不过,吃的比现在的好

[AlachuaCountyBill]

Hello

All the characters will probably show up as tiny boxes, knowing my computer luck.

I'm having trouble translating the following:

不过,吃的比现在的好

(Bu4guo4, chi1 de bi3 xian4zai4 de hao3)

I've got this sentence down as meaning 'Anyway, food was better then'; but I'm not quite sure how?

I took this to mean 'food is better now'; I guess the word order is key here? (Rather than 不过,现在吃比的好 or something similar, but that actually makes sense).

Are the any rules regarding the above sentence structure? Any help would be much appreciated, I'm a bit confused.

:blink:

[xiaocai]

I think you can consider it as:

不过，(当时)吃的(食物)比现在的(食物)好. The words in brackets are omitted because the context is clear.

[AlachuaCountyBill]

That actually mostly makes sense, thanks. I became strangely panicked re this one clause for some reason. :rolleyes:

[edelweis]

Basically the pattern is

"noun1" 比 "noun2" adjective

meaning "noun1" is/was more "adjective" than "noun2".

xiaocai's developed sentence follows this pattern (noun1 = 当时吃的食物, noun2 = 现在(吃)的食物).

=> "what we ate (previously)" was better than "today's food/what we are eating now".

But the sentence you proposed: "现在吃比的好" does not follow the pattern, since there is no noun after 比.

Perhaps you meant 现在吃的变得好？ (but the meaning is opposite to the original).

[AlachuaCountyBill]

But the sentence you proposed: "现在吃比的好" does not follow the pattern, since there is no noun after 比.

Perhaps you meant 现在吃的变得好？ (but the meaning is opposite to the original).

Thank you, very useful to know that it's a set pattern!

The sentence I proposed (不过,现在吃比的好) was intended to mean the opposite but it was typed very quickly and sneakily at work and my Mandarin is pretty rubbish, so it's no wonder it didn't make too much sense. <_<

[jiangping]

Basically the pattern is

"noun1" 比 "noun2" adjective

meaning "noun1" is/was more "adjective" than "noun2".

xiaocai's developed sentence follows this pattern (noun1 = 当时吃的食物, noun2 = 现在(吃)的食物).

=> "what we ate (previously)" was better than "today's food/what we are eating now".

But the sentence you proposed: "现在吃比的好" does not follow the pattern, since there is no noun after 比.

Perhaps you meant 现在吃的变得好？ (but the meaning is opposite to the original).

In the original sentence the 的s form noun phrases, so it still fits into the "noun1 比 noun2 SV" structure. Then again, the sentence you quoted is slightly different from the original, so maybe you just misread it:P

[edelweis]

@jianping:

I am not sure whether I don't get your meaning or you don't get mine :blink:

What I call the original is "不过,吃的比现在的好". Yes, it fits the pattern.

Xiaocai's sentence "不过，(当时)吃的(食物)比现在的(食物)好" also fits the pattern and has the huge benefit of showing details that are implicit in the original sentence.

Alachuacountybill also proposed "不过,现在吃比的好", which I find strange and which doesn't fit the pattern. However it sounds a little like "现在吃的变得好" which I believe has a meaning opposite to "吃的比现在的好".

[jiangping]

My mistake, I thought you quoted the original sentence as "不过,现在吃比的好", which definitely does sound weird:P We're all in agreement then!