你爱信不信

[skyblue]

请问是什么意思？

谢谢。

[monto]

你爱信不信 = Believe it or not

In Chinese, you can subtitute "你" with almost any other pronoun or noun for person(s). For examples:

他爱信不信 meaning "I don't care wether he believe it or not", implying "what I said is true".

这些人爱信不信

[lgna2000]

believe it or not. When people say this, it indicates that he(she ) may be impatient.

[skyblue]

Thank you.

Is it a fixed expression? There's also another phrase, for example: 你爱画不画

What would this mean? So there's no direct translation for the verb "ai"?

Thanks.

[monto]

Oh, yes.

It just didn'd come to me before you mention it.

"Set structure" may be the better description of it, For almost all the verbs, you may have

你爱+ + 不 +

你爱笑不笑, 你爱看不看, 你爱走不走,.......... All neaning "I don't care whether you ..... or not"

So there's no direct translation for the verb "ai"?

Literally, we can translate 爱. But as it makes no good English, we give it up. For example

你爱信不信 ------ (I don't care whether) you like to believe or disbelieve.

The meaning of 爱 is expressed here as the"like" in the following sentence:

You do as you like, I don't care.

By the way, They are oral.

[skyblue]

Hey Monto

Thank you

Sky

[tooironic]

Yeah, I think translating 你爱信不信 as 'believe it or not' might be slightly misleading, because the phrase 'believe it or not' is quite light in English - e.g. you might see it in trivia books titling 'Believe it or not.. *insert random fact*' or it might be a casual expression in spoken English like 'Did Sandra end up going out with that horrible guy from accounting?'.. 'She did, and believe it or not she said it went really well.'

BUT 你爱信不信 is more like 'You can believe it if you want, I don't care' - no?

[monto]

你爱信不信 is more like 'You can believe it if you want, I don't care'

You may understand 你爱信不信 this way, or another.

If "I don't care" is really expressed after it, then things go serious.

As long as it is not expressed there, it is only implication. so whether it is light or a little bit "heavier" depends on the context which decide the degree of the implication. We can often see someone say it and try to add more details to what he/she said. In such case, it definitely goes light way.

[roddy]

Yeah, the 爱verb不verb construction is like saying do whatever you want, it's nothing to do with me. I'm not sure if you'd call it rude, but you certainly wouldn't use it before, say, handing over a juicy piece of gossip.