Repetition of verbs
(a) Monosyllabic verbs:
说说 shuō shuō (talk a little bit)
说一下 shuō yīxià (talk a little bit)
说了说 shuōle shuō (talk a little bit)
(b) Disyllabic verbs:
观察观察 guānchá guānchá (observe)
研究研究 yánjiū yánjiū (research)
学习学习 xuéxí xuéxí (study)
(c) Verb object constructions:
写字 xiězì (write)
写一写字 xiězì (write)
写了写字 xiěle xiězì (write)
看书 kànshū (read)
看一看书 kàn yī kànshū (read)
看了看书 kànle kànshū (read)
Verb + 一下 yī xià/一会儿 yī huìr
让我看一下你的照片。Ràng wǒ kàn yīxià nǐ de zhàopiàn. (Let me see your photo.)
我们休息一会儿。Wǒmen xiūxí yīhuǐ’er. (Let’s take a break.)
再坐会儿吧。Zài zuò huì er ba. (Sit down a little longer.)
Brief duration and instrumental objects
A short amount of time can also be shown in a dative construction by adding an instrumental object, which is usually a part of the body, after the indirect object.
老师说了我一顿。Lǎoshī shuōle wǒ yī dùn. (The teacher told me a meal.)
我看了他一眼。Wǒ kànle tā yīyǎn. (I glanced at him.)
他打了我一拳。Tā dǎle wǒ yī quán. (He punched me.)
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