since - until

light487

Some entries from my dictionary:

从此 [從-] cóng cǐ /from now on/since then/henceforth/

自此 zì cǐ /since then/henceforth/

自从 [-從] zì cóng /since (a time)/ever since/

以降 yǐ jiàng /since (some point in the past)/

以来 [-來] yǐ lái /since (a previous event)/

由于 [-於] yóu yú /due to/as a result of/thanks to/owing to/since/because/

The only example I can find uses 以来 but all the other ones I found didn't even bother with a "since" word as it was just implied by the sentence.

bodawei

Thanks light, but I purposely had a stab at something I didn't have to go to a dictionary for. :)

I don't think I could use these words in the sentence given, not with any confidence. Does it have sample sentences like the ones above?

[And the last one is a different meaning of since; = because. I think I have only seen it used in writing].

I wanted to see if you really need to translate 'since'. My offering says .. come tomorrow [something that I did or I have been suffering perhaps] has been already going on for six weeks.

Whether it is passable? Hopefully someone will come along and pass judgement.

light487

Yer.. I understand.. sorry.. I was trying to use my own method of translating. What I tend to do is pull out my dictionary and then see which words fit better than the others. This is all provided the translations in the reference material (ie. dictionary) is correct to begin with and has enough distinction within the translation to have a go at working out the differences.. but then sometimes, as with this example there just isn't a word, or more accurately a point to having the word, that is of any use.

The meaning is implied.. this is probably the trickiest thing to translate in any language I think.. the implied meaning of something.

light487

Hehe yes.. this is how I learn most of my new, subtle-meaning, vocab.. by taking a stab at what I think it is.. and basically using cave-man Chinese, being corrected and learning the proper way to say it..

Not that your response is cave-man.. just saying that is how I usually learn the subtle stuff :)

bodawei

Thanks a lot guys. I'm pretty happy with my suggestion for the first sentence; the second one I was less confident for good reason. Oh, now I have a connection though with 从明天起，再过.. I have never come across the 起，再过... used this way but we see prices marked $X起 everywhere ($X and up...) So this is like saying 从明天起.. (from tomorrow and up...) 再过六个星期我就 (to a point six weeks way, then) [do something]. I'm going to forget most of this, but I will remember the 从明天起...

Interesting about not thinking this way - that's why it is such a stretch to express this stuff?

deanw

Thanks for those answers. I would never have guessed them.

In the first sentence does 就 mean 就是? If not, what then?

In the second sentence, what is the function of the 起? I'm also confused about the placement of the 了. I would have thought it should belong after the 过. I can't make sense of it where is.

zhenlijiang

Thank you John and Jiaojie.

Connie and Jiaojie found the specificity of those statements quite amusing, though. You can tell that it's a way of thinking (a 思路) that they're not used to.

Which reminds me of this exchange in Xiaophil's grammar question post last year. I guess we need to be reminded periodically. So Chinese teachers must think we foreign learners can be pretty anal when it comes to talking about time (they're too polite though, and will say only that it's "funny" of us).

lujiaojie

In the first sentence, “就” indicates a tone of certainty.

In the second sentence, “起” means “开始”。从明天起=从明天开始。