Alberto
Chinese indefinite pronouns 大家好! I know it's really difficult because the context is very important in chinese but could anybody translate this words into chinese for me? → Everything, nothing, something, anything / Everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody. Even when there are a lot of ways too say the same thing according on the context, please try to summarize it. I don't really mind if you left out any word. Thank you very much!
May 21, 2015 9:07 AM
Answers · 11
2
你好! Actually,I do not think words between different languges can be equally translated. But I will try to find a similar expression in Chinese. everything 所有(事情/东西),一切,每件事情,每个东西 nothing 没有东西,没有事情 something 一些/某些事情/东西,有些事情/东西 anything 任何事情/东西 Something is used in declarative sentence; anything is used in negative sentence or question sentence. everybody 每个人,所有人 nobody 没有人 somebody 某个/些人,有人 anybody 任何人 The difference between somebody and anybody is similar to something and anything. In a word, one indefinite pronoun in English may correspond to several words in Chinese. I hope my answer can help you.
May 21, 2015
still trying to apply English grammar to Chinese language?... well, all i can say is "first learn what you understand, not what you don't understand"
May 22, 2015
you have something in your eye ------> 你眼(睛)里有东西/你眼(睛)里有个东西/你眼(睛)里有个什么东西 or "there's something under the bed"------->床底下(床下面/床的下面)有东西/有个东西/有些东西/有些什么东西
May 21, 2015
Thanks. The meaning in spanish are almost the same as in english. "Algo" means "something" not in the sense of "some things" (you xie dongxi) but in the sense of something indefinite, not concrete, unknown, like in the sentences "you have something in your eye", or "there's something under the bed". That is the exact meaning of something (algo) in spanish. What word or expression would you use in this case? Thanks again
May 21, 2015
Hi, Alberto, I don't really know Spanish, so I cannot exactly compare Chinese to it ( IF lony I could). In modern Chinese (Mandarin), words of --Everything, nothing, something, anything / Everybody, nobody, somebody, anybody-- are all put with phrases . It's the similar case in English actually. Everything<-- every thing, nothing<-- no thing, and so on: they are all compounds. Jessica is right about this matter( and I think you know it that): a language often lacks of equivalent words for another language. But then again, in archaic Chinese, there were two words which are somewhat similar to those in modern English: 或= somebody,something and 莫 = nobody, nothing.
May 21, 2015
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