r/ChineseLanguage • u/AutoModerator • Aug 12 '26
Pinned Post 快问快答 Quick Help Thread: Translation Requests, Chinese name help, "how do you say X", or any quick Chinese questions! 2026-08-12
Click here to see the previous Quick Help Threads, including 翻译求助 Translation Requests threads.
This thread is used for:
- Translation requests
- Help with choosing a Chinese name
- "How do you say X?" questions
- or any quick question that can be answered by a single answer.
Alternatively, you can ask on our Discord server.
Community members: Consider sorting the comments by "new" to see the latest requests at the top.
Regarding translation requests
If you have a Chinese translation request, please post it as a comment here!
If it's an image (e.g. a photo), you can upload it to a website like Imgur and paste the link here.
However, if you're requesting a review of a substantial translation you have made, or have a question that involving grammar or details on vocabulary usage, you are welcome to post it as its own thread.
若想浏览往期「快问快答」，请点击这里, 这亦包括往期的翻译求助帖.
此贴为以下目的专设：
- 翻译求助
- 取中文名
- 如何用中文表达某个概念或词汇
- 及任何可以用一个简短的答案解决的问题
您也可以在我们的 Discord 上寻求帮助。
社区成员：请考虑将评论按“最新”排序，以方便在贴子顶端查看最新留言。
关于翻译求助
如果您需要中文翻译，请在此留言。
但是，如果您需要的是他人对自己所做的长篇翻译进行审查，或对某些语法及用词有些许疑问，您可以将其发表在一个新的，单独的贴子里。
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u/Witchy-woo222 Aug 14 '26
Hi I’ve gotten a few different translations on my grandmothers grave and I’d really appreciate if someone could help me out. Thank you!
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u/vertblau Aug 14 '26
Grave of the honoured (not too sure what the best translation would be here, but 太夫人 is an honourary title for a woman) Li Yanlan (although this is the Mandarin reading), born Lin (her maiden name), from Hengmei Village, Zhongshan County, Guangdong Province
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26
早上好
Real quick question: "don't need to" "don't have to" with prepositions
你给我不必打电话 is the correct word order?
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u/Zagrycha Aug 14 '26
Grammatically you would say 你不必給我......
I am not sure if there are other errors though, since you never said what you are trying to say or the mood. 不必 itself is quite...... firm.
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 14 '26
Ow, Chinese Integrated is teaching 得 and it's negation with 不必 and 不用, so the exercise join points from past lessons (like preposition 給) with simple phrases. Like: 你不用打球, 你得练习, 你得吃菜, 你不必给我打电话 etc. By the way, do you know where can I practice writing sentences? Here doesn't have a weekly thread for practicing, in r/HelpLearningJapanese there is one every monday.
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u/Zagrycha Aug 14 '26
得 and 給 are different, what negates one might not negate the other. They also have different uses, and different uses of the same character won't all work the same way as the others.
Questions about sentence making practice is welcome on this sub even though we don't have a specific thread for it. If its individual sentences like this one then post it in the quick question thread just like this one, if you have a bunch of sentences to get reviewed then feel free to make a normal post for it. Please just include the sentence you tried to make and the english of what you were trying to say. I wanted to give advice of a correct way to say your sentence, but I couldn't. I just had to rely on luck and context to assume you were trying to negate 給, if you were trying to do something else maybe the answer would have been different. Happy learning =)
P.S. all set chinese grammar wiki and pleco are both free and great for example sentences of basic functions if you aren't familiar with them yet.
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 14 '26
You did great! Ow, that's awesome. I don't have the exercises answer sheet, receiving some feedback here should be great. 多谢
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u/Zagrycha Aug 14 '26
yeah, its normal to not have the answer sheet unless a teacher. We may not give the exact same answer as the answer sheet but can help with confirming if the answer follows proper grammar etc in general.
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u/zsethereal Aug 14 '26
你不必给我打电话
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 14 '26
多谢. By the way, do you know where can I pratice writing sentences?
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Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zagrycha Aug 13 '26
it says something in classical chinese, but its not actually classical chinese I don't think, and its quite awkward in modern chinese with single character words. It says something like "perfect yourself and avoid failing yourself". No idea if its machine translated or not.
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 12 '26
Hi, everyone.
I was reviewing Integrated Chinese, and at particle 了 (pt 1) the explain it is used after a verb to show an action concluded. But, when an action didn't happen in the past, it gave these exemples:
昨天我没有听音乐 and 我没吃 - why one of them has 没有 while the other has only 没?
In the interrogative it became even more confuse, the book says that both questions are correct:
你吃饭了吗? and 你吃饭了没有? - why there is 了 together with 没有?
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u/Awkward-Injury-4341 Native Aug 13 '26
- In these two sentences, 没有 and 没 are interchangeable. 没 is generally used only in spoken language.
- This is like "Have you eaten" and "Have you eaten or not" in English. When 没有 is not used, 吗 must be used to mark that the sentence is interrogative. This is because Chinese does not change word order to turn a declarative sentence into a question, unlike English.
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 13 '26
I was busy yesterday, I just saw the answer and had to work immediately. Thanks bud ;)
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u/Zagrycha Aug 13 '26
As for the other part of your question on 了: the meaning of "action concluded" is not past tense. there is no such thing as past tense or any other tense in chinese. you could use "action concluded" meaning for something in the future that hasn't happened at all if you wanted to show conviction it definitely will conclude fully. Chinese only has verb aspect, which are words that give you information about the status of a event but its not tense.
In this case it actually works similarly to past tense in english, "have you eaten" aka asking if the action concluded or not. 你吃饭了吗 is often used as a generic greeting in chinese, similar to english "how are you". It can be a serious question but it often isn't.
p.s. "action completed" is like one of a dozen common uses of 了. Don't worry about the other uses if you haven't learned them yet, but don't expect 了 to have the same use everytime you see it. Grammar words in chinese can have many uses depending on placement in the sentence structure and context.
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u/lhamatrevosa Beginner Aug 13 '26
多谢! Yeah, it seems that will take time to master 了, 的, and other particles.
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u/Zagrycha Aug 13 '26
The most important thing is just to recognize that each use is its own word, same way a word like "light" or "well" is actually a bunch of different words masquerading as one.
I wouldn't immediately deep dive into it, but allset chinese grammar wiki vpcan be very good free resource if you ever find yourself confused on a basic grammar word use you come across =)
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u/sustainstainsus Beginner Aug 12 '26
What does 不能这么说 mean? Even in English (you can’t say that or you can’t put it that way) it is still confusing. Does it mean it’s true but the speaker is not willing to admit?
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u/Zagrycha Aug 12 '26
It just means literally "you can't say ((it)) in that way." The sentence itself tells you nothing about why it can't be said in that way, you need context or additional explanation to know why. It could be incorrect grammar, incorrect facts, or impolite, or all sorts of other reasons to not be able to say something.
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u/Spiritual_Advice2763 Aug 12 '26
Hi! I’m a foreigner learning Chinese and chose 沈澜清 (Shěn Lánqīng) as my Chinese name. Does it sound natural to a native speaker? Do the characters/combination make sense, and what kind of impression does it give you? Any honest feedback is appreciated! 😂
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u/hanobodyy Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
This is a beautiful and old fashioned name with a very classical feel. It’s quite similar to those that people had back in the mid-1900s. It makes me feel like you are a calm, patient and elegant person.
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u/Zagrycha Aug 12 '26
I am not a native speaker, but know names pretty well. This name is totally fine, gender nuetral, maybe a bit femenine with an elegant feel.
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u/lursalot Aug 16 '26
I'm writing a fictional scientific/space organisation and want the single-word command “OBSERVE”, as in an instruction displayed on a terminal: “Observe.”
I'm looking for a concise written Chinese equivalent of the command “OBSERVE” meaning “observe/watch/examine what is happening”, not “obey a rule”. Would 观察 be natural on its own?”