你忙什麼

[nipponman]

What does this mean? "you busy what" doesn't make much sense:-?

[fenlan]

It means "what are you busy doing?" or "what are you busy with?"

[nipponman]

So I guess the verb is assumed?

[fenlan]

mang2 is the verb.

Western grammar does not work properly when imposed on Chinese. For example, xin1 does not mean "new", but "to be new". So that is why you can say, "zhe4ge hen3xin1". xin1 is the verb.

Chinese adjectives, and their role as verbs, are explained well at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_adjectives

[nipponman]

Well, I understand all that( ), but what I meant was that mang2 was a stative verb. And stative verbs don't require objects. Let me consult my dictionary, it says: mang2: 1.(adj)busy, 2.(verb)to be in a hurry. And it gives this example: 忙什麼﹐再坐會兒吧。 There translation: "there is no tearing hurry, why don't you sit down for a while." So I think this is like: "why are you hurrying" maybe.

At this site: http://www.cnblogs.com/sunsonbaby/archive/2004/08/25/36453.aspx

最近忙什么啊 is translated as "What are you up to?" So, it seems this is a chinese logical expression that is hard to translate. "recently busy what?"

[zhwj]

忙 is both the stative verbs 事情多 "busy" and 急迫 "hurried", but also an active verb 急迫不停地做 "to do in a hurried fashion". This last one is what you have in your questions, 你忙什麼? and 最近忙什么啊? Also, 你还没有忙完? "You're still not finished?"

It probably shouldn't be translated any different from the other "do" verbs; there's just a difference in context.

[fenlan]

Nipponman, my grammatical comments probably weren't helpful, but in the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary there is this example:

你进来忙些什么？translated as "what are you busy with lately?" (actually I think this is an example of the CCD's flaws: it should be "what have you been busy with lately?").

Another good example is 忙活, which means "busy working". The CCD gives the example: 你忙什么活？"what are you bustling about?" is the translation it gives.

[自由翱翔]

"zhe4ge hen3xin1". xin1 is the verb.

I think "新xin1" is an adjective in the context.

你进来忙些什么？

It should be 你近来忙些什么？or 你最近在忙些什么？

[fenlan]

Whether xin1 is an adjective or a verb is just a semantic problem. If xin1 is an adjective, where is the verb? The problem is that xin means not just "new" but "to be new". That is the point. Saying "adjective, verb" is forcinig Chinese into a Western grammar straitjacket.

On the other point: I have very bad software for Chinese that does not suggest the appropriate character combination, so I often hastily press enter and select the wrong character. I know many other types of software are more "intelligent" and have more word combinations to choose from.

[nipponman]

Whether xin1 is an adjective or a verb is just a semantic problem. If xin1 is an adjective, where is the verb? The problem is that xin means not just "new" but "to be new". That is the point. Saying "adjective, verb" is forcinig Chinese into a Western grammar straitjacket.

I think the term, stative verb, works best. It shows that it isn't a normal verb (with an object etc.) and it shows that it is a state like adjectives tend to be. Side note: In Japanese there are two types of "adjectives", "i-adjectives" and "na-adjectives". The first ones can be considered true adjectives complete with inflection, while the second ones are considered special nouns with a special form of the copula "da". They do not conjugate and when they aren't modifying a noun or verb or something, they are always followed by "da" or some form of it. Why is this important? Because it reinforces the idea that adjectives are stative in nature, because the copula "da" in Japanese is used to show a state of being.