HSK 3 Grammar 2: Adverbs — Time, Focus & Frequency
HSK · HSK · HSK 3 Tópico 2 5:11 Narração em inglês · Legendas em inglês + 中文 gravadas
Capítulos
Transcrição
The time-and-frequency adverbs. You for a repeat that already happened. Yizhi and zongshi for two different always-s. Zhongyu for finally, with relief. Zhi for only. Cai for late and barely. Yiqian and gangcai for before and just-now. And the after-then trio, yihou, ranhou, houlai. Position and pairing are the exam, and each adverb carries a feeling you should hear.
You plus verb plus le looks backward at a repeat that is done, often with a flick of annoyance, the English again-question-mark. You xiayu le, it's raining again. Ni you chidao le, you're late again. The pairing rule: you looks back, zai looks forward, zai lai yici, do it once more. Future zai takes no le, past you needs it. The adverb also works with negatives, ta you mei lai, he didn't come again, and for something about to repeat, yao joins: you yao dot dot dot le, here it comes again.
Two always-s, plus a grumbling twin. Yizhi is literally one straight line through time, unbroken duration: wo yizhi hen xihuan ni, I've liked you all along. Zongshi is the recurring habit, neutral: ta zongshi chidao, he's always late, each time. Laoshi is the same habit with the eye-roll: ni zenme laoshi chidao, why are you ALWAYS late, and it never introduces something good. The test sentence: always late, each time, is zongshi; it rained the whole time, unbroken, is yizhi.
Zhongyu marks something finally happening after a long wait, glowing with relief. Zuoye zhongyu zuo wan le, I've finally finished the homework. Zhong is the finish line, the zhong of zhongdian, so zhongyu is the sigh as you cross it, always sealed with le, and it implies a welcome outcome, with zuihou for a neutral in the end. Zhi is the everyday only, an adverb clinging to the verb: wo zhi you yige gege, I only have one brother. English only wanders around the sentence; Chinese zhi stays glued to the verb.
One cai, two jobs. Before a time it drags things late: wo zuotian shiyi dian cai dao jia, I didn't get home until eleven last night. Before a number it shrinks the amount: ta cai ershi sui, he's only twenty. Both share the feeling less than expected, and the lateness job takes no le, because the lateness is the point, not a completed result.
Yiqian stamps after a time or action to mean before it, and the trap is the order: the reference point comes first, chifan yiqian, eating-before, the exact reverse of English. At the front of a sentence, yiqian means in the past, used to: yiqian ta shi chushi, he used to be a chef. And gangcai is a time noun for the very recent past: ni gangcai shuo shenme le, what did you just say. The noun can stand alone while the adverb gang clings to the verb, gang dao, just arrived.
Three after-then words with one boundary each. Yihou after an event means after X, xiake yihou, after class, and at the front of a sentence it means from now on, wo yihou bu hejiu le. Ranhou is and-then, fine for future sequences: xian chifan, ranhou xie zuoye, eat first, then do homework. Houlai is the past and-then, both events already done: kaishi fumu butongyi, houlai tongyi le, at first my parents disapproved, later they came round. The 来 in houlai literally means it has already come, so never use it for a plan.
The watch-outs collect the trio's boundary and the order trap. Houlai never introduces a plan or future sequence, because the lai in houlai means it has already come; future plans take ranhou. And yiqian stamps after the event, chifan yiqian, eating-before, the reverse of English order, so flip the English and tack yiqian on the end.
Pause and check both. First, you looks back at the repeat that happened, zai looks forward at the one requested. Second, zongshi, the recurring habit, each time late, while yizhi is the unbroken stretch. The remaining review items: zhongyu never loses its le, the number cai means only, and houlai is the past and-then that never introduces a plan. Position and pairing, and the toolbox is yours.