Learn a little Chinese every day
Grammar Point:The passive sentence in Chinese is called 被字句 bèizìjù. It is used to construct passive structures and can introduce either the doer of the action or the action itself. In this article, we are going to practice how to avoid mentioning the “doer” of the action. What is Passive Sentence The passive sentence is formed…
This article focuses on the use of direction complements in figurative language, such as in English phrases like ‘clean up’, ‘calm down’, ‘figure out’, etc. If you’re unfamiliar with directional complements, I recommend reading the following links first. 📖 Basic Direction Complement📖 Compound direction complements V + 上 shàng or shang 上 shàngshang has 7…
Before we look up competition and season words in Chinese, I want to share with you an article. The author Alan is a famous headhunter who lived in Taiwan for several years. He mentioned a lot of different aspects of Taiwan that I had never thought about them. And for sure Taiwan is not the…
Grammar Point:There are 3 functions of 把 bǎ in Chinese. Determination, command, and doing a movement on something that makes a change to it. And since 把 bǎ cannot be translated into English, many English speakers feel awkward using it. But it is a piece of grammar that Chinese native speakers use a lot in…
Before we look up body parts and vehicle words in Chinese, I want to tell you a ridiculous fact. There are not many psychologists in Taiwan or China. Doing therapy is still considered if you have a terrible mental problem or you are psychotic in my parent’s generation. Since people usually would not share their…
Before we look up money related and nature words in Chinese, I want to tell you a fact. Taiwan has one of the most efficient recycling programs globally, with a 55% collection rate from households and businesses and a 77% collection rate from industrial waste in 2019. Why do we so good at recycling? Definitely not because…
WORD Taiwan China English Abbreviation Example 名詞 míngcí 名词 míngcí noun n. 水、狗 代名詞 dàimíngcí 代词 dàicí pronoun pron. 你、我 動詞 dòngcí 动词 dòngcí verb v. 跑、看 助動詞 zhùdòngcí 助动词 zhùdòngcí auxiliary verb aux. 可能、必需 形容動詞靜態動詞 jìngtài dòngcíxíngróngdòngcí 形容词 xíngróngcí adjectivestative verbs adj.sv 高、胖、美 副詞 fùcí 副词 fùcí adverb adv. 非常、很 數量詞 shùliàngcí 数量词 shùliàngcí…
What is Measure Word A group of birds, a herd of cows. Similar to English, Chinese also uses measure words. However, Chinese uses them much more frequently than English. In English, you can say “There is a flock of birds” or “There are five birds.” In Chinese, we always need to use the specific measure…
Before we look up objects at school in Chinese, I want to tell you a terrible fact. In Taiwan, after every test, students will get the same ranking sheet including the scores and rankings of the whole class. So if your test scores are high, you can be very proud, but if your test scores…
Before we look up objects at home in Chinese, I want to tell you that pánzi (plate) has a new definition now. “Pánzi” in Taiwan indicates “cash cows.” We usually use it negatively. For example, if you think your friend is paying too much on one thing, you can say, “nǐ shì pánzi ma?“ (are…