|
 |
Mandarin relative clauses 2 | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5810 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes  Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 1 of 12 17 March 2012 at 10:44am | IP Logged | |||||
|
I’m once again confused by Mandarin relative clauses.
The sentence ‘The chopsticks he used are on the table’ is 「他用的筷子在桌子上」, right? How about ‘The chopsticks he used to eat the rice are on the table’? My guesses are 1)「他用的吃米的筷子在桌子上」 2)「他用吃米的筷子在桌子上」 3)「他用它吃米的筷子在桌子上」 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 12 17 March 2012 at 11:24am | IP Logged | |||||
|
It's number 2. The first would mean "The rice-eating chopsticks that he uses ..." (i.e. the chopsticks eat rice, or chopsticks that are made specifically to eat rice). The third is just incorrect, why did you guess the presence of 它? Would be somehow like saying "The chopsticks that he uses it are..." I suppose, if we could translate mistakes.
But frankly, I don't think it's very Mandarin-ly to speak that way anyway. You can do it, but I don't hear or read this kind of structure very often. Maybe I'd replace 用 by 来, but I can't really explain why. Hopefully someone will be of better help than me... 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5810 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 3 of 12 17 March 2012 at 11:30am | IP Logged | |||||
I know, but how would you rephrase it? The sentence is supposed to refer to a situation where there are many chopsticks and you want to point out the location of a specific pair, i.e. the ones that ‘he’ used to eat the rice. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 4 of 12 17 March 2012 at 11:53am | IP Logged | |||||
|
If there are several people around the table, you could say “他的筷子" (or the name of the person instead of the pronoun if we haven't mentioned that person yet). If there is one person with many chopsticks, "他用的筷子", "他刚才用的筷子" (we guess he's been using them to eat).
If really there's one person, many chopsticks, and that the guy used several pairs but different dishes, then there's probably no other way that using your 2nd sentence. But that would be a rather contrived example, wouldn't it? :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kevin Hsu Triglot Groupie Canada Joined 4739 days ago 60 posts - 94 votes Speaks: English, Mandarin*, Korean Studies: German | Message 5 of 12 17 March 2012 at 1:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm not so sure about how a main-lander might say it, but as a Taiwanese I find these
three: "他用來吃飯的筷子在桌(子)上" "他吃飯用的筷子在桌(子)上" "他剛才用的筷子在桌(子)上" the most natural. *Use 飯 instead of 米, because 米 means uncooked rice rather than cooked rice(which I assume is your intended meaning?) **子 is optional 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4679 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 6 of 12 17 March 2012 at 1:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
I'm happy to see my suggestions coincide quite well with a native speaker! :)
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| smallwhite Pentaglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5309 days ago 537 posts - 1045 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish | Message 7 of 12 17 March 2012 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
(米 changed to 飯) Number 2 is wrong. > 2)「他用吃飯的筷子在桌子上」 吃飯的筷子 = chopsticks for eating rice (but 吃飯用的筷子 is better) 他用 吃飯的筷子 = he uses [chopsticks for eating rice] 他用吃飯的筷子在桌子上 = He uses chopsticks for eating rice are on the table = wrong > 1)「他用的 吃飯的 筷子 在桌子上」 Number 1 is a correct sentence, but not exactly what the OP wanted to say. Here you are giving 2 descriptions of the chopsticks - The chopsticks that he uses and that are for eating rice. > 3)「他用它吃飯的筷子在桌子上」 A construction that uses the word 它 does exist, but it's not like this. We had a post about this recently. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5810 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 8 of 12 17 March 2012 at 2:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
I wonder, what’s the function of 来 in the first sentence? 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
