# It's because I've lived in China before.



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently buying groceries at a Chinese grocery store and the cashier said something like "你怎么会说中文？你不像中国人！" (some people say I look Chinese, some people think I look like 外国人)
I wanted to reply "It's because I've lived in China before". Would it be "就是因为我在中国住过一段时间"?
Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

Replace 就 with 這.


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## philchinamusical

I'd suggest remove "这是" or "就是". It's just "因为我在中国待过一段时间". And you may add a "呀" at the end of it to make it sound cuter.


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## yuechu

Thanks, SimonTsai and philchinamusical!


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## viod

I think "因为我在中国住过一段时间" is better. Most time we would omit "这是". Omission of words is very common in China. Sometimes a native speaker would find it is weird to hear "这是因为我在中国住过一段时间". By the way, I am talking about the situations in mainland China, and maybe "这是因为我在中国住过一段时间" sounds perfectly nature to Chinese speakers in other regions.​


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## NewAmerica

“因为俺在中国住过嘛” or "咱在中国呆过呀” could sound folkish, humorous and light-hearted.
"因为我在中国住过一段时间" sounds well-behaved and a bit pedantic. I am laughing to hear these guys replying this way to a cashier's casual inquire.


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## SimonTsai

NewAmerica said:


> “因为俺在中国住过嘛” could sound folkish, humorous and light-hearted.


This is certainly not something that Taiwanese young natives would say and would remind me of veterans (榮民).


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## ColorCarp

NewAmerica said:


> “因为俺在中国住过嘛” or "咱在中国呆过呀” could sound folkish, humorous and light-hearted.
> "因为我在中国住过一段时间" sounds well-behaved and a bit pedantic. I am laughing to hear these guys replying this way to a cashier's casual inquire.


“因为俺在中国住过嘛” or "咱在中国呆过呀” implies mainland northern accent. Surely it sounds light-hearted and friendly.
"我在中国待过一段时间" is more simple and neutral. To answer the cashier's casual question, this may be enough. 
"因为" may be omitted without confusion.
"就是" or "这是" is too strong in this case. It's like make an emphasis here, THAT'S BECAUSE I stayed in China...


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## SimonTsai

@yuechu, in the scenario that you gave, as @philchinamusical and @ColorCarp comment, most Mandarin natives are more inclined to have 這是 removed, to include it is not wrong, absolutely, nevertheless.


ColorCarp said:


> "这是" is too strong in this case.


I would say that it is more of a filler than of an emphasiser.


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## ColorCarp

Yes I agree. I would like to correct this. "这是" is not absolutely too strong, but it's a bit stronger than the intended meaning in the English version "It's because I've lived in China before", because it appears in a position where people don't usually expect it to. This may cause a subtle little sense of surprise.

Nevertheless, using "这是" is correct.

For "就是", it sounds like referring to some aforementioned context. For example, "你中文说得这么好，难道因为你在中国待过?" Then the answer can be "就是因为我在中国待过呀."


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## SimonTsai

ColorCarp said:


> For example, "你中文说得这么好，难道因为你在中国待过?"


I would like to add that 難道 often implies the speaker's presuming that the following is not the case, and that 因為 here is omissible; I tend not to include it.


ColorCarp said:


> Then the answer can be "就是因为我在中国待过呀."


It still does not work for me.

Maybe I would reply, '對，我在中國待過；至於幾年，我忘了'.


philchinamusical said:


> It's just "因为我在中国待过一段时间". And you may add a "呀" at the end of it to make it sound cuter.


I would like to have 一段時間 left out or say, '因為我待過中國呀', given that 呀 is normally applied to short sentences.

By the way, I seldom use 呀.


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## fyl

SimonTsai said:


> 因為我待過中國呀


To me 待過 is intransitive, and I'd say 在中国待过.
For other things, I'm OK with all above suggestions.


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## SimonTsai

fyl said:


> To me 待過 is intransitive, and I'd say 在中国待过.


I admit that 我待過中國 is not that idiomatic, but it is passable:

[a-1] 我在待過那兒。
[a-2] 我在那兒待過。
[b-1] 我為了工作，在待過中國河北張家口市幾年，交了幾個一生一世的朋友。
[b-2] 我為了工作，在中國河北張家口市待過幾年，交了幾個一生一世的朋友。​[a-1] and [b-1] put less emphasis on the places; such use may only be applicable to cases in which the complement is short and simple; hence [b-1] is not something that most natives would say.

It is okay that some may disagree.


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## philchinamusical

I agree with @fyl that in mainland Mandarin, "待过" is regarded as intransitive verb usually. Therefore, @SimonTsai , neither of [a-1] and [b-1] is a proper saying we'd hear everyday, while both [a-2] and [b-2] are quite often seen.


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