similar meanings (or same) but when (how) to use?

[Smoothie]

and (gen/he)

but (dan shi/ke shi/bu guo)

really (zhen de/shi ma)

understand (ming bai/dong)

i think there's more but i can't think of right now.

[Quest]

generally speaking, you can use whichever you feel like.

[Smoothie]

really? but aren't there cases where people uses one more than the other?

[Altair]

Smoothie,

I found the following information really helpful for understanding some Chinese equivalents of "and." It comes from Intermediate Chinese: A Grammar and Workbook by Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington.

"和 he2 may be used to join nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs."

"跟 gen1, 与 yu3 and 同 tong2 may be used to replace 和 he2 but only when they are used to link nouns and pronouns but not adjectives or verbs..."

"跟 gen1 is more often used in the northern dialects..."

"与 yu3 is more formal in tone..."

"同 tong2 is more often used in central and southern China..."

Perhaps, someone can confirm the general accuracy of these observations.

The data they presented on equivalents for "but" are not as clearly laid out and are hard to interpret precisely. I think they imply that 雖然 is often, but not obligatorily paired with 但是 and 卻 in the meaning "although...(yet), but that these latter words mean more or less the same thing as 可是, 然而, and 不過 (i.e., "but, yet, however"). They add, however, that the word order options for 卻 (a "conjunctive," as opposed to a "conjunction") are not as free as for the other words. Again, perhaps someone can confirm all this.

[ala]

generally speaking, you can use whichever you feel like.

It's also this attitude that makes the Chinese language so imprecise and annoying for lawyers.

No, they are not the same, nor really interchangeable. danshi = but/however, yet (dan = but); keshi = yet, but actually..; buguo = but still.

我想完球，但(是)妈妈叫我直接回家。

I want to play ball, but mother told me to go straight home. As you can see, there doesn't have to be a direct contradiction for 但是/但. It's just a straightfoward but/however. 很好完，但我累了。

妈妈觉得我想回家了，可是我还想完完。

Mother thinks I want to go home, yet (but actually) I still want to play a little. 可是 is also used more for contradictions in feelings and thoughts.

妈妈很讨厌，不过我还是听她的。

Mother is very annoying, but I still listen to her. Clause 2 after 不过 usually overpowers any lackings or negativities the preceding Clause 1 has.

They are used differently. Subtle, but very important.

[Quest]

我想玩球， 不过妈妈要我马上回家。

妈妈觉得我想回家，但我还想玩玩。

妈妈很讨厌，可是我还是听她的。

not much different.

[ala]

"和 he2 may be used to join nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs."

"跟 gen1, 与 yu3 and 同 tong2 may be used to replace 和 he2 but only when they are used to link nouns and pronouns but not adjectives or verbs..."

"跟 gen1 is more often used in the northern dialects..."

"与 yu3 is more formal in tone..."

"同 tong2 is more often used in central and southern China..."

In Northern Wu dialects (which are considered central eastern dialects), we only say 跟 or 及. In Shanghainese, 跟 is used wherever English "and" is used in conversation, and can definitely link adj and verbs.

与 doesn't quite mean "and," it has that "versus" connotation ("as compared with").

[czjacky]

I saw one of the ala's sentence"妈妈很讨厌，可是我还是听她的。". In china, if someone says his parents "讨厌", he will be considered as "不孝" or "不尊重长辈". Ususally chinese people use some "含蓄的" word to present their complaint like"唠叨、絮叨" and so on. Furthermore, in USA I saw many peopel said "get out of my face" to their friends and even family members. If you say so to a chinese, he will think this is an offensive phrase and maybe fight with you over this. I asked many my chinese friends, what is his/her response when someone says "get out of my face"to him/her, and they always told me "I am angry about this phrase." Why they did not present their unplease? i think they know this is kinda common phrase in USA. But they can not tolerate a chinese person says like that to them.

中西方的文化差异太大了，我想在大家学习中文的同时，也了解中国的一些文化传统，避免在自己的谈话中有不适合的词语出现，不至于冒犯人。不过，每个国家的人对外国人都还是很宽宏大量的，在我跟美国人说英文时，也总是显得直接、生硬，而他们也总是很体谅我这个“老外“，我想随着我们词汇量的增加，这些问题都会迎刃而解。

最后祝大家 好好学习 天天向上！(good good study, day day up)

[ala]

讨厌 is still heard in a moment of passion against one's parents, or if the annoyance on a particular matter is rather long term. Though 讨厌 may not be the most tactful term, I was trying to pick vocabulary that Smoothie would probably recognize. Hehe I grew up always using 烦. Different regions in China have somewhat different social conventions, and so vocabulary used will be a little different, even if we are all talking about Mandarin.

"Get out of my face" to me is about equal in both English and Chinese. And it all depends on the context and tone anyway.

[Smoothie]

thanks a lot ala for giving me examples.

[czjacky]

hehe, ala , no offense. Your explanation is very clear. Maybe I was going a little deep. From you, I learned some good terms and usages too. Thank you!