stewie Posted November 23, 2005 at 06:58 AM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 06:58 AM what do Chinese normally say when asking "really?", as in "is that so?" would "cheng2 ma" do the job? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted November 23, 2005 at 11:27 AM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 11:27 AM 真的吗？ 是吗？是真的？是真的吗？有这么回事吗？ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted November 23, 2005 at 11:28 AM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 11:28 AM I'm not Chinese, but I'd simply say Shi ma? 是吗? And I'd really accentuate the falling tone in shi 是, starting it quite a bit higher than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Tian Posted November 23, 2005 at 01:27 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 01:27 PM really means in Chinese is 真的吗？zhen1de ma cheng2ma means is it ok? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semantic nuance Posted November 23, 2005 at 02:09 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 02:09 PM All Quest and 889 said are right. In Taiwan, you can also use "是喔" to mean 'is that so'. But "是喔" is a bit to show surprise,disbelief, or sometimes to tease in a jocular way. Hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jukebox Posted November 23, 2005 at 03:14 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 03:14 PM I'm not Chinese, but I'd simply say Shi ma? 是吗? And I'd really accentuate the falling tone in shi 是, starting it quite a bit higher than usual. I think people actually say '不是吧?' more frequently... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalaowai Posted November 23, 2005 at 03:55 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 03:55 PM I agree with Quest, to add on, I find it to be regional as to which expression people tend to use. For example, while living in Eastern Zhejiang, I found that most people would say "真的”whereas, in Jiangsu, they would often say “是吗”which led me to believe that I was being made fun of. However, that was not the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted November 23, 2005 at 04:23 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 04:23 PM I believe when we are unwilling to believe it, we would say:"不是把？！” but when we are not sure whether to believe it or not and would like to have the other's confirmation we would say"真的？/真的吗？” and when we doubt it greatly we would say "是吗？” ie. A: 他和***结婚了 B：不是吧！？（indicating that he is unwilling to believe the fact bec maybe ***is too ugly to match him:mrgreen: ) or B: 真的吗？（indicating he doesn't believe it at the first moment maybe bec it comes all of a sudden) or B: 是吗？（ indicating he doesn't think it's likely) But generally we don't distinguish them. you can just use at your own will but don't use " 不是吧” in front of people who are much elder or of higher social rank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liuzhou Posted November 23, 2005 at 04:35 PM Report Share Posted November 23, 2005 at 04:35 PM Round these parts people just yell "真的!" with a suitable questioning tone of voice and appropriate facial expressions. When they calm down they may repeat the question and add "吗"as our text books tell us we should! But I wouldn't guarantee it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in_lab Posted November 24, 2005 at 02:08 AM Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 at 02:08 AM Another one is 真的假的? It sounds a little overly dramatic to me, but it's common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted November 24, 2005 at 08:11 PM Report Share Posted November 24, 2005 at 08:11 PM Another one is 真的假的?I was going to mention that one. Never heard it in Beijing but in Taiwan it's very common. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewie Posted November 27, 2005 at 02:31 AM Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2005 at 02:31 AM thanks all. btw "真的" is kao4 nong4, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted November 27, 2005 at 04:39 PM Report Share Posted November 27, 2005 at 04:39 PM no. it is zhen1 de. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewie Posted November 28, 2005 at 08:52 AM Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 at 08:52 AM oops, must have had the wrong encoding selected when copying the characters from this forum & pasting them into a translation site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewie Posted December 7, 2005 at 02:05 AM Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 at 02:05 AM "zhen1 da" sounds nice and easy to remember. I couldn't find it though as one phrase at the talking dictionary, so I made this composite using the same website: http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~walstone/public/zhen-da.mp3 can someone confirm it sounds correct before I burn it to cd? (I'm making a cd of common phrases using that excellent website) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semantic nuance Posted December 7, 2005 at 05:33 AM Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 at 05:33 AM Hi, Yes, it's correct. Hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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