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Lesson 13 of 31

吓死 in Context

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吓死

Usage 1 - "scared to death": 

Sentence:

这条一个人都没有,吓死我了。

English:

There isn’t even one person on this road, it’s freaking me out.

Top-Down Words:

 tiáo - measure word for long, narrow, or thin things
 jiē - street, road
 dōu - all, every


Sentence:

你吓死我了。

English:

You scared me to death. 

Top-Down Words:


*Sentence:

天啊!吃这么多!吓死我了。

English:

Wow! She has eaten so much!  She scared me to death.

Top-Down Words:

啊 a - (expressing surprise) 



Need a Reminder?

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Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

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Gary Cheeseman

Interesting to see 我 the 3rd character in this phrase 吓死我了 - any particular reason for its placement there rather than at the start?

Mandarin Blueprint

Both are ok, but consider that scaring is always something that happens passively from the speaker's perspective. You're always scared by something unexpected, so 我 is more like the object in the sentence, while the subject is the thing that did the scaring.

MB Team

Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4SpMqeD0bw&t=1513s

Great Job! Keep Going! 少 in Context
Comments   2

Mirko R

Hi there,
I have a question regarding 天啊!吃这么多!吓死我了。
Your translation of the 2nd sentence is "She has eaten so much!"
Could it also mean (she) eats so much, as in the speaker has just found out about a person's eating habits?

Thank you!

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

Yes, the context doesn't make it clear enough whether or not this is an instance or recognition of a habit. My instinct is that the speaker is probably referring to an individual instance, but you're right, it could be more of a general recognition.

REPLY