User Comments - John
John
Posted on: Baijiu or Beer
June 15, 2011 at 4:25 AMChinese people refer to baijiu as white wine. If you hear "white wine" in China, you should always clarify: "do you mean white grape wine or baijiu?"
"White grape wine" is 白葡萄酒 (bái pútaojiǔ).
Posted on: Detective Li 2： The Mysterious Text Message
June 14, 2011 at 7:32 AM日 also looks like an 8 on a digital display... :)
I think the Chinese interpretation is going to be more analog, though.
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
June 14, 2011 at 5:52 AMYes, your sentences are all good. Keep in mind that "还好" is a bit informal; there are also other more formal ways to say "fortunately."
Posted on: Ballet
June 9, 2011 at 9:09 AMI was offended. (Did I conceal it well?)
Posted on: The Attitude Pattern (yǒu shénme... 有什么...)
June 7, 2011 at 8:10 AMYes, they're similar in that they're both rhetorical questions often used for criticisms.
Posted on: Consoling the Bereaved
June 7, 2011 at 8:04 AMStephen,
Oops, the above reply was supposed to be directed at you. Sorry about that...
Posted on: Consoling the Bereaved
June 7, 2011 at 8:02 AMEverett,
This 到 (dào) following verbs is called a "directional complement." It indicates that beyond a mere attempt to do something, some result has actually been achieved. These pairs should give you a good feeling for how it works:
看 (kàn) to look at
看到 (kàndào) to see
听 (tīng) to listen
听到 (tīngdào) to hear
找 (zhǎo) to search for
找到 (zhǎodào) to find
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 31, 2011 at 2:07 AMThe pronunciation "yīhuǐr" is actually more common. This word comes up fairly often on ChinesePod.
Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
May 31, 2011 at 1:09 AMThat's what I'm here for!
Posted on: Common Measure Words
June 16, 2011 at 2:42 AMStephen,
These two uses of 了 (le) are both a "change of state", with the 了 (le) coming at the end of the sentence.
没有⋯⋯了 (méiyǒu... le) is a very common pattern meaning "(to be) out of... (something)" or "(something) is/are all gone."
For the second one, if you're telling where someone went (and why they are not here), the 了 (le) indicates that the person is now in a new place (and not here, where perhaps you thought they were).