How to say "This door opens with a code"?
akalovid
September 11, 2012, 07:23 AM posted in General DiscussionIt is the "open" in particular, that I don't know how to express. I was thinking of
zhè ge mén yòng mìmǎ kāizhe,
but I don't know if "zhe" can be used in this sense. Odd as it may sound, this is a sentence I could use very often :)
bababardwan
“Twice each year, it's taken off its hinges and lovingly polished by 75 year old vegans who are flown in specially from San Francisco”
lol. You're too funny Rachel. :)
akalovid
Thanks a lot! Before one has enough Chinese exposure it is an Art, to find the right Greek(/English) sentence to translate...
" ...lovingly polished by 75 year old vegans...". That was great! I think that was what my teacher wanted when he gave us those assignments with unrelated words to turn into a story. I keep wondering how you came up with it...
SF_Rachel
Thank you. Rule of thumb: vegans and goats are never not funny. And yet, I find that neither are to be trifled with.
akalovid
I have little experience with vegans, but I know goats from the greek mountains. They have each their own character. Totally unlike sheep :)
I recently found out that the head of the Astronomy department in Bonn (Germany) does (from the medieval times) hold the right to let his sheep graze in front of the institut. I was pointing out to my colleague, that if money for research is further reduced I might ask that gentleman for the permission to bring a tent and some greek goats there. I would have food and stay in contact with research. Only that I'd miss the delight of my morning shower...
akalovid
多谢! 下午我会在ChinesePod找那个"靠". 它可能非常有用!
animalplanet
"靠" 在这句话里是 "依靠" （depend on）的意思。
animalplanet
September 11, 2012, 12:30 PMIt is too fun. be a chinese, when this type of question be asked, MY first answer is about the "lock" instead of the "door" in my brain. anyway， “开这扇门需要密码" is right , "这扇门靠密码打开" is no problem, and my anwser is maybe "这扇门使用的是密码锁"。:)
lujiaojie
“开这扇门需要密码" 听起来最自然。
akalovid
Thank you!
akalovid
Thank you! I often don't realize how efficient Chinese is. For example in not needing a preposition to express this. Like english does: "TO open this door ..."
bababardwan
注意是“扇门”山man
akalovid
山man!我很喜欢这个名字!
What do you mean? Because it's a measure word and Chinese has infinitely many, to make up for any easy features it may have?
bababardwan
haha, soz mate. Yeah, I don't know how well known the measure word 扇 is known by fellow learners, but I liked the opportunity to kinda rhyme 扇门 and 山man [and that should help us both remember the measure word now, right?] ...I guess I should have made you plural with 山men ...it would have rhymed better , and 究竟，任何的山man是等于至少两个普通人，对吧？
akalovid
"任何的山man是等于至少两个普通人". 哈哈你听起来好像我村的老人!
akalovid
Baba, I discover that your mnemonic is excellent! Do you have other mnemonics for measure words?
bababardwan
hehe, thanks mate. Sorry, none spring to mind at the moment, but I'll let you know if I think of any. Cheers :)
SF_Rachel
September 11, 2012, 09:00 AMHi akalovid, I don't think you would use a 着。 If anything, in some constructions you'd use a 了 to indicate a change in state for the door from locked to unlocked or from closed to open.
I think to just open a door is to 打开 dǎkāi it. But my instinct is that while in English we say that a code "opens" a door, this is maybe a little weird and doesn't necessarily translate the same in other languages, since a code usually unlocks a door, not opens it. I suppose in a really high-tech installation a code might both unlock AND open a door, but still. Might be 解开jiěkāi or 解锁 jiěsuǒ.
你需要输入密码以解开这个门。 nǐ xūyào shūrù mìmǎ yǐ jiěkāi zhè gè mén. No 了 here I think.
I know I've turned the sentence around so it focussed more on what you need to open the door, and less on a description of the door. If you're just telling people about the door's qualities and not preparing them with useful information about how to pass through it (Maybe you're a tour guide. :-) "This door was crafted in Indonesia of reclaimed teak. The fittings are made of oil-rubbed bronze. Twice each year, it's taken off its hinges and lovingly polished by 75 year old vegans who are flown in specially from San Francisco. You need a code to pass through it the rest of the time though!") maybe you could say 这个门需要密码来解开了。 Here I really do think you would need the 了for the change of state, though I don't think I can articulate what makes it different from the other sentence.
Just some whiskey-fueled thoughts. There are plenty of folks around here who are much more advanced than I who might give you better ideas.