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3.8: Conventional greetings

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    The addition of guò (untoned)

    Questions about eating are often used ‘phatically’, to be sociable rather than to seek actual information. There are quite a number of variants on the basic Chīfàn le ma that may serve this purpose. One, that is particularly common with verbs that describe regularly occurring events (such as having meals, going to work), involves the addition of a post-verbal guò (usually untoned), whose root meaning is ‘to pass by, over, through’. 

    Guò can occur in both the question and in responses (both positive and negative), but it can also be dropped from the responses, as shown below.

    Chīguo <fàn> le ma?

    Chī<guo> le.

    Hái méi <chī<guo>> ne.

     

    Reductions

    In context, utterances are likely to reduced, along the following lines: méiyou > méi; chīfàn > chī (but xǐzǎo does not reduce to xǐ, since xǐ alone means to ‘wash’ rather than ‘bathe’). Thus, the following are all possible – though the more elliptical questions are likely to produce more elliptical answers. (The English glosses for the responses only suggest the differences.)

    Q A (A)
    Chīfàn le ma? Chīfàn le. I’ve eaten my meal.
    Chīguo fàn le ma? Chīguo fàn le. I’ve had my meal.
    Chī le ma? Chī le. I have.
    Chīguo le ma? Chīguo le. I’ve had it.
    Chīfàn le méiyou? Hái méi chī fàn ne. I haven’t eaten my meal yet.
    Chīguo fàn le méiyou?.. Hái méi chìguo ne. I haven’t had my meal yet.
    Chīfàn le méi? Hái méi chī ne. I haven’t eaten yet.
    Chīguo fàn le méi? Hái méi chìguo ne. I haven’t had it yet.
    Chī le méi? Hái méi ne. Not yet.
      Méiyŏu. No.
      Méi. No.

    Summary (showing typical expanded and reduced forms):

    Done? Chīfàn le ma? Chī le ma?
    Done [or not]? Chīfàn le méiyou? Chī le méi?
    Done Chīfàn le. Chī le.
    Not done. Méiyou chīfàn. Méi chī.
    Done? Chīguo fàn le ma? Chīguo le ma?
    Done [or not]? Chīguo fàn le méiyou? Chīguo le méi?
    Done. Chīguo fàn le. Chī le.

    Exercise 2

    a) Ask and answer as indicated: 

    1. Read the paper? Not yet.
    2. Started work? Yes, I have.
    3. They’ve gone? No, not yet.
    4. Was it cold? No, not very.
    5. Have [they] got off work yet? Yes, [they] have.
    6. [We]’re not nervous anymore. [You] were yesterday.
    7. [I]’ve eaten. Are [you] still hungry?
    8. Bathed? Yes, it was nice [comfortable].

    b) What would you say? (Use pronouns where needed.)

    1. Ask your friend if she’s eaten yet (3 ways).

    2. Announce that she’s already left work [for the day].

    3. Explain that it was cold yesterday, but that it’s gotten hot today.

    4. Announce that she hasn’t gone to class yet.

    5. Explain that they’ve bathed, but they haven’t eaten.

    6. Explain that you were all unwell yesterday, but today you’re fine.

    7. Explain that the first’s already gone, but the second and third still haven’t.

    8. Explain that it was warm yesterday, and that it is today as well.

    This page titled 3.8: Conventional greetings is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Julian K. Wheatley (MIT OpenCourseWare) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.