have time...?? to help ;-)?
gesang
February 29, 2008, 09:23 AM posted in General DiscussionHey there,
i have a question about "you3 shi2 hou"... for me its always like saying "if i have time", and mostly it fits more or less (Like "if i have time, i read books", and "sometimes i read books" ). is it wrong to think this way, i mean is this chinese phrase generally used for "sometimes" , also to say " its sometimes raining here" or "at work i am sometimes bored" (because in these two examples the "if i have time" translation is not working...
well, i found other "sometimes" in the dictionary, but its always the same with the dictionary..you know the translation of a word but not how to use it...so this is why i try it this way!
hope to get some good advice! thanks, Gesang
gesang
February 29, 2008, 10:03 AMthanks john! wow my first time to try the conversation section and i got a super-teacher answer :-) ! by now i dont listen to your shows that much, i am not that good in chinese..but i tried some, and if i am good enough to understand a Johnandjennyintermediate i know i made great progress :-)!
John
March 01, 2008, 06:57 AMgesang, No problem! We're all here to help you learn. Keep studying hard, and you'll be understanding Jenny speaking her native language before too long... :)
John
February 29, 2008, 09:53 AMgesang, I think the problem is that you're confusing 时候 (shíhou) and 时间 (shíjiān). 时间 (shíjiān) is the "time" in "if I have time" or "when I have time": 有时间 (yǒu shíjiān). It's also the "time" in the Chinese words for "time and space," or "time machine" or "time is limited." It's the concept of time. It may be more helpful to think of 时候 (shíhou) not as "time," but as "when," as it's most often used in a phrase then ends in …的时候 (de shíhou), meaning "when...." I think it's best to just memorize 有时候 (yǒu shíhou) as a set phrase meaning "sometimes."