“if” = “如果”?

if ”?

When you google for the meaning of “if“, you will find it has many meanings and different ways to use it.

One of the most commonly use of “if” would be introducing a conditional clause, or it means “in the event that”, for example, “if you have a complaint, write to the manager”.  For translation of these “if” sentences, we will use the basic meaning of “if“, that is, “如果”.

So “if you have a complaint, write to the manager”, we can translate it to “如果你有什么不满,可以写信向经理投诉”.

However, when “if” is placed in between words, there other meanings of “if ” applies, and it is no longer “如果”.

Another commonly use of “if” would be as “whether“.  For example, “he asked if we would like some coffee”.

For the above sentence, this is how the students will be saying in Mandarin:
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 1.40.52 AM.png
For the sentence “I am not sure if there is lesson today”, will become
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 10.20.49 AM.png
and the sentence “please check if  she is free today” becomes
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 10.47.21 AM.png
But…but…but…
what-is-the-best-singularity-tagline3.png

So, what is the correct way of saying?

……
……
……
……
……
……
……
It should be……
……
……
he asked if we would like some coffee” should be
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 2.14.52 AM.pngImage result for 咖啡
“I am not sure if there is lesson today” should be
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 10.21.23 AM.png
Image result for lesson
and “please check if she is free today” should be
Screen Shot 2019-06-01 at 10.47.41 AM.png
Image result for free time
So…Do you get it?
Image result for got it?

 

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