Difference between revisions of "Expressing "towards" with "xiang""

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<div class="liju">
 
<div class="liju">
  
*她的 朋友 一直 <em>向</em> 我 看。<span class="trans">Her friend keeps looking at me.</span>
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*一直 <em>向</em> 我 招手。<span class="trans">She kept waving to me.</span>
 
*我们 需要 <em>向</em> 他 道歉。<span class="trans">We need to apologize to him.</span>
 
*我们 需要 <em>向</em> 他 道歉。<span class="trans">We need to apologize to him.</span>
*他 的 女朋友 <em>向</em> 他 笑 了。<span class="trans">His girlfriend laughed at him.</span>
+
*老师正 <em>向</em> 我们走来。<span class="trans">The teacher is walking up to us.</span>
 
*我 要 <em>向</em> 你 学习!<span class="trans">I want to learn from you.</span>
 
*我 要 <em>向</em> 你 学习!<span class="trans">I want to learn from you.</span>
  

Revision as of 01:23, 23 August 2013

向 (xiàng) is a preposition that means "towards", and is used often when expressing or referring to a certain point.

Structure

When used as a preposition, "向" indicates an action that is performed towards a reference point, but doesn't have any actual motion towards that point. An example of this in English is, "She looked inside the window." Note that there is no movement in the action.

向 + Noun + Verb

Examples

  • 她 一直 我 招手。She kept waving to me.
  • 我们 需要 他 道歉。We need to apologize to him.
  • 老师正 我们走来。The teacher is walking up to us.
  • 我 要 你 学习!I want to learn from you.

Note that whereas in English we would say "learn from someone", in Chinese this would be expressed as "learn toward someone", as in the last example sentence. Refer to the following example (and famous propaganda slogan):

  • 雷锋 同志 学习 !Learn from Comrade Lei Feng!


See also

Sources and further reading

Books