[quote=“headhonchoII”]
I have never learned tones formally and maybe it would be better if I had, yet I find my tones are 90% correct having picked them up from practice…[/quote]
Unfortunately this doesn’t help you when trying to pronounce new words you come across that you have never heard pronounced before. Such as phrases that might be posted in this thread. You might be able to imitate the sounds you hear which most people should be able to do after some time and practice, but strung together in a conversation, you’re probably less right than you think you are.
I find the most useful way of memorizing the tones is putting them together. You don’t need to spend hours doing silly hand gestures. Just remember what 1st and 4th tone sound together and 2nd and 3rd tone together.
Perhaps my example of “th” and “tr” was inadequate. How would you like it if I posted everything from now without any vowels. How would that do your head in? Therefore I’m reposting your phrases with tones:
怎樣 - Zen3Yang4 - ,
就是這樣 - Jiu4 Sh4i Zhe4Yang4 - ‘…its just like that’ …throw in at the end of any sentence, Taiwanese do!
馬子 - Ma3Zi …!
太 離譜 了 - ’ tai4 li2pu3 le’ …
讚 - zan4!
[quote=“Hellstorm”]
What do I say in this situation?
我：我要一個花生包
她：今天沒有
我：＿＿＿，一個芝麻包
Can I insert some kind of word which kills the time where I think about something else? Like „ah, well, ok, then I’ll take …“?[/quote]
You can just use 那 - na4 this word works well for saying things like “then” and well" i.e. “那…我要一個芝麻包” or you could say 我想一下 wo3xiang3yi2xia4 “let me think a moment”
As for the list of words posted earlier all with the 口 radical, if you remember that the last sound of the sentence can determine which word to use it makes it easier. For example, if you use 了 le at the end of a sentence and want to add an 啊 a1 for emphasis then it becomes 啦 la1. The same goes for 了 le and 喔o which becomes 嘍 lou1. Words like 嘛 ma and 喔o1 have their own special meaning too which will help you sound more natural. If you want to convince someone of your point, then you state something as being obvious by adding a 嘛 ma at the end. And 喔 can be use as a cute way of telling someone to do something, again adding it at the end of a sentence.
亂七八糟 - luan4qi1ba1zao1 - to describe something that is a total mess or chaotic
詭異 - gui3yi4 “creepy” 奇怪 - qi2guai4 “strange”
結果咧? - jie2guo3lei - “then what happened?” you can use when someone is telling a story and you want to hear the conclusion 咧 is very Taiwanese and can be used to replace 呢 ne i.e. 你呢?, 你咧?
[quote=“occhimarroni”][quote=“Hellstorm”]
What do I say in this situation?
我：我要一個花生包
她：今天沒有
我：＿＿＿，一個芝麻包
Can I insert some kind of word which kills the time where I think about something else? Like „ah, well, ok, then I’ll take …“?[/quote]
You can just use 那 - na4 this word works well for saying things like “then” and well" i.e. “那…我要一個芝麻包” or you could say 我想一下 wo3xiang3yi2xia4 “let me think a moment”[/quote]
Yes, here 那 functions as “in that case”.
Mod note: posts not contributing ‘special useful Chinese words’ and instead discussing the importance of tones etc. have been moved here. If you wish to discuss the importance of tones (or lack thereof), please go to that thread.
Another common, useful phrase with no satisfactory equivalent in English:
你吃得(習)慣嗎? ni3 chi1 de (xi2) guan4 ma?
Literally it means “Are you accustomed to eating it?” But it can mean “Do you like it?” when asked about foods the speaker assumes are exotic to the listener.
How about one or two examples of how to use it? I don’t recall anyone rēnging their cookies after a hard night drinking, for instance. [/quote]You just don’t hang around with Santa.
Example: 扔過來 – toss it over; 扔給他 – toss it to him. Can be used when playing baseball, asking a co-worker to toss you a pen, etc.
[quote=“occhimarroni”]Where did you get this from? This is used in literature and in Beijing, but pretty rare in Taiwan, i.e. 扔掉 reng1diao4 in Taiwan would be 丟掉 diu1diao4.[/quote]I got it from people saying it to me in Taiwan. For the longest time, I didn’t know that 扔 was pronounced as rēng since everyone says lēng. Only when I tried to type it did I find that there is no “lēng” in the bopomofo IME.
Lit. “You give me…” You give me come here! You give me sit properly! You give me shut up!
Ni gei wo guo lai! Ni gei wo zuo hao! Ni gei wo bi zui!
Used when you want to exert authority over a misbehaving kid or animal. Like when we say in English “Andrew Michael Yamato! You come here when I call you, RIGHT NOW!”
[quote=“Buttercup”]I think ‘Sit properly!’ ‘I’ve lost my pencil’ and ‘Haha, he farted!’ were the first Chinese phrases I learned. Yes, I was working at a buxiban.[/quote]Similarly, “Die, monkey child!” was the first Taiwanese phrase I learned. (Taffy told me how to spell it the other day, but I’ve already forgotten .)
How about one or two examples of how to use it? I don’t recall anyone rēnging their cookies after a hard night drinking, for instance. [/quote]You just don’t hang around with Santa.
Example: 扔過來 – toss it over; 扔給他 – toss it to him. Can be used when playing baseball, asking a co-worker to toss you a pen, etc.
Sorry for the nitpickiness, but this is really not used like this is Taiwan. Unless, of course, you are speaking solely with very elderly first generation 外省人 Wai4sheng3ren2 with heavy Beijing accents. All of these phrases should be replaced with 丟 diu1 i.e. 丟給我, 丟過來 if you are looking for the Taiwanese way of speaking. That is not to say no one will understand you, but it is not colloquial. Since you said before you were not currently in Taiwan you could try to find an example on Taiwanese television, perhaps, if you do not believe me.
It may just be the people that I was in contact with. It may also be that words fall out of favour over time. I didn’t ask if these folks were WSR or not, but they certainly didn’t have Beijing accents, otherwise they would’ve pronounced in properly. In fact, they had very strong Taiwanese accents, typical of Kaohsiung and Hualien which was where I spent most of my time.
We use reng interchangeably with diu as well. And no, we don’t pronounce it leng! But occhimarroni might be right it could be a waisheng term?
I wasn’t aware people still classified Mandarin words as waisheng and bensheng. They’re all words used by people in Taiwan, no? Can’t we all just get along?
[quote=“occhimarroni”]Sorry for the nitpickiness, but this is really not used like this is Taiwan. Unless, of course, you are speaking solely with very elderly first generation 外省人 Wai4sheng3ren2 with heavy Beijing accents. All of these phrases should be replaced with 丟 diu1 i.e. 丟給我, 丟過來 if you are looking for the Taiwanese way of speaking.[/quote]Not sure I agree with this - my benshengren wife (native Taiwanese speaker and certainly not one to ape a Taipei Mandarin acrolect) uses it when speaking - not as often as diū, for sure, but still enough that I recognised it from her speech. I agree that it seems to be more common among older waishengren, but I think you go a bit far in your exclusion of it from younger benshengren speech. It definitely does occur, and it’s not that uncommon.
There are wide variations of usage all over Taiwan and all types of shades in between. I have heard both ‘reng’ and ‘diu’ and yes I have heard lots of Taiwanese pronounce it with a ‘leng’ sound!
I have a feeling by pointing out the difference between usage with 扔 and 丟 that I am changing direction of the thread. However, I believe the OP’s purpose was to list common phrases in Taiwan and I will stick by my point that 扔 is not the common usage. I asked some co-workers and friends today as well as the SO and they confirmed that a foreigner using might come across as having very standard Mainland Chinese, but not standard or natural in a colloquial Taiwanese sense. Granted I do live in Taipei and most of my friends are from here, however, I would bet that it would be even less common further south with the heavy influence of the Taiwanese language.
The reason being that 丟 is the same character in Chinese as it in Taiwanese, however, ask any Taiwanese person how to say 扔 in Taiwanese and you will most likely stump them. Furthermore, I will extend my offer to anyone seeking to find examples of this used colloquially. Any search on youtube you’ll discover the word is limited to Mainland Chinese and only news broadcasts in Taiwan, which is hardly colloquial.
In order to keep on things on track though, I’ll list some more phrases here:
你在幹麼？ Ni3 zai4 gan4ma “What’s up?” “What are you doing?” very informal however
傻眼 - sha3yan3 - to be dumbfounded 他們整個都傻眼 - They were all dumbfounded. ta1men2 zheng3ge dou1 sha3yan3 you can use this when faced with an embarrassing or awkward situation and don’t know how to react.
很丟臉 － hen3diu1lian3 “very embarrassing”
關你屁事！－guan1ni3pi4shi4 - “What fucking business is it of yours?” - very rude!
[/quote]You just don’t hang around with Santa. 
.)
