How Syntactic role of “我” in “我真是这个意思”

Chinese Grammar
 
  Nov 08  •  533 read 
有一个”我真是这个意思“的句法的问题。那个句子的英文的翻译根据Wiktionary是”I mean it“. 在那个句子”我“是主语还是一个属格的主题?下面的三个句子A,B, C对吗?任何句子好像奇怪, 没有第一句的意思吗?

I have a question about the sentence structure of "我真是这个意思", translated as "I mean it" in this example from Wiktionary.

别笑!我真是这个意思!
Don't laugh! I mean it!
Is 我 the subject or a non-subject topic like a possessor? Are the following related sentences grammatical? Do any of them sound strange or have a different meaning from the example?

A) 真是这个意思。
B) 我的意思真是这个。
C) 我的真是这个意思。
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Answer

I believe the grammatical structure of 我真是这个意思 is:

Subj: 我 - I

Adverb: 真 - really

Verb: 是 - to be

Object (Pronoun + Measure Word + Noun): 这个意思 - this idea

Which literally means I really am this idea. However, this use of the verb to be indeed sounds strange: the person I is not an idea!? But, we can understand it considering in which 是 has a metaphorical meaning understood from the context. For more details see the answer I referenced, but we can understand the main idea with an example:

我是炒饭.

Which does not mean I am a fried rice (literal), but implies (e.g. in a restaurant) I am the one having the fried rice (metaphorical). The same occurs in the common expression:

这是什么意思?

Which does not mean This is what meaning? (literal), but implies What does this mean? (metaphorical). So coming back to our example:

我真是这个意思.

Which does not mean I really am this idea (literal), but implies I really mean this idea (metaphorical).

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Ali

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