# Cantonese: 不是不緊張你



## slackass

Hi, I was wondering if anybody can make sense of this sentence,.. I think it it supose to be spoken in cantonese because in mandarin, it looks like "it's not that i am not nervous about you"... doesn't seem to make sense... Can anybody tell me if this has any meaning in Cantonese? Thanks you


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## samanthalee

緊張 also means "to care about", "to worry about", "to be overly concerned about".
eg. 她很緊張孩子們的學業成績： she is overly concerned about the children's academic results.

不是不緊張你 = It's not that I'm taking you for granted ("可是~" "but~" is expected to follow).


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## Jerry Chan

slackass said:


> Hi, I was wondering if anybody can make sense of this sentence,.. I think it it supose to be spoken in cantonese because in mandarin, it looks like "it's not that i am not nervous about you"... doesn't seem to make sense... Can anybody tell me if this has any meaning in Cantonese? Thanks you



This makes perfect sense in Mandarin (in Cantonese it'll be "唔係唔緊張你")
緊張 doesn't mean "nervous" here, but "be concerned about" or "care about"


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## slackass

Hi Samanthalee and Jerry Chan,

 Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my thread,.. now I understand, Thanks very much.

Cheers...


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## qui

Jerry Chan said:


> This makes perfect sense in Mandarin (in Cantonese it'll be "唔係唔緊張你")
> 緊張 doesn't mean "nervous" here, but "be concerned about" or "care about"



Hmm, I don't think that works well in Mandarin Chinese.... people would like to say, 

不是不在乎你.....


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## Jerry Chan

qui said:


> Hmm, I don't think that works well in Mandarin Chinese.... people would like to say,
> 
> 不是不在乎你.....




But surely many Mandarin speaking Chinese are using it this way:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5039120a01009tg3.html
http://blog.yinsha.com/index.php/5822/viewspace_19874
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=198151098


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## qui

I doubt - it's more of a dialect in Guangdong? In Beijing people may understand it but most of them do not say like that. It sounds weird.






Jerry Chan said:


> But surely many Mandarin speaking Chinese are using it this way:
> http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_5039120a01009tg3.html
> http://blog.yinsha.com/index.php/5822/viewspace_19874
> http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=198151098


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## Jerry Chan

qui said:


> I doubt - it's more of a dialect in Guangdong? In Beijing people may understand it but most of them do not say like that. It sounds weird.



Thanks qui for pointing this out.
This expression might have originated from Cantonese. It's so common here in South China I never question its use.

So what words would you have used in this sentence in instead of 緊張:
她對於兒女的健康特別緊張
I thought of 在乎, 關心 or 操心, but it seems to me they're not exactly the same.


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## qui

jerry chan said:


> thanks qui for pointing this out.
> This expression might have originated from cantonese. It's so common here in south china i never question its use.
> 
> So what words would you have used in this sentence in instead of 緊張:
> 她對於兒女的健康特別緊張
> i thought of 在乎, 關心 or 操心, but it seems to me they're not exactly the same.



她特别担心儿女的建康。

她對於兒女的健康特別緊張 = 她感到紧张，因为她担心儿女的健康 ？


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## Geysere

"她對於兒女的健康特別緊張"
Am I right to understand it as "she takes her children's health very seriously and frequently worries about it"?


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## Jerry Chan

It means very much concerned about, wanting to know every little thing.
But not exactly worried (擔心)
You may use 非常關心, but I'd say 緊張 is more 傳神.


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## samanthalee

Jerry Chan said:


> Thanks qui for pointing this out.
> This expression might have originated from Cantonese. It's so common here in South China I never question its use.


Of course it is originated from Cantonese. The title of this thread is "*Cantonese*: 不是不緊張你". We are *not* discussing about Mandarin.


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## AVim

緊張 can be used as a verb?  I've never heard that kind of saying. 
At the first glance, I mistakenly considered it as 是不是緊張, 你?
Kidding.


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## samanthalee

AVim said:


> 緊張 can be used as a verb?  I've never heard that kind of saying.


在粤语，“紧张”可以当动词。Mandarin* 就不可以。


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