[English -> Mandarin] Four short sentences for research
Dear Mandarin speakers,
I'm collecting preliminary data for my research. Currently, I'm taking a very informal first stab at the data, so I just need a couple of data points to see if what I'm looking for is there in the first place. More concretely, I would ask you to translate the following sentences to Mandarin (transliterated, or both hanzi and transliterated):
(1) I burned the book.
(2) I memorized the book.
(3) I like the book.
(4) I memorized and burned the book.
If more than one classifier (e.g. both "ge" and "zhang") is possible in one of the sentences, please be so kind and add both alternatives. Thank you very much in advance!
Posted Jun 5, 2014, 9:26 AM UTC
13
我把书(给)烧了。 Wǒ bǎ shū gěi shāole.
我把书(给)背了。Wǒ bǎ shū gěi bèile.
我喜欢（这/那）本书。Wǒ xǐhuān (zhè/nà) běn shū.
我把书(给)背了，并且把它烧了。Wǒ bǎ shū gěi bèile, bìngqiě bǎ tā shāole.
For the third sentence, you have to specify (this/that) in order to get your desired effect (since it seems you're referencing a book that was brought up earlier in the conversation) - if you say 我喜欢书 it becomes "I like books" and if you say 我喜欢一本书 it's "I like a book".
Honestly, it's difficult to write sentences without (zhe/na) since Chinese does not have a general definite article like "the" - the other three sentences I have here are focusing on the result of the action "ba-form" (passive "The book was burned by me" is 书被我烧了). If you want it to be "better" Mandarin focusing on the person instigating the action it'd be something like: (assuming the book came up in the conversation before)
我烧了这本书.
我背了这本书.
我喜欢这本书.
我背了这本书，并且烧了它.
Edit: typo, formatting, link to ba-form.
Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate it, this helps a lot. If you happen to find some time, could you do a follow up? It's the same sentences, but modified by a numeral, that is (as far as I can tell this also takes care of the definitness "problem" you mentioned in your edit):
(1) I burned two books.
(2) I memorized two books.
(3) I like two books.
(4) I memorized and burned two books.
Again, thanks a million!
我烧了两本书。 Wǒ shāole liǎng běn shū.
我背了两本书。 Wǒ bèile liǎng běn shū.
我喜欢两本书。 Wǒ xǐhuān liǎng běn shū.
我背了两本书，并且烧了它们。 Wǒ bèile liǎng běn shū, bìngqiě shāole tāmen.
Keep in mind in Mandarin Chinese cardinal numbers usually use 两 liang instead of 二 er, while ordinals always use 二 (example: 第二名, "second place").
Also unlike some other nouns where you can use ge instead of another measure word (I've heard both 三个苹果 and 三粒苹果 in colloquial speech), you can't ever use 个 ge for books, unless maybe you're three years old or a really new learner. 本 ben is both a basic character/word and measure word. Hence, 两个书 is always wrong.