Re: Mandarin Relative Clauses?

On Thu, Nov 16, 2000 at 11:11:20AM +0100, Henrik Theiling wrote:
[snip]
> Actually, the native speaker I asked wasn't too talkative. :-) That's
> why I asked here, too.  She said that the meaning of `hao' is
> different in attributive `hao de pengyou' and predicative use `pengyou
> hao'.  She further said that `piaoliang' and others can form relative
> clauses.  I suppose she distinguishes attributive adjective usage and
> relative clauses where I do not see the difference even if the meaning
> changes slightly.
[snip]

Uh oh... looks like I got the terminology mixed up. So there are *three*
constructions possible:

1)      "hao pengyou" - "good friend", "intimate friend"

2)      "hao de pengyou" - "a friend who is good", i.e., morally good or
        perhaps who has done something good for you. Could also mean
        "the friend, the good one".

3)      "pengyou hao" - basically a copulative sentence, "the friend is
        good". Could also mean "friends are good", or "it's good to have
        friends", in a general sense.

So yes, there are different nuances, but it's hard to grasp them unless
you're immersed in a Mandarin-speaking environment. Some of the
differences are quite subtle.


T

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