Syntax explanation?

[tribalsushi]

Hi everyone,

I was reading through a textbook I'm using to teach myself, and I came across this phrase that I was a bit stumped on the meaning of. The question is 地铁车站在哪儿？ (Di4tie3 che1zhan4 zai4 nar3?) and the response was

"过这条马路，到前边红绿灯那儿往右拐就是“ (Guo4 zhe4 tiao2 ma3lu4, dao4 qian2bian1 hong2lv4den1 nar4 wang4 you4 guai3 jiu4 shi4)

(I thought I'd write pinyin too cause I've had a bit of trouble with Chinese showing/sending properly on this computer)

As far as I can tell, the sentence goes:

"Guo zhe tiao malu" = Cross this road (simple enough)

"Dao qianbian honglvdeng" = Arrive at the traffic lights

"Nar wang you guai" = There, turn right

"Jiu shi" = And it's right there.

The whole sentence seems kinda jumbled to me, with little to no logic/syntax behind it, but I could be wrong (I am a beginner!) The textbook is Xinbian Hanyu Jiaocheng (A New Chinese Course Book) 1, and it's in ch 30

Cheers

[lewellyn]

Hi,

"过这条马路，到前边红绿灯那儿往右拐就是“ (Guo4 zhe4 tiao2 ma3lu4, dao4 qian2bian1 hong2lv4den1 nar4 wang4 you4 guai3 jiu4 shi4)

This sentence is used in oral Chinese-- some words in it seems in the Northern Part of Mainland. Since then, it may be jumbled to you in the logic/syntax behind it.

In Shanghai we are used to saying this way:

过了这条马路，到前面的红绿灯，然后再往右转就到了。

[kudra]

As far as I can tell, the sentence goes:

"Guo zhe tiao malu" = Cross this road (simple enough)

"Dao qianbian honglvdeng" = Arrive at the traffic lights

"Nar wang you guai" = There, turn right

"Jiu shi" = And it's right there.

Not a native speaker, but it looks fine.

Cross this road. There, straight ahead at the traffic light, turn right.

"dao qianbian (de) honglvdeng" is modifying nar.

imagine this exchange:

zai na3li wang you guai?

zai honglvdeng nar.

nei3ge honglvdeng?

dao qianbian de nei4ge honglvdeng.

it gets compressed to

Dao qianbian honglvdeng nar wang you guai.

I am not sure about rules for what is allowed in the compression processes.

The way I understand it is that stuff can be dropped if the meaning is still clear.

As a non-native speaker I tend to include more de's in my actual speach than a native speaker probably would.

At least that is how I understand it....

[HashiriKata]

The original sentense seems a bit long but is quite well formed and there is infact no compression in it.

To illustrate, I'll try a very literal translation for you:

"过这条马路，到前边红绿灯那儿往右拐就是"

Cross this road. When you reach (the place of) the traffic lights ahead, turn right and you'll be right there.

Although you may not learn the usage of 那儿 (the place of) in the sentence yet but I'll correct your grouping for future reference:

Instead of:

"Dao qianbian honglvdeng" = Arrive at the traffic lights

"Nar wang you guai" = There, turn right

It should be:

"Dao qianbian honglvdeng nar" = Arrive at the traffic lights ahead

"Wang you guai" = Turn right

Hope it helps

[tribalsushi]

Would it be appropriate to put a comma between 'nar' and 'wang'?

[Koneko]

Would it be appropriate to put a comma between 'nar' and 'wang'?

Yes, definitely!

Not only does it make it clear, it's also easier to read.

K.

[Quest]

Would it be appropriate to put a comma between 'nar' and 'wang'?

You could, but I don't think it is appropriate, because the sentence is connected (the logic that connects the sentence: 到...那儿往..../从....那儿往.....).

过了这条马路

works either way, but I think it is more natural to use 了 here, otherwise it sounds like a command/impolite.

到前边[前面:more natural to me]红绿灯那儿([from] "where" [to turn], "at which point" [to turn])

往右拐(take a right -- lit. [from there] to the right [you] turn)

就是 ([there] should be [the station]/[the station] should be [there])

Try not to fit Chinese into English molds and grammars.