# The more you hope, the more disappointed you get.



## maghanish2

大家好!

I want to translate this sentence into Chinese:

_The more you hope, the more disappointed you get._

My try:

越希望越失望.

謝謝你們!


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## Ghabi

Your version is understandable, but for this particular expression we usually say 希望越大,失望越大.


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## maghanish2

Thank you for the quick response. So does that construction work for all verbs?  For example:

我睡覺越大覺得累越大 - the more I sleep the more tired I feel. 

does that sentence make any sense?

再謝謝你！


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## Ghabi

In 希望越大,失望越大 we actually have two nouns ("bigger hope bigger disappointment"). As I say above, your original version is understandable, it's just that for this particular idiom we use this particular structure ("noun+noun" instead of "verb+verb").  

For "the more I sleep the more tired I feel" I'd say:

-Why do you keep yawning? Haven't got much sleep? 為甚麼老打呵欠?睡得不夠嗎?
-I slept a lot but, I don't know why, these days the more I sleep the more tired I get. 我睡得很多,但這陣子不知道為甚麼,睡得越多,人越累.

I understand that you're looking for a general rule, but I find it difficult to generalise. Seems that each scenerio calls for a particular structure, and add to it there're also personal preferences.


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## BODYholic

maghanish2 said:


> 我睡覺越大覺得累越大 - the more I sleep the more tired I feel.
> 
> does that sentence make any sense?



No it doesn't. I mean, even in English, we don't say "The bigger I sleep ...". Right? 

Direct translation works for this case.
the more I sleep - 我睡得越多
the more tired I feel - 就越觉得累。

Or simply, 越睡越累. But really?


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## maghanish2

Thanks for the help!

So does 越睡越累 actually make sense and sound natrual?


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## Jerry Chan

maghanish2 said:


> Thanks for the help!
> 
> So does 越睡越累 actually make sense and sound natrual?



Sounds fine to me. 

(越 verb 越 adj) is quite a useful pattern:
越開(車)越快
越做越精神
越講越誇張


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## maghanish2

All right well thank you both!   I think I have a semi-good understanding of this topic!
我越上wordreference forums越聰明....??


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## YangMuye

越希望越失望 sounds fine. But 越是希望越是失望 sounds better. Just because the "4-4"rhythm is better than "3-3" to me. "越睡越累"(2-2) "越做越精神" (2-3) is better than 4-4.... just my feeling.
We also say, “爬得越高，摔得越重。”



> All right well thank you both! I think I have a semi-good understanding of this topic!
> 我越上wordreference forums越聰明....??


If you want to praise wordreference forums, you can choose it as a topic:
wordreference forums，越上越聰明！
It sounds like an advertisement.


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## Jerry Chan

我上WR越多，人越聰明
Seems like we can only put a simple verb after 越, or it wont work.


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## avle

希望越大，失望越大！


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## henryyuen

You guys are definitely wrong, the correct sentence is "愈希望, 愈失望". The meaning between "越" and "愈"are completely different.


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## YangMuye

願聞其詳。
事實上，我覺得“越”“愈”“踰”“逾”等字古代同一來源。


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## henryyuen

*「愈」、「越」兩字在三方面上有分別。*



*一.  **讀音*

*愈– 讀音*yù (預) 。



越*–讀音*yuè  (月) 。



二. 本義

*愈 –*形聲。從心，俞聲。本義:病好了。



越 *–*形 聲。從走，戉聲。本義:經過，越過。



三.  引申義

*愈 –用作**動詞**， 解*勝過。如： 漢˙王充˙論衡˙自紀：「蓋文多勝寡，財寡愈貧。」；

清‧顧炎武：「一 曝之功,猶愈於十日之寒也。」

*用作**副詞**， 解*更加;越發。如：真理*愈*辯*愈*明。



越 *–用作動詞**，解*超越,躍過。如：越位、越禮、越俎代庖。

*解*劫奪,搶劫。如：殺人越貨。

*用作**副詞**， 解*愈加。如：真理越辯越明。

*用作**名詞**， 是古國/民族、地域的名稱。如：春秋時之越國、現今之越南；*

*百越：*中國南方的泛稱*。


*


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## henryyuen

不過這只是正宗的用法, 在現代這兩種文法也是通用的。


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## BODYholic

henryyuen said:


> 不過這只是正宗的用法, 在現代這兩種文法也是通用的。



之前不是说"You guys are definitely wrong", 现在又道"二者皆可",那不是自圆其说吗？什么跟什么。


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## henryyuen

bodyholic said:


> 之前不是说"you guys are definitely wrong", 现在又道"二者皆可",那不是自圆其说吗？什么跟什么。


閣下沒看清楚吧, 我是說"愈"在傳統上才是正確的用法, 而"越"是現代因為發音相似而被混淆, 繼而成為根深柢固的通用文法=]


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## BODYholic

是閣下断章取义，自己给混淆了吧？连自己的帖子也印证了“越”当副词是正解。
不知閣下是凭什么而断定"愈"为传统,而"越"是现代的高见。不才愿闻其详。



henryyuen said:


> *越* *–用作動詞**，解*超越,躍過。如：越位、越禮、越俎代庖。
> 
> *解*劫奪,搶劫。如：殺人越貨。
> 
> *用作副詞， 解愈加。如：真理越辯越明。*
> 
> *用作**名詞**， 是古國/民族、地域的名稱。如：春秋時之越國、現今之越南；*
> 
> *百越：*中國南方的泛稱*。*


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## BODYholic

Some references,

http://wenwen.soso.com/z/q179587736.htm

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/55040822.html

http://blog.lib.nctu.edu.tw/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=11871&blogId=6

http://blog.udn.com/surpanp/1910738

http://iask.sina.com.cn/b/5822711.html


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