Xiao Kui Posted November 21, 2005 at 05:45 PM Report Posted November 21, 2005 at 05:45 PM What's the best way to make these simple commands in Chinese? I lived in China but no one ever told me to do this so I'm drawing a blank. 1. Raise your head. 2. Lower your head. I'm thinking along the lines of 把头抬起来 ， 把头低下来 There's so many different words for raising and lowering. 3. How about hands? 把手举起来，把手放下来 ? ? ? The reason I'm asking is I'm trying to teach a few friends some basic Chinese (there aren't any real live Chinese available to teach in our Argentine town. I'm trying to use a TPR (total physical response) curriculum, but the actions they use are in command form, and some of them are things I never was exposed to (never came up in daily conversation. But the TPR method has been proven to be effective and I can see how these simple phrases can be useful for internalizing a language so I want to translate them into Chinese as accurately as possible. Here's one more:4. " Point to the door." Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! Quote
kudra Posted November 21, 2005 at 06:10 PM Report Posted November 21, 2005 at 06:10 PM The following comes to mind ... 舉 頭 望 明 月 ， ju3 tou2 wang4 ming2 yue4 低 頭 思 故 鄉 。 di1 tou2 si1 gu4 xiang1 Might not be exactly modern conversational. http://faculty.virginia.edu/cll/chinese_literature/stimson/FT4.htm Quote
autumn Posted November 21, 2005 at 08:16 PM Report Posted November 21, 2005 at 08:16 PM In a movie I watched yesterday they simply said 抬头 / 低头 without using the 'ba' structure at all. I suppose it would depend on what situation you were in. Quote
skylee Posted November 21, 2005 at 11:22 PM Report Posted November 21, 2005 at 11:22 PM 抬頭 低頭 舉手 放下來 指着門 Quote
Xiao Kui Posted November 22, 2005 at 12:16 AM Author Report Posted November 22, 2005 at 12:16 AM Thanks for the speedy and helpful feedback. Is it wrong to use the 把 construction in these instances, or is it just a bit too formal or complicated for a simple command? It seems like I've heard "把手举起来“ before in a school setting, so that's why i was using 把a lot, but if it's incorrect I don't want to spread my ignorance. Also, would this be wrong for point to the door: 向门指 I'm going to go with the commands you suggested, but in TPR you try to say things in multiple ways so I'm looking for alternate ways of saying these things as well. Quote
skylee Posted November 22, 2005 at 12:27 AM Report Posted November 22, 2005 at 12:27 AM I thought you wanted them short ... 把手举起来, 把头抬起来 etc are ok. Quote
Xiao Kui Posted November 22, 2005 at 01:08 PM Author Report Posted November 22, 2005 at 01:08 PM Thanks, skylee! Quote
Entropy_Rising Posted April 1, 2008 at 04:30 PM Report Posted April 1, 2008 at 04:30 PM How does one issue commands for stative verbs rather than action verbs? I'm thinking something along the lines of "Be quiet!", which I assume would be 安静一点儿 or 冷静一下. What prompted me to wonder was my desire to tell students to "BE MORE SUBTLE" while playing the party game "Mafia." Should I say "诡秘一点儿？“ Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.