L9 Abstract ideas 1

Lesson 9 - Abstract ideas Part 1

New Vocabulary   

古	gǔ	ancient times, be ancient
今	jīn	now
名	míng	name, term, fame, label, pretext
知	zhī; zhì	to know, recognise; 4th tone = be intelligent, (var. of 智)
道	dào	the way, principles, a road, to say Learn more
非	fēi	is not, if not... other than..., be wrong, reject
也	yě	final particle in nominal sentences; emphasis marker

Grammar note: nominal sentences and stative verbs

1. Nominal sentences

Classical Chinese doesn't really have the verb 'to be' in the same way as English. When one noun is made equivalent to another noun, this structure is used:

Noun1 Noun2 也

For example: 我北人也 =  I am a Northern person

Noun 1 could be understood from context, for example:

小人也 - (someone) is a small (i.e. petty) person

To make this structure negative, we put 非 between the two nouns:

我非北人也 = I am not a Northern person.

Note that 非 only comes before a noun phrase. So you can't say 國非大 to mean the country is not big.2. Stative verbs 

What we call 'adjectives' are really verbs in Classical Chinese - stative verbs. So 大 doesn't mean 'big' - it means 'is big' or 'am big' or 'are big'.

But sometimes, stative verbs can have an extended meaning and turn into full verbs.

1. To consider something X  - e.g. 我大之 = I consider it big OR I think it is big.
2. To make something X - e.g. 我小之 = I made it smaller.

Don't worry too much about these examples at this stage, just see how it comes up in actual examples to get the hang of it!

  璧 （玉）

Study

1. 不知之
2. 古之人

3. 古今
4. 知名之人
5. 得道
6. 今日
7. 有道之君
8. 君之馬也
9. 從道不從君
10. 上上之道

 

(select below to see meanings:)

1. (subject understood) does not know it.
2. people in ancient times
3. ancient and modern
4. a famous person
5. to get the way
6. today
7. a ruler with the way
8. (it is) the ruler's horse OR it is your horse (if quoted from words spoken to a superior)
9. (subject understood) follows the way, and does not follow the ruler
10. The uttermost superior way

(select below to see answers:)

Practice

Write in Chinese:

1. heavenly way / the way of heaven

2. the way of the ancient people

3. (it) is not a horse

4. famous words of famous people

5. the name of a person

6. this month

7. an ancient country

8. the country is small

1. 天道　2. 古人之道　3. 非馬也　4. 名人名言　5. 人名　6. 今月　7. 古國　8. 國小