Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – Due to carelessness, I got a car accident. The owner of the car I damaged is going to get an estimate for the repair cost. My car insurance fee is going to increase, too bad.
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由於不小心，我出了一场車禍。被我損壞的車的主人，将去估計车子的修理費用。我的汽車保險費用將会增加，太糟糕了。
yóuyú bù xiǎoxīn , wǒ chū le yì chǎng chēhuò . bèi wǒ sǔnhuài de chē de zhǔrén, jiāng qù gūjì chēzi de xiūlǐ fèiyòng . Wǒ de qìchē bǎoxiǎn fèiyòng jiāng huì zēngjiā , tài zāogāo le .
yóuyú (由於 preposition, due to, as a result of) bù (不 negate word, not) xiǎoxīn (小心 careful) , wǒ (我 pronoun, I) chū (出 verb, happen) le ( 了 particle to show action occurred) yì (一 number, 1) chǎng (场 measure word for car accident) chēhuò (車禍 noun, car accident). bèi (被 passive voice marker, equivalent to “by” in English) wǒ (我 pronoun, I or me) sǔnhuài (損壞 verb, destroy) de ( 的 connecting particle between attributive and then noun it modifies) chē ( 車 noun, car) de ( 的 connecting particle) zhǔrén ( 主人noun, owner), jiāng ( 将 will) qù (去 verb, go) gūjì ( 估計 verb, estimate) chēzi ( 车子 noun, car, zi is a habitual suffix with no meaning itself) de ( 的 connecting particle) xiūlǐ (修理 verb, fix) fèiyòng ( 費用noun, fee) . Wǒde (我的 possessive pronoun, my) qìchē (汽车 noun, car) bǎoxiǎn (保险 noun, insurance) fèiyòng (费用 noun, fee) jiānghuì (將会 will) zēngjiā (增加 verb, increase), tài (太 adverb, very) zāogāo (糟糕adjective, terrible) le (了 sentence final particle, also show emphasis).
Car accidents are never good. Please drive carefully with caution. It is pretty bad to pay a high fee due to self’s carelessness. I had an accident last week, and now I am waiting for the estimate to come. I think it would be good to offer some Mandarin terms about car accidents. I hope you will never need to use them, and always be very attentive when you are driving. You might wondering why I got into that accident. It was my own carelessness and also, I was listening to a song too loud in my car …. Good thing from it is that, I am more cautious now on driving, no matter it is about backing the car from parking lot or taking a turn at intersections.
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When your car hit other car, the first thing you want to say might be:
糟糕，我撞车了。
zāogāo , Wǒ zhuàngchē le .
How terrible! I hit a car.
糟糕 zāogāo means in a terrible mess or how terrible. 糟 zāo means bad, 糕 gāo means cakes. I usually told my students that in order to understand the phrase, pretend that you were baking a cake in the oven, then after five hours you suddenly remember the cake. Then you should know, what a bad mess it was!
For the usage of 糟 zāo, if you want to say my spoken Chinese is pretty bad, then you can say:
我的中文说得很糟。
Wǒ de Zhōngwén shuōděihěn zāo
or
我的中文说得很糟糕。
Wǒ de Zhōngwén shuōděihěn zāogāo .
When you got out of car, if that was your fault of the car accident, then you might have to say:
对不起，我不小心撞到你的车了。
Duìbuqǐ , Wǒ bùxiǎoxīn zhuàngdào nǐ de chē le .
Sorry, I accidentally hit your car.
If you are a victim, and you feel pretty upset about your new car got damaged, then you might shout out:
你是怎么开车的！把我的车撞成这样子，我要你的汽车保险资料还有你的电话号码。你要赔偿我的损失。
nǐ shì zěnme kāichē de ! bǎ Wǒ de chē zhuàng chéng zhè yàngzi , Wǒ yào nǐ de qìchē bǎoxiǎn zīliào hái yǒu nǐ de diànhuà hàomǎ . nǐ yào péicháng Wǒ de sǔnshī .
How could you drive like this! You hit and damaged my car like this. I want your auto insurance information and your phone number. You have to pay compensation for my loss.
If you are the hitter, then I know you would feel pretty upset and sad about what happened. It is pretty hard to talk yourself out of something that you are the one who did wrong. However, think from the silver lining of it: At least you are still alive and things would have been even worse…
In Chinese, we have an idiom called
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在劫难逃 zài jiénántáo There is no escape from fate.
命里注定要遭受的灾难是无法逃脱的。有时也用来指某种灾害不可避免。
mìng lǐ zhùdìng yào zāoshòu de zāinàn shì wúfǎ táotuō de . yǒushí yě yònglái zhǐ mǒuzhǒng zāihài bùkěbìmiǎn .
In life, certain disasters are inevitably destined to happen and make people suffer. It is also sometimes used to refer to some kind of disaster is inevitable.
For example, your friend got laid off and also got a bad car accident and lost one leg. Then you can comment on what happened to her:
她被开除又发生车祸，被锯掉了一条腿，真是在劫难逃啊!
tā bèi kāichú yòu fāshēng chēhuò , bèi jū diàoleyī tiáo tuǐ , zhēnshì zài jiénántáo ā !
She got laid off and also had a car accident. One of her legs got amputated. She is really doomed, ah!
However, try to be positive even your life is in a very very bad shape now. We also, have a Mandarin proverb which goes:
大难不死 必有后福。
dà nán bù sǐ bì yǒu hòu fú
Literally it means: (If one suffered) big disaster and did not die, (then he or she) must have fortune coming after (the disaster).
So, its English translation can mean:
Fortune is always waiting for the person who survives the disaster.
or
There is always fortune after surviving big disasters.
Even you are in the worst scenario of life events, remember this quote from Paolo Coelho, a Brazilian writer:
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay then it’s not the end.”
Let’s listen a great sad song by JJ Lin — she says. I like this song, and I even used his ending monologue as my students’ listening comprehension drill.
For English translation, see http://www.chinesetolearn.com/?p=4108
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