How to indicate the repetition or continuation of an action or a state in Chinese

New words

再 zài adv. again, once more

－再见 zài jiàn see you

－再来 zài lái come again

－再去 zài qù go again

让 ràng v. to let, to allow

－不让 bú ràng not allow

告诉 gàosu v. to tell

－告诉我 ɡàosu wǒ tell me

－告诉他们 ɡàosu tāmen tell them

Language points

The interrogative sentence “……好吗？”

“好吗？” can be used to ask about another person’s willingness or idea. It means something like “shall we?”

(1) 我们一起去吃饭，好吗？ Wǒmen yìqǐ qù chīfàn， hǎo mɑ ？

Let’s go to have a meal together, shall we?

(2) 你明天下午给我打电话，好吗？ Nǐ mínɡtiān xiàwǔ ɡěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà, hǎo mɑ ？

You call me tomorrow afternoon，ok?

(3) 我们下午去看电影，好吗？Wǒmen xiàwǔ qù kàn diànyǐnɡ, hǎo mɑ ？

Let’s see a movie this afternoon, shall we?

reduplication of verbs

“一下 yíxià” is used after a verb to indicate a short action. We can say it in another way like 看看 想想 休息休息, it is called reduplication of verbs, this form indicates a short time, a small quantity, a slight degree or an attempt, expressing a relaxed and casual mood. It is often used in spoken Chinese.

when the verb has only one syllable like 看、想 , we could also say：看一看 想一想