User Comments - ideotek
ideotek
Posted on: A Simple Tour of the Office
July 28, 2012, 10:36 AMI meant "stuck on VERBS" where we might use nouns... :) I hope I'm still correct.
Posted on: Issues with Flavor
July 28, 2012, 10:33 AMThat's a nice explanation. Thanks, babyeggplant!
Posted on: Issues with Flavor
June 23, 2012, 03:12 PMI don't think I've ever seen this construction... 你用的是什么香水?
The 'de' is confusing with the 'shi' after it.
Is this just for the verb 'use', maybe signifying some continuous state? Or does it signify the object coming? as in... 'you use one, it's what perfume'?
Posted on: A Simple Tour of the Office
February 15, 2012, 10:34 AM"Welcome" is a funny expression in modern english, since it's not clear anymore, if we're saying we welcome you or you are welcome here.( Like please which was once "if it pleases you")
For a more literal mnemonic, could
huanying ni lai 欢迎你来
be translated "We welcome that you have come." or "We welcome your arrival"?
It sounds archaic, and doesn't follow english grammar or usage, but it seems these verb phrases in chinese are often stuck on where english would use nouns (i.e. come>your arrival).
Could I be detecting a pattern here?
Posted on: The Better Man
December 10, 2011, 07:16 PMThis is the second time I've run 比 bi past my brain. I just discovered I've been unconsciously remembering the order of who is "more than" who with a crude homophonic pnemonic:
红茶比绿茶好喝。hong cha bi lv cha haohe.
Black tea beats green tea (in) tasty(ness).
It sort of helps me keep the basic structure and the bi sound reminds me of the comparison.
Posted on: Hospitality Series 1: Welcome to the Hilton!
October 02, 2011, 09:23 PMI missed the mistake but I'm wondering about whether this can be modified:
i.e. the original seems to mean
我早上只喝了一点儿牛奶 - (not much and I'm starving now.)
What about:
I only drank a little milk in the morning (little - not as much as is missing now.)
I only drank a little milk in the morning (milk - not juice)
I only drank a little milk in the morning (morning - not after lunch)
I only drank a little milk in the morning (drank - didn't cook with it)
I only drank a little milk in the morning (only - did nothing else all morning)
Can all this be inferred from context? or does one move the zhi3只? Or are there different word orders for all these meanings? Is this covered in the grammar section?
All can be done in english with a little stress on the key word.
Posted on: Manly Men and Womanly Women
July 13, 2011, 10:27 PMI think on close inspection 'sir', 'madam', 'miss' and the nearly extinct 'master' for a young boy contain the same 'sexism' that was once a norm in english speaking cultures. Now, they're 'just words' to most people. But to find something you or someone else doesn't want to look at, just follow the 'just'.
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 20, 2011, 01:34 PMthanks.
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 18, 2011, 07:25 PMI have a question about "past tense" from the expansion exercises:
我没带护照。- is translated as: I didn't bring my passport.
Can you say: 我不带了护照。？
Does this also mean "I haven't brought my passport." ? How does one say: "I don't bring my passport." （as in usually... i.e. when I go swimming)?
Does 带 require a 了 for the positive past but not the negative?
Posted on: Pens and Notebooks
November 12, 2012, 01:49 PMjust an english note: stationery