Help with a few sentences needed (得 and verb repetition confuses me)

[Lou]

Hello!

I'm confused as hell by a couple of sentences I encountered in my textbook. It's the second volume of the NPCR, lesson 1. The book just introduced the particle 得. I understand that this particle is used to link an adjective to a verb, as in 你吃得快. But the following sentences seem to feature a different use and I really don't get them:

（問）問題問得很多 (（问）问题问得很多)

（用）錢用得不多 (（用）钱用得不多)

（做）複習做得真好 (（做）复习做得真好)

你說漢語說得很好。(你说汉语说得很好)

I think that sentence one means something like "to ask a question that is asked very often" and sentence three means something like "to review really well". But why the 做? Wouldn't 复习得真好 be perfectly fine either? Two puts me at loss, something like "to use money that's not used often"? That doesn't really make any sense, does it?

The very last sentence is especially confusing and I think it's a different pattern than the three first ones. I don't understand why the 说 gets repeated?

Could anyone explain these sentences to me? Thanks so much!

[Vildhjerp]

Looking at your estimates of the sentences' meanings, you're understanding of 得 as a particle is perfectly fine; the sentences seem confusing because you're interpreting the structures in too... English of a way. Remember that Chinese sentences can be arranged in a "topic-comment" fashion, in which what is being emphasized is moved to the front of the sentence, sometimes causing what appears to be an awkward-looking sentence.

 

I tend to mentally break up these sentences with a colon between the topic and comment, which to me, makes it sound more like English.

 

问题：问得很多 - Questions: asks a lot of them. -> asks a lot of questions.

钱：用得不多 - Money: doesn't use a lot of it. -> doesn't use a lot of money.

复习：做得真好 - Reviewing: does it very well. -> reviews very well.

复习：做得真好 - Reviews: makes them very well. -> makes very well-done reviews.

（你）说汉语：说得很好 - Speaking Chinese: (you) speak it very well. -> (You) speak Chinese very well.

 

Notice how the last sentence already had the pronoun provided, unlike the others. The only reason the 说 is repeated is because they chose to put the pronoun in the front, therefore emphasizing it. You could rewrite the last sentence as 汉语你说得很好, avoiding the repetition, but of course, changing what part of the sentence is being emphasized.

 

With pronouns, the first three sentences would look like this:

 

他问问题问得很多 or 问题他问得很多 - He asks a lot of questions.

他用钱用得不多 or 钱他用得不多 - He doesn't use a lot of money.

他复习做得真好 or 复习他做得真好 - He reviews very well.

他做复习做得真好 or 复习他做得真好 - He makes very well-done reviews.

 

In the third sentence, when the pronoun is in front, the verb 做 isn't repeated because, well, 复习 is already a verb. In the other two, 问题 and 钱 are nouns. Edit: Here I was, reading 复习 as a verb...

 

I hope this isn't too confusing.

[Lou]

So my guesses regarding the translations were correct regarding the 得, but I misinterpreted the rest around it? Oh my, but well, at lest I understoot what function 得 has *lol*.

Yeah, the sentences all sound pretty akward in English if you translate them word by word, but the way you explained it it actually started to make sense to me. Thanks!

As I understood it, the whole verb repetition only exists because the 得 needs to follow the verb immeadeatly and the object would separate 得 and the verb, as 他問問題問得 the 問題. You need to repeat the verb because otherwise, the 得 couldn't glue itself to the verb. Is it correct that in spoken language, I can omit the first verb and just say 他問題問得/它问题问得?

Thanks again for your help!

[Vildhjerp]

For example, with the repetition, you can squeeze out a bit of English sense:

 

他问问题问得很多 - He asks questions (and) asks a lot of them. √

 

But without the repetition:

 

他问题问得很多 - He ... questions ... asks a lot of them. X

 

It flows a lot more nicely with that extra 问.

 

In short, if you don't want to repeat the verb, don't put the pronoun up front:

 

问题他问得很多 - Questions, he asks a lot of them. √

 

See? Also smooth.

 

It's probably not healthy to think about it in English like this, but it's what got me through until I got a feel for it.

 

Also, you're correct, the 得 must always immediately follow the verb.

 

Hope this helps!

[Lou]

Okay, thanks! I think I understood the theory now, but this structure will probably need time to get used to. I know you shouldn't think about it in English, but that's hard with my current level of Chinese, I still need to force myself to not translate word by word. I should probably get a graded reader to get more input and a better feeling for the language, but I don't think there is a multitude of reading material for a HSK1-ish level as I have it...

Thanks a lot!