Author: tiffany

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 5 Grammar Point · HSK 5 “In Conclusion” (Simple) — 總之总之 zǒngzhī 總之总之 zǒngzhī means “in short,” “in conclusion,” or “anyway.” It wraps up what was said before and leads to the main point. 總之总之 zǒngzhī usually comes at the start of the last clause, followed by a comma. It…

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 5 Grammar Point · HSK 5 “Just Happens To” 2 — 剛好刚好 gānghǎo 剛好刚好 gānghǎo means “just right” or “just happened to.” It’s very casual and conversational, and it highlights how something fits perfectly or works out just right. Most of the time 剛好刚好 gānghǎo works just like 正好正好 zhènghǎo….

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 4 Grammar Point · HSK 4 “Just Happens To” 1 — 正好正好 zhènghǎo 正好正好 zhènghǎo describes a lucky coincidence: something just happens to line up with something else. It can also mean “just right” or “exactly.” 正好正好 zhènghǎo is made of 正正 zhèng (“exactly, right on”) + 好好 hǎo (“good”)….

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 2 Grammar Point · HSK 2 “And So On” in Chinese 1 — 什麼的什么的 shénme de When you list a few examples and want to say “and so on” or “and stuff like that,” the casual way in Chinese is to add 什麼的什么的 shénme de at the end. 什麼的什么的 shénme…

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 2 Grammar Point · HSK 2 “And” in Chinese 2 — 跟跟 gēn 跟跟 gēn is the casual, everyday “and” you’ll hear all the time in conversation. It also very often means “with.” In part 1 we met 和和 hé. 跟跟 gēn does the same job, linking nouns, but it…

OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 3 Grammar Point · HSK 3 Showing Direction 2 — 向向 xiàng 向向 xiàng points to a specific direction, or to the target of an action, like “towards” or “to” in English. 向向 xiàng overlaps with 往往 wǎng when it shows a direction, but only 向向 xiàng can point directly…