"我今天很好。"
Translation:I am good today.
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Please don't perpetuate weak/poor English use by allowing "I am good today." Surely you know it's I am well today. A good person is not always a well person. I know it's common usage, but it's lazy, and poorly structured. Otherwise, Duolingo, I like what you do.
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I further assume that whoever downvoted me doesn't know that "good" in English is only used to judge one's character ;-)
Incorrect check Oxford English 'good' definition 11: health. "I'm good" is perfectly acceptable. I'm well isn't unless referring to a prior illness.
No. "Well" does NOT refer to a prior illness. outside America, everyone says, "I'm well " not "I'm good", even though it's become common in America to use adjectives (such as good) when an adverb should be used. Duolingo's choice of bad English should not be condoned
Never say never, the first use of "good" is as an adjective, but scroll all the way down in the dictionary and you will find so many uses with the last as an adverb to mean "well".
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/good
The Oxford dictionary also acknowledges this. I still prefer to use "well", but you should recognize what people sometimes do.
I did't know but I upvoted you, english is my second language, so thanks a lot!
I don't think this phrasing is used to discuss someone's personality or moral character in Chinese.
I have not once heard someone say they are well in normal speech. If nobody says it a way in a language, it's the rule in the language that is outdated. If a language does not evolve it doesn't follow the definition of a language.
What do you mean "nobody says it" ? Just because you have not heard it, does not mean that people don't use it. You don't speak for all English speakers. Where exactly are you from? I say that both are correct.
This comment is a perfect example of prescriptive linguistics. I don't think it's fair for you to label it as "lazy" and "weak".
But it isn't poor english. It might not be precise but there's nothing wrong with it... unlike 'You all are busy today' (twitch).
I say that all the time on my discord channel. I thought everyone was online but it turns out you're all busy today (twitch)
"You're all busy today." is different from " "You all" are busy today."
That's isn't true at all. I am well can be considered as okay, giving a notion that isnt great happened prior.
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Does anyone else hear a slight /x/ sound, as the last sound in "loch," at the beginning of 很 and 好?
I think so, yeah. I get the impression that the 'h' sound moves forward in the mouth to something more like ch/x or even almost and 's' sound sometimes, possibly depending on which vowels are around it?
Kareem, you might try thinking of it as an aspirated "h" (h with some noise behind it), it will make it easier to get the question right, if you're still dependent on the pinyin like I am.
I do, depending on the speaker - definitely on those specific words that you mentioned. I watch a lot of Chinese TV and notice that some actors use this sound, and some don't. It might be a regional thing.
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Yes, Chinese pinyin "h" is usually pronounced as ch in loch and Bach, for people who can speak Arabic it's like خ in Arabic.
Does the time indicator (like today, yesterday, next year etc) always come right before the verb? Could this sentence be structured differently?
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yes in mandarin the date always comes first.. subject before date is okay, but the sequence is always date then place then object.
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What I understand, the time indicator always come either before or after the subject. That depend on what is in focus. If it's the time, the time is first. But if that is who have the time, the time is after the person ... hope it cleared a bit up ^^
The more traditionally proper English term is ‘well’; ‘I am good’ can instead be a statement about one's character. Not that I object to having both words accepted here (plenty of other colloquial English is accepted), but they're not entirely interchangable either.
@LaohuLady: I don’t think so, “good” is not proper English in this context. ‘I am well’ is imho the correct answer
Not true please check Oxford English Dictionary. Good, Definition 11: Health. "I'm good" is perfectly acceptable.
If you listen closely, yo may hear that the audio sounds like: Wŏ jīntiān hede hăo.
Isn't it grammatically incorrect to say, "I am good"? Shouldn't it be, "I am well"?
the translation should be I am very good today because 很 means very. My answer should also be accepted because it's the same, just arranged differently.
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It should be I am well. Well is an adverb that describes how someone is. Good is grammatically incorrect.
Oxford English Dictionary disagrees. Check the the eleventh definition of Good. Health example: "I'm good" it's perfectly acceptable.
I speak mandarin... "很" means very. I think it should be "I am very good today" or something like that...
Correction, I wrote (in Chinese): "Today I very good" and got it wrong? Correct is only "I today very good"? :/
In English we have several options for word order, but we only know which ones are correct because we've been exposed to them over time. Until you speak Mandarin fluently, stick with the word order that is presented in the app or website. It will make your language learning much easier.
where is "am"? The word for very is used here to provide the linking verb.
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我的日子很好
Edit: According to google translate, atleast
Translate Link: https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=zh-CN&text=My%20day%20is%20good
Hi Jack, I think it's because of the "very" that it's marked incorrect. I don't speak Mandarin nearly well enough to know how fluent speakers speak it, but at least in Duolingo (possibly in Mandarin as well, assuming the app is correct) 很 is a substitute for "is." So "Today I am well" or "I am well today" should both work (I've only tried the latter). But any sentence that adds "very" is marked incorrect.
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To me, "I am good today" sounds like American dialect. "I am well today" should not be marked wrong IMHO.
I think it has started to accept "I am well today" (it worked for me). And yes, it's American dialect, and not grammatically correct even in the US. If you wrote "I am good today" on a standardized test, even in the US, it would be marked incorrect.
That character is used here to connect the subject to what follows as if it were a linking verb.
Yes, "well" is correct. People say "good" a lot, so it has crept into the vernacular. But it is not really correct.
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Proper English would be "I am well" or "I am fine." The inquiry is not about our moral quality or behavior, but about our health and well-being. And I see that I am not the only one who had this drilled into our thick little skulls.
It's a slang in parts of new York, but not in normal use unless you are trying to imply something more between lines
Does the Chinese mean that the person telling that he is clever, achieving good things etc that day or does it mean that he feels well ? Or could it mean both?
Why as far I study Chinese in Duolingo, Feel like "很" doesn't use in English, even through it's have own meaning. The meaning of "很" is "Very". Okey then, if you don't use word "very". So, we will say more better word instead use "very" word. Like the example Cheerful instead Very happy (很高兴)
I learned when I took Chinese in school years ago that it means "very", but spoken Chinese throws in "very" all the time without really meaning to add much emphasis. The trouble with seeing it as a linking verb is that all Chinese adjectives are actually verbs -- they carry the "is" within them. That is how it is possible to say "Ni hau" rather than "ni hen hau" -- because the "hen is not grammatically needed.
Here it connects the adjective that follows to the noun at the beginning, so it acts like our linking verb "is".
