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去了

aharlekyn   November 3rd, 2010 12:18p.m.

Hi,

Have anybody come across this word/expression? According to my Chinese teacher it is a polite way of saying that someone died.

As in:

he died = 死了 (not sure about the use of 了 here?)
he passed away = 去了

I am just curious. It sounds fine to me, but couldn't find it on MDBG and it wasn't in the Skritter vocab.

Byzanti   November 3rd, 2010 12:21p.m.

Well, they often say someone's 去世(了), but I guess it's not a big stretch from that to 去了. Sounds reasonable.

pts   November 3rd, 2010 1:32p.m.

死 is a word to be abstained from, so it’s described in all sorts of round about ways. 去了 = gone, so it means passed away. Where they have gone to? The answer is 彼岸。Where is 彼岸? It’s in the west (帰西). Why they go there? They are having a tour there (仙游). How? By riding a crane (骑鹤西去)。

pts   November 3rd, 2010 5:37p.m.

Sorry, 帰西 is Japanese. In Chinese it should be 归西.

MK1977   November 3rd, 2010 7:46p.m.

I've heard of it being used this way. I'm pretty sure I've heard 他走了 when someone was talking about their dead grandfather too, but I might be remembering wrong.

layla74   November 4th, 2010 7:02a.m.

he passed away means 他走了。I'm a Chinese.You can talk with me and if you have a trouble in learning Chinese.I'm very glad to help you.
My facebook:http://www.facebook.com/#!/bookwholesale
My msn:binqilin1988@hotmail.com

百发没中   November 5th, 2010 8:53a.m.

@ MK1977: don't think you're wrong. I've heard that term used as well.

aharlekyn   November 5th, 2010 11:50a.m.

Thanks to all of you!

PS: I wrote Mandarin today and again realized how awesome Skritter is!

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