一下儿 and 一点点 / and unformal chinese language

[Guest AlexF]

One question: 一下儿 and 一点点 - what is the difference? same?

I'd like to ask chinese people on this forum to post in this thread most common unformal words, used in spoken chinese.

it seems to be useful for everybody studying chinese.

[Yuchi]

I'm not quite sure what "一下儿" means.

"一点点" Means a little bit

I've never heard the first one being used before ?_?

[Claw]

I believe 一下儿 can only come immediately after a verb. For example: 请您等一下儿 (Please wait a little bit).

[skylee]

一下(兒) -

(1) used after a verb to mean "try to do it" or "try it once", e.g. 研究一下, 打聽一下

(2) do something for a short period of time, e.g. 等一下

[Quest]

I think 一下 is part adverb part grammar, literally it probably means "once".

让我看一下. 让我摸一下. 我被她咬了一下.

lit: let me take a look. let me take a touch. I've been taken a bite by her.

一点点 is "a little bit"

你会中文吗? 只会一点点.

Do you know Chinese? just a little bit.

[skylee]

让我看一下. 让我摸一下. 我被她咬了一下.

naughty examples.

[Quest]

haha 不要想歪了, 我真的没那个意思.

[BeijingSlacker]

I personally use 一点儿 rather than 一点点。

It just occurred to me that , At the risk of overgeneralizaion and oversimplification , any AA (repeat the same character to make up a word) form of phrases tend to be girlish. (more used by girls)

[Guest AlexF]

What about 一会儿?

something like "一下儿, 一点儿"?

[skylee]

Take a look at this (I find this dictionary quite handy).

會 N.

(5) A short moment: 這會兒 at present;

一會子工夫，不多一會兒，沒多大會 (兒) in a short moment;

一會兒 (*[hueeer0]) in a short while.

[Altair]

I am not at all fluent in Chinese, but have read quite a bit about formal grammar. I trust those who are native speakers or fluent in Chinese will correct any errors I make below.

As I understand it, Chinese has both nominal measure words (名量词 ming2 liang4 ci2) and verbal measure words (动量词 dong4 liang4 ci2). 一点点/一点儿 is a nominal measure word, whereas 一下/一下儿 is a verbal measure word. The ultimate sense of the two expressions is similar, but the they are not equally distributed in the language and are not interchangeable.

In an expression like 我说一点儿中国话 (Wo shuo yi dianr Zhongguohua), 一点儿 "counts" how much of Zhongguohua is spoken. In an expression like 让我看一下 (rang wo kan yixia, 一下 expresses how much of 看 is performed. 一点 and its related forms means a little bit of a thing. 一下(儿) means a single or brief instance of an action.

I think that 让我看一点儿 can only mean: "Let me see/look at a little bit." In this sense, 一点儿 is a more colloquial equivalent of 一些. 让我看一下 means: "Let me have a look. 让我介绍一下 means: "Let me make a little introduction"; whereas, I think that 让我介绍一点儿 means: "Let me introduce a little bit of it.

一下 also differs in that it tends to lend a casual tone to what is being said, because it is used to minimize the significance of the action. 让我介绍一下 (rang wo jieshao yixia) means that you are going to make a casual and basic introduction. 让我介绍 might mean that you are going to undertake a full formal introduction. In this sense, the briefness of the event is rhetorical and not to be taken literally. I think the distinction is the same as between the English phrases "Let me give a try" and "Let me try." The former would be 让我试一下 (rang wo shi yixia), but I am not sure how the latter would best be expressed in colloquial Chinese. I think that the verb phrase needs to be at least two syllables to avoid an awkward rhythm. If so, this rule disqualifies 让我试. 让我试试 does not work because it again introduces an element of minimizing the seriousness or extent of the attempt.

Can any native or otherwise fluent speakers confirm my analysis and let me know how to say: "Let me try" without any sense of minimization?

[shibo77]

Would the English translations not be:

一点点/一点儿 is a nominal measure word

让我介绍一点儿. Let me make a little introduction.

("little" adjective modifying noun "introduction")

一下/一下儿 is a verbal measure word

让我介绍一下儿. Let me introduce a bit.

("a bit" adverb modifying verb "introduce")

instead?

I think modern Mandarin having a liking for two, three syllable words instead of Classical Chinese's liking of single syllables is because of its influence from Mongolian and other northern non-Chinese languages wchih tends to be polysyllabic. That is why there are often two or three words in Mandarin, otherwise sounding awkward. Which is much different in other dialects and Classical Chinese.

"试 to try" is a modal verb. Modal verbs don't usually exist on their own, but is followed by another verb. The modal verb is conjugated but the following verb is in the infinitive. "I shall go." Chinese doesn't have any conjugations.

试试 would be "(to) try".

试... would be "try(modal verb)..."

试一下儿 would be casual/informal "try".

试一试 would be casual/informal "try".

I think "试 try" by itself has the connotations of casual, minimising the situation.

I said "Let me try." to myself a couple of times and it sounded to me to be pretty casual/colloquial. Or maybe I'm not trying harder...

"让我试试." sounds fine for "Let me try."

Which in fake Classical Chinese would perhaps be,

"恕我一试."

Not sure how it would be in other dialects.

-Shibo

[Altair]

Would the English translations not be:

一点点/一点儿 is a nominal measure word

让我介绍一点儿. Let me make a little introduction.

("little" adjective modifying noun "introduction")

一下/一下儿 is a verbal measure word

让我介绍一下儿. Let me introduce a bit.

("a bit" adverb modifying verb "introduce")

instead?

I think I would accept the first translation, but the second one sounds a little forced. I think that English often cannot make the distinction that Chinese does between plain verbs and verbs followed by 一下/一下儿. I think English speakers would just say: "Let me make an introduction"; however, you might also say something like: "Excuse me for a moment, I'd just like to introduce you."

"让我试试." sounds fine for "Let me try."

Correctly or not, my grammar books all imply that 让我试试 means something like: "Let me give it a try." In English, this means almost the same thing as "let me try," but implies only one attempt. If you were stuck behind a door in a burning building and a colleague was unsuccessfully trying to open the door to escape, you could ask to take his or her place by saying: "(Here,) let me try." You would be much less likely to say: "let me give it a try," because that would imply that you would not persist in the attempt. In such a situation, would you readily say: 让我试试?

How about a sentence like: "To learn English, you have to try all the time"? Can you use 试试 here?

[shibo77]

I think "让我试试" having the connotation of giving only one try is only a false connotation. In the dictionaries, it doesn't say anything about only one try. But usually, it is added to another verb. I would probably say "看我试着能不能打开." if I was trying to open a door and was trapped inside.

"To learn English, you have to try all the time"

I am not sure about what "try" means here.

But here is my translation: "要想学英语, 你就得经常试习."

"Yao xiang xue Yingyu, ni jiu dei jingchang shixi."

Not sure...

-Shibo

[Altair]

I think "让我试试" having the connotation of giving only one try is only a false connotation. In the dictionaries, it doesn't say anything about only one try.

I think I overstated my case a little. In English, a phrase like "Let me have a look" is not necessarily limited to "one look," but it does imply a limited time and "one session."

Let me exhaust most of my knowledge of Chinese with a quote from Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar by Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson, copyright 1981.

"As we have said, the semantic function of reduplicating the volitional verb in a sentence is to signal the actor's doing something "a little bit." Adjectival verbs (e.g., rong2yi4 'easy'), resultative verb compounds (e.g., da3-ku1 'hit-cry = hit someone to cause that person to cry') and nonvolitional verbs (e.g., wang4 'forget') do not undergo this delimitative aspect reduplication. For example,

"(2)

jiao1-jiao 'teach-teach = teach a little'

shuo1-shuo 'say-say = say a little'

xie1-xie 'rest-rest = rest a little'

bei4-bei 'recite-recite = recite a little'

zou3-zou 'walk-walk = walk a little'

mo2-mo 'grind-grind = grind a little'

"In addition, when a monosyllabic volitional verb is reduplicated to signal the delimitative aspect, the morpheme yi 'one' may occur between the original mono-syllabic volitional verb and its repetition without any change in meaning. Thus, the forms in (2) may optionally occur with yi; for example, jiao1-yi-jiao1 'teach-one-teach = teach a little', xie1-yi-xie1 'rest-one-rest = rest a little'.... The phonological effect of the insertion of yi is that the repeated syllable has a full tone, whereas yi 'one' always has a neutral tone. The syntactic effect is that yi 'one' plus the repeated syllable function as a postverbal adverbial phrase....

"Some disyllabic verbs can undergo reduplication, and some cannot. When a volitional verb is disyllabic, the reduplicated verb does not change phonologically; for instance,

"(3)

qing3jiao4-qing3jiao4 'inquire-inquire = inquire a little' (polite)

tao3lun4-tao3lun4 'discuss-discuss = discuss a little'

ma2fan2-ma2fan2 'bother-bother (someone with something) = bother someone with something a little'

pi1ping2-pi1ping2...

yan2jiu1-yan2jiiu1...

zhu4yi4-zhu4yi4...

kao3lv4-kao3lv4...."

I would probably say "看我试着能不能打开."

My grammars would explain "试着" as an instance of the "durative aspect," probably with an assertion that 试 is a form that usually cannot appear by itself.

By the way, in other grammar books, I think I have read that the duplication construction had more or less the same meaning as 一下/一下儿. This is why I have understood that these constructions minimize the the extent to which an action is performed; whereas 一点儿 signals that the substance of what is acted upon or produced will be minimal.

[andrewfz]

Hi...this is my first post. My understanding of it is...

以下means "a while" 等一下,

一点点means a little bit (like quantity)

Though I have heard things like....看一下 in the context of asking someone to "have a look" at something. Like buying something in the market for example.

I hope this is helpful.

Andrew