<p>I would interpret "患难见真情" as: " true heart (friendship) shows itself in difficult time"</p>

<p>When life is good, everything is fine, you may have a lot of fair weather friends; only in difficult time, you can see whose friendship with you are real.</p>

<p>Similar phrases:</p>

<p>家贫出孝子, 国难见忠臣 (when family is poor, you can see who is a good son; when country is in peril, you can see who are loyal subjects)</p>

<p>路遥知马力, 日久见人心 (long road test the true strength of a horse; long time test the true heart of a person)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-11T18:11:13.387Z
2018-12-12T01:21:51.583Z
2018-12-12T01:21:51.583Z
Tang Ho
<p>Only through adversity will you know who is really with you.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-11T12:58:24.770Z
2021-05-11T12:58:24.770Z
Leong cLeong
<p>"患难见真情" true love prevails hardships.</p>

<p>"患难" means hardships
"真情" means true love.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-20T21:36:29.783Z
情 in 真情 includes 'friendship' (友情), 'brotherly love' (手足情) and ' love between family members ' (亲情)
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-17T04:19:35.560Z
2018-12-17T04:19:35.560Z
John Z. Li
<p>The problem you had stems from wrong parsing of &quot;患难见真情&quot;</p>
<p>It should be parsed as:-</p>
<p>患难 = hardships / adversities</p>
<p>见   = will reveal</p>
<p>真情  = (one's) true feelings</p>
<p>BTW, &quot;in need&quot; in the context of &quot;A friend in need is a friend indeed&quot; are parsed together. &quot;In need&quot; is to say that someone or something needs to have something, usually on an urgent basis.</p>
<p>e.g.</p>
<p>-- in need of financial support;</p>
<p>-- in need of urgent attention;</p>
<p>-- in need of repair.</p>
<p>Finally, &quot;in need&quot; also has a deliberate poetic linkage to rhyme with &quot;in deed&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-05-11T14:32:28.633Z
2021-05-11T14:32:28.633Z
Wayne Cheah
<p>It originate from </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>《醉醒石》（明，东鲁古狂生）第十回：“浦肫夫患难之交，今日年兄为我们看他，异日我们也代年兄看他</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think this translate to : "浦肫夫 is a friend that went through hardships with us, brother is willing to see him(or take care of him) today for us, so we'll go see him(take care of him) for our brother another day."?  患难之交 means friend whom we went through hardships together. 年兄 could be a person whom we went to take exam with to become government official, or could be brother by sworn. </p>

<p>The expression means only after being through hardships together that one can see friend that knows you or "real friend". </p>

<p>See this link: <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%A3%E9%9A%BE%E8%A7%81%E7%9C%9F%E6%83%85/33587" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%A3%E9%9A%BE%E8%A7%81%E7%9C%9F%E6%83%85/33587</a> 
It has English translation, but I think it is not very accurate. I hope this is mostly correct.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-11T16:30:35.237Z
2018-12-11T17:17:51.667Z
2018-12-11T17:17:51.667Z
user614287
<blockquote>
  <p>患难见真情</p>
</blockquote>

<p>A google search from sites shows:</p>

<p>"A friend in need is a friend indeed" (is <em>in</em> here meaning <em>during</em> or <em>requiring</em>?).</p>

<p>A literal translation reveals "adversity" while another shows "adversity truth."</p>

<p>Are these the correct translations?  I understand a connection between "adversity truth" and "a friend during need is a friend indeed" in that "adversity shows truth", but I don't see how "adversity" can mean "a friend during need is a friend indeed."</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-11T15:47:06.297Z
患难见真情 adversity meets(sees, finds out) true feelings (real sentiments)
user6065
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-12-12T00:13:24.150Z
"A friend in need is a friend indeed" is a correct translation in my opinion.
dan
<translation>
How To Interpret 患难见真情
# How To Interpret 患难见真情

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-12-11)

> 患难见真情

A google search from sites shows:

"A friend in need is a friend indeed" (is *in* here meaning *during* or *requiring*?).

A literal translation reveals "adversity" while another shows "adversity truth."

Are these the correct translations? I understand a connection between "adversity truth" and "a friend during need is a friend indeed" in that "adversity shows truth", but I don't see how "adversity" can mean "a friend during need is a friend indeed."

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 患难见真情 adversity meets(sees, finds out) true feelings (real sentiments)  
> **username_2**: "A friend in need is a friend indeed" is a correct translation in my opinion.  

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## 5 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-12-11. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

I would interpret "患难见真情" as: " true heart (friendship) shows itself in difficult time"

When life is good, everything is fine, you may have a lot of fair weather friends; only in difficult time, you can see whose friendship with you are real.

Similar phrases:

家贫出孝子, 国难见忠臣 (when family is poor, you can see who is a good son; when country is in peril, you can see who are loyal subjects)

路遥知马力, 日久见人心 (long road test the true strength of a horse; long time test the true heart of a person)


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### Answer by username_4 on 2021-05-11. Score: 1

Only through adversity will you know who is really with you.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2018-12-17. Score: 1

"患难见真情" true love prevails hardships.

"患难" means hardships
"真情" means true love.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: 情 in 真情 includes 'friendship' (友情), 'brotherly love' (手足情) and ' love between family members ' (亲情)  

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### Answer by username_6 on 2021-05-11. Score: 1

The problem you had stems from wrong parsing of "患难见真情"

It should be parsed as:-

患难 = hardships / adversities

见 = will reveal

真情 = (one's) true feelings

BTW, "in need" in the context of "A friend in need is a friend indeed" are parsed together. "In need" is to say that someone or something needs to have something, usually on an urgent basis.

e.g.

-- in need of financial support;

-- in need of urgent attention;

-- in need of repair.

Finally, "in need" also has a deliberate poetic linkage to rhyme with "in deed"


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### Answer by username_7 on 2018-12-11. Score: 1

It originate from

> 《醉醒石》（明，东鲁古狂生）第十回：“浦肫夫患难之交，今日年兄为我们看他，异日我们也代年兄看他

I think this translate to : "浦肫夫 is a friend that went through hardships with us, brother is willing to see him(or take care of him) today for us, so we'll go see him(take care of him) for our brother another day."? 患难之交 means friend whom we went through hardships together. 年兄 could be a person whom we went to take exam with to become government official, or could be brother by sworn.

The expression means only after being through hardships together that one can see friend that knows you or "real friend".

See this link: <https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%82%A3%E9%9A%BE%E8%A7%81%E7%9C%9F%E6%83%85/33587>
It has English translation, but I think it is not very accurate. I hope this is mostly correct.


---

