User Comments - John

Posted on: "Thinking" in Chinese: 觉得 (juéde), 认为 (rènwéi) and 以为 (yǐwéi)

感觉 (gǎnjué) means "feel" (not "think").

想 (xiǎng) can have several meanings, one of them being "think" (similar to 觉得).

看 (kàn) can mean "see" as in "the way I see it," and usually precedes some kind of judgment of opinion.

Posted on: Speaking with 跟 (gen) and 对 (dui)

OK, new topic noted!

Posted on: Speaking with 跟 (gen) and 对 (dui)

Yes, this usage is more common in Taiwan and southern China. It's not likely to be used in the north.

Posted on: Speaking with 跟 (gen) and 对 (dui)

Thanks!

Posted on: You've been everywhere!

This is mostly an issue of convention. Strictly speaking, that sentence doesn't have to refer to the past, but most often it does. Normally, the social context would make this clearer. This is exactly the question you will hear asked of someone who has just gone to another city (Xi'an) and come back.

You can do it for other verbs too... For example, if your friend goes to a fancy dinner, afterwards you might ask 吃得怎么样？

Posted on: What is up with 由

Mike,

That use of 来 has been covered in various lessons at lower levels, which is why we "assumed" knowledge of it for this Upper Intermediate Qing Wen.

Posted on: What is up with 由

I agree... it's one of those words you can ignore for a while and still get by, but eventually you'll want to come back and take a closer look.

Posted on: Transportation Card

Yes, same in Shanghai (when the machines are working...).

Posted on: You've been everywhere!

Glad it's working for you!

My speech is definitely southern-style, but I like to add in the occasional 儿 ending, using 玩儿 or 哪儿 just to mix it up. As long as you don't go overboard, it won't stand out too much, and it's good to practice different ways of saying things.

Posted on: Shopping for a Rice Cooker

Your sentence is correct, but the meaning is slightly different. The "都是，" of the original means "都是米饭", but you altered it to say "都是一团糟".

Anyway, the 弄得 means something like "made it so that..." or "got things... (in a certain way)".