New Members aeitodd Posted March 21, 2021 at 02:25 PM New Members Report Share Posted March 21, 2021 at 02:25 PM Hello! I'm trying to find out if there's a good way to say 'so... that' (e.g. I'm so tired that I forgot to do my homework / I'm so happy that I could cry) in mandarin. I can't seem to find anything online so maybe there is no direct equivalent, but I thought I'd try out this forum At the moment all I can think of is something like 我这么累，忘了做作业 (I'm relatively new to mandarin so this might be slightly wrong but hopefully you get the meaning of my question) Thank you in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted March 21, 2021 at 03:49 PM Report Share Posted March 21, 2021 at 03:49 PM Tip: stop thinking in English and start thinking in Chinese language patterns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Demonic_Duck Posted March 21, 2021 at 06:11 PM Popular Post Report Share Posted March 21, 2021 at 06:11 PM 2 hours ago, mungouk said: Tip: stop thinking in English and start thinking in Chinese language patterns. I think this type of advice is helpful if and only if you've already learned the Chinese grammar patterns in question. Some relevant patterns here: Degree complement Expressing "even" with "lian" and "dou" Expressing "about to happen" with "le" Spoiler I'm so tired that I forgot to do my homework — 我累得连作业都忘了做。 I'm so happy that I could cry — 我高兴得快要哭了。 The literal meaning here is "about to cry", but this construct is often used in a nonliteral, exaggerated sense. Another example would be 我快要疯了 — this is driving me crazy! 5 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted March 21, 2021 at 10:54 PM Report Share Posted March 21, 2021 at 10:54 PM The underlying problem for the OP here is that so is an exceptionally useful and versatile English word that doesn't have an equally useful and versatile equivalent in Chinese. So best not to waste time looking for one. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicklinjm Posted March 22, 2021 at 09:49 AM Report Share Posted March 22, 2021 at 09:49 AM There definitely are sentence patterns in Mandarin which can translate the type of phrase you are talking about. One option would be 到，as in 我开心到飞起来了. Another option would be 得, as in 我累得连作业都忘了做. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted March 22, 2021 at 10:00 AM Report Share Posted March 22, 2021 at 10:00 AM Search Google for the various literal translations of "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted March 22, 2021 at 01:14 PM Report Share Posted March 22, 2021 at 01:14 PM 19 hours ago, Demonic_Duck said: this type of advice is helpful if and only if you've already learned the Chinese grammar patterns Fair point. I apologise for making a "drive-by" comment. It's also one of the easiest things to say ("thinking in Chinese sentence patterns" rather than your mother tongue), but one of the hardest things to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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