Scoobyqueen Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:05 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:05 PM I just came across this expression 还给老师了 Nice way of getting out of speaking a foreign language you are supposed to have learnt. I am curious as to how common it is. I had initial difficulty finding out what it meant. It was a HSK expression. sometimes they are very colloquial, "on a par" with british I suppose. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWWLiu Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:18 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:18 PM It means "I have forgotten everything I have previously learned about this subject. So, by implication, I can no longer offer my 'expert' opinion on it." (somewhat facetiously, of course). Literally, it means "I gave it all back to my teacher(s)." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jade- Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:32 PM Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 at 07:32 PM Hi Scoobyqueen, 还给老师了 is a humorous way to say you forget what you have learned. Literally the sentence means "I have returned (what the teacher taught me) back to the teacher." It is a quite often used term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobyqueen Posted March 6, 2008 at 08:45 AM Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 at 08:45 AM thanks to both of you for illuminating this point. sometimes it can be quite hard to decipher the meaning of such expressions especially when they are not written down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted March 6, 2008 at 09:04 AM Report Share Posted March 6, 2008 at 09:04 AM sometimes it can be quite hard to decipher the meaning of such expressionsAnd just in case you weren't already clear, remember that in this sentence 还 is pronounced huán and not hái. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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