yin wei因为 and suo yi所以

[chris.]

hi,

I'm not sure on how to use yin wei and suo yi, i was told by my teacher but i was very tired and had already learnt quite alot that lesson.

I'm taking a large punt here but if i wanted to write " i'm tired because of work" would it be:

因为工作我很累

or another guess using suo yi:

因为工作所以我很累 - 我认识可能我的老师用这个 (i hope thats right?)

i think my teacher may have used this one.

please help!

[roddy]

I think you can use both sentences

You would be more likely to use both conjunctions in formal writing, or if you are making a long, complicated sentence and want to keep the cause and effect structure clear.

因为我的工作很忙, 我昨天1晚上10点才回家

or

我的工作很忙, 所以我昨天1晚上10点才回家

or

因为我的工作很忙, 所以我昨天1晚上10点才回家

would all be acceptable

You'll often see Chinese students of English come up with sentences like 'Although he arrived late, but he still caught the train' and 'Because of the bad weather, so we didn't go' - which is the Chinese grammar interfering with the English sentence.

Am I right, folks?

Roddy

[skylee]

"yinwei" refers to the cause, "suoyi" the result.

I think both sentences are OK. The one with "suoyi" sounds better.

"I think my teacher may have used this one." - 我想(認為)我的老師可能用了這句(個)". (sorry I can't type simplified chinese here)

[chris.]

"I think my teacher may have used this one." - 我想(認為)我的老師可能用了這句(個)". (sorry I can't type simplified chinese here)

Thanks, but was my sentence somewhat correct?

[skylee]

"认识" (if it was not a typo) is not correct, if you mean "you think".

I would say "可能用了" instead of just "可能用" if you mean "may have used". I think "可能" can be placed either before or after "我的老师". And since the unit for sentences is "句", I would use "这句" instead of "这个".

But you could make yourself understood by using your original sentence.

[elvisyoung]

I think your translation is ok,but,I often say"因为工作的原因，（所以）我很累。因为。。。的原因=because of,因为 means cause,reasons ;while所以 means results。

By the way,in your sentence,认识 should be changed into认为，these two words are quite different.to 认识is to know,while to认为is to think,believe.

[chris.]

多谢! 你们是好老师们.

Thanks all, you're a great help.

[Quest]

多谢! 你们是好老师们.

You do not need "们" after 老师 to indicate plural. Use instead, 都是, so it would be 你们都是好老师。

[Quest]

有时候我觉得自己是一只小鸟

想要飞却怎么也飞不高

也许有一天我攀上了枝头却成为猎人的目标

我飞上了青天才发现自己从此无依无靠

Are these verses from a song? it goes like 我是一只小小小小....鸟.

very good metaphors

[elvisyoung]

Are these verses from a song? it goes like 我是一只小小小小....鸟.

very good metaphors

Yes,it's from a song called"I am a Little Bird"(我是一只小小鸟，the singer is called ZhaoChuan,who is a very talented man).Do you like the song?Here is the whole lyrics:

有时候我觉得自己是一只小鸟

想要飞却怎么也飞不高

也许有一天我攀上了枝头却成为猎人的目标

我飞上了青天才发现自己从此无依无靠

每次到了夜深人静的时候我总是睡不着

我怀疑是不是只有我明天没有变的更好

未来会怎样究竟有谁会知道

幸福是否只是一种传说我永远都找不到

我是一只小小鸟

想要飞呀却飞也飞不高

我寻寻觅觅寻寻觅觅一个温暖的怀抱

这样的要求不算太高

所有知道我的名字的人啊你们好不好

世界是如此的小我们注定无处可逃

当我尝尽人情冷暖当你决定为了你的理想燃烧

生活的魔力与生命的尊严哪一个重要

[skylee]

Another of 趙傳's famous songs is "我很醜,可是我很溫柔" (men love to sing it at karaoke). You can hear it here and find the lyrics here.

[trooper]

"I think my teacher may have used this one." - 我想(認為)我的老師可能用了這句(個)".

If you want to express this in an everyday spoken style, 想 is better than the slightly more stilted 认为, which is better for writing or formal speaking.

If speaking to someone, I would say, 我想我的老师可能用了这句话了。 (although what the others have said is not wrong). I'd say it this way because using 了at the end emphasises a connection between comments/observations and the conversation at hand. Presumably, you'd say "my teacher may have used this one" during a discussion about a point of grammar, for example if the person you're speaking is unsure about how to say something correctly and you want to correct him/her. I think leaving out 了at the end is grammatically right but makes the sentence seem less connected to the rest of the conversation and feels "incomplete".

Hope this doesn't muddy the waters too much.

[roddy]

How about

好像我的老师用了这句

?

Roddy

[trooper]

I think that's okay, but sounds a bit incomplete. To round it off perhaps add “话了” or some sentence-closing remark，e.g. “但是我也不太清楚了。”

[Quest]

我想我的老師大概是用了這句吧.

[pazu]

Roddy,

好像我的老师用了这句(*) sounds a little bit incorrect, it should be

我的老师好像用了这句.

And Elvis Young, of course you can add the word "的原因 (de yuanyin)" after "yinwei", but it sounds quite clumpsy. "Yinwei" is enough to make it a "cause", so "de yuanyin" is not necessary.

And Chris,

因为工作, 我很累啊! (a comma is necessary in this case.)

- this is correct, better to add an 啊!

因为工作, 所以我很累 (also a comma is necessary here)

- also correct, but I like the first one more, it's grammatically correct, it's simple, it's colloquial.

[trooper]

It may be more common to have haoxiang immediately before the verb, but it's not strictly incorrect. You can start a sentence with haoxiang - it's a "moveable adverb". Similar moveable adverbs or moveable adverb-like phrases off the top of my head include yexu, dagai, keneng and time phrases, e.g. xianzai, jintian, youshihou etc.