<p>How can Chinese express emotion if tones determine the meaning of a word? This should be one of the top 2 or 3 items on a Chinese language FAQ. It seems to be a constant source of puzzlement and a goad to much odd speculation.</p>

<p>The problem is that the word 'tone' when applied to Chinese does not mean what people think it does. Or perhaps people do not think carefully about what they think tone means when speaking of it in their own language.</p>

<p>For most people, it seems that tone is simply emotion embedded in language. This is much too simplistic to provide any insights into how we judge emotion in speech.  What is an angry or frightened tone? Put in these terms, it's purely subjective.  </p>

<p>For Chinese tones, however, it is possible to give a much more objective statement of what they consist of.  Jerry Norman's book Chinese (published by Cambridge UP) gave what I thought was a very clear description: Tone consists of primarily of pitch, but duration and volume (Norman says intensity) are "important secondary cues." These are all relative, not absolute.</p>

<p>Much of what people tend to interpret as the emotional content of speech is in the departure of one of these from what has come before or what comes after.</p>

<p>This might seem puzzling, but perhaps a comparison with English might help. English indicates interrogative with a rising pitch. In contrast, many people interpret angry or strong emphasis with a falling pitch.  Is it possible to ask an angry question in English? I think this is not at all difficult, using increased volume and duration and perhaps less of a rise in pitch than is common.</p>

<p>Emotional inflection in Chinese works in similar ways, with increased or decreased volume and duration. Pitch certainly does not work the way in Chinese that it does in English, and this can make it easy to misinterpret the emotional inflection of speech for those who do not know the language.</p>

<p>I have often heard learners complain that it sounds like Chinese speakers are arguing or angry all the time, and this was certainly my first impression when I heard people speaking in the Minnan dialect. In fact, however, I think that misjudging emotional content is common with most languages that one is unfamiliar with.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T12:55:51.870Z
Thanks, that explained a lot. Yet, I wouldn't be so sure about misjudging emotional content in most of foreign languages, because Indo-European languages (well, at least most of Slavic, German and Romance languages) have a lot of common traits about the meaning of their tones (and, again, thank you very much for the explanation).
Manjusri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T10:38:44.323Z
2017-03-30T10:38:44.323Z
wpt
<p>As the other answers say, the whole story of expressing emotion though intonation is terribly complicated in any language.  But here is a very articulate discussion of one aspect from <a href="https://chinesepod.com/lessons/express-delivery#comment-282272" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ChinesePod</a> concerning complex sandhi of third tones.  I quote it since the web page may be available only to subscribers.  It describes sandhi in a sentence, using 2 and 3 as tone numbers on the first four words 我 等你 等 as pronounced.  Of course all these characters have assigned tone 3:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>These tones below are what's usually said in this sentence and how it
  is meaningfully broken down.</p>
  
  <p>我 等 你 等了 10 分鐘 了 。 3   2  3  3  </p>
  
  <p>However, the start of the sentence, 我, sounded like a second tone
  because the sentence was said emotionally. </p>
  
  <p>It's same when you say 我想你 in just regular tone. It would be 323.</p>
  
  <p>If somebody is really emotionally yelling this out it would sound like
  223 as well.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is in the context of a new series they put up on on pronunciation, called Say It Right, which is worth looking at.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T14:42:06.547Z
2017-06-06T15:17:51.230Z
2017-06-06T15:17:51.230Z
Colin McLarty
<p>It is like you say "Shit", "Fucking". We are the same, we use "幹","他媽的" to convey strong emotions.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<p>The fucking hot weather!</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>幹!這天氣真熱!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>OR</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>幹!這天氣真他媽的熱!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In here we just curse the weather; that means the weather is very very hot.</p>

<p>There, you can count how much "curse words" the man used, and know how much hot weather the man feels.</p>

<p>We can use the same word to express different meanings with different tones.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T02:06:40.257Z
2017-03-30T13:43:47.693Z
2017-03-30T13:43:47.693Z
Jacky Lu
<p>In many languages, a tone conveys emotion. Thus, a word in the first tone might be perceived as conveying an easy-off emotion by a native Russian speaker; a word in the second tone might be most likely felt as a question by a native English speaker (provided both persons in both abstract examples are not familiar with Chinese), words in the third or fourth tone might be perceived by a native Russian speaker unaccustomed to Chinese as a question or command respectively.</p>

<p>In some languages, e.g. in Swedish (which is also a language of two-tone system, a little bit reminding that existing in Tibetan) an emotion is conveyed by intensity of speech, but not by tone.</p>

<p>In Finnish, which is almost a zero-tone language, an emotional meaning is conveyed mainly by a grammatical structure and/or lexical units, and sometimes by intensity of speech.</p>

<p>From my personal experience, I know that Chinese speakers, too, convey emotions in speech (e.g. when I was learning a Chinese verse, my teacher said that it sounds as if I were scolding somebody, so it's not about facial expression).</p>

<p>The question is, how do you convey emotions in Chinese? Is it possible to say something like 您好 but meaning actually 'go to hell', like in languages where an emotion is conveyed through a tone (e.g. in Russian / English)?</p>

<p>How do Chinese speakers perceive emotional states of each other in speech? Do they use tones, even altering them somehow, or do they use other means?</p>

<p>What is the spectrum of emotions covered by such means?</p>

<p><strong>UPD:</strong> judging by <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/19/7241.abstract" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a>, the emotional states are also culture-specific (e. g. there are no 'six basic facial expressions of six basic [Occidental] emotional states' for a native Chinese speaker) which complicates the issue a little bit.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-29T13:08:50.817Z
Is it possible to say something like 您好 but meaning actually 'go to hell' - absolutely - sarcasm is easily heard and expressed through intonation or mood. Elongation of tones - overemphasis of words are very easy to hear unhappiness or ridicule.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-29T14:28:51.407Z
@ user3306356 ok, so sarcasm, unhappiness ans ridicule are expressed by tone elongation... What about other parts of the spectrum? And how do intonation differ from tones?
Manjusri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-29T14:32:29.780Z
I think that emotions can be conveyed through all languages. So I'm not sure there's a "correct" answer for your question. Conveying emotions in Mandarin is just as easy as conveying emotions in English. The only thing I can think of is how intense the words were said.
Michael
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2017-03-29T14:35:42.667Z
@ Michael C and what is the correlation between an emotion and an intencity of speech?
Manjusri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T04:46:01.057Z
In Chinese, if you have a question, just use grammatical structure with ‘哪’，‘誰’，‘什么’，‘為什么’, sometimes use single character (the object) for something you wanna confirm. i.e. Tom: 考試成績第一名的是張三。Alice: 張三？ Tom & Alice are talking face to face, so that Tom can watch Alice's face to know whether or not Alice is waiting for a feedback, or just soliloquy. when we write such dialog, there is a question mark, so no confusion.

sometimes, if you hate someone and don't want to talk with him, but you must continue to serve him (i.e. your job), you can speak loudly ^_^.
Daniel Yang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T17:37:21.413Z
see grammar on interjections/叹词 e.g. ＂实用现代汉语语法＂:
叹词列举：  **一、表示得意、高兴、欢乐**  ：哈哈、嗬嗬、嘿嘿，语调低降、短促，第一音节重，第二音节轻，多用于直接引语中。有时形容笑声。例如：＂哈哈哈，你这个坏小子。＂人们笑得更响了。  **二、表懊恼、叹息、哀伤**  ：唉（语调低降、舒缓），表示叹息、哀伤。例如：唉，这真是一个不可弥补的损失啊。咳、嗨（语气低降），表示叹息，不满、懊恼。例如：＂咳！别提了＂。我平常每天从家里出来，都是左手拿皮包，右手拿垃圾袋，今天早上一忙，给弄拧了结果，到了垃圾箱前，就把皮包扔进去了。  **三、表示赞叹、羡慕**  ：喝、嗬、啊（语调降）多用于当面高声称赞。例如：＂嗬，变化真大！我大概有三四年没来这儿了。＂男人也动了感情。啊（语调降０，表示感叹。例如：啊，健康真好啊！。。。眼泪不由得流了下来。嗯／ng（语调低降），一般用于低声赞许。例如：嗯，你这次考试成绩还不错，够上优等了。语调上升时表示出乎意料。例如：嗯，怎么小闹钟又停了。啧、啧啧（为舌与上齿的吸气音），多用于对第三者的称赞，有时包含羡慕的意思，＂啧＂不单用，通常是两个或三四个＂啧＂连用。例如：啧啧，看人家十一岁的小姑娘写的楷书多好。 **四、表示惊讶**  : 哎呀、哎哟、喔哟（语调低降、短促）可表示吃惊、焦急，也可表示惊喜、惊惧。
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T21:34:19.973Z
例如：哎呀，老玛丽，是你呀，有无年没见了吧。呀／ya（语调低降、短促），多用于突然发现意料不到或不利的情况。自言自语、对话都可用。例如；呀，夜里下雪了，下了这么厚呢。哎哟、喔哟oyo/还可以表示疼痛时的呻吟。例如：哎哟，伤口疼。哦o/(语调曲折，先降后升），对听到的情况表示惊异。例如：哦？他儿子刚毕业工作一年，就当上经理了。嗬/ho/（语调高降），表示对突然出现的新情况的惊讶。例如：嗬！新兴的科学城规摸可真不小。
喔o（语调高扬），表示惊讶。例如：喔，他没被录取吗？哟／yo／，表示轻微的惊异（有时带有玩笑的语气）。例如：哟，挂住我的衣服了。嚯／huo/，表示惊讶或赞叹。例如：嚯，这儿的人真多！咦/yi/，表示奇怪。例如：咦／你怎么来了？不是病了吗？  **五、表示不同意、埋怨或申斥**  ：嗳/ai/（语调曲折，先降后升），表示不同意对方意思。例如：嗳，在价值规律面前人是会变的嘛。哎呀/aiya/（语调下降或曲折，先降后升），表示埋怨。例如：哎呀，怎么弄的，满墙都是黑点儿。哼/heng/（语调低降、短促），表示不满或申斥。例如：哼，你还睡懒觉哇，看几点钟了。  **六、表示轻篾、不满或气愤**  ：哼/hng/（语调低降），表示不满、气愤。例如：哼，你还想靠他养老。呸/pei/（语调高平或高降），表示唾弃或斥责。例如：呸，你胡说，他可不是那样的人。喝、啊/he/（语调高平或高降）
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-03-30T22:13:29.130Z
，表示不满，语调高时有讽刺意味。例如：喝，你运气倒不错，想什么就有什么。
 **七、表示醒悟、领会** ：噢／o／（语调低降），表示领会。例如：噢，我懂了。＂噢＂语调下降、拉长，表示终于明白了。例如；噢，是这么回事，我一直在纳闷呢。嗯、唔／wu／（语调低降），表示领会。例如：（１）嗯，你的意思我明白了，我尽量帮忙呢。（２）唔，他的情况我听说了，我实在是爱莫能助。啊／a／（语调低降、舒缓，声音拖长），表示恍然大悟而又吃惊。例如：啊，原来如此。我顿时惊呆了。  **八、呼唤，应答** ：嗳／ei/(语调高扬），表示招呼或提醒对方注意。例如：嗳，你门到这儿来。嗳（语调低降，舒缓），表示答应或同意。例如：嗳，我在这儿，我马上就去。嗯／ng／（语调低降），用于答应。例如：＂嗯，好吃，好吃。＂她说。哎／ai／（拖长声音，语调先高平后下降），可用于呼唤。例如：哎，小华，你们在哪儿呢？喂／wei／（语调低降），用于招呼，也可用于打电话（语调可下降，也可高扬）。例如：喂，把钳子找来，我要修理一下机器。嘿（嗨）／hei／（语掉低降），表示招呼或提起注意。例如：嘿，老张，快走吧，你看那家新开张的电脑公司。 **九、表示追问或出乎意料**  ：嗯／ng／（语调高扬），表示出乎意料，也可用于追问。例如；嗯，说话呀，怎么了？啊／a／（语调高扬），表示因听不而追问。例如：啊，你说什么／刚才没听清楚。
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T16:03:49.600Z
I feel like the important part of tones in Chinese is that they are more accurately called "tone changes". It's all relative to the overall statement and between each syllable. One can say something in a low, growling voice to convey anger, for example, but still do all correct tone changes over each syllable. I think of Simpsons character Ned Flanders saying "diddly" in an evil voice, it was in an actual episode.
jdods
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-06T16:06:48.377Z
I feel like I was able to figure out much about context in HSK exam spoken part due to inferring the emotional state of the speaker by how it sounded. It had nothing to do with the "tonal structure of the language" but the formant/shape of the sound of the voice.
jdods
<tones><spoken>
How do Chinese speakers convey emotions by speech?
# How do Chinese speakers convey emotions by speech?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-29)

In many languages, a tone conveys emotion. Thus, a word in the first tone might be perceived as conveying an easy-off emotion by a native Russian speaker; a word in the second tone might be most likely felt as a question by a native English speaker (provided both persons in both abstract examples are not familiar with Chinese), words in the third or fourth tone might be perceived by a native Russian speaker unaccustomed to Chinese as a question or command respectively.

In some languages, e.g. in Swedish (which is also a language of two-tone system, a little bit reminding that existing in Tibetan) an emotion is conveyed by intensity of speech, but not by tone.

In Finnish, which is almost a zero-tone language, an emotional meaning is conveyed mainly by a grammatical structure and/or lexical units, and sometimes by intensity of speech.

From my personal experience, I know that Chinese speakers, too, convey emotions in speech (e.g. when I was learning a Chinese verse, my teacher said that it sounds as if I were scolding somebody, so it's not about facial expression).

The question is, how do you convey emotions in Chinese? Is it possible to say something like 您好 but meaning actually 'go to hell', like in languages where an emotion is conveyed through a tone (e.g. in Russian / English)?

How do Chinese speakers perceive emotional states of each other in speech? Do they use tones, even altering them somehow, or do they use other means?

What is the spectrum of emotions covered by such means?

**UPD:** judging by [this article](http://www.pnas.org/content/109/19/7241.abstract), the emotional states are also culture-specific (e. g. there are no 'six basic facial expressions of six basic [Occidental] emotional states' for a native Chinese speaker) which complicates the issue a little bit.

**Tags:** tones, spoken
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Is it possible to say something like 您好 but meaning actually 'go to hell' - absolutely - sarcasm is easily heard and expressed through intonation or mood. Elongation of tones - overemphasis of words are very easy to hear unhappiness or ridicule.  
> **username_0**: @ user3306356 ok, so sarcasm, unhappiness ans ridicule are expressed by tone elongation... What about other parts of the spectrum? And how do intonation differ from tones?  
> **username_2**: I think that emotions can be conveyed through all languages. So I'm not sure there's a "correct" answer for your question. Conveying emotions in Mandarin is just as easy as conveying emotions in English. The only thing I can think of is how intense the words were said.  
> **username_0**: @ Michael C and what is the correlation between an emotion and an intencity of speech?  
> **username_3**: In Chinese, if you have a question, just use grammatical structure with ‘哪’，‘誰’，‘什么’，‘為什么’, sometimes use single character (the object) for something you wanna confirm. i.e. Tom: 考試成績第一名的是張三。Alice: 張三？ Tom & Alice are talking face to face, so that Tom can watch Alice's face to know whether or not Alice is waiting for a feedback, or just soliloquy. when we write such dialog, there is a question mark, so no confusion.  sometimes, if you hate someone and don't want to talk with him, but you must continue to serve him (i.e. your job), you can speak loudly ^_^.  
> **username_4**: see grammar on interjections/叹词 e.g. ＂实用现代汉语语法＂: 叹词列举：  **一、表示得意、高兴、欢乐**  ：哈哈、嗬嗬、嘿嘿，语调低降、短促，第一音节重，第二音节轻，多用于直接引语中。有时形容笑声。例如：＂哈哈哈，你这个坏小子。＂人们笑得更响了。  **二、表懊恼、叹息、哀伤**  ：唉（语调低降、舒缓），表示叹息、哀伤。例如：唉，这真是一个不可弥补的损失啊。咳、嗨（语气低降），表示叹息，不满、懊恼。例如：＂咳！别提了＂。我平常每天从家里出来，都是左手拿皮包，右手拿垃圾袋，今天早上一忙，给弄拧了结果，到了垃圾箱前，就把皮包扔进去了。  **三、表示赞叹、羡慕**  ：喝、嗬、啊（语调降）多用于当面高声称赞。例如：＂嗬，变化真大！我大概有三四年没来这儿了。＂男人也动了感情。啊（语调降０，表示感叹。例如：啊，健康真好啊！。。。眼泪不由得流了下来。嗯／ng（语调低降），一般用于低声赞许。例如：嗯，你这次考试成绩还不错，够上优等了。语调上升时表示出乎意料。例如：嗯，怎么小闹钟又停了。啧、啧啧（为舌与上齿的吸气音），多用于对第三者的称赞，有时包含羡慕的意思，＂啧＂不单用，通常是两个或三四个＂啧＂连用。例如：啧啧，看人家十一岁的小姑娘写的楷书多好。 **四、表示惊讶**  : 哎呀、哎哟、喔哟（语调低降、短促）可表示吃惊、焦急，也可表示惊喜、惊惧。  
> **username_4**: 例如：哎呀，老玛丽，是你呀，有无年没见了吧。呀／ya（语调低降、短促），多用于突然发现意料不到或不利的情况。自言自语、对话都可用。例如；呀，夜里下雪了，下了这么厚呢。哎哟、喔哟oyo/还可以表示疼痛时的呻吟。例如：哎哟，伤口疼。哦o/(语调曲折，先降后升），对听到的情况表示惊异。例如：哦？他儿子刚毕业工作一年，就当上经理了。嗬/ho/（语调高降），表示对突然出现的新情况的惊讶。例如：嗬！新兴的科学城规摸可真不小。 喔o（语调高扬），表示惊讶。例如：喔，他没被录取吗？哟／yo／，表示轻微的惊异（有时带有玩笑的语气）。例如：哟，挂住我的衣服了。嚯／huo/，表示惊讶或赞叹。例如：嚯，这儿的人真多！咦/yi/，表示奇怪。例如：咦／你怎么来了？不是病了吗？  **五、表示不同意、埋怨或申斥**  ：嗳/ai/（语调曲折，先降后升），表示不同意对方意思。例如：嗳，在价值规律面前人是会变的嘛。哎呀/aiya/（语调下降或曲折，先降后升），表示埋怨。例如：哎呀，怎么弄的，满墙都是黑点儿。哼/heng/（语调低降、短促），表示不满或申斥。例如：哼，你还睡懒觉哇，看几点钟了。  **六、表示轻篾、不满或气愤**  ：哼/hng/（语调低降），表示不满、气愤。例如：哼，你还想靠他养老。呸/pei/（语调高平或高降），表示唾弃或斥责。例如：呸，你胡说，他可不是那样的人。喝、啊/he/（语调高平或高降）  
> **username_4**: ，表示不满，语调高时有讽刺意味。例如：喝，你运气倒不错，想什么就有什么。  **七、表示醒悟、领会** ：噢／o／（语调低降），表示领会。例如：噢，我懂了。＂噢＂语调下降、拉长，表示终于明白了。例如；噢，是这么回事，我一直在纳闷呢。嗯、唔／wu／（语调低降），表示领会。例如：（１）嗯，你的意思我明白了，我尽量帮忙呢。（２）唔，他的情况我听说了，我实在是爱莫能助。啊／a／（语调低降、舒缓，声音拖长），表示恍然大悟而又吃惊。例如：啊，原来如此。我顿时惊呆了。  **八、呼唤，应答** ：嗳／ei/(语调高扬），表示招呼或提醒对方注意。例如：嗳，你门到这儿来。嗳（语调低降，舒缓），表示答应或同意。例如：嗳，我在这儿，我马上就去。嗯／ng／（语调低降），用于答应。例如：＂嗯，好吃，好吃。＂她说。哎／ai／（拖长声音，语调先高平后下降），可用于呼唤。例如：哎，小华，你们在哪儿呢？喂／wei／（语调低降），用于招呼，也可用于打电话（语调可下降，也可高扬）。例如：喂，把钳子找来，我要修理一下机器。嘿（嗨）／hei／（语掉低降），表示招呼或提起注意。例如：嘿，老张，快走吧，你看那家新开张的电脑公司。 **九、表示追问或出乎意料**  ：嗯／ng／（语调高扬），表示出乎意料，也可用于追问。例如；嗯，说话呀，怎么了？啊／a／（语调高扬），表示因听不而追问。例如：啊，你说什么／刚才没听清楚。  
> **username_5**: I feel like the important part of tones in Chinese is that they are more accurately called "tone changes". It's all relative to the overall statement and between each syllable. One can say something in a low, growling voice to convey anger, for example, but still do all correct tone changes over each syllable. I think of Simpsons character Ned Flanders saying "diddly" in an evil voice, it was in an actual episode.  
> **username_5**: I feel like I was able to figure out much about context in HSK exam spoken part due to inferring the emotional state of the speaker by how it sounded. It had nothing to do with the "tonal structure of the language" but the formant/shape of the sound of the voice.  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_6 on 2017-03-30. Score: 3

How can Chinese express emotion if tones determine the meaning of a word? This should be one of the top 2 or 3 items on a Chinese language FAQ. It seems to be a constant source of puzzlement and a goad to much odd speculation.

The problem is that the word 'tone' when applied to Chinese does not mean what people think it does. Or perhaps people do not think carefully about what they think tone means when speaking of it in their own language.

For most people, it seems that tone is simply emotion embedded in language. This is much too simplistic to provide any insights into how we judge emotion in speech. What is an angry or frightened tone? Put in these terms, it's purely subjective.

For Chinese tones, however, it is possible to give a much more objective statement of what they consist of. Jerry Norman's book Chinese (published by Cambridge UP) gave what I thought was a very clear description: Tone consists of primarily of pitch, but duration and volume (Norman says intensity) are "important secondary cues." These are all relative, not absolute.

Much of what people tend to interpret as the emotional content of speech is in the departure of one of these from what has come before or what comes after.

This might seem puzzling, but perhaps a comparison with English might help. English indicates interrogative with a rising pitch. In contrast, many people interpret angry or strong emphasis with a falling pitch. Is it possible to ask an angry question in English? I think this is not at all difficult, using increased volume and duration and perhaps less of a rise in pitch than is common.

Emotional inflection in Chinese works in similar ways, with increased or decreased volume and duration. Pitch certainly does not work the way in Chinese that it does in English, and this can make it easy to misinterpret the emotional inflection of speech for those who do not know the language.

I have often heard learners complain that it sounds like Chinese speakers are arguing or angry all the time, and this was certainly my first impression when I heard people speaking in the Minnan dialect. In fact, however, I think that misjudging emotional content is common with most languages that one is unfamiliar with.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks, that explained a lot. Yet, I wouldn't be so sure about misjudging emotional content in most of foreign languages, because Indo-European languages (well, at least most of Slavic, German and Romance languages) have a lot of common traits about the meaning of their tones (and, again, thank you very much for the explanation).  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2017-06-06. Score: 1

As the other answers say, the whole story of expressing emotion though intonation is terribly complicated in any language. But here is a very articulate discussion of one aspect from [ChinesePod](https://chinesepod.com/lessons/express-delivery#comment-282272) concerning complex sandhi of third tones. I quote it since the web page may be available only to subscribers. It describes sandhi in a sentence, using 2 and 3 as tone numbers on the first four words 我 等你 等 as pronounced. Of course all these characters have assigned tone 3:

> These tones below are what's usually said in this sentence and how it
> is meaningfully broken down.
>
> 我 等 你 等了 10 分鐘 了 。 3 2 3 3
>
> However, the start of the sentence, 我, sounded like a second tone
> because the sentence was said emotionally.
>
> It's same when you say 我想你 in just regular tone. It would be 323.
>
> If somebody is really emotionally yelling this out it would sound like
> 223 as well.

This is in the context of a new series they put up on on pronunciation, called Say It Right, which is worth looking at.


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### Answer by username_8 on 2017-03-30. Score: 1

It is like you say "Shit", "Fucking". We are the same, we use "幹","他媽的" to convey strong emotions.

For example:

The fucking hot weather!

> 幹!這天氣真熱!

OR

> 幹!這天氣真他媽的熱!

In here we just curse the weather; that means the weather is very very hot.

There, you can count how much "curse words" the man used, and know how much hot weather the man feels.

We can use the same word to express different meanings with different tones.


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