It might not be grammatical English, just to explain Chinese.
往 can be a preposition to mean towards and, as a verb, to go. In 往前走, it's used as a preposition.
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来打我呀 (come hit me) is a taunt here. Since the internet users in WeChat are not physically facing each others, it is impossible to reach over the monitor and hit somebody.
Saying 来打我呀 (come hit me) remind the other person that "Yes, I am pissing you off, and there's nothing you can do about it." ╮(╯ ∀ ╰)╭
You can taunt people on the web with anything ...
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Grand Ricci defines 胜一筹 as:
(loc.) L’emporter de justesse, de peu.
Google translate renders this into English as:
To prevail narrowly, little.
一筹 is defined,
in ABC as:
bit; notch; cut
and in Pleco as:
chip (used as a counter)-move
and in Oxford as:
brilliant move
and in KEY as:
chip (used as a counter)/a move
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Great question.
It brings out the verbal / social subtlety of what goes on between Chinese speakers which non-Chinese may not notice or aware of. It is more than just grammatical syntax. It carries societal formalism.
When your boss tells you 我想对你说几句话, a cold chill should run up or down your spine. 几句话 here in this context does not necessarily mean "a few ...
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筹 (chip) was a counting tool in ancient time. It was used by mathematicians for calculating.
運筹 was then used as a metaphor for the calculations strategists and military experts did
Idiom: "運筹帷幄" (moving chips inside the tent) means "strategizing in headquarters" ( before go the field or not even need to be in the field)
胜一筹 literally means "one step ...
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Pedroski wrote in his answer:
After enumeration, such as '几‘， any word you can't explain will be a classifier.
Agree with that. "句" in "我想对你说几句话" is not a noun but a classifier
If you say 我想对你说几句, you just omitted the object "话" but it is still implied. Similar to saying "may I have a few?" in English, which an object is implied,
For example, a man ...
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句：sentence / clause / phrase / classifier for phrases or lines of verse
我想对你说几句话。
After enumeration, such as '几‘， any word you can't explain will be a classifier.
Tricky customers, those CLs, watch out for them!
A much more interesting questions is: Why does Chinese have CLs?
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The answer to this question: What is the difference between 必须, 得, and 需要? already explained the difference between 需 and 須.
Basically:
需(need) apply to noun. For example: "必需品" (品 is a noun)
須(need to; must) apply to verb. For example: "須知人言可畏" (知 is a verb)
必需品: necessity; essential thing
人言可畏 criticisms should be feared; gossip is a fearful thing
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basically in this sentence both of them have the similar means is 'don't want' or 'don't need',but 不想要 may more emphasizes the subjective idea of 'want'.
As it is one sentence of the lyrics,maybe they just want to express strong emotions or just matching with melody.
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Without other context, "什么都不要" can mean "don't need anything" (什么都不需要) or "don't want anything"(什么都不想要)
什么都不想要 can only mean "don't want anything". Therefore it is more specific. we don't have to guess it is "don't want" or "don't need"
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The following may be folk etymology. More research is needed - specifically, textual evidence of when「正斗」started being in use among the general public.
「正斗」originated as a term in initiation rituals of Chinese secret societies or criminal underworld groups. The details of the ritual vary from source to source, but the ritual is said to involve a wooden ...
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危：危險，危急 (danger)
機：先兆，徵兆 (omen)
唐 司空圖《連珠》：“蓋聞變可揣機，明難辨勢。金石之懸已扣，孰謂識微；風雲之候未形，罕知能制。”
清 李漁《閑情偶寄‧頤養‧卻病》：“病未至而防之者，病雖未作，而有可病之機與必病之勢，先以藥物投之，使其欲發不得，猶敵欲攻我，而我兵先之預發制人者也。”
危機：
潛伏的禍害或危險 (hidden danger) ：危機四伏
嚴重困難的關頭 (crisis)：經濟危機
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In a colloquial context, 给你, "give you", especially when spoken threateningly, could mean "take this", as in "I'll rearrange your face"
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The English equivalent would be:-
-- in a few days;
-- for a little while.
The idea being that the person has no definite idea when he or she will be back and hence the vagueness or "elastic" period of between 10 to 15 days.
The Chinese divides a month into 3 periods of 10 days each called a 旬 (Xún) The first 10 is 上 旬, middle 10 is 中 旬, and last 10 is下 ...
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I'm a native speaker, for your example:
我长大以后喜欢往城里跑，常常是十天半月不回家。
The meaning of 十天半月 is actually vague here. It can mean 10-15 days, or it possibly means a long period of time, so every reader can have different understanding of it.
Please note that the numbers in Chinese usually are not accurate, so even the guy usually not returning to home for two ...
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十天半月 or 十天半個月 means 十天～半個月 (10 days to half a month).
我長大以後喜歡往城裏跑，常常是十天半月不回家。
After I grew up, I loved going into the city, often not returning home for about a fortnight at a time.
For reference, both the Baidu Zhidao answers say approximately the same thing. 上中下旬 means the first, second, or third period of a month, with a period of a month being a ...
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As others have clearly demonstrated, 危机 does not simply break apart into
危 short for 危险 (danger) and
机 short for 机会 or 机遇 (opportunity).
In short, that's not how Chinese works. However, it is sometimes used idiomatically. Examples:
危机，既是危险也是机遇 (source)
危机等于危险加机遇「危机中的机遇」 (source)
危机，有危险也有机遇 (source)
危机传播：危机与机遇并存 (source)
危机=危险+机遇 (source)
Searing Baidu ...
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QUOTE:- "Contextually 机 appears in lots of words where it doesn't bring the meaning of "opportunity"
That's not entirely true, for in other areas it does. We therefore have 机 不 可 失， (don't let slip an opportunity)
Please don't get me wrong. I am not disputing that 机 does have many other meanings, context which have nothing to do with "opportunity"
Such ...
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Yes it means "here you go". This certainly confused me when I arrived in China. (To be fair, the English "here you go" doesn't make any literal sense either.)
Directly translated, 给你 indeed means "give you". However in English, when someone gives you something, we usually expect it to be a gift. When using 给你, it doesn't necessarily mean a gift: it ...
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自 means by oneself.
学 usually means to learn something new.
习 usually means to review something which has been learned.
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What is so wrong interpreting 危机 (crisis / dangerous situation) which is made up of:-
危 险 = danger (definitive meaning)
机 会 = opportunity (definitive meaning)
as "within a situation of danger, (a crisis), there are also opportunities to be had"?
Just as in English, the phrase "bitter-sweet" has to be wrong because you cannot have anything both bitter ...
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自习：practice by yourself.
When you said 自习, you more like describing the action, rather than the content. Also you still have teacher to teach you, but you just practice by yourself when no teacher around.(but you still have a teacher)
Or you can think in this way: When you study in school, there are several study section. teacher teach you, practice when ...
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It depends on your tone and context.
If the statement itself does not have any prior or future statements, then it would likely be a question.
Here are the possible context：
从上海到东京坐飞机要几个小时 ？ In this case, you are asking a question， your tone would also be in an inquiring manner, to make it clear its a question
从上海到东京坐飞机要几个小时, 你总不能要我每天来回吧？ In this case its ...
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This is one of a few phenomena in Chinese that the meaning of a sentence depends not only on the letters but also the punctuation. You don't know the exact meaning of the sentence without a 。 or a ？ after it.
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Recommend to use 和宁 with your surname, example: 王和宁
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Um... That picture is mirrored.
犯罪 (fàn zuì) A verb that means "to commit a crime"
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汉字 means character while 词 means word. A word can consists of a single character (which is very common in old literature), or more than one characters.
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Maybe a look at the origins might help. You can look here or here. I can't say how accurate the links are.
I think, the original 会 meant "can, may by assent," or maybe "know." Part of 会 is mouth-speaking-yue 曰 yuē. English 'can' is rooted in the word 'know'.
Here are many experts in Chinese etymology who know much better than I.
会：聚合，合在一起
会合： meet
会议：...
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