Alchemist Posted January 29, 2005 at 02:41 PM Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 at 02:41 PM Hi, these days I'm shuffling through the pages of the grammar book "Mandarin Chinese - A functional reference grammar", written by Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson. It's a very thorough grammar book, but it lacks Chinese characters at all (every Chinese sentence is written in pinyin). In the chapter about sentence-final particles, the authors talk about a mysterious "ou" particle, used to convey a friendly warning showing "concern and caring on the part of the speaker". Here are some examples from the book: Xiao3xin1 ou. (= Be careful, ok?) Yao4 zuo4 gong1ke4 ou. (= Listen, you'd better do your homework) Wo3 yao4 da3 ni3 ou. (= Let me tell you... I will hit you) None of my other grammar books talk about this particle. Moreover, I looked up "ou" on my Chinese dictionaries, and none of them reports a particle with that pinyin transcription. Does anyone know more about this weird particle? How is it written in Chinese characters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted January 29, 2005 at 03:35 PM Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 at 03:35 PM it's 喔 (o). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hparade Posted January 30, 2005 at 12:22 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 at 12:22 AM Is it more used in Taiwan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeijingSlacker Posted January 30, 2005 at 03:33 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 at 03:33 AM It's mostly used by teenage drama queens and people with equivalent IQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IVYtony Posted January 30, 2005 at 03:55 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 at 03:55 AM 听起来太嗲（dia3）了……呵呵 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wenjing*girl Posted February 8, 2005 at 11:08 AM Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 at 11:08 AM It's mostly used by teenage drama queens and people with equivalent IQ. funny. I think that just girls say it, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browny Posted February 11, 2005 at 03:56 AM Report Share Posted February 11, 2005 at 03:56 AM hehe it's called "感叹词" in chinese (feeling expression word). i like 嘛 the best, like 不要嘛! and 啦 is also fun. if you spend more time using chinese (like chatting etc) then you'll get used to it, and now when to use them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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