"我花了太多时间做这个事情。"
Translation:I spent too much time doing this task.
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The sentiment of everyone who tries to get through a Chinese lesson on Duolingo, with the current exasperating state of the English translations.
Edit: The Chinese course is much better now, two years later. ;-)
Was not expecting the use of 花 here for "spent." Can anyone explain whatever metaphorical extension was involved in how the character came to be used in this way? Thanks!
608
There's no connection. 花 is just used for "spend" because the modern Mandarin word for "spend" happens to be pronounced the same way as the word for "flower", so they've been assimilated. See page 19 of this thesis, which mentions this: http://www.tekstlab.uio.no/michalkk/WhyAreChineseCharactersSoDamnHard.pdf
So i asked my chinese boyfriend if there's a methaphorical/ historical reason for this and he said nope.
时 (shí) = o'clock/time
间 (jiān) = between/among/room
时间 (shíjiān) = time/period
事 (shì) = matter/thing/item/work
情 (qíng) = feeling/emotion/passion/situation
事情 (shìqing) = affair/matter/thing
Used for non tangible things, contrary to 东西
I thought in the previous lessons, duolingo taught us that the classifier for 事情 is 件, not 个
I don't agree there. Spend = current tense, spent = past (which is necessary here, as indicated by the 了)
Even the Chinese can be reversed :做这个事情我花了太多时间。。 As you can see in both languages, flexibility should/can be applied. Do your homework well, so Birdie will feel much much better! Any reply to this is most welcome.
I think "too much" (太多) and "a lot" (很多) are really quite different sentiments.
I suppose, but "做" is a very basic verb, and not really equivalent in formality of tone to "attending to".
- 608
Generally 事情 is an event, circumstance or process and 东西 is a material thing, so "making this thing” would be 做这个东西
It doesn't sound natural. "I spent too much time doing this task" and "I spent too much time on this task" are both okay.
Your answer has two problems. One is that "alot" isn't a word, just like "alittle" isn't. The other is that "a lot" isn't the same as "too much".
The Chinese literally means "too much", i.e. an amount that is somehow unjustified or detrimental, and usually it should be translated directly, particularly where there's no further context.
"So much", on the other hand, is an emphatic way of saying "a great amount" (i.e. "a lot"), which might still be the right amount, and not a bad amount, even as we recognize its magnitude.
In some cases, idiomatic usage in either language might mean that "a lot" or something similar is a good translation of "太多", but usually the direct translation is better.