User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Dongbei

Hi martyzcp

"What'll it be, hun?"　I like it a lot! As other commenters have noted, it's informal, but intended to show friendliness, not disrespect.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Dongbei

Hi heruilin,

Thank you for bringing this up.

You have pointed out an example of how Chinese is sometimes more direct than English.

今天就說到這兒吧。"Lets stop here (as in a lesson)."

Is this idiomatic?

In Chinese, when a teacher ends a class or a boss ends a meeting, they will often use this phrase, which means literally "Today + just + talk + to + this point (here.)" But an English speaker would usually just say "That's it for today," or "let's stop here." This is one case where a direct translation would be Chinglishy.

Another example is how Chinese will say "我挂了啊” when ending a phone conversation. This literally means "I'm hanging up" but most English speakers would not say that. It's perfectly friendly in Chinese but sounds like something you'd say to a prank caller in English.

Posted on: Pin Number

Hi all,

Please note that many people say 拉卡 lākǎ instead of 刷卡. The meaning is the same-- both describe the act of running the card through a slot or sliding it across a panel.

Posted on: 易中天《读城记》

Hi bodawei and watermelon,

这句话的确有点怪。 它的意思就是 “Just because it's a megalopolis doesn't mean that Shanghai is crude or lacking sophistication." It's based on the assumption that most people think that big, sprawling cities are inherently lacking in refinement. In my experience, this is definitely not the case. In fact, the opposite is often true.

Watermelon, "exquisite" is being a little too generous ;-)

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Dongbei

Hi frederickriker,

Thank you for an informative post. We always benefit from getting a native Chinese speaker's opinion.

Posted on: 谋杀案

 Hi calicartel,

Good question. 检查 is actually a noun (an investigation, or an inspection). In this phrase, 细致 is an adjective modifying the noun (thorough, meticulous).

检查 can serve as a verb-- "to inspect, to investigate, to examine." You are correct that if the 检查 were serving as a verb, you would need to use 地.

However, since the early 1990s, the 的/地 distinction has gotten much blurrier. Add in the fact that many people freely swap 得/的/地 and the whole situation becomes even more complicated. Many young people have even started to get cute, and will type things like 好滴, which is phonetically sound but strictly speaking makes no sense.

Posted on: Finally

Hi rjberki,

It's my pleasure. And I completely agree, Connie is one of the CPod 骨干, the backbone of the site. A master grammarian and a fun colleague. And thanks, misterjess, for your ongoing contributions to the discussions.

Hi bababardwan,

What you have identified here is a grammatical pattern that expresses the way in which something is done, or for how long it is done. Typical examples would be 他开车开得很快 He drives really quickly, or 我们吃饭吃了很久 we ate for a really long time. We must have a lesson or old Qing Wen about this. I will try to find it and let you know. The simple example I just gave is not enough.

但是 and 可是 are equivalent-- they mean "but". Although people say that 但是 is more for writing and 可是 for oral communication, I have met people from all over China who use 但是 when they speak.

In 那最后谁赢了呢 we cannot substitue 吗 for 呢 because the question word 谁 is not asking for a yes/no answer but rather "who"-- a name.

Posted on: The Pinyin Program Will Be Unleashed

Hi misterjess,

Helen is shenyajin, the Community Advocate.

Posted on: Finally

Hi all:

Here are the phrases from today's lesson, courtesy of Connie.

最后的晚餐zuìhòu de wǎncān The Last Supper

 

最后的一个吻zuìhòu de yī ge wěn The last kiss

 

昨天有一场很精彩的比赛，那最后是谁赢了呢？

Zuótiān yǒu yī chǎng hěn jīngcǎi de bǐsài, nà zuìhòu shì shuí yíng le ne?
There was a great game yesterday. Who won in the end?

 

他们很相爱，最后还是分手了。
Tāmen hěn xiāng'ài, zuìhòu háishi fēnshǒu le.
They loved each other very much. But they still broke up in the end.

 

我去看了很多房子，可是最后决定不买了。
Wǒ qù kàn le hěn duō fángzi, kěshì zuìhòu juédìng bù mǎi le.
I went to look at a lot of houses, but I decided not to buy one in the end.

 

我去看了很多房子，但是最终决定不买了。
Wǒ qù kàn le hěn duō fángzi, dànshì zuìzhōng juédìng bù mǎi le.
I went to look at a lot of houses, but I ultimately decided not to buy one.

 

我去看了很多房子，最后我决定买在地铁站旁边。
Wǒ qù kàn le hěn duō fángzi, zuìhòu wǒ juédìng mǎi zài dìtiě zhàn pángbiān.
I went to look at a lot of houses. In the end, I decided to buy one beside a metro station.

 

我看了很多房子，最终决定买最便宜的。
Wǒ kàn le hěn duō fángzi, zuìzhōng juédìng mǎi zuì piányi de.
I looked at a lot of houses. In the end, I decided to buy the cheapest one.

 

终于来了。
Zhōngyú lái le.
It's finally here.

 

我很希望它来。
Wǒ hěn xīwàng tā lái.
I really hope it comes.
 

我等你等了很久了，你终于来了。
Wǒ děng nǐ děng le hěn jiǔ le, nǐ zhōngyú lái le.
I've waited for you for a really long time. You've finally come.

 

我等你等了很久了，最后你没来。
Wǒ děng nǐ děng le hěn jiǔ le, zuìhòu nǐ méi lái.
I waited for you for a really long time. In the end, you didn't come.

 

我终于赚钱了。
Wǒ zhōngyú zhuànqián le.
I've finally made some money!
 

我们有的时候努力了很久，终于成功了。
Wǒmen yǒude shíhou nǔlì le hěn jiǔ, zhōngyú chénggōng le.
Sometimes, we worked hard for a long time, and finally succeeded.

 

排队排了几天，终于买到火车票了。
Páiduì pái le jǐ tiān, zhōngyú mǎidào huǒchēpiào le.
I stood in line for a few days. I finally bought a train ticket.

 

黄牛huángniú
Scalper (someone who resells tickets at high prices)

 

我买了几十年彩票，终于中奖了。
Wǒ mǎi le jǐshí nián cǎipiào, zhōngyú zhòngjiǎng le.
I bought lottery tickets for several decades. I finally won!

 

我学了好久中文，终于达到了我想要的水平。
Wǒ xué le hǎojiǔ Zhōngwén, zhōngyú dádào le wǒ xiǎngyào de shuǐpíng.
I've studied Chinese for a long time. I've finally reached the level I want.
 

对自己要求太高了。
Duì zìjǐ yāoqiú tài gāo le.
to ask too much of oneself.
 

没有最好，只有更好。
Méiyǒu zuìhǎo, zhǐyǒu gènghǎo.
There is no "best." There's only "better."

 

我总算自己赚钱了。
Wǒ zǒngsuàn zìjǐ zhuànqián le.
I've finally made some money.
 

我总算嫁人了。总算嫁出去了。
Wǒ zǒngsuàn jiàrén le. Zǒngsuàn jià chūqu le.
At long last, I've gotten married. She finally got married.
 

我总算买到票了。
Wǒ zǒngsuàn mǎidào piào le.
I finally bought a ticket.

 

你总算来了。
Nǐ zǒngsuàn lái le.
You've finally arrived.
 

某某人总算死了。
Mǒumǒu rén zǒngsuàn sǐ le.
(Some person) has died, at long last.
 

最后我总算把问题解决了。
Zuìhòu wǒ zǒngsuàn bǎ wèntí jiějué le.
In the end, I finally solved the problem.

 

我排了很久的队，最后终于买到火车票了。
Wǒ pái le hěn jiǔ de duì, zuìhòu zhōngyú mǎidào huǒchēpiào le.
I stood in line for a really long time. In the end, I finally bought a train ticket.


今天的《请问》，终于结束了。
Jīntiān de《qǐngwèn》, zhōngyú jiéshù le.
Today's "Qing Wen" is finally over.
 

等了很久，很希望达到的结果出现了。
Děng le hěn jiǔ, hěn xīwàng dádào de jiéguǒ chūxiàn le.
We waited a long time, and the result we hoped to attain has finally appeared.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 7: Choosing a Name for the Baby

Holy cow, xuchen. That was my original name, given to me by my first Chinese teacher. The 白 was supposed to represent "Westernness" and the 龙　“ｔｈｅ　mysterious East." I used that name until three years ago, when I got sick of people laughing at it. The name was a bit 土.

And apparently, in parts of Anhui province, it sounds like buhlungzi which means "long-winded."

These days when I want to pretend that I'm a great 文人 (man of letters) I　use 白龙 as my "courtesy name." 我叫 何树斌， 字 白龙.

Hi xuanzang,

Your question is related to the first bit of this dialogue. There are people who can give a baby a name based on the characters that represent the exact time (in the Chinese lunar calendar) that the baby was born.

That custom is dying out, though, partly because of the government's attacks on 封建迷信 feudal superstitions during the 50s-70s.