# 才不呢



## sqlines

Hi,

What is the meaning of the expression :
才不呢
and in which circumstances can you use this.
Thanks.


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## koinbouffier

This's* This is* really kinda* kind of* southern expression............we people from Beijing never say it, particularly for guys...it's kinda *kind of* cissy* sissy*....I mean it's a little girlish expression.

A conversation between A and B
A: Some chicks just said I was a piece of eye candy today in the gym~~
B: Dude, Probably just because you work out pretty hard lately!!
A: No~~~(才不呢/根本不是/.......)，I think they were just teasing me!!!

well, there are many circumstances that you can use it. But I cannnot really list them all now. 
But, I think I was wrong before. We Beijingers do use it as well...hahaha. See that conversation I made up. it happened just between 2 guys......
Laguages are tricky......


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## dishmoon

Hello,I'm the first time here.I come across the forum accidently. English is not my first language and though I think this expression can be translated to "I'd like not to & I dont want to". It can be used in coquetry,e.g. when a boy asks the girl he loves very much whether she loves him as well, the girl might say "才不呢", however in contrary she loves him deeply just doesn't want to admit that. Wish you understand.

Circumstances:
Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
Girl:（偷笑）才不呢！


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## koinbouffier

dishmoon said:


> Hello,I'm the first time here.I come across the forum accidently. English is not my first language and though I think this expression can be translated to "I'd like not to & I dont want to". It can be used in coquetry,e.g. when a boy asks the girl he loves very much whether she loves him as well, the girl might say "才不呢", however in contrary she loves him deeply just doesn't want to admit that. Wish you understand.
> 
> Circumstances:
> Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
> Girl:（偷笑）才不呢！


 
Sorry, I cannot really agree...........it's just a NO in most of occasions...


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## swim4life

It means "definitely will not" for most cases. Both Koinbouffie and Dishmoon are right about their sample conversations.


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## dishmoon

Yea...I've just made one specific example. It could be used under many cirumstances. I admit it's mostly explained as "absolutely not".


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## lmyyyks

Like many short phrases, it can mean both "yes" and "no", depending on the tones.


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## 2PieRad

It's pretty analogous to _yeah right!_ in English. Though _yeah right_ is very sarcastic, the meaning and usage is quite similar, I feel.


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## avlee

I was wondering what the tone should be like while speaking up_ Yeah right_ to mean 才不呢.


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## koinbouffier

Erebos12345 said:


> It's pretty analogous to _yeah right!_ in English. Though _yeah right_ is very sarcastic, the meaning and usage is quite similar, I feel.


 
Sorry, cannnot really agree with your "yeah right"~~~~

there is a conversation between Ross and Rachel in Friends.....

Amy: Seriously? its...its just these rooms? I thought you were a doctor.
Rachel: Yeah. no. Ross has a PHD.
Amy: Ew.
Rachel: God she's unbelievable.
Ross: I know, I mean a PhD is just as good as an MD.
Rachel: yeah right Ross. if i have a heart attack in a restaurant, i want you there with your fossil brush......

We native speakers would rather translate it into "对, 罗斯，我如果在饭店突然心脏病突发，有你跟你的化石刷子在，就什么都能解决了"， which means exactly the same meaning as its english equivalence other than "才不呢.....blah blah blah"， which means absolutely unnatural........


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## koinbouffier

Erebos12345 said:


> It's pretty analogous to _yeah right!_ in English. Though _yeah right_ is very sarcastic, the meaning and usage is quite similar, I feel.


 
"yeah right" is sarcastic in English and so is its equivalence "恩，对" in Chinese. It's not really connected with "才不呢" that much......


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## 2PieRad

koinbouffier. It seems you're simply separating them based on the fact that one is sarcastic and the other is not. I think you're taking the term too literally, and not interpreting them practically. _Yeah right_ is almost never used to agree with someone. 

_Yeah right_ is a very sarcastic phrase, and it seems to fit quite well in the other examples above, and also where I'd use 才不呢。 True, a non-sarcastic translation may be _no way!_ However, I don't feel that people would use it as often in these situations as they would use a sarcastic _yeah right, _and thus, it may be more _natural_ in English_._ Whereas in Chinese, it may be more _natural_ not to be sarcastic and use 才不呢。I certainly don't feel a sarcastic 恩，对 would fit in the other examples above, would you?

Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
Girl:（偷笑）恩，对！          

If this situation happened in English, the most common response you'll have is _yeah right. _However, in Chinese, even trying to say 恩，对 sarcastically won't really work and it seems like the girl is actually agreeing, wouldn't you say? 

Furthermore, 恩，对 in your Friends example doesn't have much of a sarcastic tone either. Notice that it's the last part of your translated sentence that indicates that the entire sentence, including 恩，对 was supposed to be sarcastic. It's an extremely literal translation of _yeah right_, and I really don't think it carries the same meaning in both languages. 

Most importantly, we're not translating _yeah right_ into Chinese. We're translating 才不呢 into English. I suggested _yeah right_ because I think 才不呢 can be translated into it quite well. However, it certainly doesn't mean we can go backwards and translate _yeah right_ into 才不呢 just as smoothly.

In your example, you're right to say that 恩，对 is better than 才不呢 (Unless maybe if you pause for a short period after 才不呢). This indicated only that _yeah right_ can be translated into 恩，对. However, it's irrelevant to determining if 才不呢 can be translated into _yeah right_ or not.

After all, all rabbits are animals, but that doesn't mean that all animals are rabbits.


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## koinbouffier

Erebos12345 said:


> koinbouffier. It seems you're simply separating them based on the fact that one is sarcastic and the other is not. I think you're taking the term too literally, and not interpreting them practically. _Yeah right_ is almost never used to agree with someone.
> 
> _Yeah right_ is a very sarcastic phrase, and it seems to fit quite well in the other examples above, and also where I'd use 才不呢。 True, a non-sarcastic translation may be _no way!_ However, I don't feel that people would use it as often in these situations as they would use a sarcastic _yeah right, _and thus, it may be more _natural_ in English_._ Whereas in Chinese, it may be more _natural_ not to be sarcastic and use 才不呢。I certainly don't feel a sarcastic 恩，对 would fit in the other examples above, would you?
> 
> Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
> Girl:（偷笑）恩，对！
> 
> If this situation happened in English, the most common response you'll have is _yeah right. _However, in Chinese, even trying to say 恩，对 sarcastically won't really work and it seems like the girl is actually agreeing, wouldn't you say?
> 
> Furthermore, 恩，对 in your Friends example doesn't have much of a sarcastic tone either. Notice that it's the last part of your translated sentence that indicates that the entire sentence, including 恩，对 was supposed to be sarcastic. It's an extremely literal translation of _yeah right_, and I really don't think it carries the same meaning in both languages.
> 
> Most importantly, we're not translating _yeah right_ into Chinese. We're translating 才不呢 into English. I suggested _yeah right_ because I think 才不呢 can be translated into it quite well. However, it certainly doesn't mean we can go backwards and translate _yeah right_ into 才不呢 just as smoothly.
> 
> In your example, you're right to say that 恩，对 is better than 才不呢 (Unless maybe if you pause for a short period after 才不呢). This indicated only that _yeah right_ can be translated into 恩，对. However, it's irrelevant to determining if 才不呢 can be translated into _yeah right_ or not.
> 
> After all, all rabbits are animals, but that doesn't mean that all animals are rabbits.


 
My silence doesnt mean that I agree with you. I'm extremely busy at the moment. I'll talk about that with you in five days.
Cheers


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## summerflower

I think 才不呢 just means absolutely not. Dishmoon's example is not a common one. It's just a coquetry of the girl.(I don't know whether the word "conquetry" is right or not. I mean the word 撒娇 in Chinese, I don't know how to say it in English.)


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## catherine1999

koinbouffier said:


> Sorry, cannnot really agree with your "yeah right"~~~~
> 
> there is a conversation between Ross and Rachel in Friends.....
> 
> Amy: Seriously? its...its just these rooms? I thought you were a doctor.
> Rachel: Yeah. no. Ross has a PHD.
> Amy: Ew.
> Rachel: God she's unbelievable.
> Ross: I know, I mean a PhD is just as good as an MD.
> Rachel: yeah right Ross. if i have a heart attack in a restaurant, i want you there with your fossil brush......
> 
> We native speakers would rather translate it into "对, 罗斯，我如果在饭店突然心脏病突发，有你跟你的化石刷子在，就什么都能解决了"， which means exactly the same meaning as its english equivalence other than "才不呢.....blah blah blah"， which means absolutely unnatural........


 

Rachel would never say that "才不呢" if she were chinese, people knew her character. And the given dialog is totally inappropriate for "才不呢" to put in. This's very sensitive phrase people barely use it. You should avoid using it unless you're a girl(not too old-girl), hanging out with others who you have close relationships with. And yes, it's girlish,sissy stuff. Speaking it to strangers,in serious occasions,by a guy, would be the terrible thing or cause uncertain effection.
才不呢 本身意思approximately==no, I don't; 才不是呢 == no,it isn't.


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## 2PieRad

^But Catherine, once again, the task is to translate 才不呢 into English, and not to translate _yeah right_ into Chinese. How you translate Rachel's _yeah right_ into Chinese is simply irrelevant to the task at hand, as I explained in my last post... (Logic Fallacy: Affirming the Consequent)


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## koinbouffier

Erebos12345 said:


> koinbouffier. It seems you're simply separating them based on the fact that one is sarcastic and the other is not. I think you're taking the term too literally, and not interpreting them practically. _Yeah right_ is almost never used to agree with someone.
> 
> _Yeah right_ is a very sarcastic phrase, and it seems to fit quite well in the other examples above, and also where I'd use 才不呢。 True, a non-sarcastic translation may be _no way!_ However, I don't feel that people would use it as often in these situations as they would use a sarcastic _yeah right, _and thus, it may be more _natural_ in English_._ Whereas in Chinese, it may be more _natural_ not to be sarcastic and use 才不呢。I certainly don't feel a sarcastic 恩，对 would fit in the other examples above, would you?
> 
> Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
> Girl:（偷笑）恩，对！
> 
> If this situation happened in English, the most common response you'll have is _yeah right. _However, in Chinese, even trying to say 恩，对 sarcastically won't really work and it seems like the girl is actually agreeing, wouldn't you say?
> 
> Furthermore, 恩，对 in your Friends example doesn't have much of a sarcastic tone either. Notice that it's the last part of your translated sentence that indicates that the entire sentence, including 恩，对 was supposed to be sarcastic. It's an extremely literal translation of _yeah right_, and I really don't think it carries the same meaning in both languages.
> 
> Most importantly, we're not translating _yeah right_ into Chinese. We're translating 才不呢 into English. I suggested _yeah right_ because I think 才不呢 can be translated into it quite well. However, it certainly doesn't mean we can go backwards and translate _yeah right_ into 才不呢 just as smoothly.
> 
> In your example, you're right to say that 恩，对 is better than 才不呢 (Unless maybe if you pause for a short period after 才不呢). This indicated only that _yeah right_ can be translated into 恩，对. However, it's irrelevant to determining if 才不呢 can be translated into _yeah right_ or not.
> 
> After all, all rabbits are animals, but that doesn't mean that all animals are rabbits.


 
Well, first of all, *I* didn*'*t say "yeah right" is a term to agree with someone. At least *I*'ve never heard people approve of something by saying that in Australia. Truely, "yeah right" IS sarcastic as you just said in the post.

*S*econdly, *I* have to single this out that, *I* might haven*'*t expressed myself clearly in my last post but *I* was trying to say that your translation of "才不呢" into "yeah right" is completely inappropriate in this case. 
Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
Girl:（偷笑) 才不呢。
And you kept saying 'in this situation in English'. *W*ell, *s*o far as *I* know, this situation would be pretty hard to happen in Western Culture. This's a problem beyond language. *T*his involves cultural definition about 'implicit' and 'explicit'. Given *C*hinese culture is more implicit, there are something 'in this situation' you have to know. 1) *T*the girl is absolutely flattered and what the boy asked is exactly what she wants. 2) *T*raditionally, ladies are not supposed to repond love straightfoward. Hence they developed certain ways to express their love by disguising their true thoughts. 3) *T*hose thoughts ladies used are easy to be figured out by the tone and efficiently avoid moral judgement. So, I could just tell that you didn*'*t totally understand 'this situation' we were talking about here which would be a precondition to further figure out the equivalence of '才不呢' in English. 
*T*hirdly, you so kindly reminded me that we were talking about the translation of 才不呢 into English not the other way. But I certainly couldnt find ANY example in my mind to support that it could be translated into 'yeah right' by any chance. So just wondering that maybe you could be even kinder to give us a "situation" that could translate '才不呢' into ‘yeah right’. 
*W*ell, to sum it up, as far as '*t*his situation' is concerned, the translation of 才不呢into 'yeah right' is absolutely unaccepted.


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## summerflower

I really agree with koinbouffier's opinion. It's all about the situation. You should first make it clear that 才不呢 just means "absolutely not" literally and it's an oral tone also a little bit girlish. Then you should mind the situation, and you will get the exact meaning.


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## BODYholic

sqlines said:


> Hi,
> 
> What is the meaning of the expression :
> 才不呢
> and in which circumstances can you use this.
> Thanks.



才不呢 is a contraction from 才不 (是这样) 呢!

The '这样', therefore, refers to the circumstance. The whole ideal is to *negate* whatever the circumstance which was presented earlier. 呢 is meant to soften the rebuttal.


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## 2PieRad

Hi


koinbouffier said:


> Well, first of all, *I* didn*'*t say "yeah right" is a term to agree with someone. At least *I*'ve never heard people approve of something by saying that in Australia. Truely, "yeah right" IS sarcastic as you just said in the post.


I didn't claim that you said that either. It was nothing but a feeling. But we know that _yeah right_ usually means _"no, etc."_ My translation has the same meaning as the ones previously given, yet mine is more commonly heard and natural in English:


			
				koinbouffier said:
			
		

> No~~~(才不呢/根本不是/.......)





			
				koinbouffier said:
			
		

> it's just a NO in most of occasions...





			
				swim4life said:
			
		

> It means "definitely will not" for most cases.





			
				dishmoon said:
			
		

> I admit it's mostly explained as "absolutely not".


So, I still don't see what problem you have with it.



			
				koinbouffier said:
			
		

> *S*econdly, *I* have to single this out that, *I* might haven*'*t expressed myself clearly in my last post but *I* was trying to say that your translation of "才不呢" into "yeah right" is completely inappropriate in this case. (Assertion)
> Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
> Girl:（偷笑) 才不呢。


I'll explain why this is irrelevant to the main topic further down the page, but for now, here are the reasons you give to support your assertion:


			
				koinbouffier said:
			
		

> And you kept saying 'in this situation in English'. *W*ell, *s*o far as *I* know, this situation would be pretty hard to happen in Western Culture. This's a problem beyond language. *T*his involves cultural definition about 'implicit' and 'explicit'. Given *C*hinese culture is more implicit, there are something 'in this situation' you have to know. 1) *T*the girl is absolutely flattered and what the boy asked is exactly what she wants. 2) *T*raditionally, ladies are not supposed to repond love straightfoward. Hence they developed certain ways to express their love by disguising their true thoughts. 3) *T*hose thoughts ladies used are easy to be figured out by the tone and efficiently avoid moral judgement. So, I could just tell that you didn*'*t totally understand 'this situation' we were talking about here which would be a precondition to further figure out the equivalence of '才不呢' in English.


Ok, here's a summary of what you just said: 
1) _Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?Girl:（偷笑）才不呢！ Because of cultural differences, "this situation would be pretty hard to happen in Western Culture."_ Hence, it follows from your logic that this cannot be properly translated into English. 
2) The girl is actually saying _yes, I do like you. But she's disguising her true thoughts because girls in China tend to express their feelings less directly._ (And yes, I was well aware of this, as the original post with this example explains it quite clearly)

Combine it with what you said earlier:


			
				koinbouffier said:
			
		

> dishmoon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hello,I'm the first time here.I come across the forum accidently. English is not my first language and though I think this expression can be translated to "I'd like not to & I dont want to". It can be used in coquetry,e.g. when a boy asks the girl he loves very much whether she loves him as well, the girl might say "才不呢", however in contrary she loves him deeply just doesn't want to admit that. Wish you understand.
> 
> Circumstances:
> Boy:宝宝，你爱我吗?
> Girl:（偷笑）才不呢！
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, I cannot really agree...........it's just a NO in most of occasions...
Click to expand...

You say that it means _no_ in most occasions. However, in the example dishmoon gave, it actually means _yes. _If I'm not mistaken, you're claiming here that this particular example _isn't_ a common usage of 才不呢. Hence, it is a bad example of the usage of 才不呢 since it means "NO in most of occasions" and this is a rare occasion where it actually means _yes. _Therefore, following your own words, this is a poor example for our purposes of trying to translate 才不呢 (as it's commonly used) into English.

Now let's look at the logic flow of your assertion. Your claim: _yeah right_ can't be used in this example. The reasons you just gave: 才不呢 usually means _no_, but because of this specific situation, the "tone the ladies use to express their true feelings less directly," results in a rare case where it means _yes_ instead. 

1) Now, this following point is not as important. Hypothetical situation: Despite this situation not existing in the Western world, as you said, let's pretend that the Chinese girl used English to express the same idea. _Yeah right_ usually means _no_, as we've established. So what if the girl said _yeah right_ in the same "tone the ladies use to express their true feelings less directly," and also 偷 a 笑? The result: _yeah right _in this case no longer means _no_, but it now means _yes_ all the same. I was well aware of the intended meaning, and we all know that with the right intonation, context, and gestures (偷笑), the meaning of a phrase can become far deeper.
2) More importantly: _You've _established that the above example is an uncommon usage of 才不呢. And thus, what you've brought up is again, irrelevant to our goal, to find the translation of 才不呢 in a common situation (implied). So, if it doesn't translate properly into _yeah right_ in this example, it doesn't matter, since this was an uncommon example of 才不呢 in the first place. 
3) Finally and even more important, take one more step back and view the even bigger picture of my second last post. Recall that I was actually using that example to criticize your claim that _yeah right _is better translated into 恩，对, and not really whether 才不呢 translated well into _yeah right._ You had made an irrelevant and illogical claim trying to translate _yeah right_ into Chinese. I brought up that example only to respond to your illogical and irrelevant claim. Thus, this entire discussion of this example is ultimately irrelevant to the purpose of this thread. The only purpose of this thread is to translate 才不呢 into English.


> *T*hirdly, you so kindly reminded me that we were talking about the translation of 才不呢 into English not the other way. But I certainly couldnt find ANY example in my mind to support that it could be translated into 'yeah right' by any chance. So just wondering that maybe you could be even kinder to give us a "situation" that could translate '才不呢' into ‘yeah right’.
> *W*ell, to sum it up, as far as '*t*his situation' is concerned, the translation of 才不呢into 'yeah right' is absolutely unaccepted.


Maybe you're right. However, I've shown that you haven't brought up a single logical assertion to back up your claim. My argument is simple and it still stands because all assertions you've made against it have turned out to be illogical and irrelevant to the main point of this thread. _Yeah right_ usually means _no_, which you agreed to. 才不呢 also means _no_, usually, as already stated by several people, _including _yourself. _Yeah right _is more common in English, thus it's better suited. 

Now what have you done in an attempt to criticize my claim?

1) Claim that _Yeah right _doesn't translate into 才不呢 all the time. (Irrelevant, illogical)
2) Brought up a bad, uncommon example (and hence an irrelevant example) of the usage of 才不呢 in order to try and say that _yeah right_ cannot substitute for it. Remember, I was actually using that example to criticize your claim that _yeah right _is better translated into 恩，对, and not really whether 才不呢 translated well into _yeah right._ Whether it can substitute or not is still questionable, but more importantly, it's still not relevant to finding a translation for 才不呢. 

Finally, I needn't give examples to show how 才不呢 can be translated into _yeah right _for you_._ I based it on definitions, as I've explained several times already, using your own words to show that you seem to contradict yourself. So right now, the Burden of proof
 shifts to _you _to provide an example and a logical explanation as to why you don't think my translation works for the common meaning of 才不呢. This is the art of debate. If an argument lacks logic, then the argument becomes obsolete. 

I'll start you off with your first example.


> A: Some chicks just said I was a piece of eye candy today in the gym~~
> B: Dude, Probably just because you work out pretty hard lately!!
> A: No~~~(才不呢/根本不是/.......)，I think they were just teasing me!!!


Since this is your example, I'm going to assume that this is a good example of how 才不呢 is commonly used to denote _no. _(In fact, you wrote _no_ yourself)Now, since you said "I certainly couldnt find ANY example in my mind to support that it could be translated into 'yeah right' by any chance," I'd like you to tell me why you can't say _yeah right, I think they were just teasing._

Cheers.


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## avlee

summerflower said:


> I really agree with koinbouffier's opinion. It's all about the situation. You should first make it clear that 才不呢 just means "absolutely not" literally and it's an oral tone also a little bit girlish. Then you should mind the situation, and you will get the exact meaning.


 Personally, I think we shall take the above quoted as our consensus. 
Then, tune up the target words according to the real situation.


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## tunny1960

才不呢！~
Not at all!~ (giggling, and blushing) like that 
Makes more sense to me!~


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## jipaishui

This word is often used between lovers or persons with close relationships, which simply means "no"


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## jedediah

How about "_you wish_"?  

才不呢--想得美--_you wish_


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