"Way of doing things" in Chinese - Lesson 24

In this lesson we will see how to express the way / how to do things (good or bad, fast or not, ...) on the theme of learning Chinese.

Contents of this lesson

1. Vocabulary

2. Grammar

3. Dialogues

4. Substitution exercise

1. Vocabulary

2. Grammar

Manner complement 得 ‹ de ›

In Chinese the complement 得 ‹ de › is used after the verb to give further information on how the work is done or on its degree (level). It can be translated into English as "in a way".

• 他 走 得 很慢 。 ‹ Tā zǒu dé hěn màn. ›
  He walks slowly.
• 你 写 得 快不快 ？ ‹ Nǐ xiě dé kuài bù kuài? ›
  Do you write quickly or not?
• 我 写 得 不快 。 ‹ Wǒ xiě dé bù kuài. ›
  I do not write quickly.

When the verb is followed by an object complement, it can be repeated. If it is not, the object complement is placed before the verb which is placed before 得 ‹ de › :

• 王丽 写 汉字 写 得 很快。 ‹ Wáng Lì xiě hànzì xiě dé hěn kuài. ›
  Wang Li writes the Chinese characters quickly.
• 大卫 汉字 写 得 很慢。 ‹ Dàwèi hànzì xiě dé hěn màn. ›
  David writes the Chinese characters slowly.
• 我 汉语 说 得 不太流利。 ‹ Wǒ hànyǔ shuō dé bù tài liúlì. ›
  My Chinese is not very fluent.
• 她 说 汉语 说 得 很流利。 ‹ Tā shuō hànyǔ shuō dé hěn liúlì. ›
  She speaks Chinese fluently.

3. Dialogues

Dialogue N° 1

- 你能不能给我翻译这个句子？ ‹ Nǐ néng bù néng gěi wǒ fānyì zhè ge jùzi? ›
- 不好意思，我不能。我翻译得不好。 ‹ Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ bù néng. Wǒ fānyì dé bù hǎo. ›

Traduction :

-  Can you translate this sentence to me?
-  Sorry, I can not. I do not translate well.

Dialogue N° 2

- 你写汉字写得快不快？ ‹ Nǐ xiě hànzì xiě dé kuài bù kuài? ›
- 写得很慢。 ‹ Xiě dé hěn màn. ›
- 你发音怎么样？ ‹ Nǐ fāyīn zěnmeyàng? ›
- 发音不太准。 ‹ Fāyīn bù tài zhǔn. ›

Traduction :

- Your writing of Chinese characters is it fast?
- I write slowly.
- How is your pronunciation?
- It is not very accurate.

Dialogue N° 3

- 你听得懂汉语吗？ ‹ Nǐ tīngdedǒng hànyǔ ma? ›
- 听得懂，说得也很流利。 ‹ Tīngdedǒng, shuō dé yě hěn liúlì. ›
- 你好厉害！我觉得汉语难学。现在还听不懂。 ‹ Nǐ hǎo lìhài! Wǒ juédé hànyǔ nán xué. Xiànzài hái tīng bù dǒng. ›
- 你努力学习的话，应该能听懂。 ‹ Nǐ nǔlì xuéxí dehuà, yīnggāi néng tīngdǒng. ›
- 你能不能教我？ ‹ Nǐ néng bù néng jiào wǒ? ›
- 能！你先试试听汉语歌，可以练习听力。 ‹ Néng! Nǐ xiān shìshi tīng hànyǔ gē, kěyǐ liànxí tīnglì. ›
- 好！ ‹ Hǎo! ›
- 有问题的话可以问我。 ‹ Yǒu wèntí dehuà kěyǐ wèn wǒ. ›
- 太好了！ ‹ Tài hǎo le! ›

Traduction :

- Do you understand Chinese?
- Yes, and I can speak Chinese fluently.
- You're very good! I am finding that Chinese is difficult (to study). I still do not understand.
- If you work hard, you should be able to understand.
- Can you teach me?
- Yes! First try to listen to Chinese songs to train your oral understanding.
- OK!
- If you have questions, you can ask me.
- Great!

4. Substitution exercise

Create sentences with the words provided below using the following sentence structure: S (+ V) + O + V + 得 + C.