# Do you understand?



## maghanish2

Hello! I know hardly any Chinese, but would like to know how to pronounce and write this phrase: 'Do you understand'. I know that there are many ways to say this, but the one I am looking for is prounced somewhat like this: 'Do(m)budong'. I heard it by a native Chinese speaker and she told me what it meant, but now I want to know how to write it. I hope you understand what I'm looking for, because I do not know how to write Chinese in English very well.

Thank you!


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## avlee

I guess what she was saying is 懂不懂, which could also mean 'understood or not?'


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## maghanish2

Thank you very much, so the middle symbol '不' means 'not', right?  But one more thing: if the first and last symbols are the same, then why do they make different sounds: 'dom' and 'dong'?

I really appreciate your answering my question!


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## samanthalee

The correct and stilted pronunciation of 懂不懂 is _dǒng bù dǒng_. When we say it in rapid everyday speech, it'll sound like _dom bu dong_ as the lips prepare themselves to pronounce _bu_ after the first _dong_. Just like in English, "it was" can sound like _t'was._


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## univerio

They should be the same sound. It's just that, in fast speech, when you slur the first a nasal ng sound to a b, I guess it becomes a sort of m sound. It's perfectly normal to not slur (unlike English, in which it sounds awkward not to connect words together) in Chinese.


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## maghanish2

Thanks to all of you for the explanations.  And is it true that it literally means 'understood or not'?  I mean, which symbol stands for the 'you' and which one for the 'do understand'?  Thanks again!


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## avlee

Well, the complete Chinese sentence should be 你懂不懂. But in the real situation, the first symbol which stands for 'you' is often slurred off just because both sides know the subject and so it's no more nessary to mention.


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## Staarkali

你 you
董 understand
不 not

Now you also know how to say _You don't understand _


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## FaWzY

But would "你明白吗？" be wrong?!
That's actually what I learned
我明白。。。
我不明白。。。


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## xiaolijie

FaWzY said:


> But would "你明白吗？" be wrong?!


No, it's not wrong. There're more than one way of saying the same thing. People here are discussing "懂不懂" only because that is what the OP asked about.


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## FaWzY

Ahh! I see!
谢谢你！


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## maghanish2

Okay, so it literally is saying 'you understand, you don't understand', right?  So the 'or' is just implied?  Thank you very much for your help!


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## Staarkali

Not exactly. If you want to stick to literal translations, which doesn't make much sense but for fun, then it's _You Understand Not Understand_ which is one of the way to ask a closed (yes/no) question. I guess the closest translation to English would be _(Do) you understand or not?_


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## maghanish2

Thank you very much.  You're right, it doesn't make much sense, but just to know the exact words being used really helps!  You've all been of MUCH help!


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