Potential complement "-bu dong" for not understanding

Revision as of 10:00, 21 February 2014 by Yucui (talk | contribs)

Chinese learners often have to express that they don't understand something, especially in the beginning when they start learning. One of the ways to express that is to use the 不懂 (bù dǒng) verb complement.

Structure

The potential complement 不懂 is used to talk about things that can't be understood. Note that this is about potential - the subject doesn't have the ability to understand. The 不懂 can also be swapped out with 不明白 (bù míngbai).


Subject + Perception verb + 不懂

Examples

  • 我 看 不懂 中文 的 报纸。(Literally: I see-not-understand Chinese newspapers.)I don't understand Chinese newspapers.
  • 我 听 不懂 南方人 说 的 话。(Literally: I hear-not-understand Southerners' talk.)I don't understand Southerners' talk.
  • 很 多 人 读 不懂 这本书。(Literally: Many people read-not-understand this book.)Many people don't understand this book.
  • 你 想 不 懂 她 说 的 话 吗？(Literally: You think-not-understand her words?)Do you not understand what she said?
  • 我 现在 看 不 懂 这 些 汉字。(Literally: Right now I look-not-understand these characters)Right now I don't understand these characters.
  • 我 也听 不 懂 中文。 (Literally: I also listen-not-understand Chinese)I also don't understand Chinese.
  • 我 读 不 懂 你 写 的 什么。(Literally: I read-not-understand what you write.)I don't understand what you wrote.
  • 我 想 不 懂 他 为什么 这么 做。(Literally: I think-not-understand why he made this that way.)I don't think I understand why he made it like this.
  • 我们 都 搞 不 懂 他 在 想 什么。(Literally: We all make-not-understand what he wants)We all don't understand what he is thinking.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

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