I know you were doing email long before I signed up for the yahoo, but could anyone really have imagined what the Internet would have become when AOL invented it in 1993? I mean... just look at this beautiful scarf I bought to celebrate our Easter gift-giving tradition. It might seem like an ordinary piece of clothing at first, but if you look carefully you'll see it's hand-made. And I had to get it shipped in overnight from a store that specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces, so don't get it wet.

Learning Chinese? Today we celebrate Easter by combining the power of coverbs with the fun of collocations. The result is a set of powerful and fun ways to talk about your feelings towards people and objects. And there's no need for thanks. Just consider it a Merry Easter present from all of us at Popup Towers to you. Seriously though, be careful about getting this one wet, since it's more of an indoor scarf than all-weather gear.
 said on
March 15, 2013
Can you say "ni3 dui4 shemme you3 guo4ming2"? or is the you3 wrong?
 said on
March 15, 2013
fh071,

Guo4min2 is a verb, so dui4 shen2me5 guo4min2 is all you need.
 said on
March 15, 2013
@fho71 & orbital,

"Guo4min3" :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
October 3, 2016
For the sentence 你不是很喜欢猫吗,would it be okay to drop the 是 and just say 你不很喜欢猫吗 or is the 是 needed because the verb 喜欢 is followed by a noun?
 said on
October 4, 2016
If you are negating a verb or adjective, the basic rule of thumb is to remove your adverb of degree (很, 非常, etc.) completely:

你不喜欢猫吗?

When Chinese speakers want to keep the emphasis, they typically change the sentence structure to the 是... 的 form in order to avoid it sounding unnatural. It is common to omit the 的 in colloquial speech, since it is assumed:

你不是很喜欢猫(的)吗?

 said on
October 4, 2016
Oh, I see. That's interesting. Just last week I asked my Chinese tutor if you can leave out 的, but she told me it is never allowed, it's only 是 that can be dropped. But my previous tutor said either one can be dropped. Interesting how there's confusion even amongst native speakers.