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Lesson 6 of 33

石头 in Context

CONGRATULATIONS! 
A NEW WORD HAS BEEN UNLOCKED
石头

Usage 1 - "stone": 

Sentence

石头很小。

English:

The stone is small


*Sentence

如果有人把它们的大便当作石头,一不小心踩上去,就会被臭死。

English:

If someone mistakes their (dog's) poo for a stone and accidentally steps on it, it'll stink really bad.

Top-Down Words: 

把 bǎ - (used to shift the object to before the verb, which must be reduplicated or accompanied by some other word of expression)
当作 dàng zuò - regard as
踩 cǎi - step on
就 jiù - (expressing condition “then”)
被 bèi - (passive marker) by



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The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words

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Comments   2

Rick Angleland

Re 如果有人把它们的大便当作石头,一不小心踩上去,就会被臭死。
I thought it might be a 一...就... structure
but then I see it's a 如果...就... structure
So what's the 一 doing?
Also, I guess the 被 refers to the stone, which stinks, (the "by who" is not specified but obviously is the person who steps).

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

It still is a 一...就... structure and has the standard meaning of "as soon as", but just used in a slightly unusual way. You could translate it literally as "as soon as you aren't careful...."

REPLY