nihao, I have been teaching Chinese in China and in various institutions in Switzerland for over 20 years. My major is Chinese Language and Literature in Education and also have a Master degree in Educational Management from UK. I am from Beijing. Currently I live in Switzerland. I enjoy teaching Chinese. I do hope, my channel will help you improve your Chinese.
当电灯泡 I have seen this expression before. I think it means "be a light bulb" only when actually talking about light bulbs. When talking about people, we could say "be a fifth wheel" (even though there are only three people, and not five). More commonly, we would say: "two is company, three is a crowd". So 你想让我当电灯泡 could be: "that would make me a fifth wheel" or "that would make it 'two is company, three is a crowd' "
@@ellenchineseclassroom In French, we say "tenir la chandelle", i.e. "hold the candle", which is pretty close to 当电灯泡. The Russian expression is more literal, быть третьим лишним, i.e. "be the extra third one". I wonder if there is a more classical expression in Chinese not involving light bulbs but lanterns or candles.
他一眼都没看。 This is such a great way to say: "he didn't even look at it". I used to use: 他连看都没看。 Learning how to say "something didn't even happen" can be quite challenging for learners. Using 甚至 would be simpler, but 他甚至没有看 seems unnatural to me.
I think that 我太难了 is short for 对我来说太难了 which means "It's too hard for me". Some people wonder how 对我来说 can mean "for me". But this has nothing to do with giving or owning. It means "the way it affects me". … I love 爱疯 for "iPhone". It's more fun than 苹果手机. 🙂
他们最近分手了。 Although 分手 looks like a verb-object pair ("separable verb"), I have never seen the structure 分了手. I think that some verb-object pairs are actually never separated. Two other ones are 回家 ("go home") and 潜水 ("dive (under water)"). For 结婚 ("get married") I have sometimes seen 结了婚 but usually it's 结婚了. Similarly for 离婚 ("get divorced").
她已经好几年没有回家了 This is an unusual grammatical structure which takes getting used to. When an action has not occurred for a certain period of time, the time-duration appears before the verb. And a sentence-final 了 is indeed used, even though the action is negated. … 她已经回家好几年了 Normally, the time-duration appears after the verb. The sentence-final 了 indicates that the action will continue. … 她没有回家 Normally, if the action is negated, a sentence-final 了 is not used.
I wonder if 皮鞋 necessarily means "leather shoes". These days, most shoes are made of a synthetic material. Very few are made of leather. Maybe 皮鞋 means "dress shoes". Different from casual shoes. I think I have also seen the term 布鞋 ("cloth shoes"). Maybe this is for casual shoes, especially if they're made of cloth, such as running shoes or sneakers. For "jogging shoes" maybe 运动鞋 is used.
房间打扫干净了 = 房间被打扫干净了 There is an interesting rule in Chinese grammar which says: « If the subject of the verb is not capable of performing the action of the verb, then the passive voice is implied, and 被 is not required. »
Haha, the math problem is good !! 🙂 I have also figured out the linguistic problem related to 问道. When 道 is used after a verb related to verbal expression, such as 说道, 喊道, etc., then it means that we are dealing with a direct quotation (exact wording). In print, this kind of quotation is always shown in quote marks. I have not seen this usage of 道 explained in any dictionary or grammar text, but I have found that it is commonly used this way.
在同一家银行工作。 在超市买东西。 In these statements, the 在-expression comes before the verb (工作 or 买). But with some other verbs (such as 坐 or 站), the 在-expression follows the verb: 坐在椅子上。 站在地毯上。 I'm not sure why that is so.
Place before verb indicates where the action takes place.在同一家银行工作。在超市买东西。 Place after verb indicates the place where the person or object involved in the result of the action is attached after the action is completed.坐在椅子上。站在地毯上。
In English, we say: "a pair of pants for hiking", but a direct translation as: 一条裤子来爬山 wouldn't really make sense, because our meaning is: "a pair of pants for when I'm hiking". So 一条爬山时穿的裤子 makes a lot more sense. Good to learn this sentence construction !!
Although 爬山 translates as "climb mountains" or "mountain climbing" I think it's usually used to mean "hiking". I'm not sure how to say "mountain climbing". Perhaps 登山.
我*想*回老家因为爸爸妈妈非常*想*我。 It's interesting. When 想 is followed by a verb, it means "want to". When 想 is followed by a noun, it means "miss" (sad to be away from).
两个多月 = "more than two months" 一百多个汉字 = "more than a hundred Chinese characters" … When 多 means "more than", I find that it usually comes after two characters. So that the measure word (such as 个) sometimes comes before 多, and sometimes comes after 多.
From gramma point HSK2 Standard Course L1 When the numeral is less than 10, "多" should be put behind the measure word. For example， 两个多。 When the numeral is an integer greater than 10, "多" is put before the measure word. For example: 一百多个。
起来 can be used to show that an action or state has started and is ongoing. 好起来 means "It's getting better“. 见好 means "condition of a patient get better or be on the mend". From this context, you can also use 好起来
In English, parents often tell their children: "Don't talk with your mouth full" because words cannot be spoken clearly while chewing. But 食不语 seems to be more strict, perhaps: "Don't talk while eating". There used to be an even stricter saying: "Children should be seen and not heard" meaning that children should be quiet all the time. This expression is less used these days. Perhaps because it doesn't work. :-)
All tradition have some reasons from background. We already noticed, with the economical development we have lost many good traditions. These good traditions are not obsolete, but we have forgotten their significance.
与其玩手机不如去跟小明一起玩 "Instead of playing with your phone, go and play with Xiaoming" For playing with something, I think the structure is: 玩 + something But, for playing with somebody, I think the structure is: 跟 + somebody + 一起玩
