Gloss on words in the passage 'Once or twice a minute all summer' -- Harry Potter Chinese translation (Taiwan).
| 喔 |
wō | 'oh' | 'oh' |
| 原來 | yuánlái | 'originally, it turns out that...' Used to express a realisation of facts or background information that the speaker did not know before | 'so you were a Prefect, eh?' |
| 你 | nǐ | 'you' | |
| 是 | shì | 'to be' | |
| 級長 | jízhǎng | 'class captain' = 'prefect' | |
| 啊 | a | 'eh' | |
| 派西 | Pàixī | 'Percy' | 'Percy' |
| 'Oh so you were a Prefect, eh, Percy?' | |||
| 其中 |
qízhōng | 'among them' | one of the twins says |
| 一個 | yíge | 'one + classifier' (classifier 個 ge used for people) | |
| 雙胞胎 | shuāngbāotāi | 'twin' | |
| 說 | shuō | 'to say' | |
| One of the twins says | |||
| 語氣 | yǔqì | 'tone, manner of speaking' | tone and expression both appearing extremely surprised |
| 和 | hé | 'and' | |
| 神情 | shénqíng | 'expression' | |
| 都 | dōu | 'all' | |
| 顯得 | xiǎnde | 'to appear' | |
| 非常 | fēicháng | 'extremely' | |
| 驚訝 | jīngyà | 'surprised' | |
| Tone and expression both seemed extremely surprised | |||
| 你 | nǐ | 'you' | 'why didn't you even raise it?' |
| 為什麼 | wèishénme | 'why' | |
| 提都不提 | tí dōu bù tí | 'raise not even raise' (fixed expression meaning 'not raise at all') | |
| 一聲 | yì shēng | 'a voice' (提一聲 tí yì shēng 'raise a voice' means 'mention one time'. Chinese often uses this kind of classifier/measure word) | |
| 我們 | wǒmen | 'we' | 'we didn't know at all' |
| 完全 | wánquán | 'completely' | |
| 不 | bù | 'not' | |
| 知道 | zhīdào | 'to know' | |
| 呢 | ne | ending particle | |
| 'You should have told us. We didn't know at all' | |||
| 慢著 | màn-zhe | 'slowly, wait' | 'slowly; just a minute' |
| 我 | wǒ | 'I' | 'I seem to remember' |
| 好像 | hǎo xiàng | 'seem to' | |
| 記得 | jìde | 'to remember' | |
| 他 | tā | 'he' | 'he's discussed this matter with us' |
| 跟 | gēn | 'with' | |
| 我們 | wǒmen | 'we, us' | |
| 談過 | tán-guo | 'has discussed'. 過 guo is a verb-ending (or particle) that indicates occurrence in the past. | |
| 這件事 | zhè jiàn shì | 'this matter' (件 jiàn is a classifier used with 事 shì meaning 'thing, matter') | |
| 另 | lìng | 'other' | the other twin says |
| 一個 | yíge | 'one + classifier' (classifier 個 ge used for people) | |
| 雙胞胎 | shuāngbāotāi | 'twin' | |
| 說 | shuō | 'to say' | |
| The other twin said: 'Wait a minute! I think I seem to remember him discussing this with us once'. | |||
| 大概 | dàgài | 'generally, roughly, probably' (in this case the speaker is vaguely trying to recollect something) | 'roughly said (it) once' |
| 說過 | shuō-guo | 'to have said'. 過 guo is a verb-ending (or particle) that indicates occurrence in the past. | |
| 一次 | yícì | 'one time' | |
| 'I think I remember he mentioned it once' | |||
| 或是 | huòshì | 'or' | 'or twice' |
| 兩次 | liǎngcì | 'two times' | |
| 'Or twice' | |||
| 說了 | shuō le | 'said (it), spoke of (it), mentioned (it)'. 了 le indicates a completed action. Here it is similar in effect to English past tense. | 'mentioned it for a minute' |
| 一分鐘 | yìfēn zhōng | 'one minute' | |
| 'Mentioned it for a minute' | |||
| 說了 |
shuō le | 'said (it), spoke of (it), mentioned (it)'. 了 le indicates a completed action. Here it is similar in effect to English past tense. | 'mentioned it the whole summer' |
| 一整個 | yì zhěngge | 'one whole' | |
| 夏天 | xiàtian | 'summer' | |
| 'Mentioned it all summer' | |||
| 喔 | wō | 'oh' | 'oh shutup' |
| 住口 | zhù kǒu | 'shutup' | |
| 派西 | Pàixī | 'Percy' | Percy prefect says |
| 級長 | jízhǎng | 'class captain' = 'Prefect' | |
| 說 | shuō | 'to say' | |
| 'Oh shutup!' says Percy Prefect. | |||
For the most part, Chinese word-for-word glosses make sense in English. The particle 的 de has been indicated as a 'connecting particle'. It is often used to indicate that a noun is modified by what goes before.
Another problem is sentence-ending particles, which have a force that cannot always be adequately conveyed in English.