第七十三天

[nnozomi]

语法
还，also, connecting two verbs under one subject
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22and_also%22_with_%22hai%22

词汇
别, don't (also 别的, other, and 别人, other people)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Guardian:
你好像没资格说别人吧 (you seem not to be qualified to talk about other people, or in more idiomatic terms, Shen Wei telling Zhao Yunlan "You're one to talk" 哈哈)
怎么，黑袍使管完了地下的，还想来管管我们这些地上的？ (So Hei Pao Shi, you're done running the underground and now you want to get into our above-ground as well?)
有一个好消息，还有一个坏消息 (a classic)

My practice:
我想起床去跑步，还想睡懒觉。
你还好看别的书，这本书你大概不会喜欢。
这里有别人，不要说我们的事情。

(Not deliberately ignoring requests for pinyin, still thinking, expect something within the week...)

Comments

[trobadora]

Regarding pinyin, if you include it in your posts, is there a way to hide it? Behind a cut or something? I find that once the pinyin is there I can't help seeing it, and I don't actually properly read the characters any more.

[nnozomi]

I find that once the pinyin is there I can't help seeing it, and I don't actually properly read the characters any more.
Agree, me too. shadaras below suggested a browser extension where you can hover over the characters and see the pinyin, and that might be one solution so that people who want to see it can and people who don't want to don't have to. Still thinking...

[trobadora]

Yeah, I've been using Zhongwen for ages and it's brilliant.

[grayswandir]

A phrase with 别 that I hear a lot, especially in historical dramas: 别来无恙 -- a greeting, usually after a fairly long parting, meaning something like "you're looking as well as ever." Or it can also be a question, something like "I hope you've been well since we last parted?"

From a brief search it looks like the question version sometimes has 乎 added to the end as a question particle: "别来无恙乎？"

(Wiktionary says 乎 as a final particle is obsolete in modern usage but, but "别来无恙乎？" seems to show up enough in a Google search that I'm guessing it might be one of those idiomatic usages that's still current? Though there are also search results where it's simply "别来无恙？" with no final particle.)

(I was trying to figure out what the rules were for making it a question in Mandarin, because it's often a question in Cantonese, but they use a different final particle...)

[presumenothing]

I learned 别来无恙 as an opening phrase for letters (where "I hope this email letter finds you well" would go in English, essentially) but I have to admit, I've never seen/heard it with 乎 attached… would probably just stick the ? on if I wanted to make it explicitly A Question.

[grayswandir]

would probably just stick the ? on if I wanted to make it explicitly A Question.

Okay, cool, that's exactly what I was wondering about. Thanks for explaining! And good to know about the use in letters, too.

[nnozomi]

I learned 别来无恙 as an opening phrase for letters (where "I hope this email letter finds you well" would go in English, essentially)
Neat! (Sort of like the Latin SVBEV thing...) Now I'm going to try it out next time I email Chinese-speaking friends here, and get laughed at for imitating someone who knows what they're doing ;)

[nnozomi]

A phrase with 别 that I hear a lot, especially in historical dramas: 别来无恙 -- a greeting, usually after a fairly long parting, meaning something like "you're looking as well as ever." Or it can also be a question, something like "I hope you've been well since we last parted?"
Neat, I like it! Like a very formal version of 好久不见, or the Latin SVBEV thing.

[grayswandir]

Like a very formal version of 好久不见

Yes, and you can also combine them, "好久不见，别来无恙." :)

[shadaras]

re: pinyin - I'm not going back to check the other posts for conversation, but wanting to read the characters I didn't yet know is what finally drove me to find a browser extension that'd let me hover over characters and see pinyin/dictionary definition for them. So maybe collecting some resources like that for people to use could be useful?

(even if I'm not posting comments much I am enjoying seeing all of these and appreciate the vocab additions! <3)

[elenothar]

Ooh, would you mind sharing the name of the browser extension? that sounds very useful (I keep copypasting characters intro translation boxes instead...)

[shadaras]

I'm using the Zhongwen browser extension. I'm aware of it being available on firefox and chrome; I haven't looked for it on any other browsers. :)

[nnozomi]

That does sound very useful! And might be a good compromise solution in part, thank you for the suggestion. (also very glad you're enjoying reading along! <3 )

[elenothar]

Thank you! I'm on firefox so this is perfect :)

[presumenothing]

别 really does appear in an awful lot of places XD

Also, 还 doesn't really do the "but"/contradictory kind of connection, so your first sentence reads a little odd!

[nnozomi]

Also, 还 doesn't really do the "but"/contradictory kind of connection, so your first sentence reads a little odd!
Thanks! Will keep in mind. It's not like Chinese is short of ways to say "but" oh dear, 但是，可是，不过, ...