few translation questions

[xuechengfeng]

看電影有甚麼意思﹗This is strange to me.

你總想看電影是甚麼原故﹖I am confused on yuan gu

今天那個電影我非看不可 I especially do not understand the context of "bu ke" and its placement.

誰敢說明天還有這麼好的天氣﹖ (Who dare say tomorrow will still have this good weather???????)

[roddy]

1) yisi as in interesting, not meaning - 'what's interesting about watching movies' or 'what's the point of . . .'

2) What's the reason you . . . . (not too sure about this one)

3) fei kan bu ke - not see not possible - ie, I MUST see it

4) Idiomatically, 'Who knows if the weather will be this good tomorrow' - nobody, so nobody dares say so . . .

Roddy

[BeijingSlacker]

看電影有甚麼意思﹗What's fun about watching movies. ("fun" sounds better to me)

你總想看電影是甚麼原故﹖Same as Roddy's translation

今天那個電影我非看不可. Same as Roddy's translation

誰敢說明天還有這麼好的天氣﹖

I think 誰敢說 is somehow stronger than "who knows".

Can't think of anything better now though.

[闲聊33]

看電影有甚麼意思﹗depended on context,it will have two meaning. 1, is it interesting to watch movie? 2, it isn't interesting to watch movie at all.

你總想看電影是甚麼原故﹖ why do you always want to watch movie? 缘故=原因

今天那個電影我非看不可 i must see that movie today. "不可" is used here to emphasize, 表达一种强烈的语气 不可与“非”搭配,表示必须或一定 example:今天这个会很重要,我非去不可

誰敢說明天還有這麼好的天氣﹖(i agree with xuechengfeng's translation)

[xuechengfeng]

So is 非看 - not see

不可 - must not

So does that mean it's like a double negative meaning I must see it, and if this is the case, why not say 我得去看那個電影

[Jose]

Yes, you're right. 非(...)不可 is used for emphasis. The double negative gives it a strong affirmative meaning: that something must be done or is bound to happen.

You can think of it as "You can't not (do it)", or "Not (doing it) is not an option".

[xuechengfeng]

現在我懂為甚麼張小姐很生氣了﹐因為小王對她說﹕今天那個電影我非看不可。

sounds forceful!

[gougou]

Is this expression (非...不可)still used in everyday Chinese?

'Cause I read somewhere that 非 is classical Chinese. So is this rather old-fashioned, too, or did it survive in some idiomatic expressions?

And, if so, is it different from 不得不?

[marcopolo79]

非...不可 is still used in colloquial Chinese, but it states that something is imperative, that it must be done, therefore it is not used lightly.

不得不 is different, it refers to something that you are reluctant to do but have no choice but to do. I think the main difference is one of tone, 非...不可 is more urgent and strong than 不得不, but I might be wrong.

[闲聊33]

非 surely is a classical chinese character, but in some cases, this character is still used in modern chinese, 非...不可 is one. In informal chinese, you can use it if you like, but you should be careful, if you use 非...不可, you will mean very strong mood.

“我得去看那個電影”表达的语气没有“非...不可”强烈，另外“非”在现代汉语中常用的词还有几个，如非法，非常，非正式，非同小可，非凡，非但等等，但这些词多用于书面语言，只有“非常”口语中常用。

[Quest]

So is 非看 - not see

不可 - must not

Yes and no. When 非 is used in situations like this, I usually interpret it as "一定", not "不". That's why 不可 is often omitted.

你非要去那吗？ 你非得要跟我作对吗？