The Simplicity Of Chinese Grammar - 5 (Chinese Is Like Indian English Only!)

I had previously read with amusement that one of the ways to deflect a compliment in Mandarin is to say 哪里, 哪里? nǎlǐ, nǎlǐ (literally "Where, where?").

Indians tend to use "where" to deflect compliments too.

A: Your house is looking so neat!
B: Where? It's all such a mess!

I had to laugh again today when Duolingo's latest lesson talked about the peculiar use of the word 才 cái ("only") in Chinese grammar.

We are all like this only!

This was Duolingo's explanation, almost apologetic in tone:

"To say that something happened later than expected, say 才 cái (only) after the time and before the verb. Even though in English we might say that we didn’t do something until a certain time, you would never use 才 in a negative sentence in Chinese."

On looking at the examples though, I was struck by how similar the structures were to "Indian English".

Check out these examples, paying attention to the literal translations. It is possible to translate these sentences into standard English using the word "only", but the "only" is placed just before the verb to qualify it, and not immediately after the time. In the Indian version of English, the word "only" is placed immediately after the time, just as in Chinese.

1. 我 昨天 晚上 十一 点 才 下班 wǒ zuótiān wǎnshàng shíyī diǎn cái xiàbān ("I didn’t get off work until 11 o'clock last night", or "I only got off work at 11 o'clock last night", literally, "I yesterday evening 11 o'clock only left work")

2. 她 今天 早上 两 点 才 回家 tā jīntiān zǎoshang liǎng diǎn cái huí jiā ("She didn’t come home until 2 o'clock this morning", or "She only came home at 2 o'clock this morning", literally, "She today morning 2 o'clock only came home")

3. 我们 下午 四 点 才 吃 午饭 wǒmen xiàwǔ sì diǎn cái chī wǔfàn. ("We didn’t eat lunch until 4 o'clock in the afternoon", or "We only ate lunch at 4 o'clock in the afternoon", literally, "We afternoon 4 o'clock only ate lunch")

The literal translations are very similar to how Indians express things colloquially in English, i.e., by placing the word "only" right after the time. The Hindi ही ("hii") is used in this way, as is the Tamil தான் ("taan"/"daan"), and Indian English just reflects the structure of Indian languages.

1. "I left office yesterday night at 11 o'clock only."

2. "She came home today morning at 2 o'clock only." Hindi: वह आज सुबह 2 बजे ही घर लौट आई woh aaj subah 2 baje hii ghar lauT aayi

3. "We ate lunch at afternoon 4 o'clock only." Tamil: நாங்கள் மத்தியானம் 4 மணிக்கு தான் சாப்பிட்டோம் naangaL mathiyaanam 4 maNikku taan caapiTTOm

Using the word "only" for emphasis comes naturally to Indians, even if it isn't quite the Queen's English. I was glad to be able to dip into a bit of my cultural "heritage" to better internalise this aspect of Chinese grammar.

To an Indian, sentence construction in Chinese is quite natural only.