第三年第二十二天

[nnozomi]

语法
朝/向/往 + direction + V "toward X" (part a)
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Comparing_%22chao%22_%22xiang%22_and_%22wang%22

词汇
样子, look/appearance; 那样, like that; 什么样, what kind of; 同样, same; 怎(么)样, how/how about; 这样, like this 样子 yàngzi, look/appearance; 那样 nàyàng, like that; 什么样 shénmeyàng, what kind of; 同样 tóngyàng, same; 怎(么)样 zěn(me)yàng, how/how about; 这样 zhèyàng, like this
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-2-word-list/

Guardian:
那时候我一转身，看见她朝我看，然后我就晕了, I turned around, saw her looking at me, and then I fainted
老师说带我们往西北方向走, the professor said he's taking us to the northwest.
看他的样子，他是不是失恋啊？ from the way he looks, do you think he's been disappointed in love?

Me:
别看朝我，我也不知道答案。
我很担心他的样子，看起来非常累。

Comments

[trobadora]

I know 向 and 往, but 朝 is new to me!

[grayswandir]

Hah, I saw your comment before actually reading the post and had a brief moment of being like "but that's a pretty common character" before I looked at the context and immediately agreed with you. I know 朝 as "morning" and "imperial court" but definitely not "towards"!

(I also have never gotten the hang of 往 because I learned it as meaning both "towards" and "past" which seem like opposites to me, and it's not used in Cantonese so I have no experience with hearing how it works in context. Except in song lyrics where it actually does often refer to the past. XD)

[grayswandir]

(...Come to think of it, I guess my confusion about 往 is just an extension of my confusion about 前 meaning what's spatially in front of you or temporally behind you, and 后 vice-versa... except 往 is where you're spatially headed or where you've temporally already been...)

[trobadora]

LOL! It's similar in English, though, isn't it? I mean, what's before you is in front of you, but what happened before is what's already behind you. :p

[grayswandir]

Yes, it's exactly the same. XD Obviously I don't have a problem with it in English (or even German, despite knowing barely any German... maybe because the line of descent from the German to English words/meanings is so obvious that I can just map them directly across??), but I recognize that it's equally baffling. XD

[trobadora]

It being the same in German, English and Chinese is why I can usually get it right in Chinese, but only if I don't think about it. *g*

[trobadora]

Yeah, I've come across the character but not consciously with this meaning!

I really only know 往 as "towards"; I didn't really remember the "past" meaning, tbh.

[grayswandir]

Yeah, I've come across the character but not consciously with this meaning!

...I just now opened up the first episode of a show I'm thinking about reviewing for Mandarin audio, and the first sentence that showed up at the random point I skipped to had this usage of 朝 in it. o_O "今天第一次是朝真人开枪吧。"

I really only know 往 as "towards"; I didn't really remember the "past" meaning, tbh.

I think it might only mean "past" in compounds? I run across it in song lyrics as e.g. 往昔, 往日, 往事. But I memorized the character as having both meanings, and I run across it pretty rarely in general, so every time I do see it I get confused about what it is.

[trobadora]

I think it might only mean "past" in compounds?

Oh, yeah, now that you say it I've definitely come across those words!

[nnozomi]

I think it might only mean "past" in compounds? I run across it in song lyrics as e.g. 往昔, 往日, 往事.
That's a useful point to remember!

[nnozomi]

朝 is actually easier for me than the other two (except for the moment where I go "what's morning/dynasty got to do with it") because it only goes in one direction? 往 is confusing because it seems to have so many meanings, and 向 I can't stand because it can be both "to" and "from"!

[trobadora]

Does it help to think of the "from" 向 as "go/turn to X for ..."?

[nnozomi]

Oh, that makes sense! That's a good point--I'll try keeping it in mind. (You'd think I would be able to cope with that after the tangle of Japanese verbs that mean "do something for someone else" "have someone else do something for you" "be done something for" and so on, Chinese really is much more straightforward this way!)

[trobadora]

Yeah, Chinese is pretty straightforward most of the time, isn't it?

[nnozomi]

Sometimes too straightforward, you know? like "give me a complicated rule about conjugations that explains this, not just 'oh if you put these two characters together it suddenly means X'!" ;)

[trobadora]

Haha, I'm really fond of that actually, even though it doesn't necessarily make things easier! *g*

[nnozomi]

Fair enough :) It depends on what flavor of grammar I'm in the mood for!

[grayswandir]

向 I can't stand because it can be both "to" and "from"!

Oh, huh, that is confusing, now that you mention it. I think I've just always processed the "from" usages by just taking 向 as... yeah, I guess like trobadora said, the direction you're facing toward in order to do the thing (ask, borrow, learn, etc.). I never consciously thought about it as "from." (I also don't really think of it as "to," either. Like even in 向人道歉 the 向 still feels more like toward/facing to me, rather than "to.")

[trobadora]

Yeah, I agree with the "towards" - that's how I take it too.

[nnozomi]

向人道歉 I'm okay with, it's 向人借 and related ones that get me--I can never tell who's borrowing from whom (like a friend of mine who used to say "can you borrow me a pencil?" in English) ;)

[grayswandir]

Oh, yeah, I'm with you on the confusion about "lend" and "borrow" being the same word. I'm fine with it if there's a "give" involved (借給 or similar), but otherwise yeah, I sometimes just cannot figure out who's doing the borrowing. :P

[nnozomi]

I sometimes just cannot figure out who's doing the borrowing. :P
You said it. Funny how different languages (de)emphasize different distinctions...