"This movie is scary."

Translation: 这个电影很可怕。

[Xiumei]

Shouldn't it be 这部电影 instead of 这个电影?

[hweukagn]

i think 这部电影 is better. i an a native speaker in china.

[DJJammur]

I agree, i even asked several native speakers and they also agreed that it should be 一部电影

[9ZmvEAID]

What's the pinyin for that measure word? If Duo hasn't taught it I've never

[mendosi]

It's bù, but I recommend that instead of asking for pronunciations here, it'll be much quicker to use a dictionary. Here's what I do: type "https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/" in the address bar of my browser and then paste "部" at the end and you'll go straight to the right page.

[9ZmvEAID]

Thanks. I don't know why but the app I'm using isn't letting me select text in any of the comments. Without the pinyin or the ability to copy and paste, I'm not sure how to look up the word.

[mendosi]

Interestingly, I just learned that Duolingo has designed their website such that when viewed on a phone you can't select text in the forums. Even if you're on a computer and you make the browser window smaller the text selection will be disabled :(

On my phone I have the Pleco dictionary app which can do optical character recognition (OCR), so you could take a screenshot then get Pleco to recognise the characters from the screenshot. (Annoying, but it works.)

[9ZmvEAID]

It seems OCR is part of a paid upgrade in Pleco, so I don't have it. I just tried it in Google Translate, though, and the OCR feature captured 部, which allowed me to then copy and paste into Pleco. I'm not sure how good Google's OCR is for Chinese, or if I'd be able to tell if it was wrong. It is at least helpful to know that I can use it on screenshots.

[Carmen_Yomisma]

You can also use the screen reader option in Pleco! It's part of the basic package, no paying necessary, and it can capture the text in the comments AND in the lessons in Duolingo.

[soyunpenguino]

电 (electric) + 影 (shadows) = 电影 (movie)

[whoapanda]

Why do we need the 很?

[tsunbae]

In English, you don't say "the movie scary". You say "the movie is scary". 很 also acts as "is" for adjectives.

[Staempfly]

Actually if you don't add 很 , it may sounds very weird. In conclusion, it is fitted for the habit of the oral Chinese.

[grippygecko]

Some adjectives always take 很 even when it doesn't correspond to "very". It's just something that you will need to get a feel for. With such adjectives, because they need 很 just to feel complete, you will need to use a different adverb for intensity if you want to emphasise the degree. E.g. 太，非常，极，……极了

[tsunbae]

恐怖 also means scary too, also need to use proper measure word too. 個 is only used when you have no other option, but movies are measured in 部

[Staempfly]

More orally, 吓人

[mendosi]

Note also that 恐怖電影 is the Chinese for scary movie genre.

[ny4MS1qV]

I would say 这部电影很恐怖. 可怕 is usually used to describe a person capable of doing terrible things.