Chinese Classnotes

THE STRUCTURE OF CHINESE GRAPHS

LESSON TWO

LESSON THREE

LESSON FOUR

p. 77 item #1 Zhoumo 週末means weekend but pre-modern China had no seven-day week, they had ten day cycles within a recurring cycle of sixty days. So zhoumo 週末is a translation of the foreign word weekend to fit in with a"Western" week rather than an indigenous Chinese word.  Zhou 周means a cycle and mo means end.  The graph for mo 末is a tree with the tip marked by a horizontal line.  The antonym of mo 末is ben本, a tree with the trunk marked, meaning foundation, basis.  There is a common idiom benmo 本末meaning from beginning to end, from the basics to the minutest details.

#3.  Kan看, to look, to watch, to read, to depend.  The graph is a hand over an eye.  Repeated, kankan看看, it means take a look, read it over.

#4.  dianshi電視, television.  This is a modern translation, but instead of  "viewing from afar" the Chinese chose "viewing by electricity."  Tele means  far in Greek.  Dian 電means electric (from lightning) and shi 視means to view  or examine.  The Japanese simply borrowed the Western word and wrote  terebi.  The Chinese are generally reluctant simply to "spell out" a  foreign word, though they often do that with names of persons.  Dianying 電影is an adjective-noun compound, like waiguo 外國(#16), outside-nation.

p. 78 #5  Changge唱歌, "to sing songs" is a verb-object compound, like daqiu打球, qingke請客, etc..  Always note the internal grammar of a compound.

#19, suoyi所以, "so, therefore," literally means "that by which," with suo 所= that which and yi 以= by.  That by which = the reason why.  Originally there were no prepositions in Chinese, only verbs that sometimes double as prepositions (like wei 為and gei給).  Yi 以was once a full verb meaning "to take up and use, to serve as" and that sense of the word occasionally is still found in modern Chinese.  Since suo 所always precedes a verb, the compound suoyi might be rendered "[that] which serves [to explain why] . . ."  That's how suoyi 所以comes to be a Chinese language equivalent of "therefore."  The original meaning of suo 所is "place."  Something is "placed under" or "subjected to" the action of the verb immediately following.  Wo suo kan 我所看= that which I see / or saw.

p. 80, #1, haojiu 好久= "a good long time," jiu 久alone means a long time.

#2, cuo2 錯means "off, misses (slightly)"

#3, xiang3想﹐ to want, to think, to yearn; often takes the suffix dao 到(to reach to).  Graphically, tree on the left, eye to the right; the two form the phonetic, a word meaning "mutual, aspect of" and read in both the first and the fourth tones with difference of meaning.  Under tree-and-eye is the element for heart at the bottom of the character.  Xiang 想often has to do with wishing for something not immediately present.  Xiangjia34 想家means homesick.  There is a long series of words for thinking, wishing, etc., which include the word for heart (or perhaps heart-and-mind since Chinese xin心-heart also means mind).  Make a separate vocabulary page for all words denoting mental action.  Study compounds with xin 心either in first or second position, xinli 心理and dianxin點心.

p. 81, #4 juede覺得, to feel, to be aware of.  Note the close tie between jue 2覺and xue2 學(study).  Jue 覺is a Buddhist term meaning "awaken or realize." Certain common Chinese verbs of cognition (dong懂, ren認) take the suffix de得 .  jue覺 occasionally is pronounced jiao 覺as in the compound sleep to let drop the eyes (shui4 睡)and drop one's consciousness (jiao4覺).

#5 youyisi 有意思= to have interest (VO) is the "internal grammar," but the three words amount to a stative verb, to be interesting, in relation to the rest of a sentence ("external grammar").

#8, p. 82, #1, suanle 算了and duile對了.  The le 了(to bring to an end) finalizes the verb in these expressions.  Compare English "for sure" or "for good."

LESSON TWO

LESSON SIX

p. 109 #5  jiu 就 From a historical point of view jiu 就 and qu 去(to go) are antonyms, basically verbs.  Jiu 就 means to touch, to make contact with, it suggests immediacy.  In lesson 5 we saw that it meant immediacy in time, immediate sequence.  In this lesson we see that it means immediacy in space. Thus, the third item on page 112 means “I am right here.”  Accessible, available, reachable, these are the ideas suggested by this important word. Jiu 就 can also mean immediate sequence (=then) in logic.  That’s why it coordinates with yaoshi 要是(p. 110) to make if-then sentences: yaoshi in the first clause, jiu 就 in the second.  In fact jiu 就 alone in a second clause can create an if-then sentence.  Sentences with yaoshi 要是 alone are given on p. 121.  Without jiu these sentences are less decisive.  The opposite of jiu就 is qu 去 which has to do with separation, a distance between two things or people (as lovers in poetry); it is from this idea of “going away” that the modern “to go” derives.  As the text book says, “going away from the speaker.”  In indicating direction, of course, lai 來 to come is the obvious antonym of qu 去, indicating approach to the speaker.

p. 111 #28 bu keqi 不客氣 is short for buyao keqi 不要客氣, do not behave like a guest.  In this phrase keqi 客氣(adjective-noun, guest-like manner) taken as a two-character compound is a stative verb, to be polite, modest, like a guest.  Qi 氣 is a word with a wide range of meanings, but the concrete idea underlying it is some kind of vitality or animation, perhaps connected to the restorative power of food (the full form has mi 米-rice on the lower left); compare the word “victuals.”  Qi is also used to express ideas like atmosphere (natural or social), steam, and steamed up (or angry). Compare the common stative verb shengqi 生氣(verb-object, producing steam), which means to be angry, to get angry with someone.  (Always pay attention to the internal grammar of compounds; adjective-noun and verb-object are two common types of internal grammar.)  Note that the negative imperative bie 別(p. 118) is simply a phonetic fusion of buyao 不要.  Unlike English “Do not,” it can refer to the first person too, for example, Women bie qu 我們別去 or “We’d better not go.”

p. 111 #25:  Xing 行 in the sense of OK is a stative verb not an adjective. An adjective modifies a noun and xing 行 cannot do that.  An adjective becomes a stative verb when it has a subject (explicit or implicit).  The subject might be a noun or a noun phrase, for example, p. 112 bottom, “I’ll go to your office” is the subject of xing ma 行嗎?  Logically, in English, this would be: Is it OK for me to come to your office? or My going to your office at 4:30, is that OK?

p.110 #23:  This is a new structure, often called the co-verb and verb structure.  Dao is the coverb and it comes first; it has an object; the main verb is the second verb, in this case qu 去.  Other common co-verbs are zai在(to be at) and gei 給, (for, to <to give), on p. 109.  For example, p. 122 #3 and #8.  In #3 the main verb is da 打 , in #8 it is deng 等.  This coordinated verb structure (verb-object and then VERB-OBJECT) is extremely common and should always be recognized.  It is the core of many a Chinese sentence. The textbook calls the co-verb a preposition.  In Chinese there are no true prepositions, simply verbs with a subordinate function.  In English there are many prepositions; they float in the language as independent elements or they occur as prefixes of verbs to inflect the meaning.  For example compare “induce,” “produce,” and “introduce,” three words built with prepositions upon the Latin stem duc meaning to lead (as in English duke).  The absence of an active and diversified prepositional system in Chinese is one of the many barriers to interpretation and translation.

p. 113 #4 zhongwen 中文, the Chinese language.  There are a good many words for Chinese, and each has a slightly different emphasis.  Zhongwen 中文 is a modern word for the written language, but it can be stretched to cover the whole language.  For spoken Chinese Zhongguo hua 中國話 is often used.  Hua 話 means words spoken.  The word wen 文, like qi 氣, is worth careful study, since it has so many functions in the language.  One can get at some of the primary cultural concepts through these key words.   They play a role in scores of compounds, and they have a long historical life.

LESSON SEVEN

Review and compare the complex and simplified characters at the bottom of p. 130.  This lesson brings us back to an earlier point:  the key to understanding any sentence is to identify the verb and correctly interpret the space after the verb, be that space occupied by one or several characters. The formula is V____.  For a co-verb-Verb structure the formula is v____V____ because the second verb is the main verb and the co-verb amounts to an adverbial phrase modifying the main verb.  This lesson introduces some compounds where the space after the verb is occupied by a one-character object.  To speak is shuo-hua 說話, to write is xie-zi 寫字. These are verb-object compounds, literally, to say-words, to write-characters. The object noun can usually be expanded by inserting an adjective before it: shuo zhongquo hua 說中國話, speak Chinese.  Here three characters fill the space after the verb shuo 說.  Note that the verb yuxi 預習(“preview,” p. 126 #19) does not have verb-object internal grammar like xiezi 寫字 and shuohua 說話 but rather is an adverb-verb compound.  Bangzhu 幫助 (“help,” p. 125) and fuxi 復習 (“review”) may be regarded as doubled hence equal verbs: “join with and lend effort” for bangzhu 幫助 and “return and repeat” for fuxi 複習.  (The fu 複 of fuxi 複習 could also be interpreted as a modifier of xi 習.)

Let us pause to consider the word jiao 教, to teach, on p. 126.  Note first that like xue 學 (study) it has the graph for child (zi 子) at the bottom.  Moreover, if you look at the complex form of xue 學 and then remove the flanking structure of the top half, you are left with the left hand of jiao 教, namely two X-shapes over a child, the X-shapes presumably representing some kind of imitation or following of an example and giving us the phonetic.  So we are really looking at the same word from top down (jiao 教) or bottom up (xue 學).  Since the right hand element of jiao 教 is usually a causative of some kind, we might interpret the graph as “to cause to learn” = to teach.  The left hand of jiao 教 is pronounced xiao 孝, probably the central social value term of traditional China, filial piety, devotion to parents, which of course also involves following their example.

Returning now to the matter of the space after the verb, we take up the descriptive complement as discussed on p. 133.  The first sentence on this page illustrates a crucial structure: verb-de-complement, xie-de-henhao 寫得很好.  We find the verb xie 寫, to write, occurs twice in this sentence.  The first time xie 寫 precedes the object zi 字, character/s, thus setting up the topic of the sentence. The second time xie 寫 precedes an adverbial phrase describing the verb, how the action was performed, in this case “well.”  The description of the action is always preceded by the verb de 得 (no tone), hence the henhao 很好 is sometimes called a post-verbal modifier or complement, since adverbs normally precede the verb in Chinese.  In these cases of post-verbal comment on an action the function of the de 得 retains a little of the meaning of the original verb: attain, obtain.  (Make a note on the three pronunciations of de 得, second tone, toneless, and dei 得, page 135 first sentence.)  The toneless de 得 introduces a sort of result or evaluation of the action: “He writes so that the resulting characters are well done.”  The correct form of de 得 is given on page 133, but mainland texts occasionally substitute the other de 得, the one equivalent to the de 的 on p. 37 indicating possession.  However the sound de is written, context almost always makes its function clear.  The duplication of the verb xie 寫 is usually found when a general statement is being made.

The second sentence on page 133 is grammatically identical with the first, but the third introduces a slight variation: the object stands alone in front of the verb.  Why is the general rule, verb before object, reversed here?  My guess is that the Chinese feel a need to balance their sentences, and so to keep the verb more or less in the center of the sentence the object is swung before it.  This is especially useful in this kind of sentence since the post-verbal information could take up quite a bit of space, so it’s best to have the object out of the way and clearly foregrounded.

The examples of how to use cai 才 and jiu 就  were covered at the end of lesson five.  Review the examples here.  Why is there no le 了 after a cai 才 sentence?  Perhaps it is because the sentence is about fulfilling a condition rather than a sequence in time.  Jiu 就 always has to do with sequence of some kind, temporal or logical, but cai 才 follows the condition under which a verb happens, and precedes that verb itself.  The emphasis is not temporal flow but the circumstances of an event.  We will see other “past tense” sentences which use no le 了.  But Chinese has no verb tenses at all, and so le 了 of course does not mean that the Chinese language has a past tense.  A further explanation of the functions of le 了 will come later.

LESSON EIGHT (rev)

Page 152 introduces new ways of indicating time and a new application of the words le了 and jiu就.  jiu就 means “contact” hence “immediacy.” jiu就 must come right before the main verb.  Remember that jiu就 occurs in sequences of time but also of logic, “if…then.”   In time situations it expresses immediate sequence, “right after.”  In the three examples at the bottom of page 152 it comes before a verb that follows closely upon the completion of a previous action:  “after having” performed (le) the action of one verb, another action verb follows, with jiu就 in front of it.  Note: if the last two sentences (#2, #3) had a final le了 ending the whole sentence, they would then have to be put into the English past tense.  For example #2: He went to bed after writing the letter.  With no sentence final le了 the sentence is a command or an expectation about the future.  Compare the sentences at the bottom of p. 154 where there is no sequence expressed, and therefore le了 is not used.  Pay as close attention to sentences without le了 as to those using le了, either at mid-sentence, at the end of the sentence, or in both places.  P. 155 chu le除了 simply means “having removed,” since chu除 means remove.  All in all le了 can be thought of as a boundary between two actions rather than as a tense marker.  Repeat:  there are no verb tenses in Chinese.  We use tenses in English to capture what the Chinese expresses.  Western language tense (time before, time after) is calculated from the vantage of a speaker or other fixed point; le demarcates two actions in time (could be past, could be present or future).

The form on p. 155 de shihou的时候 focuses on the duration of an action rather than the actions before and after it: either time when or time within which.

This lesson introduces a few auxiliary verbs, such as xihuan喜欢, yao要, and xiang想.   These and other verbs of mood, feeling, and intent, can be thought of as points on a continuum, with yao要 the strongest, to want, to need.  xiang想 can be heartfelt and even romantic with heart below a word meaning view or aspect; it often matches English “in the mood to.”  xiangjia想家 means homesick.  xihuan喜欢 corresponds more or less to English “enjoy,” but “like” usually fits.  The auxiliaries neng能 and hui会 (p. 156) can be thought of objectively and subjectively.  Hui means adequate to, up to, competent to, subjective capability; neng能 can mean this too, or it can mean that the ircumstances enable some action.  So neng能 is wider than hui会.  In classical Chinese hui会 means to meet, while neng能 is related to nai耐meaning endure.

Yi wai以后 and yi wai以外, p. 152 and 155. yi以 is an ancient word used in many ways.  The basic meaning is “to take something for the purpose of using it.”  On p. 152 it means “after” because this sentence takes “getting up” as the point of reference > after getting up.  On p. 155 yilai以外 means except (in conjunction with chu le除了) because this sentence “takes” studying Chinese as the point of reference > besides, apart from.  wai外 means outside as in wai guo外国, foreign country, or wai ren外人, outsider.  The compound keyi可以 is found on p. 154: “may this occasion be taken?”  keyi可以 is the opposite of hui会 in the sense that keyi可以 means “circumstances permitting,” while hui会 means “subjective competence.”  neng能 overlaps hui会 and keyi可以, sometimes meaning the former, sometimes the latter.

On p. 154 sentence #2 under double objects introduces a new problem, one which should be dealt with under le了.  le了 sentences with measured objects (that is, numbered, in this case one photo) have their own special rules.

LESSON NINE

P. 163.  Learn both written forms of the verb mai 買to buy since the simple form is utterly unlike the original complex form.  The complex form has an eye (mu目) written horizontally over bei 貝meaning cowry shell.  The shell was anciently used for money and many words having to do with worth and value (compare gui,貴﹐#16 on p. 164) contain this element.  In the traditional series of 214 radicals, mu目-eye is #109 and bei 貝is #157.  Mu目 -eye can be phonetic in mai買-buy, just as mu母-mother can be phonetic in hai海-sea.  The companion verb mai賣-sell with the element shi 士(radical #31) at the top is simply a causative of mai買 buy, i.e., to cause to buy (see p. 169 #1).  Compare the relationship of xue 學and jiao 教, to learn and to teach (<to cause to learn); these are forms of the same word with a syntactical difference based on a slight change in tone or pronunciation.

#5.  The two words equated to clothes are quite different.  Yi 衣means to cover; it is radical #145 and appears in many words.  Fu 服 by contrast means a uniform of some kind; it has a related meaning of subdue or conquer (by force or by argument).  For this reason yi 衣is found alone in dayi 大衣and maoyi 毛衣on p. 11.

P. 164 #8.  The two words meaning color are also quite different.  Yan 顏refers to the face, and the right hand element (radical #181) is one of many words for head (compare p. 169 #11).  Se 色is a word with a long and complex history, and refers to facial expression, outward form, sexuality, and in Buddhism the illusory world of form and desire.  In Buddhist usage the opposite of se 色is kong 空(void, emptiness).  Another Buddhist term is hong 紅#10; it stands for carnality.  The red dust signifies the impermanent nature of worldly desire and the objects desired.  As a color word it suggests dyeing, since the left element is silk (radical #130); gong 工 is on the right, meaning skilled labor; it is also the phonetic.  Color words like red, purple, and green, all contain the element silk, suggesting artificial color, while words like lan藍 blue with a vegetation element (radical #140) are probably natural colors.  Hui 灰 grey refers to ash, hence the fire (huo 火radical #86) element lower right, probably the phonetic too.

P. 167, #5.  Suiran 雖然 means “be it so, [nevertheless].”  The phonetic is on the right (missing in simplified form).  Ran 然 means “to be so” and is found in the second position in a number of common compounds.  Careful attention should be given to the various uses of ran 然.  List all usages that you can find in a medium-sized dictionary.

LESSON TEN

p. 179 #4,5 Note that the word bao 報 means “report” in modern Chinese and “response” in ancient Chinese.  This older meaning is evident in modern words like baofu (retaliate) and baoying
(retribution), 報复，報應.  Simplified and full forms of bao are similar.

p. 180 #8  In ancient Chinese hui 會meant to intersect or to meet, by design or by chance, like the two lines that join at the top of the character.  This explains the modern kaihui 開會, to hold a meeting (verb-object), and weiyuanhui 委員會, committee
(literally: delegated personnel meeting).  Before a verb hui 會means: it may happen that . . .   Distinguish this auxiliary usage from one we have previously discussed: “he is competent to” in a phrase like Ta huishuo zhongwen他會說中文.  This usage is indirectly connected to the sense of meeting in that it suggests competence to meet a standard.  Compare the full and abbreviated graphs for hui會.

#12 gongyuan 公園= public garden.  The graph at the bottom of gong公 (which is not simplified) appears identical to the graph underneath simplified hui會.  This is merely a coincidence.  The word gong 公itself is very old and has a wide range of meanings: patriarch (gongjue公爵duke), grandfather (gonggong公公), impartial, public (modern), company (publically operated firm), male of animals.  The dictionary entry shows scores of compounds and is worth studying closely.

#15 luxiang錄像, although a noun, is formed from the verb lu錄, to record (录simplified), and the noun-object xiang像-image (not simplified).  Note the elephant to the right of standing man in this graph.  What connection there might have been between elephant and image is unclear, but it is an interesting question.  Daxiang 大象(da大=big) is the modern word for elephant.

#17 Shanghai, the city, is a noun formed of the verb shang 上to go onto and the noun sea.  It means embarkation point.  The reverse, haishang海上 means on the sea.   

p. 186 bi 比is a full verb meaning: one thing brought together with another for comparison, exactly what the graph looks like. Compare peng朋-friend, which also consists of a doubled graph.

p. 187 Study the examples of change of status le 了and compare them with p. 56, #16.  Le 了crosses a boundary of some kind. Taihaole 太好了= better than one would expect.  Xiayule 下雨了means: it has (just) begun to rain (not “it is raining now,” which is too vague), OR it means: it will begin raining any minute, immediate future.  Xiayule 下雨了could mean: take your umbrella since imminent change of status is also expressed by le了.  The present perfect tense in English often captures the sense of le 了as in examples 2-4.  In example 5 we see a subjective change of status, namely, a change of mind.  Compare the past tense and the present perfect tense in English, went versus has gone.  What is the difference?

As for the note at the bottom of p. 187, bu 不negates verbs, mei 沒/ meiyou 沒有negates nouns.  A verb negated with bu 不in a sentence ending in le 了always means: not any more, no longer.  This meaning is usually objective, not verb-ing any more, but may be subjective, no longer going to / no longer thinking about verb-ing.  Since a bu-negated verb with a sentence ending le ALWAYS means the same thing, make a separate mental note of this form.

p. 188  #4 you又-again.  This word is difficult to use properly, zai再and ye 也are simpler.  The underlying meaning is: addition, in addition.  For example, p. 189 (2) and (3) suggest an unwelcome addition or repetition.  Another day of rain, another phone call from Mom.  In (4) the implication may be I have had enough dancing for a while, whereas (5) with zai 再suggests eager anticipation to dance again.  Compare the polite phrase zaijian再見. Hope to see you again.  Keep this in mind and study dictionary entries for the word.   The pattern you-you 又-又is quite stable: it always means: on top of this and there is also that, adding two related things together.

LESSON TWO