A huge bulk of the words in Chinese are compound words, consisting of two or more characters put together. Even if you’re already aware of the fact that Chinese characters tend to have their own individual meanings, it’s easy to…
A real question many Chinese learners will encounter early is how to express future events. In Chinese, we have a series of time words to address that: “将来”(jiānglái), “未来”(wèilái), “以后”(yǐhòu) and “后来”(hòulái). These words are used frequently both in elementary,…
Chinese Chengyu (成语, Chéngyǔ) plays an important role in Chinese culture. They are the collected wisdom from ancient Chinese people; and they contain deep insights into human life. Behind the four-character Chengyu, there are always definitions, stories, and also rich…
You may have hit a wall in the study of Function words in Chinese. Maybe you have mastered Function words like “着”, “了”, “过”, but the next step is to deal with the myriad words of Associated Constructions, such as…
What is a Chinese idiom/Chéngyǔ? Briefly speaking, Chengyu (成语, Chéngyǔ) are Chinese idioms that are normally made up of four Chinese characters. Chengyu are usually handed down from way back in Chinese history, and thus, over this long periodof time,…
What are the differences between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (collectively called CJK, for short)? Are Chinese characters (hànzì) the same as Japanese kanji and Korean hanja? You are not alone if you are confused. Let’s debunk some of the biggest…
There are two ways to say “always” in Chinese, and these are the words “总是(zǒngshì)” and “一直(yīzhí)”. Both “总是(zǒngshì)” and “一直(yīzhí)” share the meaning of “always”, but people sometimes mistakenly use both interchangeably. One should be aware that there also…
Chances are, students who have been studying Mandarin Chinese will not find the following words/phrases in regular books. You might encounter these words when watching Chinese TV series or the news, or you may even need them yourself to get…