大家好, I have a question with the word 会 (hui4). It sometimes seems to mean "can," indicating ability or possibility (我会说中文), and sometimes "will," indicating a coming certainty (我会迟到了). Is there any rule of thumb about how this works? There are also 要 (yao4 in the sense of "will," but sometimes "want"), and 能 (neng2 in the sense of "can." All of these words seem to overlap, and I don't know if they're completely interchangeable, or if there are situations where one is correct and the others aren't.... If there are previous Chinese Pod dialogs that explain this, can anybody tell me which one(s)? 谢谢!
Posted on: I'm gonna be Late
July 13, 2011, 03:11 PM大家好, I have a question with the word 会 (hui4). It sometimes seems to mean "can," indicating ability or possibility (我会说中文), and sometimes "will," indicating a coming certainty (我会迟到了). Is there any rule of thumb about how this works? There are also 要 (yao4 in the sense of "will," but sometimes "want"), and 能 (neng2 in the sense of "can." All of these words seem to overlap, and I don't know if they're completely interchangeable, or if there are situations where one is correct and the others aren't.... If there are previous Chinese Pod dialogs that explain this, can anybody tell me which one(s)? 谢谢!