Translating 所 in a definition.

[WestTexas]

Hey guys, I have been noticing recently that in the Baidu dictionary they often use 所 in a way that I don't understand. Here's an example in the definition for 职务:

职务 = 按规定所担任的工作

What exactly does 所 mean here? I asked my Chinese tutor (whose English is okay but not great) and she tried to explain in Chinese but it was a bit too complicated and I didn't get it. Then I asked my smartest student, who speaks better English than many Americans I know, and her reply was that "Chinese people say 所 like this because we are Chinese. It is too complicated to explain. Maybe if you live in China for ten more years you will understand."

Needless to say, this wasn't exactly the illuminating response I was hoping for, and I don't know any Chinese people who speak better English than her, so I hope someone will be able to provide an explanation of this.

Thanks!

[Daan]

所 can roughly be translated as 'that which is', so 所見 means 'that which is seen'. You can use pretty much all verbs after 所, which serves to nominalise them. This is a remainder from Classical Chinese.

In your sentence, 所擔任 means something like 'that which is taken on'. But in Mandarin, you can't really use this on its own. You need a 所 V 的 N construction, meaning 'the N which is V-ed'. In this case: 'the work which is taken on', or something to that effect. You can also add another N and create a N1 所 V 的 N2 construction, which means 'the N2 which is V-ed by N1', so for example 李先生所擔任的工作 'the work which is taken on by Mr Li'. You can also use an adverb after the N1, as in your example: 'the work which is taken on according to the rules'. You could insert a time word or a locative phrase here as well. You don't necessarily need to have a N1 to insert an adverb here, by the way.

I hope this helps more than the previous explanation you were given... :rolleyes:

[WestTexas]

Thanks bro. I can see now how some people might find it difficult to explain, but I think your explanation largely makes sense. This is a more formal structure, right? Perhaps that's why I hadn't become familiar with it earlier.

[xianhua]

You can find further examples here. I can't believe it's nearly two years since I posted that.

[anonymoose]

This is a more formal structure, right?

Formal, yes, but commonly used, sometimes even in speech.

[Hugh]

This is why it's good to study 文言 alongside modern Chinese. This 所 is everywhere in old texts.