What you will be able to do
- Give an opinion with 觉得 plus a full clause, and negate the clause rather than 觉得.
- Separate 有点儿 before an adjective from 一点儿 after it.
- Make an event the cause of a feeling with 让: 这件事让我很生气.
- Agree and disagree without bluntness: 我同意, 你说得对, 我觉得不一定.
Chinese words in this text can be activated to show a dictionary gloss.
Saying what you think and how you feel
takes a whole sentence
juéde is to think, to feel, and what follows it is not a noun but a complete clause with its own subject and predicate.
- 。 Wǒ juéde zhège diànyǐng hěn yǒu yìsi.
- 。 Wǒ juéde tā shuō de duì.
- ？ Nǐ juéde zěnmeyàng? — What do you think?
Negate the inner sentence, not . English says I don't think it's expensive; Chinese says Wǒ juéde bú tài guì. is grammatical but it contradicts — it is the sentence for pushing back against someone who has just called the thing expensive.
rènwéi is the heavier cousin: a considered position rather than an impression, at home in a discussion, an essay or a meeting. 。 Wǒ rènwéi zhège bànfǎ bǐjiào hǎo. Use for nine sentences out of ten.
The feelings themselves
All of these are adjectives, so they take when they stand alone and drop it in a comparison.
- gāoxìng pleased; kuàilè happy, more often in wishes than in reports
- nánguò sad, upset
- shēngqì angry
- dānxīn worried; hàipà afraid
- mǎnyì satisfied
- qíguài strange, odd
Two of them open up. is a verb plus its object, so the person you are angry with goes inside: 。 Tā shēng wǒ de qì. — He is angry with me. And takes a clause: 。 Wǒ dānxīn tā zhǎo bu dào. — I am worried he will not find it.
and
They are not two spellings of one word. Position decides both the meaning and the tone of voice.
- + adjective, before it, and nearly always about something unwelcome: yǒudiǎnr guì a bit expensive, yǒudiǎnr lèi, yǒudiǎnr nán. You would not say .
- adjective + , after it, comparing: piányi yìdiǎnr a bit cheaper, màn yìdiǎnr a bit slower, zǎo yìdiǎnr lái.
So ，。 Zhège yǒudiǎnr guì, piányi yìdiǎnr ba. is one complaint and one request, in that order, and swapping the two words breaks both halves.
hands the cause to the thing
ràng normally means to let, to have someone do something, and with an emotion it names what produced it.
- 。 Zhè jiàn shì ràng wǒ hěn shēngqì. — This business made me angry.
- 。 Tā de huà ràng wǒ hěn nánguò.
- 。 Zhège xiāoxi ràng dàjiā dōu hěn gāoxìng.
The frame is cause + + person + feeling, and the feeling keeps its because it is still an adjective standing on its own.
Interest, and agreement
- … duì…gǎn xìngqù — to be interested in: 。 Wǒ duì Zhōngguó lìshǐ hěn gǎn xìngqù. The phrase comes before the verb, like every other prepositional phrase in the language.
- yǒu yìsi interesting and méi yìsi dull describe the thing, not the person: 。
- 。 Wǒ tóngyì. / 。 Nǐ shuō de duì. — agreement.
- 。 Wǒ juéde bù yídìng. — literally I think not necessarily: the ordinary, unaggressive way to disagree.
How to work through it
Where the 不 belongsread
Read the 觉得 section twice. Then say the pair out loud and feel the difference: 我觉得不太贵 (my own view) against 我不觉得贵 (a reply to yours). Only the second one argues.
Eight feelings and two verbs of opinionvocabulary
Learn 生气 with a person inside it — 生我的气 — and 担心 with a clause after it. The other six behave like ordinary adjectives and need 很 when they stand alone.
Complain, then asksentence
Six pairs on the frame 有点儿 X，X 一点儿吧: expensive/cheaper, fast/slower, late/earlier, hot/colder, hard/easier, far/nearer. The first half judges, the second half asks.
Adjectives, and how well it was donequiz
Twelve items. Six decide whether 很 is required, forbidden or optional in front of a feeling; six build 说得对, 做得好 and their negatives with 得.
Three opinions and one disagreementspeaking
Give an opinion on a film, a city and a dish, each starting 我觉得… and each with a reason after it. Then have someone contradict you, and reply with 我觉得不一定 rather than 不对.