I lost my wallet.

[Christa]

There are various words for, as well as constructions for saying, "lost" in Chinese.

 

As an example, what would you say feels the most natural way (for you personally) to say something like "I lost my wallet" / "I've lost my wallet"?

 

What would be your translation of choice?

 

 

Christina

[anonymoose]

我把钱包给丢了。

[889]

I'd never be careless enough to lose my wallet, so of course it'd be:

 

坏蛋偷我的钱包！

[陳德聰]

I generally use some combination of (給)(弄)丟了. I think in everyday speech, I have a personal tendency to say 弄丟了 over 給丟了.

 

我錢包丟了

我錢包弄丟了

我錢包給丟了 <- Perhaps I have am overstating but this one really also sounds to me like someone mistook my wallet for trash and took it out.

我把錢包弄丟了

我把錢包給丟了

我把錢包給弄丟了 <- A mouthful, but I think more of a speaking habit than a conscious choice, 把⋯給⋯

[ZC]

4 hours ago, 889 said:

坏蛋偷我的钱包!

...然后就藏了沙发里

[Messidor]

here are some other options,

我钱包不见了

我钱包(弄)掉了 (so natural in some regions of mainland China and natural to me since in my mother tongues and in many other southern dialects we use 掉 instead of 丢; the latter is the default choice in northern regions)(unfortunately 掉 is ambiguous to the ears of the northerners since they usually interpret 我钱包掉了 as "my wallet fell on the ground")(u don't have to choose 掉, just in case that someday u may encounter such an expression)

[889]

"然后就藏了沙发里 . . ."

 

是的，可是我的钱包空的，没钱！

[anonymoose]

这个年头大部分中国人反正有电子钱包，也就是说，手机是钱包。

[Christa]

You guys are awesome, thank you so much!

 

One question though, the 了 at the end of sentences such as 我把钱包给丢了 / 我錢包丟了 / 我钱包掉了 - is that the talking about the past 了 or change of state 了? I feel like it's the latter but wondered what you think.

[edelweis]

isn't it the new information 了 ?

 

[Christa]

4 hours ago, edelweis said:

isn't it the new information 了 ?

 

Not sure. I think so.

 

But then, although it doesn't sound quite as natural, you could nevertheless say something like 我丟了我的錢包 . That sounds more like the past 了. I feel confused.

[achang1980]

我找不到我的钱包。

[dwq]

13 hours ago, Christa said:

But then, although it doesn't sound quite as natural, you could nevertheless say something like 我丟了我的錢包

 

I think 我丟了錢包 is fine.  In fact I wanted to ask earlier whether 我錢包丟了is strictly correct or is short for 我把錢包丟了 .

 

What do you call the second 了 in 我丟了錢包了 ?  Because if you transform that to a 把 construction you get 我把錢包丟了了 --> 我把錢包丟了 and it seems the 了 can be either one.  But I agree with you it sounds like a past 了.

 

[Lu]

我钱包丢了. But the other options mentioned are also fine.

 

Not sure if this can also include a stolen wallet. I once parked (and locked) my bike somewhere in Beijing and left it at that spot for several days. When I came back, the bike was (predictably) gone. Shit, my bike, I said. A guard at the spot asked me what was up, so I explained about my bike no longer being there. 丢了, he said. 不是丢, I retorted, 被偷了。 Well, sure, he laughed. My impression at the time was that he felt that if you leave your bike outside too long, it's only natural that it is stolen and thus it can be considered 丢了. Not sure how this compares to wallets.

[imron]

4 hours ago, Lu said:

被偷了

This is often the actual meaning when people say the have 丢ed their wallet/phone/bike.  It's not that they lost/dropped it, but that it has been stolen.

[陳德聰]

12 hours ago, dwq said:

In fact I wanted to ask earlier whether 我錢包丟了is strictly correct or is short for 我把錢包丟了

If anything I thought it was short for “我的錢包||丟了,” but now that I think about it... Mm I still don’t think it’s a shortened version of a 把-construction.

 

I think I am interpreting the subject according to the boundary lines marked below:

1. 我 || 把鑰匙鎖在車上了 

2. 我鑰匙 || 鎖在車上了

 

I can add an adverb, e.g. 不小心 after 鑰匙 in both (1) and (2), but after 我 only in (1), not (2).

 

1a. 我把鑰匙不小心鎖在車上了 

2a. 我鑰匙不小心鎖在車上了

 

1b. 我不小心把鑰匙鎖在車上了

*2b. 我不小心鑰匙鎖在車上了

[dwq]

The question is whether 丟, like 打 or 吃, needs an object.

 

我打了他 I hit him.

他被我打了 He was hit by me.

我把他打了(sounds more natural with 一頓) I hit him.  (I gave him a good hitting)

 

But it sounds unnatural to say 他打了 because it makes 他 sound like the subject and leave 打 without an object.

 

OTOH, 蛋糕吃了 / 電話打了 doesn't sound so bad, perhaps because it is still understood that those action still need to be done by a person, but I'm not sure what the grammar are for those cases.

 

蛋糕吃了沒？

蛋糕吃了。

 

他打了沒？

打什麼？

 

[Lu]

6 minutes ago, dwq said:

蛋糕吃了沒？

蛋糕吃了。

I read this as 'Did you eat cake [for example the piece that we left for you]?' 'Yes, I ate [that piece of] cake.'

But you mean it as 'was the cake eaten', right? I'm not sure it works in that meaning, I don't quite feel/see it. 蛋糕吃完了 or something similar might work though. (Again: in my ears.)

[dwq]

If you mean it sounds more like a topic-comment construction than a passive construction, I agree.

 

I think both question below works, and it is crazy how the cake doesn't end up eating you.

 

你蛋糕吃了沒？

蛋糕你吃了沒？

 

[Lu]

19 minutes ago, dwq said:

If you mean it sounds more like a topic-comment construction than a passive construction, I agree.

Yes, that's what I meant :-)

And I agree, both your sentences work and context is everything.