User Comments - joeborn

Posted on: Hospitality Series 1: Welcome to the Hilton!

The use of the 了 in the expansion sentence "我早上只喝了一点儿牛奶" confused me.  Because of it, I had translated it as "I only drank a little milk in the morning" rather than indicated translation, i.e., "In the morning I only drink a little bit of milk."  Because of the 了, that is, I wouldn't have thought the sentence described habitual action.  What is it that indicates to the native speaker that the action is habitual?

Posted on: Sportswear Brands

Thanks a lot; that clears it up.

Posted on: Sportswear Brands

I've lived mostly in the Midwest and New England, but I can't recall for sure from which region I picked it up. John betrayed no knowledge of it, so maybe it hasn't metastasized to Florida. Or maybe it's just not used any more; I'm pretty old.

Posted on: Sportswear Brands

MDBG gives the traditional-character version of 标志 as 標誌 rather than 標志, as CP renders it.  Do traditional-character users employ these characters interchangeably?

Posted on: Sportswear Brands

Does 也 serve as a clue to 后悔's being used intransitively in the expansion sentence 现在后悔也没用?  I was tempted to translate this (transitively) as meaning, \"Now you regret not using it\" rather than, as it should have been, \"It's no use regretting it now.\"  Or maybe 后悔 is never used transitively?

Posted on: Sportswear Brands

Non-native speakers of English may be interested to know that for many native speakers \"goose egg\" has the same connotation in English as 鸭蛋 does in Mandarin.

Posted on: Field Trip to the Zoo

Thank you both.

Let me just rephrase what I understand Jenny to say: neither of my guesses, which both interpreted 给打 as being in the active voice, was exactly right. My first guess is correct in that 他 is in fact the second clause's subject--but the second clause is in the passive voice, not the active voice.

What is actually happening is that in this context (as well as in that of the third expansion sentence for 让), it is better to think of 让 as a passive-voice indicator--rather than as meaning "have (someone do something)" or "let (someone do something)."

In other words, as (I now see that) the Grammar tab indicates, a good way to interpret 让 in some situations is instead to translate it as the English preposition "by" and look upon the verb that follows as being in the passive voice.

Again, thanks for the assistance.

Posted on: Field Trip to the Zoo

I'm having trouble with the expansion sentence "他说脏话让人给打了," which is (I presume, loosely) translated as "He got beaten for swearing." 

What's the subject of 让?  Is it 他, i.e., he (both) swore (and thereby) caused someone to give (him) a beating.  Is it 他说脏话 used as a noun clause, i.e., his swearing caused someone to give (him) a beating?  Is it something else?

Posted on: Meeting in Real Life

Thanks a lot, Jenny.

This is a question that had occurred to me quite some time ago, in connection with the "Consoling the Bereaved" podcast. That one included "你爷爷也不希望看到你这样" and translated it in the subjunctive mood ("Your grandfather wouldn't wish to see you like this."). Since the European languages all have subjunctive moods (and many use theirs more extensively than English does), perhaps it will help the native speakers of those languages for you to mention explicitly in some future podcast the absence of a Mandarin subjunctive mood. (Or maybe you've already considered that possibility and decided that referring to mood would confuse more people than it would help.)

Anyway, thanks again for the response.

Posted on: Meeting in Real Life

Thanks a lot.