L-F-J Posted February 27, 2008 at 12:29 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 12:29 AM 你现在不没事吗。 going off the double negative, i see this as asking if you are busy now. seeing 没事 as "to be free" makes it not really a double negative. then its asking "are you not free now"- are you busy? am i reading this correctly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monto Posted February 27, 2008 at 01:53 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 01:53 AM L-F-J :你现在不没事吗。 It can be considered "Double Negative" if we are talking about the grammer only. But the exact combination “现在不没事” never appears in reality. You can ask: 你现在没事儿吗? or 你现在有事儿吗？ The real Double Negative comes as “不是没事儿”，but differs in mode from normal questions. example: 甲：走，哥儿几个去喝一杯。 乙：我,,,，我就免了吧。 甲：怎么啦，你现在不是没事儿吗？ 乙：家里来了个客儿，我得陪陪。 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:07 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:07 AM I think it should be 不是沒事嗎. And I would interpret 沒事 as "all right", "ok". I guess it also means "having free time", though this is not in my vocab. For me, OP's sentence means, "Aren't you all right now?" "Aren't you ok now?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L-F-J Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:28 AM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:28 AM ok, i should have given some context. its from a xiangsheng performance by maji called "打电话". 马：歌剧！嗯。 郭：什么戏。 马：刘三姐。 郭：哦，刘三姐。 马：没看过呀，那看看吧，好极了。 郭：哦。 马：腔调美着呢，其中有一段我最喜欢了。就是那段，那个，那个，小王你现在不没事吗。 郭：干什么呀？ 马：啊，你拿着电话，你注意我给你学一学啊。 郭：学一学？！ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magudo Posted February 27, 2008 at 03:28 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 03:28 AM in this context also means "不是没事" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monto Posted February 27, 2008 at 04:09 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 04:09 AM L-F-J :马：腔调美着呢，其中有一段我最喜欢了。就是那段，那个，那个，小王你现在不没事吗。 郭：干什么呀？ 马：啊，你拿着电话，你注意我给你学一学啊。 郭：学一学？！ Aha, that's that. When writing is concerned, we should regard what is really written differently from what is recording-down of an oral speech, becoz language is quite strict to writing and quite tolerent to talking. For what orally spoken, we should not take it too serously grammatically. But that does not apply to a real writing. "小王你现在不没事吗" in the Cross-talk quoted should be "小王你现在不是没事吗" in formal. Accually, "事” should be "事儿”there, becoz that was actually uttered. We Chinese feel free to talk anything any way in daily life, especially in non-formal situation, but we don't put most of them on paper (too many "grammer mistakes"). By "the exact combination '现在不没事' never appears in reality", I wish rather to mean that speaking it may ok, but best to avoid to write it down exactly.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWLiu Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:22 PM Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 at 02:22 PM ---- ---- ---- Quote: L-F-J : 你现在不没事吗。 2/26/2008 ---- ---- ---- L-F-J : The negation is really unnecessary (and wrong in syntax): You will be asking the same question without the 不. Your interrogative sentence should also end with a question mark. As has been pointed out by others, a good colloquial form to use would be the following: 你现在没事儿吗? This means "Could you spare a moment?" or, equivalently, "Are you free now?" or even, by extension, "Are you busy now?" The expected positive reply would be 没事儿! The reply would mean "I am free" (and, by implication, "also available to help"); otherwise, a more tentative answer would be "What do you have in mind?" SWWLiu 2/26/2008 -------------------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mugi Posted February 28, 2008 at 06:23 AM Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 at 06:23 AM The negation is really unnecessary (and wrong in syntax) How is 你现在不[儿/是]没事[儿]吗 syntactically wrong? The first negation does in fact play an important semantic role: 你没事儿吗? is a neutral question; 你不是没事儿吗? implies that the speaker expects the listener to be free, but is (mildly) surprised to see that this is apparently not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashiriKata Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:10 PM Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:10 PM 你没事儿吗? is a neutral question; 你不是没事儿吗? implies that the speaker expects the listener to be free, but is (mildly) surprised to see that this is apparently not the case.Precisely so! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWLiu Posted February 28, 2008 at 02:08 PM Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 at 02:08 PM Quote: 马：腔调美着呢，其中有一段我最喜欢了。就是那段，那个，那个，小王你现在不没事吗。 郭：干什么呀？ HishiriKata, Mugi, and L-F-J: In view of the vehement reactions of HK and M, I retract my assertion of "syntactically wrong" about the sentence "小王你现在不没事吗。". There is really nothing ever truly "wrong" in spoken speech by native speakers -- the more "grammatical rules" they violate in speech, the more likely they will be misunderstood. Double negation is in general not a good thing and should be used with caution because of possible confusion, but in interrogative form it is relatively harmless. In context, as both of you have noted, there may be some element of surprise for 马. In response, 郭 says "干什么呀？" ("What do you have in mind?") To go off slightly on a tangent, I give an example in English using colloquial (urban) American slang: The double negative "I ain't got no money" should be taken to mean just the plain negative "I have no money" (not the affirmative expected under double negation). So, the context and social milieu must also be taken into account. By the way, in a different context the adjectival form "没事儿" or "没事" be may taken to mean something other than "not busy": When a friend comes over to you inquiring with concern about your condition after you have just taken a fall, your answer can easily be "没事儿!" (I'm okay!), when you are not hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racky Posted February 28, 2008 at 05:31 PM Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 at 05:31 PM 你现在不没事吗 after the sentence it should not a "。", it should be a "?" likely in English, Are you free now, aren't you? think it useful for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jade- Posted February 28, 2008 at 08:26 PM Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 at 08:26 PM 小王你现在不没事吗? ah, this is xiangsheng, you are talking about Beijing dialect. We Beijingers like to omit some words in conversation. It really is 小王你现在不是没事儿吗？We omit 是 here. Try not to write in this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creamyhorror Posted March 1, 2008 at 08:48 AM Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 at 08:48 AM Agreeing that 你现在不（是)没事吗。 (with the 。 and not ？) means "You're free now, aren't you. [so help me out with this etc.]" or "You're perfectly fine now, aren't you [from your appearance]." With a question mark instead of a period, it just becomes more questioning and less assertive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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