How do I say "don't work too late" in Mandarin?

[Guest jochuan]

:?: How do I say "don't work too late" in Mandarin? The situation is that I have colleagues who work late often, not that he works slows. So I want to encourage him to go home take some rest. Anything to that effect will be great. Thanks so much.

[Quest]

不要做太晚了，早点儿回家休息吧。

[Guest Anonymous]

I would personally replace 做 with 工作, which literally means to work. But other than that, I think it would work.

不要做太晚了 - Don't do what too late?

不要工作太晚了 - Don't work too late.

[skylee]

I think Quest's version is better.

[Quest]

工作 is too formal. 做implies work

[Guest Anonymous]

工作 is too formal. 做implies work

That's arguable. 工作 literally means to work while 做 means to do as in 你在做什麼？ (What are you doing?). Unless both parties are already talking about work, it's more logical to use 工作 instead of 做.

[smithsgj]

Also, I think 工作 is a bit redundant. The person to be "sent home" is already at the work place, hard at work. So they don't need to be "talking about work", the fact that they are colleagues and currently working supplies the context. I know you'd say "work" in English, but that's (perhaps) because you just can't say "do" in the context in English and make any sense.

Kulong is your reasoning based on your intuition as a native speaker? If so, say so, don't claim that one form is more "logical" than another, because that's not how language works.

I'm pretty sure I've heard the sentence 不要做太晚了 in the exact context being described. Have you heard your version?

[roddy]

From what I've heard (in Beijing / North of china), I'd say 别做的太晚

I fact, I don't think I've heard 工作 used as a verb, although I know it can be. 上班 is what I've heard most as a verb, though that's when you are already 'outside' the context of work.

Actually, I suspect just 早一点儿休息 / 回家 would be adequate.

Roddy

PS. Got the wrong 'de' there, didn't I.

[Guest Anonymous]

Also, I think 工作 is a bit redundant. The person to be "sent home" is already at the work place, hard at work. So they don't need to be "talking about work", the fact that they are colleagues and currently working supplies the context.

So if we were both at a restaurant eating and you don't want me to eat so fast, would you say 不要做太快?

Kulong is your reasoning based on your intuition as a native speaker? If so, say so, don't claim that one form is more "logical" than another, because that's not how language works.

Actually, language is all about logic. Spoken language is a way for humanbeings to express ideas in a logical fashion. Without logic, we would just be making noises like animals do. But to answer your question, yes, being a native speaker, 10 years in Taiwan and total of 2 years in mainland China, and 11 years in the U.S. while in contact with Chinese, I've never heard anyone use "做" to replace the proper verb like 工作 or 吃飯 without both parties already talking about the said verb.

I'm pretty sure I've heard the sentence 不要做太晚了 in the exact context being described. Have you heard your version?

All the time. Not just with 工作 too. My father would used to say to me 不要讀書讀太晚了, or more often 不要看電視看太晚了. The only time I've heard anyone say “不要做太晚了”is when the verb is added to the very front like the following:

功課不要做太晚了

Because 做功課 is a VO so it can be broken up as such.

[Quest]

All the time. Not just with 工作 too. My father would used to say to me 不要讀書讀太晚了, or more often 不要看電視看太晚了.

Do in chinese can imply work, your examples aren't convincing enough since you do not Eat work nor do you Watch work or Read work. However, you DO homework and you DO work. So, 做 can be used in both cases as an implication for work.

[Guest Anonymous]

All the time. Not just with 工作 too. My father would used to say to me 不要讀書讀太晚了, or more often 不要看電視看太晚了.

Do in chinese can imply work, your examples aren't convincing enough since you do not Eat work nor do you Watch work or Read work. However, you DO homework and you DO work. So, 做 can be used in both cases as an implication for work.

天啊⋯

If one wishes to be lazy and say 做 instead of 工作, I wouldn't be surprised if the other person understands you. However, to avoid any potential confusion, if you say 工作, or any other specific verb, you could eliminate any chance of confusion. In the end, it's up to the speaker.

[Quest]

It's just not natural to say "不要工作得太晚了，快回家吧”

For reading a book, I would say “不要读得太晚了，快睡吧”rather than "不要读书读得太晚了"

Since you can't say "不要工得太晚”，so “不要做得太晚”is subsituted.

[Guest Anonymous]

It's just not natural to say "不要工作得太完了，快回家吧”

Of course it's not natural because you added the 得. So far no one has added 得 to the sentence, why do you decide to do it now?

[Quest]

得should be there, it's just that people speak too fast and skip that 得sound.

[Quest]

I am not saying you are wrong, 不要工作太晚了 is perfectly correct, it's just a bit too formal to say that to your colleague.

[Guest Anonymous]

得should be there, it's just that people speak too fast and skip that 得sound.

Hahaha... really!? Then explain your version...

不要做太晚了，早点儿回家休息吧

Where is the 得? Oh, there it is... no, wait... my mistake

[Guest Anonymous]

I am not saying you are wrong, 不要工作太晚了 is perfectly correct, it's just a bit too formal to say that to your colleague.

Which is why I said...

In the end, it's up to the speaker.

But I still believe that to say 不要工作太晚了 is more clear than 不要做太晚了。 Language is all about being able to clearly express ideas, right? Whether something is too formal or not depends on each situation.

先生/小姐，麻煩請您不要工作太晚了。謝謝。

Now that's what I call too formal

[pazu]

Roddy, I think the "de" you used should be "得" ,

不要做得太晚, 早點休息吧。

I think 不要工作得太晚 is also okay, though I think I would say 不要做得太晚 in this situation. I'm not going to supply any explanation for this choice of wordings because it just sounds more natural to me... isn't it a good reason already?

[Quest]

Since jochuan asked for a spoken version of the expression, I didn't include “得” there, in later posts, I decided to include 得 since that's the correct way to say it if you say it slowly. 不要 做 太晚 了 is not even grammatically correct, it just sounds like that in people's speech. In fact, when i say that sentence, i would make a semi silent 得 sound after 做， more like 不要做er太晚了.

[Quest]

Roddy, I think the "de" you used should be "得"

agreed. although the new rule says u can use 的 for 的地得，as a cantonese speaker, since we distinguish all three "de"'s, i dont buy that rule.