You might laugh at today’s topic of one Chinese sentence a day 🙂 I know you did. You might think “What in your right mind that you came up with such ridiculous topic for today?”
Well, actually it is not my invention, it is a song’s title that I found quite meaningful and I just thought of it today, so that is why:)
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/listen-to-sentence1.mp3|titles=listen to sentence]Now, let’s learn Mandarin – How to say ” I am very ugly, but I am very gentle and tender” in Chinese: wo3 hen3 chou3, ke3 shi4 wo3 hen3 wen1 rou2. 我很丑可是我很温柔。
我 Wo3 (pronoun, I) 很 hen3 (adverb, very) 丑 chou3 (adjective, ugly), 可是 ke3 shi4 ( conjunction, but) 我 wo3 (pronoun, I)很 hen3 (very, adverb) 温柔 wen1 rou2 (adjective, gentle and tender).
The singer is named 趙传 Zhao4 chuan2. He is far away from being handsome, however, he felt that he is quite tender and gentle inside.
For not so nice looking in appearance, we have some phrases to describe it.
If a person’s appearance is so so, we said:
像貌普通 xiang4 mao4 （appearance) pu3 tong1 (common) or 长得普通 zhang3 （the way he or she grows that looks) de5 (particle after verb) pu3 tong1 (common) or 长得普普通通 zhang3 （the way he or she grows that looks) de5 (particle) pu3 pu3 tong1 tong1 (reduplication of adjective which means common) or 其貌不扬 qi2 (his) mao4 (appearance) bu4 (not) yang2 （superior or special) or 像貌平凡 xiang4 mao4 (appearance) ping2 fan2 (so so, common)
If the appearance is not good, then we said:
长得不好看 zhang3 （the way he or she grows that looks) de5 (particle) bu4 (not) hao3 kan4 (good looking), 长像不佳 zhang3 xiang4 (the appearance) bu4 (not) jia1 (good), 貌不出众 mao4 (appearance) bu4 (not) chu1 zhong4 (outstanding; above many people)
If the appearance is really really very bad, then you can say:
很丑 hen3 (very) chou3 (ugly) or 很难看 hen3 (very) nan2 kan4 (bad looking) or 像貌极丑xiang4 mao4 (appearance) ji2 （extremely) chou3 (ugly)
If you want to exaggerate to the extreme, you can say:
丑死了 chou3 si3 le5 (ugly to death) or 丑八怪 chou3 ba1 guai4 (as ugly as monsters)
The phrase 丑八怪 chou3 ba1 guai4 means very ugly. The first origin of it comes from Yangzhou ba guai 扬州八怪 the” Eight Eccentric (Artists) of Yangzhou. ”
Eight Eccentric (Artists) of Yangzhou style refers to the painting style of a group of like-minded people. They are: 李蟮 Li Shan、汪士慎 Wang Shi Shen、高翔 Gao Xiang、金农 Jin Nong、郑燮 Zheng Xie、黄慎 Huang Shen、李方膺 Li Fang Ying、罗聘 Luo Pin、高凤翰 Gao Feng Han、李勉 Li Mian and others. In Chinese, “eight” is often used as a modifier to mean many people, not exactly eight in numbers. Among these people, Zheng Xie, Jin Nong, Wang Shi Shen are more famous. These artists were not welcomed by main stream artists or the upper class during that time period,however, their fairness and unique style were loved by the majority of Chinese people.
The phrase 丑八怪 can also mean eight kinds of ugly mythical creatures :
1。狌々 sheng1 xing1： a beast: It looks like legendary monkey of ancient China; it has white ears and can walk like human beings.
2。鹿蜀 lu4 shu3： a beast : It looks like horse but with white head, has stripes like tiger, and the tail is red.
3。旋龟xuan2 gui1： a beat: It is a spinning turtle with bird head and snake tail.
4。鲑gui1：a fish: Its appearance is like cow with snake tail with magic wings on it.
5。类lei4： a beast: It looks like a raccoon dog with mane.
6。犭尃訑 quan3 fu1 yi2： a beast: It’s shape is like a goat with nine tails and four ears, and its eyes are on the back.
7。尚付 shang4 fu4： a bird : It looks like a chicken with three heads, six legs, six eyes, and three wings.
8。九尾狐 jiu3 wie3 hu2：a beast: It is a fox with nine tails, and it can make sound like a child and eat people.
The outer appearance is not important, what essential is within — the so called 气质 qi4 zhi2 （temperament / personality traits / manners ).
What is the good way to increase the qi4 zhi2 and make your appearance and your overall image elegant and decent? There is a Chinese proverb says :腹有诗书气自华 fu4 you3 shi1 shu1 qi4 zi4 hua2. Remember, don’t trust Google translate. For example, this proverb, I tried it on Google translate and it came out as : Abdominal gas from China with poetry and literature. Mmmm, do you know what that means? Can it be ” China’s gas is very special and full of poet and literature?” It sounds like a joke; don’t you think so? The appropriate translation for this saying is: Inside a person who possesses the knowledge of poetry and books, his or her temperament naturally becomes magnificent.
Now, let’s enjoy today’s topic song !
我很丑,可是我很温柔
This English song called — Ugly — This song is really mean in nature, but just for fun.