Grammar compound directional complements – the usages of 起来 qilai – Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – You seem very tired and preoccupied today. Are you okay? Green Day 21 guns lyrics

“He who runs behind truck is exhausted, he who runs in front of truck is tired.” Running is exhausting and tiring, isn’t it?

I am very tired today after hours of workout, so, I think I will write a post about tired.
Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – You seem very tired and preoccupied today. Are you okay?
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你今天看起来好像很累而且心事重重。你还好吗?
nǐ jīntiān kàn qǐlái hǎoxiàng hěn lèi érqiě xīnshì chóngchóng . nǐ hái hǎo ma ?
nǐ(你 pronoun, you) jīntiān (今天 noun, today) kàn qǐlái (看 kàn, verb, look;起来 qǐlái originally means up, and 看起来 kàn qǐlái means the way it looks) hǎoxiàng (好像 verb, seem) hěn (很 adverb, very) lèi (累 adjective, tired) érqiě (而且 conjunction, also, as well as) xīnshì ( 心事 xīn means heart, shì means things or matters; xīnshì together means things on mind) chóngchóng (重重 adjective, originally means layer after layer, hence it also means heavily, severely) . nǐ ( 你 pronoun, you) hái (还 adverb, still) hǎo (好 adjective, good) ma (吗 question marker)?

Chinese grammar, the usages of 起来 qǐlái and how to use it:

起来 qǐlái may combine with other verbs to function as complements indicating the direction of movement of the action indicated by the verb.
When 起来 qǐlái is used in this way, it is called compound directional complements. The usages of 起来 qǐlái can be very complicated. The original meaning of 起来 qǐlái means stand up. For example, if someone is sitting on a sofa and you want the person to stand up, then you can say 起来 qǐlái or 站起来 zhàn qǐlái ( 站 is a verb, means stand). For this reason, 起来 qǐlái two words signify an upward movement.

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(1) 起来 qǐlái signifies upward movement

站起来 stand up
zhàn qǐlái

跳起来 jump up
tiào qǐlái

拿起來 take it up
ná qǐlái

撿起來 pick it up
jiǎn qǐlái

However, 起来 can have other meanings, such as

(2) beginning of something

哭起来 begin crying
kū qǐlai

笑起来 begin laughing
xiào qǐlái

闹起来 begin disturbing or begin making noises
nào qǐlai

吵起来 begin arguing
chǎo qǐlai

打起来 begin fighting
dǎ qǐlái

叫起来 begin yelling
jiào qǐlai

(3) When 起来 is used after five senses verbs and certain verbs, it expresses the speaker’s feeling about something that he or she look at, listen to, touch, smell, feel, etc..

这朵花看起来很好看。
zhè duǒ huā kàn qǐlái hěn hǎokàn .
This flower looks very good looking.

那块布摸起来很平滑。
nà kuài bù mō qǐlai hěn pínghuá .
The cloth feels very smooth.

她唱的歌听起来很动人。
tā chàng de gē tīng qǐlai hěn dòngrén .
She sings it sounds very touching.

这菜吃起来真可口。
zhè cài chī qǐlai zhēn kěkǒu .
This dish tastes really delicious.

那束花闻起来真香。
nà zhāng shāfā zuò qilai zhēn shūfu .
That bouquet of flowers smells so fragrant.

这支笔写起来真好写。
zhè zhī bǐ xiě qǐlai zhēn hǎo xiě .
It is so well to write with this pen.

那张沙发坐起来真舒服。
nà zhāng shāfā zuò qilai zhēn shūfu .
It is so comfortable to sit on that sofa.

Green Day 21 guns

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Gun salutes are the firing of cannons or arms as an (military or naval) honor. The custom originates in naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent.
The world we live in has a lot of fights and wars, hope peace prevails — no hurting, no killing ….

Posted in Chinese grammar, English song, One Chinese sentence a day | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Usage of idiom bu liao liao zhi, phrase bu liao. Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – She decided not to euthanize her dying cat because she thought her little girls could not bear it. English life quotes translated to Chinese, song 冰淇 Bing Qi 不了了之

Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – She decided not to euthanize her dying cat because she thought her little daughter could not bear it.

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她决定不给她生命垂危的猫安乐死,因为她想她的小女儿会承受不了。
tā juédìng bù gěi tā shēngmìng chuí wēi de māo ānlèsǐ , yīnwèi tā xiǎng tā de xiǎo nǚér huì chéngshòu bùliǎo .

tā (她 pronoun, she) juédìng (决定 verb, decide) bù (不 negate word, not) gěi (给 verb, give) tā (她 tā here is tā de 她的 for short, possessive pronoun, her) shēngmìng (生命noun, life) chuí wēi (垂危 adjective, close to death) de (的 particle to connect the attributive and the noun it modifies) māo (猫 noun, cat) ānlèsǐ ( 安乐死 noun, euthanasia) , yīnwèi (因为 conjunction, because) tā (她 pronoun, she) xiǎng (想 verb, think) tā de (她的 possessive pronoun, her) xiǎo (小 adjective, little) nǚér (女儿 noun, daughter) huì (会 auxiliary verb, will) chéngshòu (承受 verb, endure) bùliǎo (不了unable to).

Lifespan in Chinese, we call it 寿命 shòumìng. How long a person will live depends on many things and varies greatly. It depends on the genes of the person, the health of the person, the job of the person, and most important, how’s the person’s attitude about life itself.

Winston Churchill said: “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” In our life, we all have rainy and sunny days. When it is a sunny day, we can be glad that it is a blue sky day or we can be picky and complain about the scorching sun. When it is a rainy day, we can listen to the rhythm of raindrops or be grumpy about no outside playing time today. It is all in your mind – happy or not happy, content or not.

I like these three quotes about life:

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The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. ~Leo Rosten
生命的目的并不是在於快乐 – 而是在於要紧有影响,富有成效,有用,因为你的存在而使这个世界有些不同。
shēngmìng de mùdì bìng bù shì zàiyú kuàilè – érshì zàiyú yàojǐn yǒu yǐngxiǎng , fùyǒu chéngxiào , yǒuyòng , yīnwèi nǐ de cúnzài ér shǐ zhè ge shìjiè yǒu xiē bù tóng .

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
生命的真正意义是去种树,而且你并不指望要坐在那些你种的树的树荫下。
shēngmìng de zhēnzhèng yìyì shì qù zhǒng shù , érqiě nǐ bìng bù zhǐwàng yào zuò zài nàxiē nǐ zhǒng de shù de shù yīn xià

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare
那根小蜡烛的光芒照得多远!
因此,在一个顽皮的世界照出一件好事。
nà gēn xiǎo làzhú de guāngmáng zhào de duō yuǎn ! yīncǐ , zài yī ge wánpí de shìjiè zhào chū yī jiàn hǎoshì.

Chinese grammar, how to use 不了 bùliǎo (unable to).

Most Chinese learners know that 了 le is a very common Chinese particle which expresses the completion of an action or a past tense marker. However, when 了 is pronounced as liǎo it is used as a verb.

不 bù is Chinese negate word which means not, and 了 liǎo is a verb which means finish. So, together, these two words literally means not finished, not done, and hence refers to unable to. These phrase usually is used after a verb.

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Example sentences of the usage of 不了.

1 水果太多,我吃不了。
水果[shuǐ guǒ] 太多[tài duō] ,我[wǒ] 吃[chī] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
There is too much fruit, and I am not able to finish it.

2 压力太大,我受不了。
压力[yā lì] 太[tài] 大[dà] ,我[wǒ] 受[shòu] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
There is too much pressure, and I am not able to endure it.

3 他对我的期望太高,我到达不了。
他[tā] 对[duì] 我的[wǒ de] 期望[qī wàng] 太[tài] 高[gāo] ,我[wǒ] 到达[dào dá] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
His expectation on me is too high, and I will not be able to reach it.

There is a Chinese idiom called 不了了之 bù liǎo liǎo zhī which means:
settle a matter by leaving it unsettled.

不了了之 bù (negate word, not) liǎo (verb, finish) liǎo (verb, finish) zhī (classic pronoun, it). The idiom means that something that got ended by the way of not finishing it. For example, two people were arguing and each has his or her opinions. They argued and argued, reached no conclusion or consensus, and the argument got settled by leaving it unsettled.

他们两个人对这件事的看法不同,吵来吵去,最后不了了之, 也没达成任何共识。
tā men liǎng gè rén duì zhè jiàn shì de kàn fǎ bù tóng, chǎo lái chǎo qù zuì hòu bù liǎo liǎo zhī, yě méi dá chéng rèn hé gòng shì。
Both of them had different opinions toward this matter. They quarreled a lot. They finally settled this matter by leaving it unsettled, and did not reach any consensus.

冰淇 不了了之

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