Is this sentence correct?

[Lou]

Hey guys!

I just listened to some podcasts from ChinesePod and heard the following sentence:

说还可以，写很难。

說還可以，寫很難。

They translated it with "Speaking is fine, but writing is difficult."

Okay, I see how they got this translation, no problem. But, I recently learned that if you want an adjective to describe a verb, you need to use a 得 to link the verb and the adjective. So, shouldn't the sentence be:

说得还可以，写得很难.

說得還可以，寫得很難。

Or am I mixing things up? Under which circumstances should you actually use the 得, if it seems to word without it? Or have the guys at ChinesePod just made a mistake?

Thanks for help!

[anonymoose]

Here, 说 and 写 are acting as nouns (gerunds in English).

 

说得还可以 could be translated as "speaks reasonably well".

 

I'm not sure if 写得很难 makes sense.

[Vildhjerp]

You're correct about 得 linking a verb and an adjective, but first take into consideration what they used to link 写 with 难. "很" is used to link a noun and an adjective, therefore you need to think of 写 as a noun in this context. Here, 写 doesn't mean "to write", but rather "the act of writing" or "the concept of writing". The same goes for 说.

 

写得很难。- "Very difficult writing." (This combination of characters makes absolutely no sense in Chinese.)

Not a complete sentence, right? No subject.

 

写很难。- "(The act of) writing is very difficult."

Sounds much better.

 

I'm having a hard time translating 说还可以. Not sure exactly how to approach "还可以"...

Perhaps it's a set phrase I'm not familiar with. My best guess is "feasible", or maybe "tolerable".

[Lou]

Thanks you all!

Of course, if they are gerunds, the whole thing makes sense. Gerunds are very common in German, how come I didn't think of that? *lol*

还可以 was introduced in the lesson as a set phrase meaning "passable", "not too bad" or "doable"-something along those lines.

Thanks again!

[Demonic_Duck]

In colloquial language, “还可以” is a very common construction, and it does indeed mean something like "passable".

 

I think the grammar is OK, but I feel it'd be more common to say something like “说话还可以” or “写字很难”, as “说” and “写” normally take objects.

[Guest123]

A little remark: 得 is linking not a verb to an adjectif, but a verb to an adverb. 

[Vildhjerp]

A little remark: 得 is linking not a verb to an adjectif, but a verb to an adverb.

 

Well, 得 links a verb and an adjective, in the process, turning the adjective that follows 得 into a complement.

 

While 地 links a verb and an adjective, in the process, turning the adjective that precedes 地 into an adverb.

 

But technical jargon aside, to an English speaker, they serve almost the same purpose on the surface. If I were to translate a 得 phrase and a 地 phrase, they'd both end up functioning to create adverbs when in English. (That is, of course, if the 得 is used in this way, and not in one of it's million other functions.)

[Guest123]

I'm not english speaker anyway. 

But to be precise, 得 links a verb to anything else, it can even be a whole phrase, in order to describe how or to what degree the action, expressed by the verb, is done.

[Vildhjerp]

I can agree with that. I just don't think OP is that far in her studies. Just trying not to introduce too much new information.