Mandarin learning guide
Learn with 那時有你
This guide uses the song’s mixed Chinese and English lines to practice memory, regret, and repeated question forms. The lyric movement stays close to one speaker looking back, then asking how to continue after heartbreak.
What to listen for
The lyric moves from general contrasts about different reactions to the past, into a direct memory of “那時有你,” then into repeated English questions about how to continue. The Chinese lines focus on remembrance, loss, distance, and the effort to keep going, while the English refrain repeats the speaker’s difficulty moving forward. This makes the song useful for studying time references, negation, and verbs that describe emotional aftermath.
- Recognize how 那時 and 那時有… anchor a memory in the past
- Understand how repetition builds emotional emphasis in both Chinese and English lines
- Practice reading key verbs and phrases for loss, remembering, and difficulty continuing
How the song moves
opening contrast
The first two lines set up two different reactions: lamenting what fades and celebrating a beginning.
memory of the relationship
The lyric shifts to “那時有你,” naming the face and kiss as remembered details.
reflection and repeated questions
Later lines question where the other person is, then repeat the struggle to love, breathe, and be brave again.
Translation choices
那时有你 的脸 那时有你 的吻
- Natural English
- Back then, there was your face, and back then, there was your kiss.
- Why
- This keeps 那時 as a past time marker and preserves the repeated structure that highlights two remembered details.
而你在哪里 我丢了你 失了你 著了迷
- Natural English
- And where are you? I lost you, lost you, and became obsessed.
- Why
- The line combines a direct question with loss and the phrase 著了迷; “obsessed” or “captivated” can fit, but “became obsessed” keeps the emotional intensity plain and natural.
以为懦弱就是 紧紧拥抱后的处分
- Natural English
- Thinking that weakness is the punishment that follows a tight embrace.
- Why
- This rendering follows the line’s comparison between 懦弱 and a consequence after embracing closely, without adding outside imagery.
Useful Mandarin from the song
A time expression used to place an event in the past. It often introduces a remembered scene or relationship.
Used here in the negative phrase 沒埋怨, showing the speaker says they did not complain about the farewell.
A location phrase that can describe searching among many people. It is useful for physical or figurative settings.
A result phrase showing a changed mental state after losing someone. It can be used more broadly for fascination or fixation.
Listen closely
- Notice how 有人… / 有人… opens with a parallel contrast before the direct memory begins.
- Listen for the repeated English questions; they return several times and make the feeling of being stuck very clear.
- Pay attention to the shift from concrete remembered details like 脸 and 吻 to abstract states like 失了你 and 著了迷.
Check your understanding
Which line clearly uses a past-time marker to place the memory in an earlier time?
Show answer
那時有你 的臉 那時有你 的吻
In 我丟了你 失了你 著了迷, which expression shows a changed mental state after loss?
Show answer
著了迷