我离开上海有三四年了
“I left Shanghai three or four years ago.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
是啊
“Yes.”
我离开上海有三四年了
“I left Shanghai three or four years ago.”
难怪张冠李戴
“No wonder I mixed things up.”
“Don't hold this mistake against me; I'm completely out of the loop.”
Blaming external, objective circumstances like time away allows one to gracefully recover from an error without damaging competence or pride.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
to leave / to be away from
A standard verb used with places or people to indicate departure or distance.
three or four years
An approximate number construction common in spoken Mandarin indicating roughly 3 to 4 years.
Marks a change of state and indicates the duration that has elapsed up to the present moment.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“and I moved it here after returning to Shanghai.”
“Didn't you say before that you didn't want to leave Shanghai and didn't want a long-distance relationship?”
“his wife and daughter got fed up and moved to Shanghai,”
“He will go to Shanghai. I'll fly there.”
“After you and her leave Shanghai,”
“I'm just one step away from Shanghai.”