"I am good today."
Translation:我今天很好。
27 Comments
I got marked wrong for not having hun4 in there. Did I translate too literally (I today good)? Does saying you are good need the qualifier of "very"?
Thanks in advance.
很 does not really mean "very." It's kind of just used to indicate that an adjective is next. There are more advanced ways to say "very" that actually mean "very," but using 很 before an adjective is just the standard basic grammar structure. It confused me too when I first learned it. I hope this helps.
I think the "very" character also has second function as verb "is" in some cases, though not 100% sure
I think you always have to have a word like hen3 or ye3 to connect the adjective to the thing you wanna describe. Even though it literally translates to: I today very good. They perceive it as I today good.
很 here doesn't mean 'very'. It's just showing the connection between the noun and the adjective. So I think it have to be here
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我今天很好。vs 今天我很好。 I chose the latter and was marked correct but it suggested the former as the better translation. Is there a connotation difference in where the adverb today is located?
..in standard English. They appear to be interchangable in US English as a response to the "how are you" question.
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Both should be accepted as both are in common use, but the model answer should be "well". Sigh.
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A better English rendering would be "I am fine today" or "I am well today". Good can have a moral connotation.
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Agree about modifier comment. 好 is good, 很好 is very good. The only thing I can say about this is that in my 2.5 years of college Chinese (a long time ago) I remember that culturally 很好 came pretty much as a stock phrase together, no one said 好without 很 in this context. Is this a grammar/semantics issue or a linguistic/cultural issue? I have never heard a Chinese person say, 我今天好. However, I have said 我好 before to Chinese colleagues (programmers, doctors, no professional grammarians), who knew I was trying to improve my Mandarin and they did not correct me.
That being said, 很 is very. It is used as very in other structures, so the commenter that said 很 is not very, is very wrong. It is not a connector. It is an adverb.
My Chinese dictionary says: 很 - (adverb of degree) quite, very, awfully.
Before you make linguistic claims you should check your assumptions with data before posting them, then post your resource. Now here is an smiley emoticon to take the sting out of my comment. :)
I don't understand the sentence order in chinese, so that makes me curious how the words will be aranged in a sentence, when they are being translated from English?
As Nyaeay and Dmitrievdv mention below, 很 works in this case as a connector between the subject and an adjective verb. Nevertheless,
"我今天好" should also be correct. If I am not wrong, that would mean something like "Today I am (indeed) good" (as opposed to other recent time when I was not so good). But still valid.
That is false. 很 does mean 'very'. All adjectives in Chinese can be said with just the subject if it is to describe the subject. That is why you wouldn't say "我是好。" Rather, it would simply be 我好。
Yes I would say it is wrong. Adverbs (and any other adverbial expressions describing the verb) normally come before the verb.
