Adverbs - Spoken vs Written

[jhargett]

I have been trying to understand descriptive adverbs lately. It seems that the adverb + 地 + verb formula is used mostly in written language, not spoken. Is this true? I suppose that if you were telling a story, you might use it. Let's take for example the phrase 'slowly eat'.

In a narative of some sort, you might say 'She slowly ate the food' - 她慢慢地吃饭. But in regular spoken language, it would be weird to speak in a 'play-by-play', narative style, wouldn't it? So, in english, you would just say, 'She eats slowly', which I am gussing in Chinese is 她吃得很慢.

So, to clarify my question (I think it changed as I was writing this):

Is adverb + 地 + verb used more for narrative types of sentences while verb + 得 + adverb is used more for descriptive types of sentences?

In addition to that, what about a command to eat slowly? We surely wouldn't use a narative type for that, but could you use the descriptive type: 吃得很慢 to command someone to eat slowly?

[Chinapage]

她很快地走了

她很快的走了

She quickly went away.

The word 地 is esential in the sentence.

[pattifranklin]

You wrote:

It seems that the adverb + 地 + verb formula is used mostly in written language, not spoken. Is this true?

Answer:

Generally speaking yes, there is always an exception.

You wrote:

Is adverb + 地 + verb used more for narrative types of sentences while verb + 得 + adverb is used more for descriptive types of sentences?

Answer:

Again, generally yes. I am wondering though when saying goodbye to a friend, we always say 慢走, which leaves out the 得 and 地 completely.

As far as the command form goes, I would say use 得 (dei3).

[Long Zhiren]

what about a command to eat slowly?...but could you use the descriptive type: 吃得很慢 to command someone to eat slowly?

慢慢吃

Sometimes, you'll hear parents tell their children this.

[jhargett]

慢慢吃

Sometimes, you'll hear parents tell their children this.

This would seem to show the adverb + 地 + verb formula, but without the 地.

[skylee]

what about a command to eat slowly?

吃慢點 / 吃慢點兒 / 吃得慢點 / 慢點吃 / 慢點兒吃

[jhargett]

Thank you all for your response. It would seem that, generally speaking, 地 is not used in the spoken language. As was noted, there are exceptions, but Chinese people tend to shorten things as much as possible when speaking. It would seem that the after verb adverb marker, 得, is used in spoken language.

When I say spoken language, I should actually say non narrative types of sentences. As Chinapage pointed out, you would use 地 in the sentence 'She quickly went away', but that is narrative and we don't commonly speak in narratives, unless we are telling a story.

At least, this is my understanding as of this moment, it may change tomorrow.