Actions that take place one by one

[hoshinoumi]

大家好！

I´m using Boya Chinese Elementary 2 and I´m having some problems to understand its "amazingly" well explained grammar. There is one structure in particular I dont get.

 

Copy and paste the textbook explanation

 

一 MW, N + 一 MW, N + V

This pattern is used to describe actions that take place one by one.

 

饭要一口一口地吃，事儿要一件一件地作。

他很苦恼，一杯一杯不停地喝酒。

他很喜欢看小说，一本一本地看，看完一本又看一本。

 

I am especially struggling with the last sentence. Any help?

Thank you   

 

 

[Geiko]

他很喜欢看小说，一本一本地看，看完一本又看一本。

He likes reading novels, he reads one after another, once one is finished, he reads another one. 

 

I'm not native neither in Chinese nor in English, so I might be wrong, but that's how I understand the sentence.

[hoshinoumi]

I understand the sentence, but I wouldn´t know how to produce it myself in Chinese. Boya offers little to no explanations at all. It doesn´t say, for example if 地 is required (as we can see in the examples) or only optional.

Thank you, though

Can anyone clarify this a bit more?

[Ruben von Zwack]

地 is an Adverb ending, and I think if you left it out, the sentences would not make much sense. You can ask for an Adverb with "how". How does he read, how does he drink, how should one eat and solve matters, etc. The answer (that before the verb) is modifying the verb. 地 is a signal here that the phrase that has 地 glued to its end is really there for modifying (elaborating, explaining, detailing) the verb.

 

一 MW, N + 一 MW, N + V

 

If I came across that, I would struggle too

 

Is it this sort of phrase, bit-by-bit, cup-after-cup, etc., that you are struggling with? or the 地?

 

Fun question   - how would you say "I like to study, I study day after day"?

[tysond]

他很喜欢看小说，一本一本地看，看完一本又看一本

 

 

 

I am just a learner but here's my view:

The last part of this sentence is not using the grammar.  Meaning wise it is just saying how the books are being read one by one in more detail.

I would expect it to be read with a slight pause between the two parts:  看完一本   又看一本.  And I interpret it as meaning "看完一本 then 又看一本".

The 又 here is indicating repetition (once again...).  

The sequencing of two phrases with nothing in between can mean "then" or "and" or even "therefore".  Chinese can be pretty economical on connective words.

 

一本一本地看 could be literally translated as "book-by-bookly reading" or "volume-by-volumely reading".  As Reuben points out, you're modifying a verb.  地 is quite useful in written Chinese to help you identify the end of a verb description and the start of the verb itself.  

[陳德聰]

一 MW, N + 一 MW, N + V

I simply do not understand what the "pattern" is explaining. It does not correspond to any of your examples...

 

I can't even imagine a sentence like this... following the pattern, you would arrive at:

一本，书一本，书读？？？？？？？？

 

This makes absolutely no sense at all. I don't want to make a flash judgment on the quality of your learning materials, but this doesn't seem to be an effective way of explaining.

 

Perhaps you should just learn that "一 + MW + 一 + MW + 地 + V" means to "V one at a time/one by one" (一件一件地做/一本一本地看) or "V over and over" (一杯一杯不停地喝酒).

[sparrow]

Agreed—I can't make sense of the pattern you mentioned: " 一 MW, N + 一 MW, N + V "

 

However, this grammar pattern works just like an adverb.

 

ADVERB + 地 + VERB。

 

他认真地学习。

他慢慢地  看书。

他一杯一杯不停地喝酒。

数学要一天一天，一题一题地学习，不能一下子就学会了。

 

If I understand it correctly, you just have to think of a way to describe the action step-by-step. Programming is line-by-line, studying is day-by-day or page-by-page, music is song-by-song or note-by-note, alcohol is cup-by-cup, and so on.

 

If you have specific examples you want written in this pattern, try to come up with actions and perhaps some of us will try to create a sentence using this pattern if applicable.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I accidentally just came across another example, in a story I was reading (Qing Feng, Chinese Breeze Graded Readers Series)。

 

It's a Ghost Story, and our hero is just sneaking up to a mysterious house at midnight:

 

 

他从房子后边走， 。。。 一点儿一点儿地往哪个楼走过去。

[hoshinoumi]

Thank you all! I can´t say how much your explanations have helped me. Boya Chinese needs to improve its grammar explanations, they´re absolutely horrible.

So, if I were to make sentences with this pattern, for example:

 

我一字一字地学习汉语。I study Chinese character by character.

电影得一部一部地看。Films should be watched one by one.

 

There´s also a couple of sentences in the text of that lesson:

她制定了一个大计划 “一个省一个省地看，一个地方一个地方地走……”

This would be something like "She came up with a plan "To visit one province at a time a go to places one by one"

 

Did I get it right? thank you for your explanations

[sparrow]

Yes, those look good. As you can see, the pattern can be used for a variety of things, though they're very situational—usually someone is trying to get results quickly by taking on too much at once.

 

In your example, perhaps a person just discovered a cool TV show and is marathoning every freaking episode and is falling behind on her work (*cough ex-girlfriend and Sex in the City cough*), or for your first example, is trying to learn 100 characters at a time or cram for a Chinese exam. Then you would use this grammar pattern to point tell your friend to take it easy. Your friend would respond with, "You're not my mother" and slam the door, leaving you to realize that the characters in your Chinese dialogues and on Chinese sitcoms are grotesquely smug know-it-alls, but they're all you've got...

 

 

Er, yeah, ignore that last paragraph.

 

I think your translation is good. One improvement would be to point out that this grammar pattern, in my opinion at least, does not distinguish between "one after another" and "one-by-one", so when you translate it to English, you have to decide what is implied.

 

A better translation might be: "One province after another, one place after another." But that's nitpicking.

[skylee]

Do not forget the measure word. 一個字一個字。

[skylee]

BTW is it hoshinoumi or 海星？ I believe they are different.

[sparrow]

I somehow feel like in that case, 一字一字 is okay, but I'm likely wrong.

[Ruben von Zwack]

@ Hoshinoumi - Yeah, you got it! Just one thing, I'm not so sure, does the "得" belong after "movie"? But maybe 得 has more meanings that I'm just not aware of.

 

 

电影得一部一部地看。

[skylee]

得 (dei3) ～ must/should

[Ruben von Zwack]

Thanks Skylee!

[Michaelyus]

The pattern should be read:

 

一 + {MW, N} + 一 + {MW, N} + ... V

Why 地 was missed out, that I don't understand.
 

[sparrow]

@Skylee:

 

一个字一个字地学习汉语

VS

一字一字地学汉语

 

I was curious about this, so I asked in the Mandarin StackExchange and got this answer:

Both are fine. 我一个字一个字地学习汉语 is stronger than the other one in the sense that 一个字一个字地 emphasizes you learn each Chinese word by "个".

 

From the below pattern, it seems a measure word OR a noun will work.

一 + {MW, N} + 一 + {MW, N} + ... V

[skylee]

That is one opinion. By all means follow that advice if you like.  I would not write that way, though.

[陳德聰]

一个字一个字 sounds better than 一字一字... 一字一字 sounds almost as bad as "一书一书", which I imagine you would instantly find in error.

 

The pattern being "一 {MW,N} 一 {MW, N} 地" doesn't mean "it can always be either a measureword or a noun". It means that sometimes it's a measureword, sometimes it's a noun. Think 一天一天地, 一年一年地, 一页一页地, 一分一分地 etc.