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像個?


Glenn

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I have this sentence that I'm having some difficulties with:

不干就不干,要干就得像個干的樣子。

bù gàn jiù bù gàn, yào gàn jiùděi xiàng gè gànde yàngzi (I assume is right).

The translation I have is something like "if you're not going to do it, that's fine, but if you are you have to do it really well" (actually it was やらないならそれまでだが、やるなら立派にやらなければならない。in case anyone here knows Japanese).

So I get the 不V就不V as meaning "if you're not going to V, then that's that" or "when (I) don't V I don't do it at all." In the second phrase the 要 is like "must," and 就得 is like "if...you have to..." I'm having problems with the 像個干的樣子. 樣子 is like "manner, appearance," right? So 干的樣子 should be "manner of doing sth" or "appearance of doing sth," right? How does 像個 fit into this?

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So then it would mean "if you're going to do it you'd better look like you're doing it?"

And I guess you answered the question I didn't ask: should it be 幹? I take it 干 is only for "dry" in 繁體字.

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OK, so 干 is only used for the celestial stems, and 乾 is the character for "dry," whereas 幹 is the character for "do?" I'll keep that in mind.

Next question: is 像個幹的樣子 just a very Chinese way of saying "do something well?" I can see how "do it in a manner that looks like you're doing it" could mean that, but I just want to make sure that's what's going on here.

This usage of 個 I don't really understand either. I see that it can be used in colloquial language to show that something is done with a sort of light feeling, and it comes between a verb and its object. Is that what's going on here? Is it 像+個+幹的樣子, where the noun phrase 幹的樣子 is the object of 像?

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