So... that

[aeitodd]

Hello!

 

I'm trying to find out if there's a good way to say 'so... that' (e.g. I'm so tired that I forgot to do my homework / I'm so happy that I could cry) in mandarin. I can't seem to find anything online so maybe there is no direct equivalent, but I thought I'd try out this forum

 

At the moment all I can think of is something like 我这么累，忘了做作业  (I'm relatively new to mandarin so this might be slightly wrong but hopefully you get the meaning of my question)

 

Thank you in advance!

[mungouk]

Tip: stop thinking in English and start thinking in Chinese language patterns.

 

[Demonic_Duck]

2 hours ago, mungouk said:

Tip: stop thinking in English and start thinking in Chinese language patterns.

 

I think this type of advice is helpful if and only if you've already learned the Chinese grammar patterns in question.

 

Some relevant patterns here:

• Degree complement
• Expressing "even" with "lian" and "dou"
• Expressing "about to happen" with "le"

 

Spoiler

• I'm so tired that I forgot to do my homework — 我累得连作业都忘了做。
• I'm so happy that I could cry — 我高兴得快要哭了。 The literal meaning here is "about to cry", but this construct is often used in a nonliteral, exaggerated sense. Another example would be 我快要疯了 — this is driving me crazy!

 

[889]

The underlying problem for the OP here is that so is an exceptionally useful and versatile English word that doesn't have an equally useful and versatile equivalent in Chinese. So best not to waste time looking for one.

[nicklinjm]

There definitely are sentence patterns in Mandarin which can translate the type of phrase you are talking about. One option would be 到，as in 我开心到飞起来了. Another option would be 得, as in 我累得连作业都忘了做.

[889]

Search Google for the various literal translations of "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

[mungouk]

19 hours ago, Demonic_Duck said:

this type of advice is helpful if and only if you've already learned the Chinese grammar patterns

 

Fair point. I apologise for making a "drive-by" comment. 

It's also one of the easiest things to say ("thinking in Chinese sentence patterns" rather than your mother tongue), but one of the hardest things to do.