正式 in Context

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正式

Usage 1 - "formal": 

Sentence

他们正式成为夫妻。

English:

They formally became husband and wife.

Top-Down Words:

成为 chéngwéi - to become, to turn into, to come to be
夫妻 fūqī - husband & wife

Sentence

我正式找他谈话了

English:

I found him to have a formal discussion. 

Top-Down Words:

谈话 tánhuà - discuss, discussion

Sentence

今天我们正式成为合法夫妻.

English:

Today we officially became husband and wife under the law.

Top-Down Words:

成为 chéngwéi - to become, to turn into, to come to be
夫妻 fūqī - husband & wife

*Sentence

两个人正式在一起以后，那你的心只能是一个人的了。

English:

After two people have officially been together, then one's heart only belongs to one person.

Sentence

我们6月正式在一起了。

English:

We've officially been together since June.

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The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words

Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

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William Beeman

Hi
In 那你的心只能是一个人的了, is it the case that 你 can be used as "one" (neutral "pronoun") just as it is often used in English as a general rule? That's how you seem to have translated it, but is it really understood that way in normal Chinese discourse?

Mandarin Blueprint

Sure, just depends on the context. Are you telling someone a story? Are you teaching someone? Are you giving a command? The different contexts would affect your phrasing. BTW, this sentence is a part of a longer piece of content that will give you said context ;).

William Beeman

This kind of "impersonal" construction is common in just about every language and it is usually formulaic (Fr. on dit; Ger. man sagt; Ital. si parla--none using the second person singular pronoun). My question had to do with specifically the use of 你 for this purpose as "you can" in English, and whether it is similarly formulaic. Thanks!

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Billy Blithersunson

The sentence 我正式找他谈话了 seems such an odd sentence, are you saying you officially found him for a discussion or that the discussion was formal?

I can't work out the context with the character order, would something like 为正式谈话我找他了 also work here?

Mandarin Blueprint

Think of 正式 as applying to the entire remainder of the sentence as opposed to just 找. The speaker is likely just trying to convey that the purpose of looking for 他 to have a discussion is important and formal. Perhaps this slightly more complicated sentence would make it more transparent:

我所有的资料都准备好了以后，我正式找他谈话了。
After all my materials were prepared, I officially looked for him to talk.
所有 suǒyǒu - all
资料 zīliào - materials
都 dōu - (prep) all
准备 zhǔnbèi - prepare

In that context, you can imagine why the speaker might say "正式." The sentence you suggested in a different meaning (and also should include 就 after 我) because it's saying that "looking for him" was "for the purpose of a formal discussion." In the original sentence, it's not "for" any explicit reason.

Billy Blithersunson

Awesome, that makes things clearer. Sincerely appreciate all the detailed responses you guys give back

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=S3ucqY6X-FM&t=2235s