To have nothing left at all – No-nonsense Chinese idioms
Welcome back to no-nonsense idioms, let’s get right into it:
Usage
Traditional
他除了身上的衣服一無所有Simplified
他除了身上的衣服一无所有Pinyin
tā chúle shēnshàng de yīfú yīwúsuǒyǒuEnglish
He’s got nothingleftexcept the clothes on his back
See if you can remember this meme…
Traditional
我已經一無所有但是我至少有這個三明治Simplified
我已经一无所有但是我至少有这个三明治Pinyin
wǒ yǐjīng yīwúsuǒyǒu dànshì wǒ zhìshǎo yǒu zhègè sānmíngzhìEnglish
I’ve got nothing at all, but at least I’ve still got this sandwich
Related Content
Chris
A Scottish computer graduate turned Mandarin addict, Chris (currently a level 67 Frost Mage) has been learning Chinese for the last 3 years while living a free spirit existence in Taiwan. When he’s not pondering over radicals and stroke order, he’s making character frequency lists for fun or illustrating his web comic Horse Dragon Fish.
4 Comments
-
Haha, love the picture. Poor Keanu. One of my favourite Chinese songs is called 一无所有 by 崔健. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHwfCf2spTk
-
Where did you get “left” from “一無所有”. I don’t see the “left” part at all from that phrase. My feel for it is simply “Have nothing”, or, more literally “Have not even one thing”.
-
Cheers Rich, you’re right. The Chinese is more vague than that. I suppose for the example it could be argued that it’s alright, but not for the definition. Anyway, thanks for spotting this and saying something. Dave has updated it now I believe.
-
hahahhahaha Cool! I like both the expression itself an the picture! I will use it somewhere!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
Archives
Official Partners
Friends of ChineseHacks
