Use Of Duì

[etribe]

Hi there,

came across this sentence, i'm a bit confused about the use of 'duì' in this instance:

Nǐ duì Zhōngguó de yìnxiàng zěnme yàng?

any help would be much appreciated!

[SiMaKe]

My guess is:

What do you think about China? (what are your feelings toward China?)

One meaning of dui4 is "to" or "for" in the sense of "with regards to; towards".

An example from Dict.cn

别对你的父母这么没礼貌！Don't be so rude to your parents!

(don't, towards your parents, be so not polite)

[jbradfor]

Translate it as "to" or "towards" in this context.

Chinese likes to put the object before in the verb in many places that English would place the object after the verb. When this is done, the object is often indicated by a preposition. [給, 對, 被, etc.] This is done to make it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese.

[Shi Tong]

A good memorisation method and the most simple sentences for this is:

我对你 (I- to you-), 你对我 (you- to me-) and 他对我 (he- to me-) 我对他 (I- to him-) and add a suffix.

So for example you can say 他对我很好 (he- to me- very good), this means "he treats me very well", and you can use the same "很好" for the ends of all of those sentences (我对你很好, 你对我很好, 我对他很好).. all of these mean "I treat him very well", "you treat me very well", and "I treat him very well".

To extrapolate from that you can use things like 对我来说.. and add a suffix to make a sentence: 对我来说-- 这个表很烂- "for me to speak- this watch is rotten/ rubbish".

对我来说-蛋很好吃------ "to me, eggs are tasty"

对我来说-中文很难学---- "to me, Chinese is very hard to learn".

I apoologize for the lack of pinyin, but my pinyin can sometimes be a bit off- so use a dictionary to translate these sentences if you need one (mdbg is pretty good)

[renzhe]

对 is one of those lovely characters whose meaning depends on the context.

Like Shitong writes, in this case, it means "towards" or "to", like 我对你说话.

When used alone, it means "correct". It can also mean "a pair" or "a couple", like 一对(儿) (another case where erhua helps disambiguate). It can mean "opposite" in 对面, or carry the connotation of "partner" like 对方. The meanings of "pair", "opposite" and "partner" are basically related (your partner is the "other one" in a couple, the one opposite of you), but have to be translated very differently.

[trien27]

对我来说-蛋很好吃---- "to me, eggs are tasty".

对我来说-中文很难学---- "to me, Chinese is very hard to learn".

The Chinese language doesn't use a dash in the middle of a sentence.

Eggs in Chinese = not just 蛋 when it might become confusing as to what type of 蛋 it could be, it's better to be specific in Chinese.

Should be without a dash but with or without a Chinese comma:

对我来说，鸡蛋，很好吃 or 对我来说鸡蛋很好吃 - "To me, eggs are tasty".

对我来说，中文，很难学 or 对我来说中文很难学 - "To me, Chinese is very hard to learn".

In English, the first word of a quotation is Capitalized.

[Shi Tong]

Nicely pedantic Trien. I was trying to put a small devider in the sentence to denote where I was putting a suffix on the sentence. Not only that but I was trying to use the simplest sentences availiable in order that it's not too complicated for the OP.

I know that you dont just have 蛋 on it's own generally, but then do you not think that, if you're a starter- learning the sentence:

对我来讲,不管怎么煮蛋很好吃

Could be a bit much? I was aiming to make it clear.

Of course, this sentence is maybe not the best of examples, but why not offer a better alternative instead of nitpicking at mine?

[jbradfor]

The Chinese language doesn't use a dash in the middle of a sentence.

The dashes were placed after the Chinese part and before the English part. So, strictly speaking, the dashes were not in the middle of a Chinese sentence.

[i need an icon here for that thing the Japanese do and pull down the corner of their eye when they are mocking someone....]

[Glenn]

He confused "dash" with "hyphen". Check again -- there are definitely hyphens in the middle of the Chinese sentences. At any rate, I tend to agree with the comments about the pedantry. I can't say it's all that helpful. But I guess I shouldn't talk after my opening sentence of this post.

[creamyhorror]

The Chinese language doesn't use a dash in the middle of a sentence.

I agree with this, though it might have been phrased a bit bluntly. He was talking about the hyphen directly after "对我来说" in each sentence.

Eggs in Chinese = not just 蛋 when it might become confusing as to what type of 蛋 it could be, it's better to be specific in Chinese.

I also have to agree here. I believe most (if not all) students encounter 鸡蛋 first and not 蛋 alone. It's fitting to use the actual word in the language, rather than simplify it into something unnatural.

Shi Tong, "对我来讲,不管怎么煮蛋很好吃" is a bit of a stretch, since he was just highlighting a missing character that would make the sentence more natural, not asking for a more complicated sentence.

Should be without a dash but with or without a Chinese comma:

对我来说，鸡蛋，很好吃 or 对我来说鸡蛋很好吃 - "To me, eggs are tasty".

对我来说，中文，很难学 or 对我来说中文很难学 - "To me, Chinese is very hard to learn".

There shouldn't be commas after 鸡蛋 and 中文.

In English, the first word of a quotation is Capitalized.

Now that's pointlessly pedantic. Shi Tong (and most people reading this) definitely knows that, so you just come off like the grammar police. It's not like people are actually using this thread to learn English (and if they were, it's really their problem if they pick up less proper style from it).