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English
For the sake of convenient comparison, consider the following thirteen
English emotion words, with the Mandarin counterparts (if any) directly next to
them.
ENGLISH
MANDARIN
VERBS
ACTIVE
PASSIVE
ACTIVE
PASSIVE
(to) like
(xi huan)
(to) enjoy
(to) gladden
(to) elate
4
5
(to) love
(to) hope
(to) wish
(xiang
shou)
N/A
6
7
8
(to) surprise
(to)
sympathize
(to) dislike
(to) hate
(ai)
(xi wang)
(qi wang)
(jing)
(tong
qing)
(bu xi
huan)
(tao yan)
() (bei ai)
?() (xi wang)
?() (qi wang)
() (bei jing dao)
() (bei tong
qing)
?() (bei bu xi
huan)
?() (bei tao yan)
10
(to) anger
(to) infuriate
(hen)
(ji nu)
() (bei hen)
() (bei ji nu)
11
(to) sadden
N/A
N/A
12
13
(to) worry
?(to) priden
(dan xin)
N/A
ADJECTIVES
1
2
3
(is) likable
(is) enjoyable
(is) glad
(is) happy
(is) elated
[(is) fortunate/blessed]
4
5
(is) lovable
(is) hopeful
(is) surprised
(is) sympathetic
8
9
10
11
12
13
?(is) dislikable
?(is) hatable
?(is) anger-able
(is) sad
(is) worried
(is) proud
1
2
3
?Likeability
?Joy
Happiness
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Love
Hope
Surprise
Sympathy
?Dislikability
Hate/Hatred
Anger
Sadness
Worry
Pride
6
7
NOUNS
N/A
(xi yue)
(xing fu)
(xi)
(ai)
(xi wang)
(jing xi)
() (tong qing xin)
N/A
(chou) / (yuan hen)
(fen nu)
(bei shang)
(fan nao)
(zi hao)
It is notable to point out the following things from the given examples.
English verbs are often accompanied by to (if active) and to be/is/etc (if
passive), while Mandarin verbs are only accompanied by a prefix of sorts [] in the
passive forms. [] literally means to be done something by someone else in the
roughest of terms. The someone else part is extremely important to the definition
of the word, and emphasizes the passive nature of this particular verbal form. While
the English passive verbs suggest that a person is currently in a state of an
emotion, the Mandarin passive verbs suggest that a certain emotion is inflicted
upon someone by another person.
This pattern of prefix words continues down to the adjectives. English
adjectives are often accompanied by the word is (or any form of the word) right
before, while Mandarin adjectives are often accompanied by the word []. This
word literally translates to very, as in very happy or very sad. This suggests
that when used as adjectives, Mandarin emotion words are heightened in intensity,
whereas English adjectives continue to carry a state of being connotation (is
happy, is sad). It is also crucial to point out that Mandarin adjectives do not work
without the word [], just as English adjectives do not work without is or at least
a form of is. Just as one cannot say that Jill happy, one cannot say Jill ,
because both examples would be grammatically incorrect.
However, this does not apply to all uses of Mandarin adjectives. For instance,
one can say the happy dog, but one cannot say the dog, because the latter
is also grammatically incorrect. In order for the phrase to work, it would have to be
rewritten like thus: ( dog). This addition of the word [] is
analogous to the use of the in the English phrase the happy dog. It works as a
definite article that cements the existence of the subject.
Another thing to notice is that not every instance of Mandarin adjectives
requires the use of []. Consider the example of hope:
5
(is) hopeful
() (hen xi wang)
()() (hen you xi wang)
If one were to directly translate the two given Mandarin listings above, the
top one would literally mean he/she hopes (a lot), whereas the bottom one would
literally mean to have (a lot of) hope. The character [] means to have while
[], as indicated earlier, means very, and in this case specifically boosts the
notion of having to having a lot of. There is no direct translation for the English
phrase is hopeful in Mandarin, thereby suggesting that hope cannot be a state
of being in Chinese culture. Rather, hope is seen as a tangible thing that can be
acted out and/or possessed, but it cannot become the essence of a person.
Now, consider the case of sympathy:
7
(is) sympathetic
In this example, the top Mandarin phrase does translate rather closely to is
(very) sympathetic, although it means to sympathize a lot more directly. The
bottom phrase literally means to have (a lot of) sympathy, which is similar to the
translation of to have (a lot of) hope from earlier. The difference here is the
addition of the character [], the Mandarin word for heart, and thus the phrase
[] means sympathetic heart. This suggests that Chinese culture treats
sympathy as an extension from the inner most area of a person to a second person
who receives the sympathy. This contrasts greatly with the English adjective phrase
is sympathetic, which again conveys the idea of a state of being. The use of
adding on the word [] to adjectives is extremely common in Mandarin, and can
often be used to turn adjectives into nouns. Taking the example from earlier, if []
was eliminated to leave [] by itself, this phrase would become a noun
(sympathetic heart), which is analogous to saying that someone has sympathy.
Although there are plenty of Mandarin emotion nouns, they are not commonly
used in the culture. The most prominent thing that sets them apart from English
emotion nouns is the fact that the Mandarin nouns appear to be more extreme
versions of English emotions. This is especially so for 9-13:
9
10
11
12
13
Hate/Hatred
Anger
Sadness
Worry
Pride