第两百六十三天

[nnozomi]

语法
最好 + V etc., "had better/best to~" (top of page)
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Expressing_%22had_better%22_with_%22zuihao%22

词汇
说, 说话, speak/talk 说 shuō, 说话 shuōhuà, speak/talk
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

Introductory grammar, day 48

Guardian:
你们最好告诉我，否则... you had better tell me. Otherwise...
你最好记住今天说的话, you'd better remember what I said today.
猫说话了，the cat spoke!

Me:
汤还非常烫了，最好等一会儿就吃. (or 喝?)
我跟你说，你最好快点辞职吧。

Comments

[nnozomi]

I feel like 最好 might be slightly stronger because of the superlative 最, but maybe not? It's like trying to distinguish "ought" and "had better" in English...

[elenothar]

See, this is interesting because the main difference between "ought" and "had better" in English in my head is that "ought" is older, verging on archaic, and not much in usage anymore (and tells you quite a lot about the person using it in speech). When I think about it more, there is also a difference in strength, but that's very much the second thing I think of.

[nnozomi]

Oh interesting! I think I would use "ought" fairly casually in something like "I ought to go to the post office later today if I have time," probably meaning, like "should be done but isn't 100% mandatory"? "You ought not to do that" does sound a little bit more old-fashioned to me. aaah, individual languages are bad (fun) enough before we even start mapping one onto another...

[elenothar]

*bangs drums* Idiolects!

[nnozomi]

你叫我什么？ :) no seriously, idiolects are wonderful.