# 一下 in the end of sentences



## elefantevoador365

Hey, everyone. *大家好*！
This is my first thread in this forum, I hope we can all get along.

I've been studying chinese language for three months now as a student of Asian Studies in Lisbon University, I've been making my progress, and in this week's lesson it showed up the *一下* expression in the end of a few sentences. For example, in _New Practical Chinese Reader Vol.1 Lesson 7_, two characters from the book are speaking, one asks "Is that our teacher?" and the other one replies "*我问一下*", to say "I am going to ask him". I do not understand the criteria to use (or not use) the yíxià expression, so can you help me with that? Oh and if you could give some practical examples that would be great! *谢谢你们*！


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## indigoduck

elefantevoador365 said:


> Hey, everyone. *大家好*！
> This is my first thread in this forum, I hope we can all get along.
> 
> I've been studying chinese language for three months now as a student of Asian Studies in Lisbon University, I've been making my progress, and in this week's lesson it showed up the *一下* expression in the end of a few sentences. For example, in _New Practical Chinese Reader Vol.1 Lesson 7_, two characters from the book are speaking, one asks "Is that our teacher?" and the other one replies "*我问一下*", to say "I am going to ask him". I do not understand the criteria to use (or not use) the yíxià expression, so can you help me with that? Oh and if you could give some practical examples that would be great! *谢谢你们*！



Welcome elefantevoador365,

Since i learned by speaking it since young, i'm going to give you my observation (also know as an educated guess?) rather than theory since i never learned this through formal instruction.


Individual characters:
=================
一 = one
下 = unit for moment of time (when used with a number) or unit of "attempt"; by itself and in many other cases, it means "down" (opposite of up)

Compound characters:
===================
一下 = a moment, an attempt

Basic sentence:
==============
Starting with the basics, I'll translate 我问 to basically mean "i ask" without indicating how i ask, what, etc etc. It is simply "i ask" - plain and simple.

Actual sentence:
==============
However, I'll translate 我问一下 in your example to literally mean #1: "i'm going to quickly ask" or #2: "i'm going to attempt to ask". For #1, I don't mean that i'm going to speak very fast, but it's a question that i expect to take a moment of time to ask (not a very long time).

Other examples:
==============
我试一下=i will attempt to try, i will try it once.
我跳一下=i will attempt to jump, i will jump once; i will attempt to dance, i will dance once

Hope that helps.


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## elefantevoador365

Thanks for your quick answer. You were very useful. 

I will attempt (insert yíxià here!) to get used to it.
By the way, can you give me examples of sentences where 一下 isn't supposed to be, or does not 一下 cause major problems with incorrect usage?


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## frisby

Another important thing to know is that 一下 is often used just to soften the tone of a sentence, not neccesarily to express that something will be attempted or will be done quickly. 

Perhaps you could take a look at some example sentences here: http://www.nciku.com/search/all/examples/看一下 . You'll notice that in some of the examples 一下 is used to soften a command or request, in some it is used to express that something will be done quickly. It would be impossible to tell you every situation in which you can or  cannot use these devices but I think that you'll catch on very quickly as you see it used.


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## Aoyama

Frisby is right.
一下can be used in countless cases. For example : 等一下 : wait a bit/minute (you would not say 等一分钟 ). For  "*我问一下**"*, I would have said *我要问一下*... (I'm going to ask,　 but not "him", just ask, otherwise it should rather be "*我要问 他一下*".


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## indigoduck

elefantevoador365 said:


> Thanks for your quick answer. You were very useful.
> 
> I will attempt (insert yíxià here!) to get used to it.
> By the way, can you give me examples of sentences where 一下 isn't supposed to be, or does not 一下 cause major problems with incorrect usage?



That's a tough one. 

My two cents
===========

In my opinion, "一下" is informal speech and i'd feel uneasy to talk this way to the king.

Subconsciously, there is indecisiveness, non-commitment or non-confidence to doing something by the speaker.

Yet, there are others that just don't fit the pattern and which i find a little more difficult to explain. Not sure if they've become slang and accepted as everyday speech.

Your example
===========

For example, if i insert "yíxià" in your original "attempt" sentence, it means you don't believe me but willing to give me benefit of the doubt. But if we took your "attempt" sentence without the "yíxià", you're motivated by the excitement of trying without doubts.

Example by comparative observation
============================

Compare the difference between the following two sentences that is very similar in meaning, but there is a subtle difference between the two.

我会试一下 = I will try it. (but the plan is only once - what happens after the trial is after the fact; perhaps the speaker is scared or has doubts) 
我会试试看 = I will try it. (but the plan is it could be more than once or of a longer duration)

Other examples
=============

Non confidence - asking permission
我可以近前看一下这块化石吗？
Can I come closer to look at this fossil? 

Non-commitment - doubts about the environment
我们前去看一下环境，然后再说是否要买这房子
We will go to look around the house first, and then we will decide whether we will buy it or not. 

Non confidence - asking permission
劳您费神把稿子看一下
Can I trouble you to take a look at this draft? 

Examples i find more difficult to explain with my logic
========================================

- i suppose the motivation is i'm worried you won't wait, so i don't ask for much but only ask that you wait for a moment? kinda like being humble when asking permission? for example, i won't ask you to wait an "hour" but just a moment
等一下
Wait a moment

- case of indecisiveness? i hardly can find time to visit my parents, not even one time
由于工作很忙，我平时只能抽暇去看望一下爸妈。
Since I am busy with work, I can't usually make time to visit my parents. 

- a case of non confidence... i'm not sure if the teacher will be there, so i humbly ask you to check once
你先去打探一下，看看老师来了没。
Please go to see whether the teacher has arrived or not.


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## frisby

indigoduck said:


> In my opinion, "一下" is informal speech and i'd feel uneasy to talk this way to the king.
> 
> Subconsciously, there is indecisiveness, non-commitment or non-confidence to doing something by the speaker.
> 
> Yet, there are others that just don't fit the pattern and which i find a little more difficult to explain. Not sure if they've become slang and accepted as everyday speech.



I think that you're overcomplicating the use of 一下 a bit. In some of your examples, the underlying feelings behind the entire sentence might be uncertainty, indecisiveness, etc. but it isn't 一下 itself that assists in expressing that meaning. 等一下 for example in no way expresses uncertainty. When I tell my coworkers to 等一下, like it or not, my coworker is going to have to wait. I'm not uncertain about that. 一下 is being used to refer to a brief period of time. Likewise, with 由于工作很忙，我平时只能抽暇去看望一下爸妈, 一下 would be understood as referring to a brief visit, not uncertainty.


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## frisby

elefantevoador365 said:


> Thanks for your quick answer. You were very useful.
> 
> I will attempt (insert yíxià here!) to get used to it.
> By the way, can you give me examples of sentences where 一下 isn't supposed to be, or does not 一下 cause major problems with incorrect usage?



I think being told that 一下 means "to attempt" may have confused you a bit. In the beginning, it might be easier for you to understand it as only referring to a brief moment. For example 我问一下 could be defined as "Let me ask real quick." 我问一下 doesn't mean "I'll attempt to ask." It means that you WILL ask but it should only take you a moment to do so. Likewise, 我看一下 does not mean "I'll attempt to look." It means that you will look at something briefly. You will discover more uses of 一下 soon but until you get a better grasp of Mandarin, there's nothing wrong with keeping it simple.


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## Aoyama

In the case of 我看一下, English will render this by "I (will) give it a (brief) look". 一下 gives the idea of a brief action. It can also be used as a mild imperative :看一下 : (just) look ! Give it a look ! etc.


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## OneStroke

The Xiandai Hanyu Cidian says the meaning is: 1) do it once or attempt to do it; 2) do it for a brief period of time.


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## elefantevoador365

Wow, you guys are quick!  Thank you all for your anwers. I think all your comments have been very useful, because they all somehow add new things to the discussion and to the answer I was seeking. 

I think I'll get used to it with practice.


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## 南島君

In brief, 一下 is a Diminutive component in Chinese (Mandarin and dialects).


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## MèngDié

南島君 said:


> In brief, 一下 is a Diminutive component in Chinese (Mandarin and dialects).



Não tenho certeza que 一下 realmente se trate de um diminutivo. Pelo menos não o considero nos mesmos termos que os diminutivos clássicos, como momentinho, cafezinho, probleminha etc.


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## 南島君

MèngDié said:


> Não tenho certeza que 一下 realmente se trate de um diminutivo. Pelo menos não o considero nos mesmos termos que os diminutivos clássicos, como momentinho, cafezinho, probleminha etc.


一下不單只是表達短時間，也用來標示一次性動作，甚至與祈使句配搭，形成一種 mild imperative mood。cf e.g. （!請）你過來！ and 請你過來一下。
請來函詳談。

lc


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## ExtraOwler

As it appears to me, this means "What". In random sentences I can put this, and it makes the end of the sentence "What". The second character is about. In that context this means moving around, or approximately. So this might be informal, like indigo said, it shows some sort of "about", as in about a minute, wait a moment is specified with about in the context of saying "wait about a moment".


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## ExtraOwler

Oh, hey, just a little tip, not to burst your bubble but *谢谢你们 means Thank You Us! , don't you mean **谢谢 only?*


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## OneStroke

谢谢 can be followed by a personal pronoun in Chinese...


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## elefantevoador365

ExtraOwler said:


> Oh, hey, just a little tip, not to burst your bubble but *谢谢你们 means Thank You Us! , don't you mean **谢谢 only?*



你们 means "you", plural. Your confusing it with 我们。谢谢 to you all. There are several ways to thank someone in chinese. Just check any chinese  manual, like Practical Chinese Reader, for instance, and you'll find it a  lot.


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## ExtraOwler

Oh! I thought the Ni sign was WO. :/ Sorry


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