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Elementary: Living Together

By the time Betty arrived home, her normally sedate neighborhood was abuzz with excitement. The police cruisers camped on the street were only the most visible sign of the investigative unit that had arrived hours earlier to cordon off the block and interview the neighbors. As she headed inside, Betty caught a far-off glimpse of two junior detectives taking soil samples from her back garden.

Bursting into her home, she caught sight of the lead detective in the living room and charged over to demand an explanation. "Rumors have it you're not the only one who lives here," he replied. A casual glance around the room was enough to confirm this as fact. Jonathan had once again left his clothes strewn all over the sofa. As she simply nodded, the detective reached for his handcuffs. "I think it's time you spoke to a lawyer."

Alice

said on

November 24, 2009

I am a native speaker,I like your chinese lesson. I am teaching chinese as well :).

valluckett

said on

November 24, 2009

I struggled "你什么时候结的婚?" (nǐ shénme shíhòu jié de hūn?). How do we know that it is referring to the past rather than the future? I would have expected to se a 了 (le) at the end to indicate past tense. Is the 结的 indicating past tense? By dropping the 的, could that be understood to mean “When will you get married?”

Great lesson (as always).

DONO

said on

November 25, 2009

yes, 的 means done in some case after a verb. without 的, means will happen in the future.

Gail天堂的声音

said on

November 25, 2009

@valluckett, @DONO,

yes, if the sentence is with the structure S+v+O, or S+v(the verb is made up of verb morpheme+ noun morpheme), sometimes "的" indicates past tense and at the same time emphasizes the part before the verb (e.g. time, place, object etc.)

e.g.你什么时候结的婚？你在哪儿吃的饭？你和谁去的中国？

我去年结的婚。I got married last year, not this year, not the year before.

我去年结婚了。I got married last year.

我在餐厅吃的饭。I ate in the cantine, not at home, not in other places.

我在餐厅吃了饭。I ate in the cantine.

我和小张去的中国。I went to China with Xiao Zhang, not Xiao Wang, not Xiao Li.

我和小张去了中国。I went to China with Xiao Zhang.

---gail@popupchinese.com

Tristan

said on

December 2, 2009

@Gail

If the 的 emphasizes what comes before it, how would you say "I went to China with Xiao Zhang", not Japan, not Malaysia...

我和小张到中国去的？

By the way I think there's a mistake in the vocabulary section, it gives the characters for cohabitation as 同住instead of 同居

Thanks

Echo

said on

December 3, 2009

@tristanchin,

Sentences like 我和小张去的中国 can be used to emphasize both 小张 and 中国, because it is not only 的 but also where you put the stress effects emphases. If you put the stress on 中国, then you are emphasizing it. If you want to make it even more clear, you can add a 是 in the sentence. 我和小张去的是中国。