“Pack a suitcase”

[NinjaTurtle]

Hi everyone,

 

I want to verify the way to say “pack a suitcase” in Chinese. I think the verb is 准备 (zhǔnbèi) ("prepare") with no direct object for the verb. Is that correct?

 

[Jim]

Think the usual way is to say 收拾行李

[大肚男]

I think the simplest way would be 打包行李

 

But would defer to others with better Chinese than mine

[陳德聰]

收拾行李 (shōushi xínglǐ) +1

[Tomsima]

收拾東西 for most simple, used when you're getting ready to 出去玩 

 

打包 sounds strange to my ear, makes me think of food, but i'm non-native

[NinjaTurtle]

Thanks for all of these. What happened was, a Chinese lady was packing for a trip and she said "prepare" in English, so I guess what I got was her mistaken translation into English. (Or maybe she really meant to say "prepare.") I later checked in my dictionary for "pack a suitcase" but my Chinese friends said the phrase in the dictionary wasn't right. One of the biggest problems I have had is that what is in the dictionary very often is not what Chinese people say in real life. For me it's a real problem. (And the same is for my Chinese students trying to learn English.)

[陳德聰]

What did your dictionary say.

[abcdefg]

Yes, 收拾行李。

[NinjaTurtle]

Sorry 陳德聰, I'm in America right now and I don't have my Chinese dictionary with me.