# now / soon



## Gavril

This question applies to all forms of Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc.). Thanks for any help in resolving it.


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## iamjiayi

Hello Gavril,
Could you please specify which word you are talking about? Since there are many many ways to say "now" in Chinese, I'm not sure which one you are referring to.

But if you are asking about the word "现在", in some cases it does have the meaning of "soon". Like in this one:
我想他现在该要回来了吧。
In this sentence "现在" is used to indicate "he is coming back very _soon_" (almost right on the spot).


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## coconutpalm

Well, I think in English, the -ing form can mean "soon". For example: 
- Lily, dinner's ready!
- I'm coming~~~ (whether Lily's started or not is unknown. She may still be lying in bed and not going to get up NOW, but get up SOON. We don't have to add "in a minute" after coming.)
Chinese has no tenses to signify the past, the present, or the future. Instead you can add some words to have the similar effect. 
So, I assume it's very likely now can mean soon in Chinese, as an -ing form can mean soon in English.


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## Gavril

iamjiayi said:


> Hello Gavril,
> Could you please specify which word you are talking about? Since there are many many ways to say "now" in Chinese, I'm not sure which one you are referring to.
> 
> But if you are asking about the word "现在", in some cases it does have the meaning of "soon". Like in this one:
> 我想他现在该要回来了吧。
> In this sentence "现在" is used to indicate "he is coming back very _soon_" (almost right on the spot).



I'm asking about the most frequent word (or the more frequent words) for "now" -- since I don't speak Chinese, I don't know which word(s) this would be. How frequent is the word you refer to above? Is it from Mandarin, Cantonese or elsewhere?


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## iamjiayi

Gavril said:


> I'm asking about the most frequent word (or the more frequent words) for "now" -- since I don't speak Chinese, I don't know which word(s) this would be. How frequent is the word you refer to above? Is it from Mandarin, Cantonese or elsewhere?


 
How frequent? The word "现在" is as frequent as the word "now", and since it does not come from a certain dialect, you will find this word anywhere, in Mandarin, Cantonese, or in any Chinese dialect.

And this word does have the meaning of "soon", as I have mentioned earlier. Well, it's just the same as when you say" He's gonna be back _now". _He's not back yet, but he will be back very _soon_. The same rule applies to the word "现在".

[edit]: the word 现在 is pronounced : xian4 zai4.


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## Gavril

iamjiayi said:


> How frequent? The word "现在" is as frequent as the word "now", and since it does not come from a certain dialect, you will find this word anywhere, in Mandarin, Cantonese, or in any Chinese dialect.
> 
> And this word does have the meaning of "soon", as I have mentioned earlier. Well, it's just the same as when you say" He's gonna be back _now". _He's not back yet, but he will be back very _soon_. The same rule applies to the word "现在".
> 
> [edit]: the word 现在 is pronounced : xian4 zai4.




Very helpful; thanks.


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## iamjiayi

Gavril said:


> .....I'm asking about Chinese specifically because I have found myself in more than one situation where non-native English speakers, whose native language seemed likely to be Chinese, used the word "now" with a meaning that seemed closer to "soon".


 
Gavril, just curious, how do those non-native speakers use "now" for "soon"? So sentences like "He'll be back now" are not correct?


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## MingRaymond

iamjiayi said:


> How frequent? The word "现在" is as frequent as the word "now", and since it does not come from a certain dialect, you will find this word anywhere, in Mandarin, Cantonese, or in any Chinese dialect.



Hello,

But Cantonese used 而家／依家 to mean now. 現在 is very formal. You only hear it sometimes in graduation ceremony.


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## iamjiayi

MingRaymond said:


> Hello,
> 
> But Cantonese used 而家／依家 to mean now. 現在 is very formal. You only hear it sometimes in graduation ceremony.


 
what is 而家/依家？？ How do you use them? I've never heard this expression before...and in the mainland, 现在 is never a formal word...we use them all the time, no matter it is a very formal occasion like a graduation ceremony, or in daily conversation.


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## Ducksburg

sometimes...

like,I'll go to school now.

In this case,now means soon.


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## samanthalee

iamjiayi said:


> what is 而家/依家？？ How do you use them? I've never heard this expression before...and in the mainland, 现在 is never a formal word...we use them all the time, no matter it is a very formal occasion like a graduation ceremony, or in daily conversation.



Hi iamjiayi, 现在 is never a formal word in Mandarin. But 现在 is a formal word in Cantonese. 而家/依家 is the colloquial Cantonese term that is equivalent to the Mandarin 现在. Cantonese and Mandarin have some shared grammar and vocabulary but they are actually different languages.


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## Gavril

iamjiayi said:


> Gavril, just curious, how do those non-native speakers use "now" for "soon"? So sentences like "He'll be back now" are not correct?



I wouldn't say "He'll be back now" to mean "He'll be back soon", and I don't think the two phrases are equivalent in standard (American) English. There might be some contexts in which I would use "now" to mean "soon", but I can't think of any right now.

*Samanthalee*: so, do the Cantonese words you mention (而家/依家) mean both "now" (i.e., "right at this moment") and "soon" (i.e., "in the near future")?


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## kareno999

iamjiayi said:


> Hello Gavril,
> Could you please specify which word you are talking about? Since there are many many ways to say "now" in Chinese, I'm not sure which one you are referring to.
> 
> But if you are asking about the word "现在", in some cases it does have the meaning of "soon". Like in this one:
> 我想他现在该要回来了吧。
> In this sentence "现在" is used to indicate "he is coming back very _soon_" (almost right on the spot).


Your sentence should be translated as "I think he should be back now". 
I cannot think of any situation 现在 could mean soon


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## iamjiayi

kareno999 said:


> I cannot think of any situation 现在 could mean soon


 
But what about when you say "我想他现在该回来了吧"? How do you understand this sentence? 

In my opinion, when I say this sentence, I would mean to say: He is not back yet at this moment, but I assume he will be back very soon.

"我想他现在该回来了吧" is absolutely a correct sentence, and not too informal either. I cannot think of any situation where this sentence would be interpreted as: _He is already back NOW. _In this case "现在" does sometimes indicate something will happen in the near future--something will happen very _soon._


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## ymt

I agree with kareno999 that "now" doesn't mean "soon".



iamjiayi said:


> But what about when you say "我想他现在该回来了吧"? How do you understand this sentence?



In my opinion, this sentence just means he is on his way, but when will he arrive, that depends. Maybe in 1 minute, maybe 3 hours after if something unexpected happened.

Why you feel "now" means "soon"? Because you know what's happening and you are expecting the result. You know he is on his way back and should have arrived, what if there is traffic jam makes him late for 3 hours? Here, "should" means your expectation, but not always true.


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## wuyiting

iamjiayi said:


> what is 而家/依家？？ How do you use them? I've never heard this expression before...and in the mainland, 现在 is never a formal word...we use them all the time, no matter it is a very formal occasion like a graduation ceremony, or in daily conversation.


 
Just FYI, to be exact, if you are learning a bit Cantonese as well, it is written as "宜家". I wouldn't repeat the same thing all over again, I see this section's admin, Samantha explained it well.


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## linjunlin

I don't think any Chinese words for "now" can also mean "soon". "Soon" is slightly later than "now", the two words cannot be synonymous.

When we mean "soon", we say“就快”(jiu4 kuai4)，“不久”(bu4 jiu3) or “即将”(ji2 jiang1).

Example:

The General Election is coming soon.
大选*就快*到了。
大选*即将*到来。
大选*不久*就到了。


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## MingRaymond

Hello wuyiting,

I have just read your other post http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=792617 . I think all the three forms are acceptable too. (而家／依家／宜家) Do books that teach Cantonese use 宜家 more often?


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## wuyiting

Hi, Raymond,
I think that's the case. I've seen many places teaching it that way. I don't know if I should get a dictionary, but I don't know which one is more authorative. I have a list of many 粵語方言字, the list has a note says it was based on <<廣州話正音字典>>, <<廣州方言字典>>, <<妙趣廣州話>>, <<王亭之閒談>>, <<正字正確>>, <<廣東俗語考>>, <<粵語審音配字字庫>>, etc.

Frankly, I'm a very visual person. No matter what language, I need to know how they are written so I can remember well. Good thing is that I'm perfectly fluent with Mandarin and able to read and write both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. So the only thing left here for me to learn is the Cantonese words and the oral part.

Tara


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