| Shen2 me dong1 xi1? | In Chinese, while describing the orientation, we use Dong to indicate East, Xi to indicate West. So Dong Xi means "from east to west". There is an example,
城市东西长五公里。(Cheng shi dong xi chang wu gong li。)
The city is 5 km from east to west.
But, you may feel confused when we say:
1.买了许多东西。（mai le xu duo dong xi。）
Buy a lot of things
2.这小东西真可爱！（zhe xiao dong xi zhen ke ai！）
What a sweet little thing（or baby, pet）!
3.真不是东西！（Zhen bu shi dong xi！）
What a despicable creature (or person)!
That all because Dong Xi can also indicate "thing, creature". At the same time you should pay more attention to this usage, for it expresses a feeling of like in the second sentence, on the contrary, it expresses a feeling of dislike in the third sentence.
Remember never say to your friend---你不是东西。(ni bu shi dong xi） It dose NOT mean "You are not a thing" . That exactly means "You are a despicable person".
Think about it carefully, before you say "Dong Xi" next time.
Oh, by the way, you could say "Shenme dongxi?"(What's it?) when you have a question.
Mp3 Download: http://www.feb.gov.cn/tone/shenmedongxi.mp3
Contributed by George Chen
| | | (2005-9-11 8:54:26) |
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