Difference between revisions of "Reduplication of verbs"

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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 ==
 
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* 你 <em>看看</em>。
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* 你 <em>看看</em>。<span class="trans">(You) Take a little look.</span>
* 我 <em>试试</em>。
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* 我 <em>试试</em>。<span class="trans">I'll give it a little try.</span>
* 你 <em>听听</em>。
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* 你 <em>听听</em>。<span class="trans">(You) Listen for a bit.</span>
  
 
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Revision as of 01:35, 31 January 2013

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

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

See also

Sources and further reading

Books