Difference between revisions of "Reduplication of verbs"

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* 你 <em>看 看</em> 。 <span class="pinyin">Nǐ <em>kàn kàn</em>.</span> <span class="trans">(You) Take a little look.</span>
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* 你 <em>看 看</em>。<span class="pinyin">Nǐ <em>kàn kàn</em>. </span> <span class="trans">(You) Take a little look. </span>
* 我 <em>试 试</em> 。 <span class="pinyin">Wǒ <em>shì shì</em>.</span> <span class="trans">I'll give it a little try.</span>
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* 我 <em>试 试</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ <em>shì shì</em>. </span> <span class="trans">I'll give it a little try. </span>
* <em>说 说</em> 你 的 想法 。 <span class="pinyin"><em>Shuō shuō</em> nǐ de xiǎngfǎ.</span> <span class="trans">Talk a little bit about your opinion.</span>
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* <em>说 说</em> 你 的 想法。<span class="pinyin"><em>Shuō shuō</em> nǐ de xiǎngfǎ. </span> <span class="trans">Talk a little bit about your opinion. </span>
* <em>洗 洗</em> 你 的 臭 袜子 吧 ! <span class="pinyin"><em>Xǐ xǐ</em> nǐ de chòu wàzi ba!</span> <span class="trans">Wash your stinky socks a bit!</span>
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* 出去 <em>玩 玩</em> 吧!<span class="pinyin">Chūqù <em>wán wán</em> ba! </span> <span class="trans">Go out and have fun! </span>
* 我 想 出去 <em>走 走</em> 。 <span class="pinyin">Wǒ xiǎng chūqù <em>zǒu zǒu</em>.</span> <span class="trans">I want to go out and walk for a bit.</span>
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* 我 想 出去 <em>走 走</em>。<span class="pinyin">Wǒ xiǎng chūqù <em>zǒu zǒu</em>. </span> <span class="trans">I want to go out and walk for a bit. </span>
  
 
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Revision as of 06:35, 23 November 2015

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

Reduplication with VV pattern

Structure

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

Subj. + Verb + Verb

Examples

  • 看 看kàn kàn. (You) Take a little look.
  • 试 试shì shì. I'll give it a little try.
  • 说 说 你 的 想法。Shuō shuō nǐ de xiǎngfǎ. Talk a little bit about your opinion.
  • 出去 玩 玩 吧!Chūqù wán wán ba! Go out and have fun!
  • 我 想 出去 走 走Wǒ xiǎng chūqù zǒu zǒu. I want to go out and walk for a bit.

Reduplication with "一"

Structure

Another way to reduplicate verbs is to insert 一 (yī), in the following structure:

Verb + 一 + Verb

Examples

  • 别 生气 了 , 笑 一 笑 嘛 ! Bié shēngqì le, xiào yī xiào ma! Don't get mad, smile a little bit!
  • 这 个 周末 我们 想 去 杭州 玩 一 玩Zhè ge zhōumò wǒmen xiǎng qù Hángzhōu wán yī wán. This weekend, we want to go to Hangzhou for some fun.
  • 问 一 问 他们 厕所 在 哪里 。 wèn yī wèn tāmen cèsuǒ zài nǎli. (You), ask them where the bathroom is.
  • 我 可以 用 一 用 你 的 电脑 吗 ? Wǒ kěyǐ yòng yī yòng nǐ de diànnǎo ma? Can I use your computer for a little bit?
  • 你 现在 有时间 吗?我们 聊一聊 吧 。Nǐ xiànzài yǒu shíjiān ma?wǒmen liáo yī liáo ba. Do you have a second? Lets talk a bit.

Using this kind of structure lightens the mood and seriousness of the question. It also adds variety to sentence structure. Because these phrases are used colloquially, there is not set rule to which verbs this can be applied to. Obviously, there are some verbs that are often reduplicated and some verbs that sound weird when reduplicated. With practice, you will learn which ones are often used.

ABAB Reduplication with Two-Syllable Verbs

In the examples below, all verbs are only one syllable. Those verbs get reduplicated a lot, so those examples are quite useful. Occasionally, though, two-syllable verbs get reduplicated as well. When this happens, it's important to use the "ABAB" pattern for verbs, and not the "AABB" pattern you use for adjectives.

Examples

  • 考虑 考虑 kǎolǜ kǎolǜ think it over
  • 讨论 讨论 tǎolùn tǎolùn discuss it
  • 商量 商量 shāngliang shāngliang talk it over
  • 打听 打听 dǎting dǎting inquire about it

See also

Sources and further reading

Books