Need help with my writing homework on Chinese 160. Write a 1250 word paper answering; In Mandarin Chinese, there are many sentence-final particles, which are used in formal plus colloquial speech.
我们走吧 meaning, let’s go
给我吧 meaning, to me
我们明天再说吧 meaning, we talk tomorrow
我们买三个吧 meaning, we bought three bars
你是学生吧？meaning, are you a student, right?
这件衣服很贵吧？meaning, this dress is expensive, right?
这样不好吧？meaning, this is not right?
好吧，我们一起做, meaning, well, we do together
就这样吧，不要再改了 meaning, so be it, do not change the
请你帮帮忙吧 meaning, please help out
来吧！meaning, come on!
请吧！meaning, go ahead!
滚吧！meaning, roll it!
The first sentence was, “let’s go,” which made a soft request less directly. The use of the particle 吧 in the sentence was a somewhat pushy instruction into a more neutral one. The 吧 particle represents an imperative mood (Hu and James 19). The imperative mood, in this case, is utilized for forming a conditional sentence. However, it sounded blunt and rude because it was like telling someone what to do without any quarrel or argument (Hu and James 19).
The second sentence was “to me,” which made a subtle inquiry less directly. The application of the particle 吧 in the sentence, in this case, was to signify a perplexed mood (Huang 4). It was like the speaker was surprised to find something that had been directed to him or her. It does not sound blunt or rude, like in the previous sentence, but the speaker spoke out of shock and surprise (Huang 4).
The third sentence went as “we talk tomorrow,” meaning that the discussion cannot be held today, but, in fact, tomorrow. The mood brought out by the 吧 particle is a subjunctive mood (Zhang et al. 31). Here is a sentence that expresses several states of unreality like wish, possibility, emotion, judgment, necessity, opinion, and action, which has not yet taken place. The subjunctive is an irrealis mood that does not point directly to what is essentially real, which is a realis mood (Zhang et al. 31).
