EXPRESSING SPEAKER ATTITUDES AND PERSPECTIVES

52

Expressing speaker attitudes and perspectives

Mandarin uses interjections at the beginning of the sentence and syllables at the end of the sentence (sentence-final particles) to indicate the attitude of the speaker towards the situation expressed in the sentence. Attitudes expressed by interjections and sentence final particles include surprise, disgust, agreement, pity, etc.

Interjections and sentence final particles stand outside of the grammar of the sentence. Their omission or inclusion never affects the grammatical status of the sentence. However, their appropriate use contributes to the naturalness of the sentence, making it sound more authentically Mandarin.

52.1Interjections

Syllables serving as interjections always have tones. Here are some common interjections and their associated meanings.

hP satisfaction

!"#$!"#$

Hp hp! Hái shì wn duì ba!

Well (ha), so I was right after all!

hài sorrow, regret

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

Hài, nm zlnme néng gqn zhè zhnng rén jiéhtn?

Why, how can you marry this kind of person?

P surprise

!"# y! tp sm le?

What? He passed away?

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Interjections

52.1

á doubt, surprise

!"#$%!"#$%

Á, nm huì shus Yrngwén!

Oh! You speak English!

K puzzled surprise

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

=, nm bk fqijr piào nòngdit le?

What! You lost your airplane ticket?

à agreement, approval, acknowledgement

!"#$%!"#$%

À, nm shus de hln duì.

Yes. What you said was right.

Pi surprise, dissatisfaction

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

yi, hunchq zlnme hái méi lái a?

Oh! Why isn’t the train here yet?

/ PiyS surprise, pain

/ !"#$%& yiys! Bk wn téngsm le.

Ouch! It hurts so much.

PiyP wonder, admiration, shock

!"#$%&'#$ yiyp! Tài wkn le. Wn dli znu le.

Gosh! It is already so late. I have to go now.

PyP pained surprise

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

yyp! Wn de qiánbpo bù jiàn le.

Oh no! My wallet is missing.

Pi regret

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

yi, zhqn méi xikngdào tp de chq chtshì le.

How awful. I never thought that his car would be in an accident.

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EXPRESSING SPEAKER ATTITUDES AND PERSPECTIVES

52.2

S sudden realization

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

{, wn wàng le gli nm qián le.

Oh, I forgot to pay you.

ó suspicion, not fully believing

!"#$!"#$

Ó, nmmen rènshi?

Oh, you know each other?

S surprise, sudden realization

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

{, yuánlái nm shì jmngchá a!

Oh, so you are a policeman!

52.2Sentence final particles

Sentence final particles occur in neutral tone. Here are some common sentence final particles that are used to express speaker attitude.

ma indicates that something is obviously true

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

Wn zko jiù gàosu nm tp bù shì hko rén ma.

Didn’t I tell you from the start that he wasn’t a good person?

a obviousness, impatience

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

Nm yào dus zhùyì shqntm a.

You should pay more attention to your health.

lo obviousness

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

Wnmen gpi znu le. Zài bù znu jiù wkn lo.

We’d better go now. If we don’t go we will be late.

la exclamation

!"#$!"#$

Hko la, hko la, bié zài shus la!

Okay, okay, don’t say it again!

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Sentence final particles

52.2

NOTE la is a combination of the sentence final particles le and a. Its meaning varies depending upon the sentence.

ba suggestions; suppositions

!"#!"#

Dus chr yrdikn ba!

Eat a little more!

!"#$

Nín shì Wáng jiàoshòu ba!

You must be Professor Wang!

For discussion of the sentence final particles / ma, ne, and le, see

Í24.1.1, 24.5, 30.3, 34.1

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