"It is windy outside."
Translation:外面刮着风。
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868
Could you please teach us why not? Is 风 not the subject in this case? If so, is there an omitted/implied subject?
风刮着 felt very unnatural to me, and I would have used it only if the wind was blowing something (leaves, chairs...). So yeah, I thought it would require an object. But at the same time, I knew that verb+着 did not necessarily require an object.
So I asked a native friend, and here is what she said: "Actually it is possible. 外面 means outside, 风 means wind, 刮着 is blowing. But normally we would say 外面刮着风. 风刮着 just shows that there is wind outside. But of course, you can make the wind blow stuff."
So, 风刮着 is technically right, but definitely not used by native speakers.
It seems to me that “technically right but definitely not used by native speakers” is a recurring issue in many discussions, particularly when there is a tendency to want the Chinese to match the English translation. Personally, I prefer thatbthe English translation match the Chinese, no matter how awkward. I end up doing that anyway, which makes it easier to learn the differences between the two languages and improve my ability to construct sentences correctly.
1076
I don't get when I'm supposed to use 刮. It seems to change randomly every sentence with no hints in the English sentence. Why do I need it here when other sentences don't?