▎弄, nòng, (V), General Causative Verb (2)

 

Function 弄 is a general causative verb like ‘make’ in English. The verb causes something to change its own properties.

1 是誰把我的玻璃瓶弄破的?

Shì shéi bǎ wǒ de bōlípíng nòng pò de?

Who was it that broke my glass bottle?

2 雨好大，把我的衣服弄濕了。

Yǔ hǎo dà, bǎ wǒ de yīfú nòng shī le.

The rain is really heavy and soaked my clothes.

3 這一課的語法好難，我看了半天還是弄不清楚。

Zhè yí kè de yǔfǎ hǎo nán, wǒ kànle bàn tiān háishì nòng bù qīngchǔ.

The grammar in this chapter is really hard. I’ve been studying it for a long time and I still can’t figure it out.

 

Structures 弄 is always followed by state or process verbs, see examples above.

Negation：Only 沒 or negative potential are used, e.g., 沒弄清楚, méi nòng qīngchǔ ‘did not get it right’, 弄不清楚nòng bù qīngchǔ ‘could not get it right’.

Questions：

1 你弄好了嗎？

Nǐ nòng hǎo le ma?

Are you done?

2 他弄乾淨了沒有？

Tā nòng gānjìng le méi yǒu?

Did he clean up?

3 這個東西，弄不弄得熟？

Zhè ge dōngxi, nòng bú nòngdeshóu?

This thing, can it be cooked well done?

 

Usage

(1) 弄 is typically used when the result of a process is informationally more important than the process itself, e.g., 弄乾淨nòng gānjìng ‘make it clean’, 弄好nòng hǎo ‘make it right’, or when the action taken is not known.

(2) When 弄 is followed by a state or a process verb, no further degree adverbs, such as 很, are used to modify the verb, so ＊弄很乾淨 ＊nòng hěn gānjìng is not grammatical, unless 得 is used after 弄. E.g., 弄得乾乾淨淨的nòng de gāngān jìngjìng de ‘get it really clean’, 弄得很濕nòng de hěn shī ‘get it all wet’, 弄得好極了nòng de hǎo jíle ‘had it done nicely’.

O語法