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1500 questions
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4 answers
What is the function of 了 in the sentence "她会杀了你的"?
What is the function of 了 in the following sentence? Does it imply a sequence of actions?
她会杀了你的。"She will kill you."
Benjameno
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Two-character homonyms with same meaning
This is question about synonymous homonyms in Chinese, in particular, two-character words with same sound, tone. Edit: to keep the question simple and broad, I am using the word "homonym" in a non-technical way and the requirement of same-tone is…
daniel
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Is there a "Peking Opera dialect"?
Peking Opera has a distinct pronunciation, that is at first similar to Mandarin, but to astute listeners, certain characters appear to have alternate or even non-Mandarin pronunciations.
Take certain passages in 三家店 for example (listen for yourself…
congusbongus
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中东 - "Middle East" or "Eastern China"?
The dictionary lists both Middle East and Eastern China for 中东. Is one of these meanings more common? What would be a native speaker's first impression of the word? Does the meaning vary from mainland, Taiwan, S'pore etc?
UPDATE: I have since…
jsj
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Is 再过[时间] the most common way of expressing "in [amount of time], something will happen"?
I ask after encountering the following sentence in Tatoeba:
再过两、三个月,你就能说得一口流利的英语了。
Benjameno
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11
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2 answers
Specifics of the idiom "四海一家"
There are several sayings and idioms similar to 四海一家 which reference "四海".
Does the 四海 actually refer to 4 specific oceans such as the Indian, Pacific etc. or is it more of a metaphor for all of the oceans in the world?
going
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11
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Is there a comprehensive list of vocabulary differences between 台湾国语 and 大陆普通话?
I've found many articles about differences in certain sentence structures regarding 台湾国语 and 大陆普通话, but does anyone have a large list of commonly-used vocabulary that are different? I spend a lot of time on the mainland and Taiwan, and sometimes I…
Kurtz
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Are the Cantonese word 係 and the Japanese word はい related?
The Cantonese word meaning "to be", written as 係 (Jyutping: hai6) sounds similar to the Japanese word はい ("hai" in various Romanizations). Both words are used to answer "yes" or "it is correct" to yes-no questions.
The Japanese Wikipedia article on…
user102008
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6 answers
Why should I use 由 here and not 被?
I could choose 由 or 被. Why should I choose 由? Are there any good reasons for this choice?
这件事 _______ 公司负责。My girlfriend immediately said 由, but she couldn't say why.
Considering the answers below about 被 only being used with the perfective, if I…
Pedroski
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What's the difference between 舅舅 and 叔叔?
My favorite short story in modern Mandarin, 2015 by 王小波, is basically a long, humorous digression about the author's…
magnetar
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Help translating 海南鸡饭 - 2
I've come across Zhang Shaolin's Hoi-nam kai-fan (characters 海南鸡饭, lyrics only in subtitles), a song in Hakka. It is split into three parts. This question concentrates on part 2, part 1 being here and part 3 here. I have trouble translating it. The…
MickG
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10
votes
3 answers
Different pronunciation for the number 'one'?
I was talking to my friend (native Chinese) the other day and when she read out a phone number she said "yao" for all the "ones" in the phone number.
However, as far as I remember, for all other cases she says it normally - eg. "yi ge" when counting…
pyko
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5 answers
Are there sentences where 跟 and 和 are interchangeable?
For example:
我跟朋友去公园了。
我和朋友去公园了。
Are both of these sentences correct? Are there any subtle differences in the meaning conveyed?
If they are not entirely interchangeable, how do we know which one to use?
dr Hannibal Lecter
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怎么.... with 的 and 了
So it is said that if you find 的 after 怎么, the sentence represents 'How', and if you find 了 after 怎么, the sentence represents 'Why'.
How : 你怎么来的? "How did you come?"
Why : 你怎么来了? "Why did you come?"
I'd like to more specifically see how this can…
Dean Seo
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4 answers
What is the polite way to respond to a sneeze in Chinese?
In English, one might say "bless you" or "gesundheit" in response to a friend sneezing. Is there a Chinese equivalent? If so, what is it?
wolfaviators
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