User Comments - lester
lester
Posted on: I'm hungry!
April 26, 2007 at 10:18 PMCP, One study method says "我肚子饿了(wo3 du4zi e4 le)" means "I'm already hungry", while "我肚子饿 (wo3 du4zi e4)" means "I'm hungry". Is that right? They also say the "了" can be used to give an "already" kind of flavor to the phrase. "现在十一点，我肚子饿了。(xian4zai4 shi2yidian, wo3 du4zi e4 le) (It's 11, and I'm already hungry.)"
Posted on: Requesting a Glass of Water
April 26, 2007 at 2:06 AMYou had me confused. To me 26degrees is quite cold. But your 26 is my 78, so I get it now. What's the work for Celcius? Farenheit? Also, in Beijing, I heard the waitress called "Fu'yar". I couldn't tell you how to write it, but I'm told it's Beijing-hua for "fuwuyuan" 服务员。
Posted on: Shut up!
April 25, 2007 at 4:07 AMI especially like Jenny's explaination of the literal meaning for 老婆 as "old granny". I immediately thought of the american/english, less-than-endearing, term "old lady" to refer to one's wife (though I would never refer to my wife as my old lady, so 60's). I had to laugh. :D
Posted on: Lesson
April 25, 2007 at 3:25 AMhakim, One minor correction... You said "你們(ni3 men5) : your" The english word "your" is the possessive of "you" while "你們(ni3 men5)" is the plural for you. Americans often use "you" for plural, but there are many that say "you all" or "ya'll" (mainly from the southern states). As far as the plural possessive form of "you" (你們的 ni3 men5 de5). English will use "your" or "yours" (the -s is not plural) depending upon whether the possession is the subject or the object of the sentence. For instance, speaking to a crowd, one might say "your break will be 15 minutes long". And a coach might say to his players "the victory is yours for the taking". Last, there is a missing construct above... 你的(ni3 de5) : your, yours (singular) By the way, thanks for the list. I had never seen the he feminine form of ni3. I can't make my computer produce one except to cut and paste your example. Maybe you could round out the list with the 您 (nin3) forms.
Posted on: Chinese Onomatopoeia
April 23, 2007 at 2:36 AMWhat would be the onomotopoeia for "Snap, Crackle, and Pop". And, are Rice Crispies (another one) poplular in China?
Posted on: Quiet for the Baby
April 23, 2007 at 2:08 AMLove the picture! In 麻烦你(ma fan ni), the ni3 is optional? As in 麻烦（拟）轻一点? Is it always okay to drop the ni3 or nin3?
Posted on: Shut up!
April 23, 2007 at 1:52 AMUser17161, I hear it as "wo lao po hui shasi wo de", its probably your newbie ears. The "po" kind'a sounds like "buh" as in "bullet", and the "hui" is subdued, almost missing, but its there. Have you gone to the dialogue page and listened to the phrase? To hear someone else say the phrases helps me to hear the dramatized dialogue better.
Posted on: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
April 17, 2007 at 11:00 AMYes, chinese on my terms!!! Here I am struggling through elementary and intermediate lessons when all the time I could have been having fun back at newbie. I'll be singing it all day and wishing I learned this one earlier.
Posted on: The Clogged Toilet
April 16, 2007 at 6:15 PMIn the dialog tab, it says... 麻烦来看一下 Is this missing the 你(ni3)? 麻烦你来看一下
Posted on: Internet Cafe Rates
May 1, 2007 at 2:40 AM我上网喀非管来的事后，我可能喝咖啡和看看网。 (wo3 shang4 wang3 ka1fei1guan3 de shiho, wo3 ke3neng he1 ka1fei1 he2 kan kan wang3) when I'm in an internet kafe, I can drink coffee and surf the net. 我爷可能"skype"我的朋友和加人 (wo3 ye2 ke nung "skype" wo3de peng2you3 he2 jia1 ren) I can also "skype" my friends and family. amber, my chinese writing is pre-newbie. 太不好意思了