总是 for always?

[jgraham11]

Are there other ways to say "Always" in Mandarin i'm not aware of. For one, whenever I would say zongshi to my friends they'd laugh at me and say something like we don't really use that. I never ask my friends for advice, cause I don't wanna pester them, but it has me thinking still. Anyone know of other words that are used? Is it dependent on the context?

[Apollys]

永远

总是

一直

 

These are the words for always that come to mind for me.  Depends on context.  永远 is good for phrases like "I will always love you," while 一直 and 总是  are more about continuous states of existence - an example I've seen is 他总是很担心.  (I'm still very inexperienced, take what I say with a grain of salt.)

[Flickserve]

Do you have example sentences where it sounded inappropriate?

[jgraham11]

24 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

 

Do you have example sentences where it sounded inappropriate?

 

 

 

Well, I used it in a lot of situations when I last visited, but it was just normal conversation like "我总是锻炼“ or "我总是喜欢吃苏州鱼" (which by the way is amazing if nobody has ever had it, they call it Squirrel Fish) 

 

He would correct me and say it wasn't how they used "always" , but these are examples along the lines of when i'd use it. I can't recall exactly what I said

2 hours ago, Apollys said:

 

永远

总是

一直

 

These are the words for always that come to mind for me.  Depends on context.  永远 is good for phrases like "I will always love you," while 一直 and 总是  are more about continuous states of existence - an example I've seen is 他总是很担心.  (I'm still very inexperienced, take what I say with a grain of salt.)

 

 

 

Yeah, I actually have heard 一直now that you say it. I just never thought to use it. Maybe that is what they use I don't know. Come to think of it I never hear anyone use 总是but I never kept an ear out for 一直 and I can't think of a time i've ever used it. Guess i'll have to assume that's what he meant and give it a try next time i'm over there

[Flickserve]

3 minutes ago, jgraham11 said:

Well, I used it in a lot of situations when I last visited, but it was just normal conversation like "我总是锻炼“ or "我总是喜欢吃苏州鱼" (which by the way is amazing if nobody has ever had it, they call it Squirrel Fish) 

 

He would correct me and say it wasn't how they used "always" , but these are examples along the lines of when i'd use it. I can't recall exactly what I said

I think describing as a frequency would be better for those comments. It would take a better person than me to translate but the feeling I get is you are in a continuous state of doing exercise or eating (without stopping).

 

(wow, this new quote feature is excellent!)

[jgraham11]

41 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

I think describing as a frequency would be better for those comments. It would take a better person than me to translate but the feeling I get is you are in a continuous state of doing exercise or eating (without stopping).

 

(wow, this new quote feature is excellent!)

 

I think you're right because in my response to Apollys I said I almost never hear 总是 in speaking to Chinese people, watching Chinese tv or listening to radio. It must have a more literal meaning in Chinese compared to English. We use always a lot even if it doesn't necessarily fit the definition. It's a very exaggerated word in the English language.

@Flickserve and yeah the translation is "I always workout" and "I always like eating suzhou fish" .. I know, bad examples haha

[Flickserve]

Oh. The other thing is I don't know if 总是 is 书面。

[jgraham11]

19 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

Oh. The other thing is I don't know if 总是 is 书面。

Sorry I don't follow what do you mean?

[Flickserve]

It might be used more for written Chinese rather than spoken Chinese. I don't know for sure.

[jgraham11]

15 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

It might be used more for written Chinese rather than spoken Chinese. I don't know for sure.

 

Oh okay, not sure it could be. The only reading I ever do is the hanzi text on screen so I wouldn't really know

[eddyf]

I get the feeling that 总是 tends to be used for stating generalizations or rules. It emphasizes that something happens a certain way every time. It doesn't emphasize that something happens very often or continuously.

 

Take this sentence for instance:

 

我们总是去那家餐馆吃饭。 

 

Here the point is, "whenever we go out to eat we go to that restaurant." It's not saying "we are constantly going to that restaurant" or something like that.

 

Maybe some native speaker can explain it better but that's just the feeling I get.

 

There are certainly lots of situations where you can use 总是 in colloquial speech and have it sound perfectly fine.

[889]

I'd say 老 is the common colloquial use: 你老不开心！Not to say you can always use it where you might use 总是 .

[abcdefg]

Quote

...just normal conversation like "我总是锻炼“

 

我经常锻炼

 

[jgraham11]

10 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

我经常锻炼

Right, I mean I was just using an example, a bad one at that. I probably should of said a day or something like "I always/often workout on mondays, tues, etc" but yeah 常或者常常

[abcdefg]

我经常周一三五去健身房锻炼 would work OK. It would get the job done. Of course, there are many acceptable ways to say such a thing.

 

(I work out at the gym Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

[Publius]

I think eddyf is getting onto something.

While both your examples sound awkward (我总是锻炼/我总是喜欢吃苏州鱼), they can be made natural just by adding a qualification:

我总是在早晨锻炼。

每次去餐馆，我总是喜欢点松鼠鱼。

Basically it says: every time I do something, I do it this way.

 

Another thing to note is 总是 can have a negative connotation.

他总是不听我把话说完。 He's always interrupting me.

他总是丢三落(la4)四。 He's always forgetting things.

 

There are plenty of situations where you can use 总是 and sound like a native but unfortunately yours are not

[jgraham11]

52 minutes ago, Publius said:

 

I think eddyf is getting onto something.

While both your examples sound awkward (我总是锻炼/我总是喜欢吃苏州鱼), they can be made natural just by adding a qualification:

我总是在早晨锻炼。

每次去餐馆，我总是喜欢点松鼠鱼。

Basically it says: every time I do something, I do it this way.

 

Another thing to note is 总是 can have a negative connotation.

他总是不听我把话说完。 He's always interrupting me.

他总是丢三落(la4)四。 He's always forgetting things.

 

There are plenty of situations where you can use 总是 and sound like a native but unfortunately yours are not

 

 

Not sure how they sounds awkward, maybe the first one. "I always like eating suzhou fish"? just a statement

[Angelina]

总是 and 一直 are often used to talk about doing something annoying.

 

 

How to express the frequency of actions in Chinese? 

 

天天

我每天都。。。 

 

[jgraham11]

8 minutes ago, Angelina said:

总是 and 一直 are often used to talk about doing something annoying.

 

 

How to express the frequency of actions in Chinese? 

 

天天

我每天都。。。 

 

I can see how 每天 would be used. You could say everyday I do anything, so it's basically the same as saying always. I don't want to say I'm going to take 总是out of my vocab arsenal, but having my friend tell me they never use it makes me wonder. I'd probably be better served to use something like that, or some of the other suggestions above

[roddy]

Jgraham, could you stop quoting entire posts, especially when they're immediately above yours? It's preferable to quote selectively, paraphrase or refer to people by name. Took me half an hour to scroll down here...