Correct usage of the word supportive

[trooper]

How do you say "He is supportive of me" in Chinese?

I want to use "supportive" in the sense that means he is generally caring, understanding and encouraging of me.

I thought you could say 他支持我。 But a native Chinese speaker told me that 支持 can only be used when I mean he is supporting me in making a decision or taking a stance. According to the native speaker, the correct way to say what I want is 他关心我。

Who is right?

[skylee]

How about 他很支持我 or 他對我很支持 ?

[trooper]

Are you saying that the native speaker I asked was wrong?

[skylee]

Try to search "很支持我" and "對我很支持" at baidu.com or google.com to see if they are used in the way you want.

[Quest]

you can say 他什么事情/时候都很关心和支持我。

[back]

he is generally caring, understanding and encouraging of me.

多层意思，只用“关心”或“支持”似乎不足以说明你的意思。

YOU COULD SAY“他很关心我，也很理解和支持我，并且给了我很多的鼓励”

哈，听起来似乎很繁琐。

[shibo77]

The native speaker that you asked is correct. Use 支持 zhi1 chi2 "to support" when you are taking a stance, or making a decision. But for the sense of "caring, understanding, encouraging", the Mandarin Chinese equivalents are "关心 guan1 xin1, 理解 li2 jie3, 鼓励 gu3 li4". (There are other verbs for "caring, understanding, encouraging", but I listed the three most commonly used equivalents here.) These three verbs are all very different in meaning, and a true equivalent between English and Chinese is not possible. Look under "supportive" in an English>>Chinese dictionary, and several definitions would be listed. To say "He is supportive of me." I would say "他很支持我." as the best Chinese equivalent.

他很支持我. He is supportive of me.

他很关心我. (guan1 xin1) He is caring of me.

他很理解我. (li2 jie3) He is understanding of me.

他很鼓励我. (gu3 li4) He is encouraging of me.

他很拥护我. (yong1 hu4) He is endorsing/upholding/supportive of me.

他很赞助我. (zan4 zhu4) He is encouraging of me.

他很资助我. (zi1 zhu4) He is supportive (with money) of me.

Also, in the sentence "He is supportive of me.", "supportive" is the predicate, behaving in the same way as an adjective. When you translate into Chinese>> "他很支持我." (He/subject) (noun+adjective linking adverb) (adjective/predicate) (I,me/object).

"他支持我." would be "He supports me.", where "支持-support" is used as a verb. (He/subject) (verb) (I,me/object).

I hope this helped!

- Shibo

[trooper]

Thank you all for your detailed advice.

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

"He's supportive of me." I think 他很照顧我" can fit for the meaning you asked. In Taiwan, you can use in spoken language as "他很挺我" to mean he supports you either in idea or action. Hope it helps!

[semantic nuance]

sorry! I forgot to mention this this morning. When you say : They were always supportive of each other.", it will be a bit odd to say 他們一直互相支持. It's understandable, but not chinese at all. To my opinion, it's better to be "他們一直互相扶持". Therefore, the same english words or phrases used in different contexts, their Chinese will change according to the contexts. Hope it helps.