第二年第三天

[nnozomi]

语法
(一直）V + 到 + (time/event), "do X until ~" (top of page)
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22until%22_with_%22dao%22
*The Wiki page is inconsistent about where 一直 goes, but from the samples and instinct it looks like in front of the verb is right?

词汇
不够, not enough; 够, enough; 能够, can 不够 búgòu, not enough; 够 gòu, enough; 能够 nénggòu, can
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-2-word-list/
*About tones while we're having an asterisk day anyway: 不 is in the tags as bù, but the vocab list often has it as bú when in front of another fourth-tone character, like 不够. The accuracy and the mechanism of this are above my paygrade, sorry, please look up as needed.

Guardian:
天知道他们睡到什么时候, heaven knows when they're going to sleep until [more idiomatically, "when they're going to wake up"]
人手真不够, we really don't have enough people
多少钱都不够, no amount of money would be enough

Me:
我想睡到春天，就是想要冬眠。
咖啡不够了，去超市的时候你能不能给我买一些？

Comments

[trobadora]

Tone sandhi is just evil. Who allowed this?! How dare.

[nnozomi]

I know! My only consolation is that my pronunciation of tones is so bad anyway that if I get it wrong nobody will know...

[sakana17]

Lost Tomb Reboot, episode 19:
我一直打到他接为止

episode 11:
十分钟也不够用啊

[nnozomi]

不够用 is good, very useful! I can't make much of the first line out of context, I'll have to look it up in the script.

[grayswandir]

Taking a guess -- 打电话, 接听?

[nnozomi]

Yes, thanks, that makes sense! I poked around some more and it looks like 为止 was confusing me because it's "until" and it goes AFTER until what, like Japanese, instead of BEFORE, like English. Chinese, why so inconsistent.

[grayswandir]

Oh, hah, got it! I've seen 为止 a lot, but the 打/接 part was not immediately obvious to me. Yeah, I think "until" is always like "V + 到 + [result] + 为止".

ETA: I guess I should say [time/event] rather than [result]. I feel like I almost always hear 为止 with an event or a result of the verb ("until we succeed," "until she arrives," etc.), rather than just a time like "until tomorrow" or "until noon" or similar. Pleco has "until 2005" as an example, though -- 到2005年为止 -- so I guess "until [time]" does work the same way, I just haven't heard it much!

[nnozomi]

I feel like I almost always hear 为止 with an event or a result of the verb ("until we succeed," "until she arrives," etc.), rather than just a time like "until tomorrow" or "until noon" or similar. Pleco has "until 2005" as an example, though -- 到2005年为止
I'll have to look it up properly, oh dear; you've provided a good basis for understanding, though. I know with years I learned 从2000到2010, so 为止 can at least be omitted sometimes...