Waiting and red tape
10 phrases
白跑一趟 - a trip made in vain - uses 白 (white) to mean "for nothing", and the same 白 appears in 白忙一场 and 白等了. Learn 白 as a prefix of futility and several complaints open at once.
等了快一个小时。 děng le kuài yí ge xiǎoshí. — I've waited nearly an hour队排得看不到头。 duì pái de kàn bu dào tóu. — the queue has no end in sight手续太麻烦了。 shǒuxù tài máfan le. — the paperwork is a nightmare跑了三趟还没办成。 pǎo le sān tàng hái méi bànchéng. — three trips and still not done又要重新填一遍。 yòu yào chóngxīn tián yí biàn. — I have to fill it in all over again电话一直打不通。 diànhuà yìzhí dǎ bu tōng. — the line is never free系统又崩了。 xìtǒng yòu bēng le. — the system's crashed again一直没人回复。 yìzhí méi rén huífù. — nobody ever replies这也太慢了吧。 zhè yě tài màn le ba. — this is unbelievably slow白跑一趟。 bái pǎo yí tàng. — a wasted trip
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