User Comments - aeflow
aeflow
Posted on: All About 所有 (suǒyǒu) and 都 (dōu)
September 3, 2007 at 6:50 PMAh, silly me. The grammar section has an article about 会: http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/grammar/parts-of-speech/auxiliary-verbs/types/general/hui Also 想: http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/grammar/parts-of-speech/auxiliary-verbs/types/general/xiang and 能: http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/grammar/parts-of-speech/auxiliary-verbs/types/general/neng Some good answers there...
Posted on: All About 所有 (suǒyǒu) and 都 (dōu)
September 3, 2007 at 6:42 PMIn the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian, the definitions for 会 include not just "懂得怎样做或有能力做" but also "有可能实现". So, one way I would think of it would be "likely to happen": "under those circumstances, would you be likely to buy a car?" Another example sentence from Google: 如果你有钱了，你会怎么办? I think if you were asking about intention, it would maybe be 你想买 rather than 会, and if it was "able to", with an impediment to doing so having been removed, that would probably use 可以. I might be wrong though. Maybe one way to tell the two uses apart is that the act of buying a car isn't usually thought of as involving the application of some specific learning, skill, or competence, at least not in the sense of knowing how to bake a cake or knowing how to play tennis. Particularly since the given sentence implies that it's more or less simply a matter of having enough money to afford a car. Who knows, maybe a professional car buyer working for a car dealership would use 会 in the sense of knowing how to buy a car, knowing what to look for, having car-buying knowledge. Another example, 今天他会不会来？ The act of arriving is not a feat of skill, so it's more along the lines of "is this possibility likely to come true"? On the other hand, if the answer is 他会来, I think the meaning is maybe more like "he will come" rather than merely "he's likely to come". Hmmm, I'm starting to confuse myself. Maybe 会 would be a good Qing Wen topic.
Posted on: Flattery in the Office
September 3, 2007 at 3:26 AMFor anyone who just can't get enough of 马屁精 and 拍马屁, CSLPod.com did an intermediate lesson on them recently: http://www.cslpod.com/Chinese/episode.aspx?category=1&pid=129
Posted on: Flattery in the Office
September 3, 2007 at 3:23 AMTry http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/grammar/parts-of-speech/adverbs/types/general/cai
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 13: A Dad Gives Advice to a Broken-Hearted Son
September 2, 2007 at 5:50 PMPaulC, 不提也罢 is listed separately in the ABC Dictionary with definition "Better not mention it!" Maybe it's better just to remember it as a fixed expression rather than try to analyze it.
Posted on: The DVD Vendor
September 2, 2007 at 1:39 PMThe use of "T'ai" is not pinyin at all, but Wade-Giles, the transliteration system most commonly used prior to 1979. Instead of using D and T as pinyin does, Wade-Giles uses T and T', respectively (and similarly P, P', K, K', CH, CH'). Pinyin uses apostrophes to disambiguate, as LostInAsia said. Another example is the city of Xi'an (two syllables) as opposed to xian (one syllable).
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 13: A Dad Gives Advice to a Broken-Hearted Son
September 2, 2007 at 2:21 AMlanqing, The grammar section for 可 is at: http://chinesepod.com/learnchinese/grammar/parts-of-speech/adverbs/types/general/ke , it may be helpful.
Posted on: It's Not Hard to Say Goodbye
August 29, 2007 at 3:42 PMHi John, It's kind of fixed now, except in the Lessons section, lessons now no longer get updated to Studied status. In other words, the Home page shows "Studied", the lesson page itself for that particular lesson shows "Studied", but in the listing of all Intermediate lessons in the Lessons section, it remains "Bookmarked".
Posted on: A New Home Page
August 29, 2007 at 3:42 PMHi John, It's kind of fixed now, except in the Lessons section, lessons now no longer get updated to Studied status. In other words, the Home page shows "Studied", the lesson page itself for that particular lesson shows "Studied", but in the listing of all Intermediate lessons in the Lessons section, it remains "Bookmarked".
Posted on: All About 所有 (suǒyǒu) and 都 (dōu)
September 3, 2007 at 7:15 PMI guess 能 can combine both "know how to do something" and "circumstances permit doing it". For instance, you know how to bake a cake (会) but ran out of eggs so you can't (不能). 可以 is probably more likely to be used in circumstances involving permission or authorization. You know how to bake a cake, but your mother or boss won't let you. Another example, a father and small child waiting to cross the street, and the father is teaching the child about traffic signals. The light turns green and the father says 可以了, and they cross.