<blockquote>
  <p>女儿读完大学，为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路，干这种苦差事呢？</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is how it breaks down: (added spaces)</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>为啥 要 回过头来 走老一辈的路</p>
</blockquote>

<p>为啥 means 为什么</p>

<p>要 here means “to want"</p>

<p>回过头来 - here, the verb is 回, the object is 头 and the complement of direction is 过来. When complements of direction are used with objects, the object goes in the middle, so we get 回过头来. Or you could just learn this as a set four character phrase (see here for more examples: <a href="http://www.jukuu.com/search.php?q=%E5%9B%9E%E8%BF%87%E5%A4%B4%E6%9D%A5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.jukuu.com/search.php?q=回过头来</a>）.</p>

<p>走老一辈的路 is just 走路 with some extra information added about which 路 the subject is 走ing.</p>

<p>So the overall translation is </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Zou Yue's father can't understand why his daughter, having finished
  university, would want to go back and follow the same path as as the
  older generation and do this kind of hard and unrewarding work.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-23T08:54:57.287Z
2018-04-23T08:54:57.287Z
Angus Macrae
<p>奏月家从爷爷那一辈就开始做豆腐，<br>
The Zou family have been in the tofu business since their grandfather's time,<br>
奏月的父亲不能理解，<br>
but Zou Yue's father cannot understand why,<br>
女儿读完大学，<br>
after his daughter graduated from university,<br>
为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路，<br>
she wanted to come back to this old way of life,<br>
干这种苦差事呢？<br>
to do this kind of hard work.  </p>

<p>为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路<br>
why want turn back to walk this old way of life</p>

<p>苦 hard<br>
差事 job</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-22T22:36:42.300Z
2018-04-22T22:36:42.300Z
Pedroski
<p>In the following sentence:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>奏月家从爷爷那一辈就开始做豆腐，奏月的父亲不能理解，女儿读完大学，为啥<strong>要回过头来走老一辈的路</strong>，干这种苦差事呢？</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think the sentence would mean something like the following:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>奏月's family started the tofu business from grandfather's age. 奏月's father cannot understand why his daughter want to follow what her grandfather did, even if she had a bachelor degree. It's not a good job. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>But I don't understand how it works grammatically on the bolded part. Specifically,</p>

<ul>
<li>要: auxiliary verb, to mean "will" or "going to"</li>
<li>回过头来走: should be verb</li>
<li>老一辈的路: the path of her grandfather</li>
</ul>

<p>Now, about the verb phrase:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If 回 is a verb and 过 is a past particle, what does 头来走, specifically 头 mean?</p></li>
<li><p>If 过 is a part of 过头 (<em>go beyond the limit</em>), what does 来走 mean here? Is it a particle? So 回 (come) and 过头 (go beyond the limit) and 来走 combined, it is something like the <em>will</em> + <em>come</em> + <em>to go beyond the limit</em> + <em>to take the path of (来走)</em>, right? Or does 来 work as <em>to~</em> (in the form of V + 来 + V), and not a particle?</p></li>
<li><p>Also, if 过头 is a verb here, what does the sentence mean at all? I feel <em>go beyond the limit</em> is quite an awkward here...</p></li>
</ul>

<meaning-in-context><verbs>
What is the verb of 要回过头来走老一辈的路?
# What is the verb of 要回过头来走老一辈的路?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-04-22)

In the following sentence:

> 奏月家从爷爷那一辈就开始做豆腐，奏月的父亲不能理解，女儿读完大学，为啥**要回过头来走老一辈的路**，干这种苦差事呢？

I think the sentence would mean something like the following:

> 奏月's family started the tofu business from grandfather's age. 奏月's father cannot understand why his daughter want to follow what her grandfather did, even if she had a bachelor degree. It's not a good job.

But I don't understand how it works grammatically on the bolded part. Specifically,

* 要: auxiliary verb, to mean "will" or "going to"
* 回过头来走: should be verb
* 老一辈的路: the path of her grandfather

Now, about the verb phrase:

* If 回 is a verb and 过 is a past particle, what does 头来走, specifically 头 mean?
* If 过 is a part of 过头 (*go beyond the limit*), what does 来走 mean here? Is it a particle? So 回 (come) and 过头 (go beyond the limit) and 来走 combined, it is something like the *will* + *come* + *to go beyond the limit* + *to take the path of (来走)*, right? Or does 来 work as *to~* (in the form of V + 来 + V), and not a particle?
* Also, if 过头 is a verb here, what does the sentence mean at all? I feel *go beyond the limit* is quite an awkward here...

**Tags:** meaning-in-context, verbs


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-04-23. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

> 女儿读完大学，为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路，干这种苦差事呢？

This is how it breaks down: (added spaces)

> 为啥 要 回过头来 走老一辈的路

为啥 means 为什么

要 here means “to want"

回过头来 - here, the verb is 回, the object is 头 and the complement of direction is 过来. When complements of direction are used with objects, the object goes in the middle, so we get 回过头来. Or you could just learn this as a set four character phrase (see here for more examples: [http://www.jukuu.com/search.php?q=回过头来](http://www.jukuu.com/search.php?q=%E5%9B%9E%E8%BF%87%E5%A4%B4%E6%9D%A5)）.

走老一辈的路 is just 走路 with some extra information added about which 路 the subject is 走ing.

So the overall translation is

> Zou Yue's father can't understand why his daughter, having finished
> university, would want to go back and follow the same path as as the
> older generation and do this kind of hard and unrewarding work.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2018-04-22. Score: 0

奏月家从爷爷那一辈就开始做豆腐，  
The Zou family have been in the tofu business since their grandfather's time,  
奏月的父亲不能理解，  
but Zou Yue's father cannot understand why,  
女儿读完大学，  
after his daughter graduated from university,  
为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路，  
she wanted to come back to this old way of life,  
干这种苦差事呢？  
to do this kind of hard work.

为啥要回过头来走老一辈的路  
why want turn back to walk this old way of life

苦 hard  
差事 job


---

