Difference between revisions of "Reduplication of verbs"

Revision as of 08:39, 8 June 2013

Level

A2 / HSK2 and HSK3
Level

A2
Level

HSK2, HSK3
Similar to
- Softening speech with "ba" (A2)
- Verbing briefly with "yixia" (A2)
- Reduplication of adjectives (B1)
- Reduplication of measure words (B1)
- Repeated actions in the past with "you" (B2)
Similar to
- Softening speech with "ba" (HSK1)
- Reduplication of measure words (HSK2)
- Verbing briefly with "yixia" (HSK2)
- Reduplication of adjectives (HSK3)
- Repeated actions in the past with "you" (HSK5)
Used for

Expressing duration, Decreasing formality
Keywords

一

One of the fun things about Chinese is that you can repeat certain things to express "a little bit", similar to how in some Latin languages you can add a bit to the end of a word to make it "cute".

Structure

In Chinese, verbs can be reduplicated to indicate that they happen briefly or "a little bit".

Subject + Verb + Verb

Examples

你看看。(You) Take a little look.
我试试。I'll give it a little try.
你听听。(You) Listen for a bit.

Sources and further reading

Books

New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2) (pp. 18) →buy
Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (pp. 85) →buy
Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2 (pp. 227-8) →buy
Contemporary Chinese 1 (当代中文1) (pp. 125) →buy
Practicing HSK Grammar (语法精讲精炼) (pp. 152-160) →buy

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 * [[New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2)]] (pp. 18) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7561911297/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=7561911297 →buy]
+* [[Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2]] (pp. 85) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276709/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0887276709 →buy]
 * [[Integrated Chinese: Level 2, Part 2]] (pp. 227-8) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276881/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0887276881 →buy]
-* [[Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2]] (pp. 85) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0887276709/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0887276709 →buy]
 * [[Contemporary Chinese 1 (当代中文1)]] (pp. 125) [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/7800528804/ref%3das_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=allset-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=7800528804 →buy]
 * [[Practicing HSK Grammar (语法精讲精炼)]] (pp. 152-160) [http://www.amazon.cn/mn/detailApp/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&tag=allset-23&linkCode=as2&asin=B001N6R7DI&camp=536&creative=3132&creativeASIN=B001N6R7DI →buy]