一到 and 不了 pattern

[rudyzuck]

Hi all,

This is my first topic, so I hope I dont do any mistakes.

I am learning by myself Chinese, with online ressources and anki.

I do not have difficulties to learn new vocabularies, but I have high difficulties with grammar.

 

My two first  questions are with regards to 一到 and 不了 pattern:

 

 

她一到，我们就开始。

Here, 一到 means as soon as arrived. I am not sure to understand what the meaning of 一 here.

 

 

我去不了，也不想去。

What is the exact meaning of "不了" (pronounced bu liao) here.

I understand it means "cannot" but why should I use this pattern instead of 会 or 能? In which context and with which verb can it be used?

 

Many thanks for your help!

Rudy

[anonymoose]

一 means "as soon as", and 就 usually appears in the second phrase.

会 means "have the skill to". Since 去 doesn't rely on a skill, it is not suitable here. Compare with 我会说汉语 I can speak Chinese/I have the skill to speak Chinese.

You could use 能 here.

You can use 不了 with most verbs.

[rudyzuck]

Thanks anonymoose,

In this case, does it make sens to say somthing like 我饱了，我吃不了 ?

Rudy

[lips]

会 can also mean "will / shall".  我会去 means "I will / shall go".  Of course, if someone asks you, "Do you know how to go?", then you may answer " 我会去" to mean “I know how to go".

[LiMo]

Rudy,

 

I think your sentence is totally fine.

 

It's also common to say something like: 我吃饱了 OR 我吃不下（去） (can't get anymore down)

 

 

The difference between these things is often hard to describe and even negligible for a non-native speaker. It's something you pick up with exposure. I think they do come across differently. Perhaps one is"I'm full" (neutral/more formal), and the other is "I'm stuffed (a bit informal; at least that's how it sound to me). 

[rudyzuck]

Limo, Lips,

Thanks for the precision, much appreciated!

Rudy

[somethingfunny]

As mentioned, you should just consider "一 A 就 B" as a set grammatical pattern, that means "as soon as A happens, B happens."  Don't try and break it down and start thinking "well what exactly does 一 mean here?"  It doesn't really have any meaning independent of the use together with the other parts of the pattern.

 

And yes, 我吃不了＝我不能吃, although I think it would be more common to whack on an extra 了 to get 我吃不了了 which to me both looks and sounds awesome.  I think the 不了 thing makes a lot more sense when you start learning about 得 to indicate possibility/ability of completion.  For example, the opposite of 我吃不了 would be 我吃得了, although I doubt many people would actually say this (They'd say something much cooler like "你吃得出来这是什么东西吗？”／“吃不出来了”).

[rudyzuck]

Thanks for the precision somethingfunny!