第五十四天

[nnozomi]

二 vs 两, two ways to say two
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Comparing_%22er%22_and_%22liang%22

I have to admit I do this one mostly by feel and I often don't get it right.

Guardian:
今年三十二岁，大学研究生还有博士生都是龙城大学毕业的 (Shen Wei's CV)
你跟你二舅坐下来好好谈一谈. (二 for Xiao Guo's younger uncle)
我赵云澜光棍二十多年，也许等的就是今天。(oh Zhao Yunlan, no)
两个朋友之间，贵在知心 (Shen Wei's epigram about friends' intimacy)
前天吃的火锅，昨天和朋友喝了两顿大酒，今天还没吃，但喝了一下午的茶 (Zhao Yunlan's horrible eating habits)
赵云澜，你知不知道危险两个字怎么写 (Zhao Yunlan, do you even know how to write the two characters for "danger"? lol)

My practice:
我住在这个城市二十年差不多。
我只有两条黑色的裙子。
做这个菜用两个鸡蛋。

Comments

[elenothar]

I'm mostly doing this one by feel and so far semi-successful at it, so I'll take that.

Unrelated, every time I see the logo for the grammar wiki on a browser tab or similar, I have a moment of 'why does it have the star trek delta' XD

[trobadora]

I thought I had a feel for this, but then I foolishly went looking for SHL quotes. And:

Exhibit A: 周温二位义士，沈慎也敬二位一杯。
Exhibit B: 他们二人同生共死。

*throws up hands*

[grayswandir]

Unrelated, every time I see the logo for the grammar wiki on a browser tab or similar, I have a moment of 'why does it have the star trek delta' XD

EVERY TIME. XD "Huh, why was I looking up Star Trek stuff in that tab...?"

[elenothar]

Glad it's not just me! (also, that's an excellent icon)

[grayswandir]

I didn't think I was at all confused about 二 vs. 两, but I completely share your confusion here. :|

[trobadora]

THANK YOU, that was my exact reaction!

[trobadora]

why does it have the star trek delta

Haha, so true!

[grayswandir]

I wonder if it's possible that this is an archaic usage? I'm used to sometimes seeing 二 in idioms and set phrases where I wouldn't expect it (e.g. 一石二鸟), so maybe it was previously used in places where 两 would be more natural now? I'm 100% guessing on this, but when I tried Googling "他们二人" it looked like most of the results were bible translations...

[trobadora]

Oh, good point! Some googling says you're right - I just found this ...

[grayswandir]

Oh good, I'm glad you found an explanation! So I guess it's just formal, not archaic, even though it comes from an older usage. I can handle that. XD

At least we weren't wrong in being confused!

[trobadora]

Yeah, this is the trouble you get from learning like this rather than from a textbook ... *g*

[grayswandir]

It's more fun this way. :D

[nnozomi]

Unrelated, every time I see the logo for the grammar wiki on a browser tab or similar, I have a moment of 'why does it have the star trek delta' XD
LOL I never thought of that and now I won't be able to stop seeing it...

[nnozomi]

It's more fun this way. :D
Isn't it? ;)

[nnozomi]

aagh, you're right, I've seen both 两个人 and 二人! Thank you for checking it out as below, link much appreciated. I can't keep up with the elegance/formality of SHL, that's what it is ;)

[elenothar]

Really not the only one then ;)

[elenothar]

... Oops?

[presumenothing]

Hilariously the only other expression I can think of right now is 二人世界 XD very Weilan, if you ask me

[grayswandir]

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure I can think of any other examples either. >_> Except for "一人计短，二人计长," but that might be Canto only?

Doing a search just now, I found a few examples I hadn't heard before: "九牛二虎之力," "不能事二主," and "二老." (And, this appears to be Canto only but it amuses me: 二撇鸡, a split mustache. XD )

I think what I initially had in mind was that there were other idioms in the "一石二鸟" construction, but now that I think about it, the other phrases I know (e.g. "一干二净," "一清二楚," "一穷二白") might be using 一/二 more like ordinal numbers? First/second or once/twice??

[presumenothing]

In these situations I just plonk "二 成语" into search and hope for the best LOL

…which for the record did turn out this super useful list, and it only lasts to the second entry before I'm going "haha nice Guardian reference" (it's 二百五 or essentially "reckless idiot", I'm very certain this is canonially used in the novel with reference to ZYL)

Anyway distractions aside there are definitely other idioms with atypical 二 usage (excluding 一干二净 etc which I agree kinda feels more the non-count-y sense): 二人同心, 言无二价, 二龙戏珠, 家无二主…… 二虎相斗，必有一伤…… why do tigers keep cropping up……

Also not actually relevant but 略知一二 also made me go heh because I can totally imagine Shen Wei saying that, probably on something he actually knows closer to a bazillion about