Translation help

Dan01732

Dan01732

November 4, 2008

Can 'Jiàndào nǐ wǒ hěn gāoxìng' mean both 'nice to meet you' and 'nice to see you' , so it can be used after you have met someone for the first time or when you have just seen someone you already knew before? Also the textual translation says it means 'nice to meet you'... shouldn't it be 'very nice to meet you' because of the inclusion of the word 'hěn' ? Is 'Jiàndào nǐ wǒ gāoxìng' a more accurate translation of 'nice to meet you' ?? Thank you for your time.
Lin-Ping

Lin-Ping

November 4, 2008

Hi there, Yes, 'Jiàndào nǐ wǒ hěn gāoxìng' can be used in both situations. Hen in a positive sentence is used to keep the balance and flow of the sentence (because of the lack of shi-is) rather than conveying the meaning of "very". Whenever "am, is, are, was, were" are followed by adjectives, they are not translated. Instead, we put "hen" there, which doesn't really mean "very". It can just be understood as "nice to meet you" rather than "very nice to meet you". But it is considered wrong to say "jian dao ni wo gao xing". I hope that helps.

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