Unit 6: Internal Modifications
Unit 6 introduces students five types of internal modifiers that are commonly used within head acts in Chinese requests, and provides them with corresponding exercises to practice.
6.1 Goal of Unit 6
The goal of Unit 6 is to familiarize students with five types of commonly used internal modifiers within head acts in Chinese. After studying this unit, students are expected to be able to use these modifiers to modify the force of requests.
6.2 Internal Modifications (1)
In addition to supportive moves, speakers often employ modifiers within the head act to either mitigate the threats of requests or increase the force of requests. Since these modifiers are linked to the head act and serve as a part of the head act, they are referred to as internal modifications. Internal modifications are commonly used to modify requests in both Chinese and English, as shown in the following examples.
English: Could you possibly lend me your notes?
Do you think I could borrow your notes?
I am sure you won’t mind giving me a ride.
In these examples, possibly and do you think are both internal modifications that soften the impositive force of requests, thus called downgraders; while I am sure is a modifier to intensify the force of the request, called upgraders.
In Chinese, some lexical and phrasal downgraders have been frequently used to mitigate the threats of requests, such as 请qǐng，麻烦máfan，吧 ba，一下yíxià. This section gives a brief introduction to these internal modifications.
请 Qǐng please
Despite being translated as please in English, 请 is not used as common as its counterpart in English when used as the request downgrader. 请 is usually positioned at the beginning of an imperative request. For example,
- 请你等我一下。Qǐng nǐ děng wǒ yíxià. Please wait (for me) a second.
- 请帮我打扫一下房间。Qǐng bāng wǒ dǎsǎo yíxià fángjiān. Please help me clean my room.
麻烦 máfan, trouble/bother
Similar to 请, 麻烦 can also be used as a politeness marker to make requests in Chinese, which usually comes at the beginning of a sentence. For example,
麻烦你等我一下。Máfan nǐ děng wǒ yíxià. Trouble you to wait (for me) a second.
能麻烦你等我一下吗？Néng máfan nǐ děng wǒ yíxià ma? Can I trouble you to wait (for me) a second?
Thinking: Are there similar internal modification as 请 and 麻烦 used to make requests in American English? If yes, any examples?
6.3 Internal Modifications (2)
请 and 麻烦 are usually put at the beginning of the head act, while 吧 and 一下 are positioned at the end of the head act.
吧 ba
吧 is a sentence particle used at the end of a sentence to soften the impositive force of requests. It does not have its equivalent in English. For example,
- 借我100块钱吧。Jiè wǒ yìbǎi kuài qián ba. Lend me RMB 100.
- 给我一杯可乐吧。Gěi wǒ yì bēi kělè ba. Give me a cup of coke.
一下 yíxià, in a short while
Similar to 吧，一下 is an adverbial modifier used after certain verbs to soften the impositive force of requests. The form is usually structured as Verb + 一下. It does not have its equivalent in English. For example,
- 能借你的笔记给我看一下吗？Néng jiè nǐ de bǐjì gěi wǒ kàn yíxià ma? Can you lend your notes to me?
- 你的护照给我看一下。Nǐ de hùzhào gěi wǒ kàn yíxià. Let me have a look at your passport
您 nín, you
Different from the internal modifications mentioned above, 您 is a pronoun showing politeness and respect to elders, people with higher social status, or strangers. When it is used as an internal modifier in Chinese requests, it softens the threats of the request and shows politeness to the hearer. For example,
- 您能给我一杯可乐吗？Nín néng gěi wǒ yì bēi kělè ma? Could you give me a cup of coke?
- 您可以帮我一下吗？Nín kěyǐ bāng wǒ yíxià ma? Could you do me a favor?
It should be noted here when making requests in Chinese, speakers can also choose to combine different internal modifications within one head act to mitigate the impositive force of a request, depending on the specified situations. For example,
请您等一下。Qǐng nín děng yíxià. (Please wait a moment)
麻烦您帮我一下，可以吗？Máfan nín bāng wǒ yíxià, kěyǐ ma? (Can I trouble you to do me a favor?)
Review
To access the review for this unit, click on the Exercise Six link here.
