# to shovel the driveway



## yuechu

大家好！

I was wondering how to say "to shovel" in the context of shoveling snow in Chinese. For example: "I just shoveled the driveway." In Chinese, would this be "我刚铲了车道"?
Thanks!


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## dojibear

yuechu said:


> For example: "I just shoveled the driveway."


You didn't shovel the driveway. You shoveled snow. Another way to express this in English is

"I just cleared snow off the driveway."

I am not sure if "shoveled the driveway" means that. It might mean "dug holes in the driveway with a shovel".


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## dojibear

Since this is accumulated snow, my guess is: 我刚刚清除车道上的积雪。


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## yuechu

Hi, Dojibear!
Maybe it's not common where you are in the US, but "to shovel the driveway" is very commonly used here to mean "shovel the snow off the driveway" in the winter. (just like "to shovel the sidewalk", "to shovel the front walk", etc.) It has to be in the right context, of course. (wintertime)
I purposely did not include the word "snow" in the sentence above because I was curious if Chinese also had an idiomatic expression with or without the word. (for those areas in China where they get a lot of snow, like 东北) You are likely right that the word "snow" needs to be added in Chinese though.  

Thanks for your suggested translation!


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## ovaltine888

The latitudes of the major cities in China are generally lower than the ones in the US, let alone Canada. Therefore, only the far north part of China has the amount of snow that needs to shovel. 

I lived in Shandong until 10 years old. It is known as a northern province in China, but with a similar latitude of San Francisco. 

When I was a kid, Chinese people were not rich as they are now. Few owned a car and not to mention a house with a driveway that needs to clean on your own. The job of cleaning up the snow on the main roads was generally done by the sanitation workers before dawn.

In my memory, there was snow every year, but I did not often see it accumulated on the road.

So "shoveling the snow in the driveway" is not really common for most of the Chinese people.

For the action shoveling the snow, I would say 铲雪. But on more occasions, you will also see 扫雪 when the snow is not that thick and all you need is a bloom.

For the sentence, I would say 我刚把车道上的雪给铲（扫）了。


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## ovaltine888

dojibear said:


> Since this is accumulated snow, my guess is: 我刚刚清除车道上的积雪。


Your version is fine. The vocab is accurately used but just does not sound like spoken Chinese.


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## Language Hound

yuechu said:


> ..."to shovel the driveway" is very commonly used here to mean "shovel the snow off the driveway" in the winter. (just like "to shovel the sidewalk", "to shovel the front walk", etc.)


 In snowy regions of the U.S. as well.
I can't imagine anyone really saying, "I just cleared snow off the driveway" instead of "I just shoveled the driveway."


dojibear said:


> ...I am not sure if "shoveled the driveway" means that. It might mean "dug holes in the driveway with a shovel".


 Clearly, driveways in Fresno, CA are not in need of shoveling.


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## henter

ovaltine888 said:


> The latitudes of the major cities in China are generally lower than the ones in the US, let alone Canada. Therefore, only the far north part of China has the amount of snow that needs to shovel.
> 
> I lived in Shandong until 10 years old. It is known as a northern province in China, but with a similar latitude of San Francisco.
> 
> When I was a kid, Chinese people were not rich as they are now. Few owned a car and not to mention a house with a driveway that needs to clean on your own. The job of cleaning up the snow on the main roads was generally done by the sanitation workers before dawn.
> 
> In my memory, there was snow every year, but I did not often see it accumulated on the road.
> 
> So "shoveling the snow in the driveway" is not really common for most of the Chinese people.
> 
> For the action shoveling the snow, I would say 铲雪. But on more occasions, you will also see 扫雪 when the snow is not that thick and all you need is a bloom.
> 
> For the sentence, I would say 我刚把车道上的雪给铲（扫）了。


是的. 还有一个原因是因为积雪不够厚， 下雪的时间也不长. 东北是一个例外. 一般情况下，大家都用扫雪这个词汇. yuechu这里提到的这个可以用铲雪, er, 如果用的是铲子或者铲雪车. 扫雪的含义好像更广一点, 不止表示用铲子.


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## dojibear

Language Hound said:


> Clearly, driveways in Fresno, CA are not in need of shoveling.


I lived for 30 years in places where you shoveled driveways and walkways, shoveled out cars, scraped ice off windshields. I just don't assume that Chinese uses the same idiom to express the meaning of an English idiom ("shovel the driveway"). Not since that whole business with "square dancing"...

The picture on the left is "square dancing" in the US. The picture on the right is "line dancing" in the US, but is called "square dancing" (广场舞) in China because many people dance in public squares (广场).


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## Language Hound

It seemed to me in your post #2 that you were objecting to the _English_ "shovel the driveway." Based on post #4, I think that was Yuechu's impression as well.

It is clear in your post #9 that you were objecting to the word-for-word translation of "shovel the driveway" into Chinese.


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## retrogradedwithwind

1，“把马路铲了（扫了）” in some certain context could of course mean "把马路上的雪铲了".

2, 中国北方大部分地区，雪没那么大，"扫"就可以，不用"铲"。


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## dojibear

Language Hound said:


> It seemed to me in your post #2 that you were objecting to the _English_ "shovel the driveway."


I was objecting to using that _American English _idiom to express a meaning to non-North American speakers.

I was not objecting to using that _American English _idiom to express a meaning to fluent native speakers.

A person can understand written English very well, without ever living in the northern US or Canada. Such a person might not know that "shovel the driveway" means "clear all of the accumulated snow off the driveway, using a shovel".

Such a person might not even know what a "driveway" is. 车道 means either "traffic lane" or "driveway".


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your suggested translations!


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