你怎么还没洗完澡？

[rtf]

Hi,everyone!

 

I have this sentence 你怎么还没洗完澡？

 

Is this 'Why haven`t you finished having a bath yet? (the person is still in the bathroom)' or 'Why haven`t you had a bath yet? (the person is just going to have a bath)'?

 

Can it be both?

 

 

 

Thank you.

 

[889]

He's washing up. Note the 完.

Think of 怎么 here as adding a strong tone of impatience or exasperation, not really meaning "how" but more flagging it as a rhetorical question not a genuine one. This expression can be rude, remember; it's usually used to remonstrate. A mother might use that sentence, for example.

[Demonic_Duck]

Agree with everything 889 said, except that “洗澡” does not mean "washing up", it means "washing yourself" (i.e. bath or shower).

 

The listener is still in the bath/shower.

[rtf]

谢谢大家！

[anonymoose]

I disagree with the previous posters. I don't think you can tell from the sentence whether the person has started washing yet or not. The context should make it clear, and I guess in most cases the context would be such that the person has already started washing, but I don't think that is an absolutely necessary condition.

[stapler]

slightly off topic: why would "還沒洗了澡" be incorrect?

[rtf]

@anonymoose: Thanks for your answer.Here there`re two contexts:

 

1.a boy is in the bath washing and his mom shouts from the outside 你怎么还没洗完澡？Here,it`s definitely 'why are you still there,why haven`t you finished yet?',完 meaning 'to finish'. That`s clear.

 

2.a boy is standing before his mom with his hands and face dirty,and she says 'why haven`t you had a bath yet (you`re so dirty after playing football)'. I wonder if 完 is appropriate here in 你怎么还没洗完澡？I wouldn`t think so,again,because 完 means 'to finish'.

I incline to believe,as stapler suggested,that 你怎么还没洗了澡？would be more proper in this case.What`d be your take on this?

[anonymoose]

Firstly, I would rather translate 怎么 as "how come" rather than "why", but anyway, in the situation you describe, of course you could say "How come you haven't had a bath yet?", but you could also say "How come you haven't finished your bath yet?". I agree you would be more likely to say the former, but I don't think the latter is wrong.

 

Stapler is wrong.

[Observer]

In real life, if the kid had not even started his shower, would his mother be more likely to say 你怎么还没去洗澡?. This is just my attempt to think in Chinese,even though I am not at a very advanced level!

[Demonic_Duck]

Stapler is wrong.

Stapler didn't state anything, just asked a question.

 

In response to Stapler, I would say it's wrong for two reasons:

• In the negative (没), “了” is omitted
• If it was “已经” instead of “还没”, the “了” should come after the object rather than directly after the verb (i.e. “已经洗澡了”)

In real life, if the kid had not even started his shower, would his mother be more likely to say 你怎么还没去洗澡?

Agree with this. “还没洗完澡” strongly implies that the person being spoken to has already started washing. I think the situation is similar to that in English: if you ask someone "Why haven't you finished showering?", it's not logically impossible that they haven't started either, it's just that no-one would ever choose to phrase it that way.

[somethingfunny]

 

 

 if you ask someone "Why haven't you finished showering?", it's not logically impossible that they haven't started either, it's just that no-one would ever choose to phrase it that way. 

 

This is correct.  你怎么还没洗完澡？The implication is that the person is 正在洗澡.

 

Pretty sure a grammar expert would say something like 还没＋动词＋完 indicates that the verb is currently being performed.

[Messidor]

@ rtf

The second context is improper. It's better to change it a little: it's time for the mom to drive his son to a party but the boy hasn't bathed yet, so the mom cried 你怎么还没洗完澡 ---- the sentence fit the situation (that the boy should have finished the bath by now).

But I think such usage is rather rare...

[rtf]

Thanks,everyone!

[roddy]

I think it's easy to imagine it being used in either situation - the speaker's focus isn't on whether you are showering or not, it's on the fact that you should be finished showering. It's more impatient. What would you say to someone who's holding you up when you're meant to be going out: 

 

a) Why aren't you ready?

b) Why aren't you getting ready?

 

Realistically, either. But I think a) is a bit more pressing.