TALKING ABOUT MOVEMENT, DIRECTIONS

44

Talking about movement, directions, and means of transportation

44.1Talking about ‘going’ and ‘coming’

Expressions used to talk about going and coming usually involve a preposition indicating ‘to,’ ‘from,’ or ‘towards,’ and a verb indicating ‘going’ or ‘coming.’ The structures used to indicate going and coming are presented here. In Mandarin, the prepositional phrase always occurs before the verb.

Í14

Note the difference between znu and qù.

The verb znu ‘to go’ is used with movement towards a direction. The verb qù is used with movement that terminates at a location.

44.1.1Talking about ‘going towards’ a direction

To say that you are ‘going straight’, say:

!

Yr zhí znu.

Go straight ahead.

To say that you are ‘going straight towards’ a direction, say:

(direction)]

[yr zhí] [wkng/xiàng/cháo (direction)] znu

or

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44.1.2Talking about ‘going to’ a destination

destination dào destination qù

to [a destination] go = go to a destination

44.1.3Talking about ‘coming to’ a destination

destination / dào destination lái

to [a place] come (come to a place)

44.1.4Talking about ‘coming from’ a location

/ location / cóng location lái

from location come (come from a location)

!"#$!"#$

Tp gpng cóng Mliguó lái.

She just came from America.

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44.2Talking about turning

Turning is a type of movement towards a direction. Therefore, it may be expressed with the prepositions wkng, xiàng, and cháo.

To talk about turning, say:

Guki bli.

Turn left.

44.3Talking about crossing

!"!"

Guò yr tiáo jiq.

Cross one street or go one block.

!"#$!"#$

Guò likng gè hóng lw dqng.

Pass two traffic lights.

!"#!"#

Guò yr gè lùknu.

Cross one intersection.

44.4Talking about arriving

The verb dào means to arrive.

!"!"

Wnmen dào le.

We’ve arrived (at our destination.)

!!"#$%&'()!!"#$%&'()

Nm dào le nkinai jip qmng gli wn dk diànhuà.

After you arrive at (get to) grandma’s house please call me.

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úsguohtgukn jiù zài nm de (zunbian).

! "#$%&'!"#$%"&'()*+

Zhège bpogun, jrntipn jì, shémo shíhòu dào?

This package, if I mail it today, when will it arrive?

44.5Talking about means of transportation

44.5.1Describing means of transportation

Means of transportation includes locomotion: znu ‘to walk,’ pko ‘to run,’ tiào ‘to hop/to jump,’ yóu ‘to swim,’ / fqi ‘to fly’; or transportation by a vehicle: / chq ‘car,’ / chtzt chq ‘taxi cab,’ / hunchq ‘train,’/ dìtil ‘subway,’ !/ ! gsnggòng qìchq ‘public bus,’ / fqijr ‘plane,’ / mótuschq ‘motorcycle,’ or / zìxíngchq (in Taiwain: / jikotàchq) ‘bicycle.’

The expression used to describe riding on a vehicle depends upon the vehicle.

For vehicles in which you sit on a seat, the verb is zuò ‘sit.’

or

/ gsngchq

For things that you ride astraddle such as bicycles, motorcycles, and horses, the verb is / qí:

The expression used to get on or into a vehicle is shàng [vehicle]:

/ shàng fqijr get on the plane; board the plane

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To indicate that you wish to get off a public vehicle, you say:

/ >

Xià chq!

Getting off!

44.5.2Including the means of transportation in a directional expression

The means of transportation normally occurs before the verb, or before the prepositional phrase and the verb.

!"#$%&!"#$%&

Tp xikng zuò chuán dào Zhsngguo qù.

He’s thinking about taking a boat to China. (He’s thinking about going to China by boat.)

!"#$%&'(!"#$%&'(

Nm kéym zuò dìtiL qù Tipn’pnmén.

You can take the subway to Tian’an Men.

Í14.2.4

44.6Asking about locations and asking for directions

44.6.1Asking about locations

To ask where a place is located, say:

44.6.2Asking how to go from one place to another

To ask how to get from one place to another place, say:

!!

Zlnme znu?

How do you go?

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44.7Asking for and giving directions: sample conversations

Notice that the adverb zài can be used to connect a series of directions.

Í32.2

Conversation 1

A:!"#$%&'!"#$%&'

Qmngwèn, hunchqzhàn zài nkr?

May I ask, where is the train station?

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B:!"#$%&'()*&+,-./01234!"#$%&'()*&+,-./01234

Cóng zhèr yr zhí wkng qián znu, guò spn tiáo jiq, xiàng yòu guki, jiù kéym kànjiàn le.

Go straight ahead, pass three blocks, turn right and you will see it.

Conversation 2

A:!"#$%&'(!"#$%&'(

Láojià, qù yóuzhèngjú zlnme znu?

May I trouble you? How does one get to the post office?

B:!"#$%&'()*+$!,-$.#/01$2345&'67!"#$!"#$%&'()*+$!,-$.#/01$2345&'67!"#$

Cóng zhèr wkng dsng znu, guò yr gè shí zì lùknu, wkng nán guki, zài znu jm fqn zhsng, zài zun bipn ynu yr gè hóng fángzi jiù shì yóuzhèngjú.

Go east, pass one intersection, turn south, then walk for a few minutes. On your left there is a red building; that is the post office.

Conversation 3

A:!"#$%&'()*!"#$%&'()*

Qmng nín gàosu wn qù dìtil zhàn zlnme znu?

Please tell me how to get to the subway station.

B:!"# $%&'()*+,!"# $%&'()*+,

Duìbuqm, wn yl bù zhrdao. Nm wèn biéren ba!

Sorry, I don’t know either. You’d better ask someone else.

44.8Talking about directional movement

Action verbs that refer to movement such as pko ‘to run,’ znu ‘to walk,’ tiào ‘to jump,’ / kpi ‘to drive,’ / fqi ‘to fly,’ huá ‘to row,’ yóu ‘to swim,’ and even chupn ‘to put on,’ chr ‘to eat,’ and hq ‘to drink’ may be suffixed with directional phrases that indicate the direction of the movement.

The directional suffix always ends in / lái ‘to come’ or qù ‘to go.’ / lái ‘to come’ is used when the movement is towards the speaker or addressee. qù ‘to go’ is used when the movement is away from the speaker or addressee.

!"#$!"#$

Wnmen znujìnlái le.

We walked in.

!"#

Tp pkochtqù le.

He ran out.

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These directional suffixes behave like resultative endings. de and bu may occur between the action verb and the direction suffix to indicate that the subject was able or unable to move to the direction indicated by the suffix.

!"#$!"#$

Nm kpidejìnqu ma?

Can you drive in?

!"#$%&!!"#$%&!

Chq tài dà. Wn kpibujìnqu.

The car is too big. I can’t drive in.

Í28.2

The object of the action verb may also be included in these directional endings. When it is included, it occurs between the direction word and / lái ‘to come’ orqù ‘to go.’

!"#$%!"#$%

Tp znujìn wtzi lái le.

She walked into the room.

!"#$%&!"#$%&

Wnmen kpijìn chénglm qù le.

We drove into the city.

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