Gloss on words in the passage 'Once or twice a minute all summer' -- Harry Potter Mainland Chinese translation.
| 哎呀， |
Āiyā | 'oh' | 'oh, Percy' |
| 珀西， | Pòxī | 'Percy' | |
| 你 | nǐ | 'you' | 'so you are a Prefect!' |
| 原来 | yuánlái | 'originally, it turns out that...' Used to express a realisation of facts or background information that the speaker did not know before | |
| 是 | shì | 'to be' | |
| 级长 | jízhǎng | 'class captain' = 'prefect' | |
| 呀 | ya | exclamatory particle | |
| 'Oh Percy, so you are a Prefect!' | |||
| 孪生 | luánshēng | 'twin' | One of the twin brothers |
| 兄弟 | xiōngdì | 'brothers' | |
| 中 | -zhōng | 'among' | |
| 的 | de | connecting particle | |
| 一个 | yíge | 'one + classifier' (classifier 个 ge used for people) | |
| 用 | yòng | 'use, adopt; with' | with a very surprised expression |
| 非常 | fēicháng | 'very' | |
| 吃惊的 | chījīng | 'be surprised' | |
| 的 | de | connecting particle | |
| 口吻 | kǒuwěn | 'expression' | |
| 说 | shuō | 'to say' | says |
| says one of the twins with a very surprised expression. | |||
| 你 | nǐ | 'you' | 'you should have told us earlier' |
| 早 | zǎo | 'early, earlier' | |
| 该 | gài | 'should' | |
| 告诉 | gàosu | 'to tell' | |
| 我们 | wǒmen | 'us' | |
| 我 | wǒ | 'I' | 'I didn't know at all' |
| 一点都 | yìdiǎn dōu | 'at all' | |
| 不 | bù | 'not' | |
| 知道 | zhīdào | 'to know' | |
| 呢 | ne | sentence-ending particle | |
| 'You should have told us earlier. I didn't know at all.' | |||
| 慢着 | màn-zhe | 'slowly; just a minute' | 'just a minute' |
| 我 | wǒ | 'I' | 'I think' |
| 想 | xiǎng | 'to think' | |
| 我 | wǒ | 'I' | 'I remember' |
| 记得 | jìde | 'to remember' | |
| 他 | tā | 'he' | 'he mentioned (it)' |
| 说过 | shuō-guo | 'to have said'. 过 guo is a verb-ending (or particle) that indicates occurrence in the past. | |
| 孪生 | luánshēng | 'twins' | the other of the twin brothers |
| 兄弟 | xiōngdì- | 'brothers' | |
| 中 | zhōng | 'amongst' | |
| 的 | de | connecting particle | |
| 另外 | lìngwài | 'other' | |
| 一个 | yíge | 'one + classifier' (classifier 个 ge used for people) | |
| 说 | shuō | 'to say' | says |
| 说过 | shuō-guo | 'to have said'. 过 guo is a verb-ending (or particle) that indicates occurrence in the past. | '(he) mentioned (it) one time' |
| 一次 | yícì | 'one time' | |
| 'Just a minute, I think I remember him mentioning it once' | |||
| 说不定 | shuōbudìng | 'maybe' (literally, 'not say with certainty') | 'maybe twice' |
| 是 | shì | 'to be/is' | |
| 两次 | liǎngcì | 'two times' | |
| 'Maybe twice' | |||
| 等 | děng | to wait' | 'wait a minute' |
| 一会儿 | yìhuǐr | 'a moment' or 'a while' | |
| 'Wait a minute' | |||
| 说了 | shuō le | 'said' | 'mentioned (it) all summer' |
| 整整 | zhěngzhěng | 'entire' | |
| 一个 | yíge | 'one' + classifier (个 ge is a very general and versatile classifier) | |
| 夏天 | xiàtian | 'summer' | |
| 呢 | ne | sentence-ending particle | |
| 'He mentioned it all summer' | |||
| 哎呀 | āiyā | 'oh, shutup' | |
| 住嘴 | zhù zuǐ | ||
| 级长珀西 | Jízhǎng Pòxī | Prefect Percy says | |
| 说 | shuō | ||
| 'Oh shutup' says Percy Prefect | |||
For the most part, Chinese word-for-word glosses make sense in English. The particle 的 de has been indicated as a 'connecting particle'. It is often used to indicate that a noun is modified by what goes before.
Another problem is sentence-ending particles, which have a force that cannot always be adequately conveyed in English.