# I don't want to go to school



## maghanish2

你們好!

I just have a small question regarding the translation of the following sentence:

*I don't want to go to school*

My try is:

我不想去上學

But something just sounds wrong to me.  Please help!

謝謝!  再見!


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## loco44

我不想去上学

我祝愿和问候!


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## Staarkali

Hello,

as a non native, I would say 去 and 上 double-cross each other meaning here.
I'd suggest 我不想去学校 or 我不想上课


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## maghanish2

Hmmmm Staarkali, I was thinking the same thing, but then loco44 agreed with my first attempt.  Is there a native out there to help us?

謝謝!


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## KYC

Hi!maghanish2:


> *I don't want to go to school*


We say我不想上學,but your try:我不想去上學
is acceptable to native speakers.
Hopefully, it helps.


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## maghanish2

Okay thank you KYC for clearing it up for us.


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## KYC

You are welcome!


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## alvin_liao

Actually, "我不想去上學“ is the best in my understanding.


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## Staarkali

amazing, I'm still surprised by such a single example ! I really have to check some explanations with my colleagues, this thread is all but loss of time, I'm glad to take part in and thanks for starting it !


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## maghanish2

Wow....it just get's more confusing.  Yes, Staarkali I think this is a very interesting thread.  Thanks to all for helping and if anyone can offer an explanation why there are different opinions, it would be great!


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## KYC

Sorry,what I said is confusing you Maybe I should make it clearer.
In my experience, I often hear people say:
1.我不想上學
2.我不想要上學
3我不想去上學

To my ears, they are all correct.
Hopefully, it helps.


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## maghanish2

Oh I see, KYC.  Thanks for clearing up the confusion.  It really helps!  I wonder why all of them work though....it's interesting.


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## BODYholic

maghanish2 said:


> Oh I see, KYC.  Thanks for clearing up the confusion.  It really helps!  I wonder why all of them work though....it's interesting.


They work because the differences between them are minute. And mostly, context serves to reinforce the purported meaning.

Firstly,
上學 & 上课 _literally _means to attend school / lessons. In Chinese, both words mean 'to study'.

Hence, The translation for "*I don't want to go to school* (to study)" would be 我不想*去*上學. A mother may wake up her son one morning and be greeted by this sentence. It is understood that the child, for some reasons, did not want to *go* to school that day. Perhaps he was sick. And this should not be mistaken that the child is tired of learning.

我不想(上學) rightfully means "I don't want to study" or simply "I want to quit study.". Confusion arises when Chinese verbalizes the character "上" to become 我不想 + 上 (verb)+ 學 (instead of a verb, this became a noun now to mean school). Generally, 去(verb) has horizontal movement and whereas 上 (verb) has vertical movement. Therefore, it is grammatically incorrect to say 我不想上學(校) when the intended meaning was "not wanting to GO to school.". 

Having said that, both expressions may probably suggest that the speaker will not be at school.

Hope this helps.


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## DavidCornell

我不想去上学means someone does not want to "go to study at school at a particular time" for example, if you don't want to go to school today, and instead you want to stay home, then you can use this phrase.

我不想上学means that someone does not want to study in general. If you don't want to go to school and instead you want to work, then you can use this phrase.

I think the English sentence "I don't want to go to school" is ambiguous between the two meanings that I distinguish in Chinese.

But in both cases, the verb 上 in 上学 is not a concrete action verb. It has a rather vague or abstract meaning. Therefore 上学 simply means attend school or study. So there is no conflict between 上 and 去 when they co-occur next to each other.


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## IDK

Just ask kids. They know how to say it!

Anyways, here's what I would say: 我不想上學。

It's more brief and smoother-sounding.


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