how to use 弄?

[csalinasm201]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm confused on how to use 弄 in Chinese, some textbooks say the meaning is like "doing something" but some of the sentences I read don't make any connections with the verb do.

How does its grammar work?

[abcdefg]

My ladyfriend uses it when she is going to fix her hair. 弄头发

[Jim]

Tends to imply going about whatever task it is in a slightly less formal way IIRC, or at least talking about it as such. 

Think of the difference between saying "Cook dinner" and "knock up something to eat" which latter could be 弄点吃的

I suspect the difficulty is the range of these basic colloquial verbs is so broad that there's all sorts of edge cases where context is king, but still think the comparison to "do" seems apt - for example, 弄死 quite like "do in"

[Jim]

6 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

My ladyfriend uses it when she is going to fix her hair. 弄头发

In British English we often say "get your/one's hair done," which is very close.

[DavyJonesLocker]

also, i get the feel it's a catch all type (to do) verb  , used when you are not being particular about the specific actions

 

e.g. 

我把饭弄/搞砸了 : I made a mess of the dinner

我把饭烧糊了 : I burnt the dinner

[ChTTay]

Good replies so far. As examples are usually helpful too... 

 

Use 弄坏了 if you break something and don’t know how or why (or it doesn’t matter). 

 

怎么弄 is like a really unspecific “how do I do it?”  

[NinjaTurtle]

14 hours ago, abcdefg said:

My ladyfriend uses it when she is going to fix her hair. 弄头发

 

Hi everyone,

 

This is a grammar point that comes up in my classes every semester, so I’d like to make sure I have it right. In English we have two sentences.

 

(1) I cut my hair.
(2) I get my hair cut.

 

In (1) the person who cuts my hair is me. In (2) the person who cuts my hair is someone else, and I cause this other person to cut my hair.

I have been told by my students that, in Chinese, (1) and (2) are spoken the same, “我剪头发。”

So is it more common to say “我剪头发” or “我弄头发”?

 

[abcdefg]

She says, "稍等，我化妆、弄头发 就到了。" 

 

I settle down and read a book as 5 minutes stretches into 10. (All this has nothing to do with a barber shop or beauty parlor. Has to do with comb and brush plus some hairpins. Lipstick, powder, etc. (Self-applied in front of a mirror.) 

 

"Wait a minute, I need to put on some makeup and fix my hair."

[NinjaTurtle]

Ah, " 弄头发 就到了 " is different than " 我弄头发 " in the sense of doing one's hair vs. cutting one's hair.

 

Midland TX was 91 F degrees today, still too hot.

[abcdefg]

3 hours ago, NinjaTurtle said:

Midland TX was 91 F degrees today, still too hot.

 

Kunming is cooling off. 68 to 70 F. Partial clouds.