对 as a particle

[optical]

This is a two part question, and before the search police start screaming I ran several searches before posting.

My book, Magic chinese (下), has this sentence on page 16:

但我对汉语很感兴趣。

My understanding of 对 so far is that when used as a particle, it's somewhat directional, such as in 对面, or in some instances of saying 'I give this to you', etc. However, what is it doing in this sentence?

And also, about the '但' by itself, is this usage synonymous with 但是 or is it different?

[mikevwilliams]

I believe in this sentence '对' has the same meaning as the english 'about'

i.e. I about Chinese very interested, or in actual english, "I'm very interested in Chinese“.

I'm not 100% sure about that 但, but I think it's the same as 但是, however don't quote me on that.

[adrianlondon]

I think it's the same as 但是

It is. Although it can also mean "nevertheless" if the context supports it.

don't quote me on that

;)

[muyongshi]

对 as mike said means towards, or in regard to... in regards to chinese, towards chinese I have a lot of interest

And he is right too about 但是、但 and the same rule can apply with 可是

[roddy]

nee naw nee naw

[optical]

*Sigh*

That thread's subject is '对‘. Now when I type '对' into the search field is says my term wasn't searched because it was "too common or too short". So I typed in '对 particle' and I came up with numerous pages about everything from pollution to how to meet girls. I checked the stickys about grammar issues and none of them covered '对'.

Would you mind sharing with me how you went about finding that article?

[muyongshi]

Look at this

[adrianlondon]

Yeah, the trick is not to use this site's search facility at all ;)

Dump "site:www.chinese-forums.com 对" into google.

[roddy]

yeah, when it comes to searching for single-characters the site search does fail. Wasn't having a go, just couldn't resist the opportunity to play at police cars.