Potential complement "-bu dong" for not understanding

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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 (bù dǒng) 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.

Subj. + Verb + 不懂

The 不懂 (bù dǒng) may be swapped out with 不明白 (bù míngbai).

Examples

  • 你 看 不 懂 这 些 汉字 吗？Literally: read-not-understandNǐ kàn bùdǒng zhè xiē hànzì ma? Do you not understand these characters?
  • 老板 的 中文 说 得 很好，可是 他 看 不懂 中文 报纸 。 Literally: read-not-understandLǎobǎn de Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo, kěshì tā kàn bùdǒng Zhōngwén bàozhǐ. The boss speaks very good Chinese, but he doesn't understand Chinese newspapers.
  • 你 怎么 总是 听 不懂 我 的 话？Literally: hear-not-understandNǐ zěnme zǒngshì tīng bùdǒng wǒ de huà? How could you always not understand what I say?
  • 我 听 不懂 上海话 。 Literally: hear-not-understandWǒ tīng bùdǒng Shànghǎi-huà. I don't understand Shanghai dialect.
  • 我 小 时候，常常 听 不 懂 大人 在 说 什么。 Literally: hear-not-understandWǒ xiǎo shíhou, chángcháng tīng bùdǒng dàrén zài shuō shénme. When I was young, I often didn't understand what adults talked about.
  • 很 多 人 读 不懂 这 本 书 。 Literally: read-not-understandHěn duō rén dú bùdǒng zhè běn shū. Many people don't understand this book.
  • 这 个 句子 很 难， 学生们 都 读 不 懂。 Literally: read-not-understandZhè ge jùzi hěn nán, xuéshengmen dōu dú bùdǒng. This sentence is very difficult. None of the students understand.

See also

Sources and further reading

Books

Websites

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