HSK 4 Grammar 29: Comparing Similar Words I
HSK · HSK · HSK 4 Tema 29 3:38 Narración en inglés · Subtítulos en inglés + 中文 quemados en pantalla
Capítulos
Transcripción
Three more same-translation pairs. Faner and xiangfan, two opposite-s, adverb against adjective. Kending, queding and yiding, three sure-s: assert, verify, insist. Shihe and heshi, to suit against suitable, the flipped characters. In every pair the grammar job decides which word you need, so ask what the word must do in the sentence before you choose it.
Faner is an adverb, instead, on the contrary, sitting before the verb inside one clause and marking a contrary result: chi shuiguo budan mei haochu, fan'er you huaichu, fruit not only does no good, instead it does harm. Xiangfan is an adjective, the opposite: it describes a thing, gen ta xiangfan, the opposite of his, or opens a sentence as a link, xiangfan, on the contrary. The swap test: fan'er you huaichu works in the adverb slot, gen ta xiangfan works in the adjective slot, and gen ta fan'er does not work at all.
Report a backfiring plan. Build the setup: wo quan ta xiuxi, I advised him to rest. Land the contrary result: ta fan'er geng shengqi le, he got even angrier instead. Check the slot: fan'er sits before the verb, the adverb's home, and the contrary result is exactly its territory. Say the sentence with the sigh; the word carries the disappointment of a plan inverted.
Three certainty words, three jobs. Kending asserts the fact itself, confidently: ta kending hui lai, he'll definitely come. Queding is certainty you have checked, about your own verification: ni queding ta hui lai ma, are you sure he'll come. Yiding leans into the future, either predicting, yiding hui lai, surely he'll come, or insisting, yiding yao xiaoxin, be sure to take care. Send a friend off with the insistence: lushang yiding yao xiaoxin, be sure to take care on the way.
Same two characters, flipped, and the flip changes the grammar. Shihe with he second is a verb, to suit, taking an object: zhege yanse bu shihe ta, this colour doesn't suit him. Heshi with shi second is an adjective, suitable, behaving like any adjective: heise cai shi zui heshi de, black is the most suitable, and it takes no object. The memory hook is the ending: shihe ends like a verb taking a thing, while heshi ends like shushi, comfortable, a describing word. Shop for a gift with both: zhege liwu shihe mama ma, ng, hen heshi, does this gift suit Mum? Mm, very suitable.
Pause and check both. First, fan'er sits before the verb inside the clause; xiangfan describes or links. Second, the fix is zhe shuang xie shihe ni, letting the verb take the object, or zhe shuang xie dui ni hen heshi. The remaining review items: have-you-checked certainty is queding, and the insisting word is yiding, yiding yao xiaoxin. Three pairs, three grammar jobs, three clean choices.