# I'm not sure



## Senordineroman

Can I say,

"Wo bu tai ken ding"  ?


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## sxzeng

ChrisCashman said:


> Can I say,
> 
> "Wo bu tai ken ding"  ?



No, you can't say "我不可能..." in this case, which means "I can't/couldn't have done ...(我不可能干过这种事)/will never...(我不可能干这种事)". but you can say "我不确定/知道"

I'm not sure if he'll come. -- 我不确定(知道)他会不会来。


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## Senordineroman

No, no - kending = 肯定.  Not "ke neng" = 可能.

I understand your answers, though.  "Que ding" will work.  

Sorry - I write pinyin a lot on here because I don't know how to type Chinese characters, except by copying and pasting them from dictionaries and www.quickmandarin.com.


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## sxzeng

Sorry, I misread your pinyin's, I was so careless. 

Yes, “肯定” works, but that is mostly associated with "不能", not a simple "不". I can't explain why, but "不能肯定" sounds more natural to me.

I'd also say that "不能肯定" is less colloquial, compared with “不确定/知道”。


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## Senordineroman

Well, yeah - I would actually like the more colloquial one.  

So the next time I'm not sure about something, I'll say, "Wo bu tai que-ding"!  

你 看 得 错 了， 别 担心！


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## kenny4528

I think what you mean in your original post is "我不太肯定" not "我不能肯定" right? If so it sounds good to me.


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## Senordineroman

YES, Kenny!  The "ken-ding" one was _exactly _what I was trying to say. 

So....you're saying that you _can _say 我不太肯定 in Chinese?

By the way, is that picture really _you_?  If so, how is your native language Chinese?


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## kenny4528

ChrisCashman said:


> YES, Kenny! The "ken-ding" one was _exactly _what I was trying to say.
> 
> So....you're saying that you _can _say 我不太肯定 in Chinese?
> 
> By the way, is that picture really _you_? If so, how is your native language Chinese?


 
Yes, you can say that depending on the situation.

My picture is in memory of a snooker player I like, who had passed away.


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## LikeBarleyBending

ChrisCashman said:


> YES, Kenny! The "ken-ding" one was _exactly _what I was trying to say.
> 
> So....you're saying that you _can _say 我不太肯定 in Chinese?
> 
> By the way, is that picture really _you_? If so, how is your native language Chinese?


 
我不太肯定 works fine with me, which means "I am not exactly sure about that".


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## Staarkali

Here I hear a lot of* 我不太确定*, which some Shanghainese translate into *I can't confirm *or even *I'm not confirmed *(it took me a couple of weeks in the first place to get they actually meant *I'm not sure*). However I guess *我不太肯定 *could be possible.

For the Chinese writing, I believe MS-Windows made it simple, just click on the language input selector (the button-like near the clock and the resident programs), then choose the appropriate language (add Chinese will cost you to install the extrem oriental languages pack, which weighs 230MB if I remember well)(need any WinXP install CD to proceed)


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## fffa4lulua

我不太肯定 is okay, but I will say "我不太确定" is the best way to translate "I'm not sure".


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## Shaouva

What about 我不太清楚 ?


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## Staarkali

Shaouva said:


> What about 我不太清楚 ?


it works fine; actually I use and hear it a lot over here.


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## Jamison

ChrisCashman said:


> Well, yeah - I would actually like the more colloquial one.
> 
> 你 看 得 错 了， 别 担心！


 
I think '你(只不过_just_)看错了，没关系!' is better and more likely to be understood.


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