User Comments - dunderklumpen

Posted on: I want coffee!

ah, tone trouble...
wo3 chi1 guo4 yu2
wo3 chi1 le5 yu2

Posted on: I want coffee!

Thanks Jenny!

I think I get the general idea: le softer in tone, guo interrogative. I remember this expression from an earlier podcast (Elementary - Which country are you from?): ni3 qu4 guo4 xiang1gang3 ma5? (Have you been to Hong Kong?).
Is that also interrogative or a bit more relaxed? I mean, does the guo4 sometimes go together with particular verbs in a soft tone or is it always more interrogative to use guo4?
Oh, more questions coming up. What about statements (as opposed to questions):
wo3 chi1 guo4 yu2
wo chi1 le yu3
Here, I tried to write "I had fish". Is there a difference in those expressions?

Posted on: I want coffee!

Sorry to interfere with two grammar questions ;)

1. Expansion sentence:
你早上去哪儿了？ ni3 zao3shang5 qu4 nar3 le5? (Where did you go this morning?)
Would it be correct (and natural) to say ni3 zao3shang5 qu4 guo4 nar3??

I'm not sure when to use guo4 and le5 respectively.

2. Expansion sentence:
东西给他了吗？dong1xi5 gei3 ta1 le5 ma5? (Have you given him the stuff?)
This is the same structure as dong1xi5 duo1 dai4 le5 ma5? (Did you bring all the stuff?) ...from an earlier podcast. Topic-comment construction, right? Would it be possible to rewrite the expansion sentence in the more "direct" form of gei3 wo3 kan4kan ni3 de5 shou3! ...from the podcast "dirty little hands"? Something like gei le (guo?) ta dou dongxi ma?

Calkins,

I'm with you there. I thought of ji3 dian3 (note third tone on ji3) as "what time" and shen2me5 shi2hou5 as "when".

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Hi all hànzì analphabet sisters and brothers. I just found an online translation tool (hanzi->english) that I want to share:

http://us.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php#

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Thanks to all of you guys! Transcript, pinyin, zhe/zai discussion....

It will take a long time for me to read through all info. I have to look up almost every hanzi word in a dictionary. Sigh... When am I going to get some sleep ;)

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Me too. Some cPod help would be great :)

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

sebire,

then your grammar book and nciku agree :)

"着 [zhe] 1. particle added to a verb or adjective to indicate a continued action or state"

Source: http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E7%9D%80/54469 (one of the links I posted before)

cPod,

I think we need some help on how to use 着 and 在. Those characters seem to do the same thing sometimes. Maybe a subject for a qing3 wen4: how to handle different forms of present(?) tense.

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Thanks for the input guys!

sebire, I can try and help a little:

particle [直译: verb plus 着 placed before another verb, indicating an accompanying action or state] ⓐ (verb plus 着 serving as an adverbial modifier)

A particle is a small word that doesn't have a literal meaning. It instead functions as a grammatic tool. For example the word le. It doesn't have a literal meaning but modifies the sentence. ba, a, zhe are examples of other particles.
(hint: wikipedia "grammatical particle")
(http://chinesepod.com/resources/grammar/parts-of-speech/particles)

A verb is a word that denotes an action. For example cry and say. (wiki "verb"...)

OK. Now the weird stuff: ...verb plus 着 placed before another verb...

That is: [verb] zhe [verb]

So, the explanation would be: ku zhe shuo
ku [verb]
zhe [particle]
shuo [verb].

Accompanying can mean that the two actions (verbs) happends at the same time.
(accompanying: definition and synonyms http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/accompanying)

Don't trust me too much though :)

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

>>But note the she (她) instead of he (他).

oyo, zhen1 diu1 lian3. But it confirms I can't read hanzi ;)

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Hi billgloveruk, sebire

I found some more input to the question. Hope it helps.

着, zhe
particle [直译: verb plus 着 placed before another verb, indicating an accompanying action or state] ⓐ (verb plus 着 serving as an adverbial modifier)

Example:
他爱吃着饭看报
Tā ài chīzhe fàn kàn bào
He likes to read the newspaper while eating

zhe can be used in other ways as well.

Source: http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E7%9D%80/54469

The word you3 can be used in different ways.

Source: http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%9C%89/1318512

Nciku so far. Now a personal try. I think it translates to "There was a child who had become ill. His mama brought him to see (visit) a doctor.". Literally "is one child became ill".

Don't trust me too much though :)