Xiao Wang strained to tighten the security strap around her luggage, pressing her knee against the bulging fabric to muscle the suitcase closed. She was not sure when or how packing had become this problematic. For while she had long ago become accustomed to the need for travelling light, it nonetheless seemed that there was somehow more and more to pack for each trip.
ma1942
said on August 6, 2014
happy to hear Echo's voice again and both of you working together.(tai hao le)Richard
timothywatt
said on August 6, 2014
Finally, a new lesson! I was worried that Popup Chinese was having some sort of business difficulties or something because of the very slow rate of new language podcasts, and that the company might close down.
yeroc99
said on August 9, 2014
I'm wondering about the 差不多 at the end... I assume that means "we're more or less ready".
trevor.l.davis
said on August 10, 2014
@yeroc99 差不多 has multiple meanings but one of its meaning is "good enough".
yeroc99
said on August 10, 2014
谢谢Trevor，有道理啊。
Grace Qi
said on August 10, 2014
@yeroc99,Yeah, in this context, it means"that's about it".
huyilin
said on August 21, 2014
Great lesson and useful grammar point! I used the "...没？" pattern with a Chinese friend today and greatly impressed him, haha!
Grace Qi
said on August 26, 2014
@huyilin,Great! ..没 is a very useful pattern and just FYI, usually it's "verb 了 没" e.i. 吃了没？ 带了没？But in really really colloquial context, you will also hear people say "verb 没" and that's very common too. 你吃饭没？你去没？:)
huyilin
said on August 26, 2014
谢谢你, Grace, for the clarification!
ma1942
said on September 2, 2014
it's even worst than that - gèng zāogāo de shìdeshi means 'to be' duibudui?is it always place at the end of a sentence?what is it's exact function and can you give other examples in pinjin
ma1942
said on September 2, 2014
do i use ' deshi' to say:in case it happensif so , where do i place it?
trevelyan
said on September 4, 2014
@ma1942,You mean for indicating time? You can often avoid it in colloquial speech, but it goes at the end of the clause that indicates the period in question.--david
ma1942
said on December 16, 2014
David / Grace,can one use 'zenmeyang' or 'yaobu .. ma' interchangeably for meaning > how about / what about.e.g. how about that dish ? yaobu nage cai ma?
