“唉！谁让今儿个没开张哪！”

[Fred0]

In this sentence a salesman has just made a sale in which he has given the buyer a good deal. He hangs his head dispirited (垂头丧气）and says “唉！谁让今儿个没开张哪！”  

 

I understand that 今儿个 is colloquial for "today," and 开张 here means "first sale of the day."  The translation is "What can I do? This is my first deal today." I would like to understand how it is that this is what this sentence is saying. It seems to me that there is something to learn here. Thanks.

[Publius]

He hasn't made a sale today, so he will accept a lower price than usual, is what he means. He's giving himself an excuse: less money is better than no money.

[Fred0]

Yes, I understand that, but what I don't understand is how these characters express that idea.  谁让 - who causes  今儿个 today's 没开张 not first sale 哪 which. Do you see my problem?

[Publius]

I see. The problem is 誰讓. 哪 is just a 語氣助詞(modal particle) like 嗎/啊/呢 that has no direct translation.

I don't know if I can explain it properly. Maybe you should just treat 誰讓+phrase as an idiom. The meaning probably developed along the line of "who is to blame that... / it's nobody's fault that..."

An example: 誰讓我是你女朋友呢 -- Don't complain, coz I'm your girlfriend. Or I can't complain, coz I'm your girlfriend.

Yeah, I know it's not satisfactory. I'll try and see if I can find a better explanation.

 

[Fred0]

Thanks. That's definitely a help. The only remaining problem is 没.  Is 没 coupled with 谁让 in some way? Or is it to make the sentence a rhetorical question similar to "isn't it" (the first sale) ?

[陳德聰]

I like the explanation here: http://www.faqoverflow.com/chinese/2250.html

"expresses weak causality with a mood"

 

In this case, the reason he is giving a deal is that "今天都沒開帳", and he's sighing about it. There is no need to connect 沒 or any negative item with 誰讓.

[Fred0]

Great help! Thanks to both of you.

 

[somethingfunny]

Would it not be appropriate to interpret this as a rhetorical question?  

 

OP example:

"Fine, I'll take the deal.  Who made it so that I still hadn't made a sale today?"

 

Publius example:

"Yeah, I'll do it, but who made you my girlfriend again?"

 

陈德聪 linked example:

"I have to do what you say, but who mad you boss anyway?"

 

In my mind it's definitely a complaining tone of voice.

 

 

[Publius]

Yes it's rhetorical. But the tone can be varied depending on the context.

For example, resignation in OP's example.

Teasing/dismissive, as in 誰讓你不聽老人言呢，吃虧了吧？ or in one usage of my example, 我當然有權管你了！誰讓我是你女朋友呢？

 

And to answer Fred0's question, the syntax is 誰讓 + phrase. The phrase is a factual statement 今儿个没开张, 沒 simply means 'hasn't' and is not linked with 誰讓. This fact (I hasn't made a sale today) is cited as a reason, but the causality is rather weak as pointed out in 陳德聰's link.