User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: What's your (animal) sign?
December 12, 2008 at 7:57 AMHi mikeinewshot,
I also thought the same way first. Please look at the picture of today carefully and count them again.
Posted on: What's your (animal) sign?
December 12, 2008 at 7:43 AMHi wxgcathy,
Thanks for your correction. I've just found another typo, 乙 (yi3, Wood, Yin) !
Posted on: What's your (animal) sign?
December 12, 2008 at 7:17 AMHi kesirui,
甲 (jin3, Wood, Yang)
乙 (yi2, Wood, Yin)
丙 (bing3, Fire, Yang)
丁 (ding1, Fire, Yin)
戊 (wu4, Earth, Yang)
己 (ji3, Earth, Yin)
庚 (geng1, Metal, Yang)
辛 (xin1, Metal, Yin)
壬 (ren2, Water, Yang)
癸 (gui3, Water, Yin)
Posted on: I want coffee!
December 12, 2008 at 3:36 AMI fully agree with pete. You would find thick grammar books very interesting only after you become an intermediate or advanced learner of Mandarin. As for the proper usage of "了", I just recommend you always try to carefully watch the position of "了" in dialogues and texts offered by reliable native speakers.
Posted on: What's your (animal) sign?
December 12, 2008 at 2:50 AM子 (zi3) 老鼠 (lao3 shu3) rat, mouse
丑 (chou3) 牛 (niu2) cow, bull, ox (2009)
寅 (yin2) 老虎 (lao3 hu3) tiger
卯 (mao3) 兔子 (tu4 zi) rabbit, hare
辰 (chen2) 龙 (long2) dragon
巳 (si4) 蛇 (she2) snake
午 (wu3) 马 (ma3) horse
未 (wei4) 羊 (yang2) sheep
申 (shen1) 猴子 (hou2 zi) monkey
酉 (you3) 鸡 (ji1) chicken
戌 (xu1) 狗 (gou3) dog
亥 (hai4) 猪 (zhu1) pig
Posted on: I want coffee!
December 12, 2008 at 12:27 AMHi calkin,
"verb+了+mesure word+object" shows that an action has been completed. 我吃了一条鱼。I had fish.
Exactly speaking, you need to place "mesure word + object" or "a specific object", e.g. "父亲昨天钓的鱼", after "verb + 了" to show that an action has been completed, but don't ask me why. I also don't know the reason, haha.
That said, an answer to the question "你吃了什么？" would probably be "我吃了鱼", although I'm not so sure. In this case, the importance is placed on the kind of food, and that is why you don't need to add a measure word.
Posted on: I want coffee!
December 11, 2008 at 1:31 PMHi pete and lujiaojie,
If you just say “我吃了鱼”，it feels like the sentence is incomplete.
Thanks a lot for your nice explanation about the usage of "了", which I think is the best one I ever read here. As you pointed out, the difference between "我吃了一条鱼" and "我吃了鱼就～" is very important.
Posted on: The Good Husband
December 11, 2008 at 12:01 PM日本有一个很受欢迎的电影系列叫《男はつらいよ》，这可能是日本中老年人最喜爱的电影之一。我也在电影院看过这部日本最有名的贺岁片，有人说只有看到《男はつらいよ》才能迎接新年。这个系列一共竟有48部，以片子数目最多入选了吉尼斯世界纪录。这些作品在中国中央电视台播放过很多次，我估计不少中国朋友们看过这系列喜剧片的男主人公“车寅次郎”。
他是一个流浪汉，一点都不帅，既没有钱又没有固定工作，总让家人为他操心。不过其实“寅次郎”很善良，并且很愿意帮助别人，也可以说是一个讲义气的日本大丈夫。《男はつらいよ》这个题目的英文翻译是《It’s tough to be a man》，中文是《男人真命苦》，我觉得翻译得都很好。无论是在中国还是在日本或者是在西方国家，男人的日子还是会不好过啊！
Posted on: Borrowing Money
December 10, 2008 at 12:20 PMHi Pete,
It's the same for me. I've never been in debt to anyone so far. Of course, I'm not a rich guy either.
But the situation is rather different here in China from that in so-called "developed countries". As you know, there is an extreme gap between the rich and the poor in China, and I think this grave problem won't be solved until the end of the world.
In a sense, borrowing/lending money is a kind of social welfare in China, which can't be sufficiently provided by the government. For example, unfortunately enough, poor students can't get enough scholarship in China. So their parents have no choice but to borrow money from friends or relatives. Good or bad, like it or not, it's the reality in China.
P/S. The guy in the dialogue is, of course, out of question, haha.
Posted on: I want coffee!
December 12, 2008 at 11:52 AMThanks to dunderklumpen, we have learned a lot of 吃鱼-related sample sentences. Of course there is no problem with that. I love eating fish very much!