{"id":3015,"date":"2019-10-29T21:02:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T21:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-grammar\/mandarin-multitasking-with-quot-yibian-yibian-quot-2\/"},"modified":"2019-10-29T21:02:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T21:02:34","slug":"mandarin-multitasking-with-quot-yibian-yibian-quot-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/th\/mandarin-multitasking-with-quot-yibian-yibian-quot-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mandarin multitasking with "yibian… yibian…""},"content":{"rendered":"
It’s not uncommon to do be doing more than one active task at once. In fact, this should be something you do often if you want to improve your Chinese, simply try to listen to Chinese audio while doing other things!<\/p>\n

That’s not what we’re going to talk a<\/em>bout in this article, though. Instead, we’re going to look at how to express two simultaneous activities or tasks with the pattern \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…). If you’re not sure why \u4e00 here is pro<\/em>nounced with a fourth tone, you should read this article. Note that this pattern can sometimes be shortened to just \u8fb9… \u8fb9…, and that \u4e00\u8fb9 (yìbi\u0101n) can be used alone and means "one side". Below, we’re going to look at the most common form \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…).<\/p>\n

Examples of how to use \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…) to express simultaneous activities<\/p>\n

Let’s look at a few examples of how to use \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…) to express simultaneous activities, in this case following-up on the idea I mentio<\/em>ned in the first paragraph a<\/em>bout listening to as much Chinese as you can:<\/p>\n

    \u4e00\u8fb9\u8dd1\u6b65\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u542c\u4e2d\u6587\u5e7f\u64ad
    yìbi\u0101n p\u01ceobù, yìbi\u0101n t\u012bng Zh\u014dngwén gu\u01cengb\u014d
    Listening to a Chinese broadcast while running.
    \u4e00\u8fb9\u505a\u996d\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u542c\u4e2d\u6587\u6709\u58f0\u4e66
    yìbi\u0101n zuòfàn, yìbi\u0101n t\u012bng Zh\u014dngwén y\u01d2ush\u0113ngsh\u016b
    Listening to a Chinese audio book while cooking.
    \u4e00\u8fb9\u5237\u7897\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u542c\u4e2d\u6587\u64ad\u5ba2
    yìbi\u0101n shu\u0101 w\u01cen, yìbi\u0101n t\u012bng Zh\u014dngwén b\u014dkè
    Listening to a Chinese podcast while washing up the dishes.<\/p>\n

Seriously, though, you can use this pattern to express any active tasks that you’re doing. Note that both tasks have to be simultaneous and o<\/em>ngoing activities, so even though "while" is the most common translation of \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…), you can’t used it to say that something happened while something else went on. Check these examples and I think you will see how i<\/p>\n

    \u4ed6\u559c\u6b22\u4e00\u8fb9\u6d17\u6fa1\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u5531\u6b4c
    t\u0101 x\u01d0huan yìbi\u0101n x\u01d0z\u01ceo, yìbi\u0101n chàngg\u0113
    He likes singing while showering (or just singing in the shower).
    \u6211\u4e0d\u80fd\u4e00\u8fb9\u5de5\u4f5c\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u542c\u97f3\u4e50
    w\u01d2 bùnéng yìbi\u0101n g\u014dngzuò\uff0c yìbi\u0101n t\u012bng y\u012bnyuè
    I can’t listen to music while working.
    \u5979\u4e00\u8fb9\u8d70\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u601d\u8003\u4e00\u4e2a\u5f88\u96be\u7684\u95ee\u9898
    t\u0101 yìbi\u0101n z\u01d2u le, yìbi\u0101n s\u012bk\u01ceo yí gè h\u011bn nán de wèntí
    She walked while thinking a<\/em>bout a very difficult problem.
    \u4ed6\u4e00\u8fb9\u73a9\u624b\u673a\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u4ed6\u5973\u670b\u53cb\u8bb2\u8bdd
    t\u0101 yìbi\u0101n wán sh\u01d2uj\u012b, yìbi\u0101n t\u0101 n\u01dapéngyou ji\u01cenghuà
    He played with his mobile phone while listening to his girlfriend talk.
    \u4e00\u8fb9\u8d70\u4e00\u8fb9\u6389\u773c\u6cea
    yìbi\u0101n z\u01d2u yìbi\u0101n diào y\u01cenlèi
    Walking while shedding tears (this is a line from Matzka’s \u60c5\u4eba\u7684\u773c\u6cea)
    \u4e00\u8fb9\u4eab\u53d7\uff0c\u4e00\u8fb9\u6d41
    yìbi\u0101n xi\u01cengshòu, yìbi\u0101n lèi liú
    Enjoying something while shedding tears (this is a line from Eason Chan’s "Ten Years")<\/p>\n

When not to use \u4e00\u8fb9… \u4e00\u8fb9…. (yìbi\u0101n… yìbi\u0101n…)<\/p>\n

If you want to express that something happens while something else is going on, you can used \u7684\u65f6\u5019 instead. Like so:<\/p>\n

\u5979\u6628\u5929\u770b\u7535\u89c6\u7684\u65f6\u5019\uff0c\u95e8\u94c3\u54cd\u4e86
t\u0101 zuóti\u0101n kàn diànshì de shíhou, ménlíng xi\u01ceng le
While she was watching television yesterday, the door bell rang.
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