# 说话



## Seikun

Hi.
I'm just learning Chinese with a game called My Chinese Coach and I just want to know the meaning of these chacaters separately. I know they mean "to speak" (shuōhuà) when they're together.

Thanks.


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## indigoduck

说= speak, say, talk; scold, upbraid
话=speech, talk, language; dialect


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## Seikun

Thanks.


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## xinxinokkk

I'd like to tell you that "说话" （shuohua）sometimes euqals to "说" （shuo）when you mean "to speak". However, a single "shuo" sounds a bit impolite 

you can understand 话(hua) as a noun. However, it has various meanings under different situation. It can not be used as a single word.

I think it's also interesting that 说话（shuohua） has a different meaning from 话说(huashuo), the latter means "actually"
HAHA, I hope it help


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## xiaolijie

> 话说(huashuo),...means "actually"
> HAHA


Really? Are you joking ??!


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## xinxinokkk

话说Huashuo has different meanings, too.

It can be used as "actually" especially when you show the same oppinion with someone else.
  e.g 话说还真是那么一回事儿 (meaning: actually it is the case)

In other cases, you can use it to begin a new topic, telling another story for instance. A bit like "once upon a time"


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## viajero_canjeado

xinxinokkk said:


> However, a single "shuo" sounds a bit impolite
> 
> e.g 话说还真是那么一回事儿 (meaning: actually it is the case)



I don't believe that's always the case: I often hear people say ”請說“, especially when answering the phone, and it doesn't sound impolite in the least to my ears. In fact, it would sound silly to me to say "請說話".

另外一個翻譯“話說”的可能如下：So it turns out to be the case after all! "Turn out"跟"after all"兩個都指著一種驚訝感覺。


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## BODYholic

xinxinokkk said:


> e.g 话说还真是那么一回事儿 (meaning: actually it is the case)



您的“话说”只是“把*话说*回来”的缩写。和愿意毫无瓜葛。“话说”只是古时候一般在说书讲古的开场时所惯用的词。现时应该较为罕见。


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## indigoduck

BODYholic said:


> 您的“话说”只是“把*话说*回来”的缩写。和愿意毫无瓜葛。


 
That's what i thought of when i saw it.



BODYholic said:


> “话说”只是古时候一般在说书讲古的开场时所惯用的词。现时应该较为罕见。


 
So, can i say that “话说”is archaic slang from ancient times ?


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## Seikun

xinxinokkk said:


> I'd like to tell you that "说话" （shuohua）sometimes euqals to "说" （shuo）when you mean "to speak". However, a single "shuo" sounds a bit impolite
> 
> you can understand 话(hua) as a noun. However, it has various meanings under different situation. It can not be used as a single word.
> 
> I think it's also interesting that 说话（shuohua） has a different meaning from 话说(huashuo), the latter means "actually"
> HAHA, I hope it help


Thanks.

I am just learning Chinese, so basically 说 is the verb in esence? Then why do you have to add 话?


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## xiaolijie

> so basically 说 is the verb in esence? Then why do you have to add 话?


Yes, 说 is a verb; and a monosyllabic verb in Chinese tends to feel lonely standing on it own as a unit. In this kind of situations, it tends to require a pseudo object to feel more complete: 说(话)，吃(饭)，聊(天)，。。。
As they say, language is a living being...


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## zcm1019

xinxinokkk的解释是完全正确的。我在此一并回答以上诸位：
1，“话说”与“说话”的意思截然不同
2，“话说”这个词无论是在汉语口语还是书面语中都不鲜见，仍然是一个有生命力的词汇。
3，”话说“主要用在一句话的开头，作用是引起下文，尤其是当人们准备讲述一个故事的时候。
4，一般而言，”话说“并不表示惊讶。当我们使用”话说“的时候，往往是想表达某种调侃。当我们在书面语中使用这个词的时候，则常常用于讽刺某个人或某件事。


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## samanthalee

xiaolijie said:


> Yes, 说 is a verb; and a monosyllabic verb in Chinese tends to feel lonely standing on it own as a unit. In this kind of situations, it tends to require a pseudo object to feel more complete: 说(话)，吃(饭)，聊(天)，。。。
> As they say, language is a living being...


Agree. 
I think it has something to do with the homophone problem.


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## Seikun

Could you tell more about this?
Is there any website about this?
I'm just learning Chinese and getting more information about verb + noun still being a verb and stuff would really help.


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## xinxinokkk

viajero_canjeado said:


> I don't believe that's always the case: I often hear people say ”請說“, especially when answering the phone, and it doesn't sound impolite in the least to my ears. In fact, it would sound silly to me to say "請說話".
> 
> 另外一個翻譯“話說”的可能如下：So it turns out to be the case after all! "Turn out"跟"after all"兩個都指著一種驚訝感覺。


 
Hmn, "请说" and “说" are quite different..."请说" shows your politness but  “说" doesn't. If someone shouts at you "说", it is offensive..


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## gc_liu8280

"说“ means 'say something',for example ,you say 'please' means '你说了请‘
”话“ means 'spoken words' 
"说话” means say some thing about some subject
do you undstand?


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## Seikun

How about when you want to ask what language someone speaks?
说话 or just 说?


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## viajero_canjeado

Then using the verb 說 or 講 by itself is sufficient:

妳會講台語嗎？
我不會說阿拉伯文.

Un saludo!


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## tinys

Seikun said:


> How about when you want to ask what language someone speaks?
> 说话 or just 说?


I think either is OK.
you can say, "你说什么". but if you say, "你说什么话" may be have childish and naive....


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## debris

Seikun said:


> Could you tell more about this?
> Is there any website about this?
> I'm just learning Chinese and getting more information about verb + noun still being a verb and stuff would really help.


 
An important thing to help you to learn Chinese: one single Chinese character “字”(like “说”) usually does NOT have equal grammatical function in a sentence like an English word. When they are combined together, they become a word"词", then there are adj, adv,verb…..
Exception：only if the character is used as its original meaning. （Ex 水，不，说）
Exemple : 说－say/speak，说话－talk/speak 小说－novel，说服－persuade …. Etc

About the original meaning，that’s from ancient Chinese. A character was almost equal to a word. （ex “道可道非常道”）But progressively there are more and more new things and new needs of expression，people combine the characters instead of creating new one. That’s a long and complex history.
if you recognize hundreds or over thousands of characters，and understand the rules how words are combined，it means you have learned major part of Chinese words.(The number of _regularly used Chinese characters is about 3000_.)


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## piano0011

I am just wondering and I have read in one of the posts above that "shuo" is a verb but is "shuohua" a noun or verb?


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## Windstopper

shuohua is also like a verb. For example:
“说话大声点，我听不见” means "Speak louder! I cannot hear you."
"他说话时很温柔" means "He is gentle when he is speaking."

I think it's easier for starters to remember that if there is an object following 说, or you are describing the content of what one is saying, you should use 说 alone, and if there is no objects following 说 and you are simplying describing the action of speaking, you should use 说话.
他说他吃过饭了。 He said he had eaten. (his words following 说)
他说英语。 He speaks Engish. (the language following 说)
他正在大声说话。He is speaking loudly. (no other nouns following 说话 to describe the content)
他说话的方式很不礼貌。The way he speaks is not polite. (Here “的方式” is not the content of his speaking, but the way he speaks)
他说的东西很不礼貌。 What he said was unpolite. （Here “的东西” is the content of his words）


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## SuperXW

piano0011 said:


> I am just wondering and I have read in one of the posts above that "shuo" is a verb but is "shuohua" a noun or verb?


I think it's better for a learner to see shuohua as a [verb+noun] expression meaning "speaking words", rather than a single verb.
In at least half cases, if you use shuohua as single verb like "speak/say" in English, it would be ungrammatical.
The only similar single word in English is "talk", because "speaking words" means "talk".


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## Jasis

piano0011 said:


> I am just wondering and I have read in one of the posts above that "shuo" is a verb but is "shuohua" a noun or verb?



shuo is a verb and hua is a noun. shuohua can mean both  

'你听见他说话了吗？' 
 Do you hear he is talking? (verb)

'听他说话的意思, ……'
According to his words, ... (noun)


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## Skatinginbc

說話 (講話, 發言) = 說 (verb, 講 "say", 發 "utter") + 話 (noun, 言 "word, discourse', 語 "speech") ==> Because the verb phrase 說話 already has an object, it cannot come with another object (*他說話中文).  That is to say, 說話 ≠ 說 "speak", which can be followed by an object.

話說 (傳說據說, 故事這麼說, 有話說道) "The story goes that...; It is said that..." = 話 (noun, 故事) + 說 (verb, 道)


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