已经晚了！

The use of "了" in the "这个不是鸡了" is really worth noting. I didn't know that at all.

Actually, I wasn't completely sure the "了" was correct.  The original fortune was in English, which said "That wasn't chicken."  I inserted the Chinese.

So I added the "了" to make 不是 "is not" to "was not".

Also, I wasn't sure if the "个" was needed.  With the "个" I think it might translate to "That one wasn't chicken."

Any insight to the above would be greatly appreciated.

calkins,

Are you saying you photoshopped [or some other photoediting programme ] the Chinese characters into the photo ? If so,very neat job ! On second thoughts;was this your own photo [I note no credits] that you flipped the fortune paper over and wrote the characters on? Very nice photo either way and quite funny btw.

changye,

Doesn't the photo show 那个不是鸡了 ?

I thought it was saying "that wasn't chicken" but I'm not as advanced as you guys to spot where there may be a problem.It looked like a simple sentence that was at my level.But I suppose grammar hasn't been too stressed at my level.I'm intrigued to hear the upshot of this one.

On further thoughts,I'm now wondering if the le should come before the ji ??

I know online translaters are not to be relied upon ,but this is what one just translated "that was not chicken" to:

那不是鸡

But that does not give the tense.Surely there is a way to indicate tense without relying on context?

Hi calkins,

I also don't know if the sentence is correct and natural but as far as I can see, there seems to be no similar usage on the Internet. Anyway, I would just say “很抱歉，你吃的不是鸡肉！” in this case. As for "个", I don't think it's indispensable, but it probably sounds more informal without "个".

P/S Please butt in, native guys!

bababardwan, it was a photo I found while surfing for pics.  In PS, I just filled the paper with white and added the text.

At first I did what you were thinking, added the 了 after 不是...then I changed it for some reason.

I agree with changye, natives please chime in.  I'm dying to know if I guessed correctly or just made up some silly grammar that natives would laugh at me for ;)

Okay, I talked with two of my native friends, one from Beijing, one in Taipei.  They both agreed that my original sentence in the photo is incorrect.  And that there is no Chinese way to say "was not."

They also agreed that the best way to say "That wasn't chicken" would be:

你刚刚吃的不是鸡肉。
nǐ gānggang chī de bùshì jīròu.

You didn't eat chicken just now.

I guess it's just one of those "lost in translation" moments.

I know that fortune cookies are a Western thing and not from China, but I'm wondering if Chinese would think this fortune is funny, or if it is completely lost in translation.

Hi calkins,

Thanks for your follow-up. The mystery is solved. 你的中国朋友不愧是汉语母语者，我没想到“刚刚吃的”这个贴切的句子。