User Comments - james234

Posted on: Toilet Types

@chanelle77 said:
"new suede high-heeled boots +squatter = asking for trouble ;-)”

Hmm, sound like ‘someone’ you know had this little problem.

Hopefully it was not too bad. My fear is, unless you’ve practiced squatting ahead of time, your aim might be off and your pants somehow might get …hmm ‘shrapnel’,  but let’s not ‘go’ there.

Don’t let these toilet discussions scare you off from visiting China.  I’m been to China numerous times and the toilets are a small issue.  There are so much places and things to see and do in China. Can’t wait to go back soon!!

Posted on: Toilet Types

Oh, this brings back so many "pleasant" memories. Climbing the Great Wall in Beijing, we got to the top, I went into the men's room and it look like the squatter has not been clean for a century. I waited until I got back to the bottom.

Other toilet issues in China (for Westerns), the fancy restaurants may not have the regular type toilets or there are many squatters with only one regular.  Out in public, you be lucky to find a regular type toilet let alone toilet paper!   I learn quickly. Do your “business” in the hotel before you venture out and bring some extra toilet paper from the hotel. You will be quite a life saver to many Americans and some Chinese girls!  

Hints: look for KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut

Finally, I have to say the men’s urinals are designed artistically at some tourist stop sites. One that I remember has a glass wall with running water. In the background behind the glass are plants (plastic).  The guys step up to a metal grid and ‘water’ the plants.  The Chinese take more time to design their urinals than in the USA.  

.

Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉

Hi Changye and Pete: 

Thank you for the clarification. I think I now understand ‘ba3’ enough for practical use.  I will leave the fancy rules for ba3 as I advance with my Mandarin study.

Thank you to others who have given examples on the usage of ba3.  I will leave with my first encountered with the word ‘ba3’: 

Ni Zenme shuo  By Teresa Teng

…..

你心里根本没有我
Ni3 xin1 li5 gen1 ben3 mei2 you3 wo3
I'm not even in your heart

把我的爱情还给我
Ba3 wo3 de5 ai4 qing2 huan2 gei3 wo3
Return the love [that I gave to you]

Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉

OK, just when I thought “I got it”,  you guys throw in couple of more curse balls. When I combined what paulinurus and changye said (thank you!) , I have to ask,  is this correct?:

我把一个苹果～

Wo3 ba3 yi1 ge4 ping2 guo3

 Or

 我把苹果～

Wo3 ba3 ping2 guo3

Are correct IF both speaker and listener 1) Know the action that happened to the apple and 2) WHICH specific apple.  Otherwise it is incorrect,

For example, if there was ONLY one apple in the room and the speaker had apple debris around his mouth, the listener would know that the speaker ate the apple. So the above are correct.

However if there was a bushel of apples, we do not know which ‘specific’ apple from the bushel or if the speaker had no indication of what he did with the apple,  it would be incorrect? 

你把房间收拾一下

Ni3 ba3 fang2jian1 shou1 shi5 yi1 xia4

You tidy up room.

Here the speaker is talking to his/her child and the room is ‘the child’ room. (Implied/specific,  since why would  the child clean for example the living room. the living room would be too hard for a child to clean, so we know it is the child's room that the speaker is referring to. 

你把你的房间收拾一下

Ni3 ba3 ni3de5 fang2jian1 shou1 shi5 yi1 xia4.

You tidy up your room.

Same meaning as above except we add “your” to make it crystal clear (specific).

Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉

So is this correct?
把 ba3 is used before a noun to show that that noun is the object of the sentence.

Noun1 ba3 noun2 verb (correct)

Noun1 ba3  verb noun2 (wrong)

For example, we want to focus on the apple, so we say: 

Wo3 ba3 ping2gou3 chi1 le. 

The apple was eaten. (by me)(Passive)

Otherwise, if we do not want to focus on the apple:

Wo3 chi1 le ping2gou3.

I ate the apple. (Active)