hui vs dao

[leosmith]

Can someone briefly tell me the difference between hui and dao, using pinyin with your explanation if you give examples, or point me to the right thread? Thanks.

[imron]

Which hui and which dao?

[aprilz]

Probably this 回, and this 到

[leosmith]

hui lai, hui qu

vs

dao lai, dao qu

[skylee]

hui ~ return

dao ~ arrive

what does "dao qu" mean?

[adrianlondon]

hui lai, hui qu

Come back, go back

dao lai, dao qu

Arrive (here), arrive (there)

I think.

[Lu]

The difference? What skylee said, one means to arrive, one means to return. That's the main difference.

[leosmith]

This is just one hui/dao sentence pattern that's confusing me. Are these possible, and do the translations make sense?:

zhe zhi bi wo na dao nali qu (this pen I take, go and arrive there)

zhe zhi bi wo na dao nali lai (this pen I take, come and arrive there)

zhe zhi bi wo na hui nali qu (this pen I take, go and return there)

zhe zhi bi wo na hui nali lai (this pen I take, come and return there)

[Hofmann]

我拿到那裏來 sounds funny. Either say 這裏來 or 那裏去. Same with 回.

[L-F-J]

you cant "come there", you have to "go there".

so, "huí nàli lái" and "dào nàli lái" dont make sense. it has to be "zhèli"- here.

"huí nàli qù" means "return there".

"dào nàli qù" means "go there".

[leosmith]

I take a trip from the US to Shanghai and back.

On the way there:

1) wo dao shanghai qu (talking to someone not in Shanghai)

2) wo dao shanghai lai (talking to someone in Shanghai)

3) ta dao shanghai qu (an observer speaking to someone not in Shanghai)

4) ta dao shanghai lai (an observer speaking to someone in Shanghai)

On the way back:

1) wo hui meiguo qu (talking to someone not in the US)

2) wo hui meiguo lai (talking to someone in the US)

3) ta hui meiguo qu (an observer speaking to someone not in the US)

4) ta hui meiguo lai (an observer speaking to someone in the US)

Summary for this sentence pattern:

dao: subject is leaving his point of origin moving towards his destination

hui: subject is returning from his destination to his point of origin

qu: subject is moving away from the person being spoken to

lai: subject is moving towards the person being spoken to

Edited November 23, 2008 at 04:12 PM by leosmith

[imron]

dao: subject is moving away from his point of origin

I think it's more that the subject is moving towards a given destination. A subtle difference perhaps, but one worth noting.

[leosmith]

I think it's more that the subject is moving towards a given destination. A subtle difference perhaps, but one worth noting.

Yikes, the first like of my post s/b I took a trip from the US to Shanghai. My intent was to say from the US to Shanghai use dao, and from Shanghai to the US use hui, but I said it poorly. What do you think about my edited post?

[HashiriKata]

dao: subject is leaving his point of origin moving towards his destination

hui: subject is returning from his destination to his point of origin

[Hui & dao] is not a pair of opposite as you seem to be trying to establish. You can indeed say: hui dao meiguo.

[leosmith]

You can indeed say: hui dao meiguo.

Are we talking about the same hui?

[skylee]

Are we talking about the same hui?

Yes.