NCPR 2 Lesson 20

[stelingo]

I am working my way through NCPR 2 Lesson 20, and am hoping someone could explain a couple of things that I don't understand in the text.

 

1.-你化妆了半个小时了。咱们得早点儿走。

-一会儿就好。

 

I think the above exchange means:

 

'You took 1/2 hour putting your make-up on. We need to be going soon.

'We've still got a while'

 

But this is more of a guess given the context.

 

2. 中国民乐主要是用民族乐器演奏的中国音乐。

 

Meaning: Chinese folk music is mainly played with Chinese musical instruments.

 

Don't fully understand the sentence or the grammar behind it.

 

3. 咱们把陆雨平也去。让他写一篇文章。

 

Meaning: Let's go to Lu Yuping's and get him to write an essay. (?)

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Orpheus]

Here's what I think:

 

1. 一会儿就好 means 'I'll be ready in a moment'.

2. The literal translation of the sentence is 'Chinese folk music is mainly Chinese music played using folk musical instruments'.

3.  It should be 咱们把陆雨平也叫去, meaning more or less: 'Let's invite Lu Yuping, too'.

 

Cheers,

O

[stelingo]

Thanks. Yes, I missed out 叫. So 叫 can also mean invite? 

[Shelley]

Maybe not specifically to invite but to ask, meaning to invite. You can ask someone to your birthday party or you can invite them.

 

My dictionary does not list invite as a meaning for 叫, but it might not list all meanings.

 

So more like "Lets ask Lu YuPing too,......."

[Orpheus]

Yes, 'ask' would be more accurate.

[Guo]

1.你化妆了半个小时了 You have been putting on your make-up for half an hour (你化妆了半个小时 You have spent half an hour in putting on your make-up)

The second 了 in sentences like 你化妆了半个小时了 or 我写了半个小时了 usually means the action in the sentence has been doing for sometime. A sentence like 你化妆了半个小时 or 我写了半个小时（without the 了 after the time ) means the action has done.

 

一会儿就好

Orpheus's answer is correct. It means "I'll be ready in a moment".

 

2.中国民乐主要是用民族乐器演奏的中国音乐。Chinese folk music is a kind of Chinese music played with Chinese national music instruments.

This sentence is a simple one like 我是人(I'm human) or 狗是动物(Dogs are animals), but with a lot of adjunct words.Sentences like "sth 是 sth" are used to explain or define the first sth.So it'll be translated like "sth is/are ..." You answer means "中国民乐主要用中国民族乐器演奏", almost same meaning.

 

3.咱们把陆雨平也叫去，(should be comma, not period here)让他写一篇文章。Let's go to ask Lu Yuping to participate in and let him write an essay.

叫来 means "call over” or "invite"（usually to participate in some event or action that holding or doing by the speaker).

叫去 means "to ask"(usually to ask to participate in some event or action that not holding or doing  by the speaker).

[stelingo]

Thanks guys for all your help.