User Comments - BettyZheng
BettyZheng
Posted on: There's a Cockroach in my Soup!
January 20, 2020 at 11:35 AM蒜头/大蒜/蒜 is a head of garlic or pieces of garlic. As for clove, it's 丁香 [dīngxiāng].
Posted on: Chopsticks are difficult to use
January 20, 2020 at 11:28 AMSure! Nice sentence, but we would add the purpose of using chopsticks to make the content more clear. It's just like what people say in English.
筷子很難用。Chopsticks are hard to use.
用筷子吃飯很難。Using chopsticks to eat is hard.
Posted on: Rebooking a Dentist Appointment
January 20, 2020 at 11:26 AMIn this case, 对不起 and 不好意思 both work. And we only use 麻烦您, when we ask someone to do something.
Posted on: Rebooking a Dentist Appointment
January 20, 2020 at 11:24 AMHi there,
Good question! The difference between them is 'whether you intend to do so' For example：
if your mom remind you 'remember to make an appointment to see a doctor', there's definitely no 要（记得预约看诊）.
you are in a hurry to see a doctor, and have no time to have your lunch, your mom might tell your dad: 他预约要看诊，所以就不吃了。And you might say 我预约要看诊，就不吃了。
Posted on: Be Careful of Strangers
January 20, 2020 at 11:14 AMYou can tell the difference by the translations below:
哪个阿姨 Which Aunt?
A：阿姨要来我们家喔！Aunt is coming to our house.
B：哪个阿姨？Which Aunt? (they might have more than one Aunts)
什么阿姨 What Aunt?
A：阿姨死了。Aunt died.
B：什么阿姨？我们又没有阿姨。What Aunt? We don't have an Aunt.
A：电视剧里的阿姨。Aunt in the drama.
Posted on: Be Careful of Strangers
January 20, 2020 at 11:07 AMHi there,
Let me explain this in an academic way. 拿 and 拿给 are two different words. 拿 one character alone means 'to hold'. 拿给 is a compound word means 'to give or to pass'. If you break it down, it's 'to take 拿 and then to pass 给'. Besides, we can separate this word with an object, for example
拿给我
拿书给我
拿一本书给我
拿了一本书给我
Posted on: Two Headed Snake
January 20, 2020 at 10:39 AMHi there,
Like what Jeremy has said, they are ok to be omitted. But you might ask, when can I omit it? Let's take a look at your sentences:
S / V / 了 / Time / (的) / O
我/养/了/十年/的/猪
我/吃/了/这么多年/蛇肉
The objects here, one is one character (猪), the other one is two characters (蛇肉). We can omit 的 when the object is 'two characters'. So, it means that we rarely say 我养了十年猪. It just sounds weird to the native speakers.
Posted on: I Can't Drink
January 20, 2020 at 10:29 AMJeremy is right. Let me give you some scenarios:
A：他不做了。He quits.
B：怎么会？How come?
A：房间好乱，怎么回事？The room is messy. What's wrong?
B：遭小偷了。Thieves broke into our house.
Posted on: I Can't Drink
January 20, 2020 at 10:25 AMYes, some people respond like that. Like me, I don't eat beef and I've heard a bunch of people telling me 'What a pity. Your life must be missing a lot of pleasure.' But people saying this don't really mean 'your life sucks'. Instead, they mean 'I am sorry you can't enjoy it'. So just reply to them '不会啦 I don't miss much pleasure.'
Posted on: There's a Cockroach in my Soup!
January 20, 2020 at 11:45 AM了 implies different meaning in different contents. Here, it is used to emphasize the adjective in front of it. So, yes, you can say 太棒了 [Tài bàngle]