posted by murrayjames on March 5, 2014 | 6 comments
My student wrote in his homework (about a male soul singer):第4首很好听 但是男的唱高音还是都点不得劲I know that 不得劲 is 北方方言. Does it mean 不好意思 (i.e., it's embarrassing for a man to sing that high)?Also, is there a standard pronunciation of this word? 汉语大词典 has bù déjìnr, while 百度百科 says bù děijìnr.
Technically according to the meaning of 不得劲儿(cannot fully utilize your energy; doesn't have enough strength...) It should be 得dé(to obtain). But 不得dei3劲 is more commonly used. It's 方言so that would depend on how you look at "standard". ;)不得劲儿 has several meanings:(1).不顺手使不上劲。这东西用着不得劲儿。(2).不舒适。我今天有点不得劲儿不想去上班了。(3).不好意思。别这么说他都不得劲儿了。Here in this sentence 第4首很好听 但是男的唱高音还是有点不得劲不得劲 is used to describe your student's feeling which is uncomfortable 不舒服, 不合适 - doesn't feel right, not appropriate. So here it's more like mentally 不舒服 or maybe physically - it depends on how your student reacted to that 男高音;)
Dalian dialect is 不得劲儿 bu4 de3 jinr4bu4 dei3 jinr4 is also correct.bu4 de2 jinr4 is a bit strange to me.yes, "bù dě jìnr" just means "sb. not suitable" or "sth. a bit strange".