她会不定时开关灯
“She'd turn the lights on and off at random hours.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
很难说
“- [Terry] For how long? - [Young Lyle] It was hard to tell.”
她 会 不定时 开 关灯
“She'd turn the lights on and off at random hours.”
但哈利总会告诉我时间和日期
“Harry would tell me what time and day it was,”
“She deliberately makes it impossible to tell day from night.”
Chinese frequently pairs opposite action verbs like 'kai' (turn on) and 'guan' (turn off) into a single coordinate compound to denote repetitive or fluctuating actions.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
at irregular intervals / unscheduled
Used as an adverbial modifier to describe an action that occurs without a predictable pattern.
to turn lights on and off
A compound verb combining antonyms 'kai' (open/turn on) and 'guan' (close/turn off) followed by the noun 'deng' (light).
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“He doesn't even light lamps at night.”
“We will not have lights on at night.”
“It's just a light.”
“There is no switch to instantly change modes.”
“(She chose to ignite that light herself.)”
“What's going on? What happened? Why did the lights go out again?”