abcdefg Posted April 18, 2011 at 01:49 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 01:49 PM Arrived at a small popular restaurant last night (Sunday night) about 6:30. It was getting full fast. Was meeting two friends for dinner and I got there first. Wanted to tell them I would go in and get a table before they were all filled up and to please look for me inside when they arrived. Otherwise we would all have to wait in line. So I sent a text saying “我早一点到了，会进去把桌子。” They understood and it all worked out. But my question today is: Was 把 the right verb for such a situation? Namely, to“get”a table or “hold” a table. It's the sort of "daily life" thing I usually know, but I felt uncertain about it afterwards and thought I would ask others who live here and speak the language every day and have been through similar situations many times. Quote
hbuchtel Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:07 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:07 PM I've never heard that before, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. Have you heard people express it in this way before? Certainly “定桌子” is a more common choice. I suppose if you want to use 把 you could say “我先进去把桌子定好”... Henry Quote
xiaocai Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:13 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:13 PM I would say 占位子. Quote
aristotle1990 Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:32 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:32 PM Or 占桌子. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:50 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 02:50 PM 占/定个位子 would be more appropriate here. Xiaocai was faster! Quote
hbuchtel Posted April 18, 2011 at 11:26 PM Report Posted April 18, 2011 at 11:26 PM Can you guys comment on the difference between 定桌子 and 占/定个位子? Quote
abcdefg Posted April 19, 2011 at 12:17 AM Author Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 12:17 AM Thanks everyone, especially Kenny, Aristotle, and Xiaocai. @hbuchtel, Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to use a "ba sentence" type of construction (把句子）。 I generally use 定 when calling over the phone to reserve places in advance for myself and several friends. （定位子） This restaurant was on the small side and was of the "first come, first served" type. Quote
Kenny同志 Posted April 19, 2011 at 01:38 AM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 01:38 AM Can you guys comment on the difference between 定桌子 and 占/定个位子? I am quite sure there’re people out there who use 定桌子. This is not wrong, but most people seem to use 定位子. If you are talking over the phone to reserve a place in a restaurant, always say 定 or 订 and never say 占. Quote
YuehanHao Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:15 AM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:15 AM As a follow-on question: Might the verb 抢 ever be used in this type of situation, informally? I think I halfway remember it being used in a lesson once for grabbing a seat on a city bus. 约翰好 Quote
Kenny同志 Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:52 AM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:52 AM Might the verb 抢 ever be used in this type of situation, informally? Yes. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:54 AM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 03:54 AM This thread makes me miss being able to send and receive texts in Chinese at all hours. Those were the days..... Quote
abcdefg Posted April 19, 2011 at 10:44 AM Author Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 10:44 AM This thread makes me miss being able to send and receive texts in Chinese at all hours. When I'm out on the street I don't worry about always getting it right. My Chinese friends know my level is not high and are pretty good about guessing what I really meant. Someday I'll break down and buy a mobile phone with a built in dictionary, and then I will sound a bit more literate and avoid some silly mistakes. As an aside, I've made a habit of reviewing my text messages every day or two when I'm home at the computer and can look up words I had to guess at or thought might be wrong. I "mine" them for useful colloquial language. Seems helpful as a learning aid. Quote
hbuchtel Posted April 19, 2011 at 02:02 PM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 02:02 PM I agree 100% about the educational value of texting! Getting a little off topic, but I've found the best way to practice writing characters is by sending text messages (nowadays most smartphones - and some dumbphones - allow the option of inputing characters by hand), as this is the only time I regularly communicate in a written form (I don't communicate often with Chinese speakers by email, don't use qq or other chat programs much, and certainly don't write letters very often...) Quote
Meng Lelan Posted April 19, 2011 at 02:41 PM Report Posted April 19, 2011 at 02:41 PM And it doesn't help me that I can't get texts coming from China ARRGGGHHH. Quote
yialanliu Posted April 23, 2011 at 03:55 AM Report Posted April 23, 2011 at 03:55 AM This is what I would agree with: 占位置 If you need to soften it： 占个位置/占个桌子 抢 is not a good term as in it's a negative word like 抢东西。So because of that, you wouldn't use it like that unless you were doing something wrong like stealing. What you meant to say to your friends is not that you are stealing a table from another person who was already there but rather just taking a table to prevent others from sitting with you. Quote
skylee Posted April 23, 2011 at 04:20 AM Report Posted April 23, 2011 at 04:20 AM This is what I would agree with: 站位置If you need to soften it： 站个位置/站个桌子 Did you mean 佔 instead of 站??? Quote
yialanliu Posted April 23, 2011 at 04:30 AM Report Posted April 23, 2011 at 04:30 AM Yes Skylee, changed it. Quote
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