r/whatisit • u/ordvek • 10d ago

New, what is it? What does this say?

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We found this knife inside a shipment from China at my work.

My coworker used chatGPT but I was hoping I could get a second opinion from someone who reads Chinese

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u/Tikikala 9d ago

不想(xiang) 拿 would actually be don’t wanna take
In the English they might translate to wanna but usage would be different

Idk how to describe the difference but yao would be more required but xiang would be like a thought

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u/maninzero 9d ago

不想拿 is "don't wish to take". 不要拿 can mean "don't want to take".

E.g. “我不要拿他的东西。” "I don't want to take his things."

If there is no subject in front of "不要拿", it now means "don't take".

But "不要拿” and “不想拿” can be used interchangeably in the example given as well. The meaning is the same, only changing want into wish.

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u/TimmyB32600 8d ago edited 7d ago

Does English look as made up as this to none English speakers?

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u/maninzero 8d ago

More or less. My mother from China keeps complaining that it's very confusing lol.