第一百四十六天

[nnozomi]

（对不起啊，晚点评论回复，我睡懒觉了）

语法
要 + verb for "going to ~" (bottom of page)
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Auxiliary_verb_%22yao%22_and_its_multiple_meanings

词汇
后, behind/after/later; also 后边, behind; 后天, day after tomorrow (I like this one); 最后, last 后 hòu, behind/after/later; also 后边 hòu biān, behind; 后天 hòu tiān, day after tomorrow; 最后 zuìhòu, last
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Guardian:
我问你啊，在小说最后的最后，那个怪物是怎么死的？tell me, at the very end of the novel, how did the monster die?
那我下课之后过来接你, then I'll come and pick you up after class
我要让你明白为自己的家人而牺牲，值！ I'm going to make you understand that sacrificing yourself for your family is worth it!

Me:
今天我要去跟乐团练习，因为要带大乐器所以希望不会下雨了。
不好意思啊，明天我没空，你后天怎么样？

Comments

[grayswandir]

Which helps me remember the Chinese ones because "vor" in the spatial sense is 前. :)

That sounds very useful!

I get so confused with 前, coming from English. It feels like it means two exactly opposite things, since I think of the past as something that's behind you. I mean, I do realize the word "before" has these same two opposite meanings -- if you stand "before" something, it's in front of you, but if it happened "before," it's behind you. I get how it makes sense! But since English mostly uses "before" for temporally past things and "in front" for spatially forward things, and we talk about looking "back" on the past and "ahead" to the future, I just can't seem to wrap my head around "in front" and "past" not being opposites. :|

(To be fair, this is not specifically a problem with learning Chinese. I think every other language I've studied has the same word for "in front" and "past," too. It confuses me every time!)

[trobadora]

Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean, I get turned around the same way! Which is why I need 前 to help me out in the first place. *g*

I think every other language I've studied has the same word for "in front" and "past," too.

Yeah, I wonder why that is! Like you say, we think of the past as behind us and the future in front, and yet! Language is really strange sometimes ...

[nnozomi]

I get so confused with 前, coming from English. It feels like it means two exactly opposite things, since I think of the past as something that's behind you.
You know what, I think I have the same problem only with 后！ Something that's behind you shouldn't be the thing that comes afterward...

[grayswandir]

Yeah, I think both of them are confusing to me. I think of them as "behind" and "in front," so whenever I hear them used for time I have to stop and remember how that works. (It also doesn't help that "future prospects" is 前途. XD Although "consequences" is 后果...)

I have some trouble remembering which way 上/下 work for time, too, though in that case I think I just default to wanting both of them to mean "next/later." I guess "up" and "down" both seem futur-y to me... up ahead, down the road, coming up, somewhere down the line...

[trobadora]

I also have trouble with 上/下 sometimes. Totally agreed that they both sound more future-y. *g*

(Sometimes I have to repeat them in order, 上中下, to remember which is which ...)

[nnozomi]

(It also doesn't help that "future prospects" is 前途. XD Although "consequences" is 后果...)
True! Oh dear, I mostly know "future prospects from the saying 前途多难, which is not exactly propitious. And then there's 后悔...

I guess "up" and "down" both seem futur-y to me... up ahead, down the road, coming up, somewhere down the line...
That's another really good point. I think I have this vague mental picture of 上 past things as up on a shelf behind my left shoulder somewhere, goodness knows where that came from.

[yaaurens]

This whole thread makes me very happy that I'm not the only one struggling with the 前/后 上/下 issue!

[nnozomi]

seriously, we're all in the same boat... I wonder if there are any other languages where it would be intuitive.