Why not say "我发烧了"?
nial
January 08, 2009, 07:43 PM posted in General DiscussionA colleague of mine had this question and I really don't know the answer either. Why is it we can say ‘我头疼了' but we say '我发烧'. For instance, if asked why you didn't come to work, you would answer '我发烧' and not '我发烧了'. The 了 seems appropriate since it is a change of status... you previously did not have a fever, but now you do.
Why is this? I have some theories, but wanna get y'alls opinion. Thanks!
nial
January 22, 2009, 05:29 PMWow these are some really good responses. It seems that people say both! 谢谢!
bababardwan
January 21, 2009, 11:32 PMI added some extra thoughts earlier but just noticed they didn't come through in the editing.
If ,as you assert,you can't say 我发烧了,then maybe this is in the emphasis way that you can say for headache.I can only hypothesise that there may be some fundamental way the Chinese look at fevers and headaches differently [perhaps coming from Chinese medicine].Perhaps it relates to the fact that fevers can more easily be objectively measured.Or perhaps because it is not painful it is less worth emphasising.Or maybe it relates to the fact that fevers can be more fluctuating;they can come and go...the classic example being malaria of course.It may all depend on context as to how the 了 is interpreted,whether it be for emphasis or to indicate a completed action.
I also would have thought you could simply say 我头疼 to say that you have a headache [as you do for fever] without giving it emphasis ,but it may be a less common practice [if it is very mild,one may be less inclined to complain about it/mention it]
alexyu_yxj
January 22, 2009, 12:51 AM我不清楚韩国语是否有这样表示时态的语法，但是汉语和日本语都是这样表示时态的。
汉语中的“了”等字表示“完成时”，“过”等字表示“过去时”，“着”等字表示“进行时”，“将”、“要”、“会”等字表示“将来时”。然而同时应当指出，汉语的“完成时”和“过去时”语法上是重叠严重的，很多时候我们可以认定一个句子为“完成时”，但表达上它可能使用了“过”等字，反之亦然。此外，汉语的“将来时”语法上是概念模糊的，因为它是看语境而非完全看语法来进行区分的。
汉语的动词不会发生所谓的“变形”，因为汉语的助词已经可以表示时态了。我个人认为，这样汉语给人很“稳定”的感觉。
changye
January 22, 2009, 01:10 AMAs is often the case with "了", this question is very difficult to answer too. In the first place, I usually don't say "我头疼了", but just say "我头疼", because the phrase "疼" (adjective) basically indicates "continuing state".
On the other hand, I think that "我发烧了" is very natural Chinese, because the verb "发" implies that something breaks out. In short, "发烧" connotes "a change of status", as nial rightly pointed out in his comment.
alexyu_yxj
January 22, 2009, 01:23 AM我个人人为，说“我头疼了”没什么不可以的，换个例子说明一下就能明白了。比方说“你把我的头撞疼了”，这里面用的就是“疼了”，而且从语法上讲，我认为“撞疼”和发烧的“疼”没什么本质区别。
bababardwan
January 21, 2009, 10:22 PMNial,
A good question which I cannot answer but can only try to hypothesise.
with 我头疼了 ,to me it translates as:
我 ...I
头疼...headache
了...modal particle intensifying preceding cause.
I think maybe 了 is being used in this latter sense [and not in the often completed action marker sense that you are alluring to ] to emphasise the headache as people really don't like having headaches and it emphasises the complaint
So it's almost like saying : I have a headache
我发烧了...I would have thought this was ok for trying to say that you had a fever [that you are now over ][I'm interested in where/why it says you can't say this ]
我发烧 ...I would have thought would indicate that you currently have a fever.
Just my thoughts.Probably not right,but you're not being ignored and maybe it will provoke other thoughts closer to the truth.Let me know what you think mate.
changye
January 22, 2009, 02:03 AMHi alexyu_yxj,
Now I've found a lot of "头疼了" phrases on the Internet, such as "现在我头疼了" or "我的头疼了三天". As you said, it seems that you can also say "头疼了" in a certain context. I've never used this phrase. I'll try to use this one next time in the office! Thanks a lot.
P/S. I also found a useful phrase, "现在不头疼了".
alexyu_yxj
January 22, 2009, 08:39 AM呵呵呵，不头疼是件很快乐的事情啊！
huayiluo
January 22, 2009, 09:34 AMi from china,i wan't find a usa man teach me english.
cassielin
January 22, 2009, 10:28 AMnial,
我头疼means I have headache. We dont say我头疼了。For instance,if someone ask you "what's wrong with you/what's the matter?"你怎么了？ You can answer 我头疼。if you want to express have headache again, then you can say我又头疼了。
"Why didn't you come to work?" The answer is我发烧了。 usually, people will keep on asking "Do you feel better now?" “好多了吗？”
bababardwan
January 22, 2009, 01:43 AMnial,
I just took a squiz at your profile and realised to my embarrassment that you're an advanced user and thus what I've written will be complete tripe,but it's too late to delete my feeble entries.I hope you'll forgive a cat for looking at a king. :)
nial
January 21, 2009, 08:44 PMAnyone?