移动

[SeekerOfPeace]

My friend taught me that to move something is 移动。

I just listened to a podcast by Chinesepod.com.

Well it says:

移山 for "to move mountain".

Why isn't 移动山

This isn't the first time where I've observed that the second 汉字 of a verb is ignored.

Is 移动 the infinitive form? That's the only think that comes to mind right now. The only think that would make sense to me at the moment.

Thanks.

[skylee]

One possibility is that 移山 is in fact part of another word (a chengyu maybe). It could be 愚公移山 or 移山填海, etc. Normal grammar rules are not always applicable to such fixed phrases.

[muyongshi]

I don't think Chinese uses "forms" of verbs. And Skylee is (as always) right- it has to do with a fixed phrase.

[Luobot]

I also heard this podcast. It's taken from the Chinese fable called, "The Old Man Who Moved a Mountain." The full sentence in question is:

有一个老人叫愚公，他家门前有两座大山挡着路，他决定和家人一起移山。

移山 = move mountain.

Can't you use 移 + any object to move that object?

[ChineseSpeaker]

Well, "移动山" is a correct in a sense of grammar, however it doesn't conform to the language habbit of we native Chinese.

Generally speaking, for a verb+noun structure, two-character combination or four-character combination sounds natural, while three-character combination sounds very unnatural.

e.g 开山

移动山丘

As I can summarize here, a three-character, verb+pron structure is acceptable:

e.g. 说服她

[SeekerOfPeace]

Thank you Chinese Speaker.

So I could say:

移人

or 移+noun

If I understand correctly.

[ChineseSpeaker]

well, I don't think you can say "移人"

when people move somebody or something, people would like to use the verb "推（push）" or "拉（pull）", for example, "推人" or "拉人"

推 or 拉 empasise the action of movenment

移 empasize the location change, it should only be used against thing instead of people, example, 移情（love change from one girl(location) to another girl(location)）, 移机(telephoe change from one house to another house)

[SeekerOfPeace]

Thank you Chinese Speaker.