OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 4 Grammar Point · HSK 4 叫 jiào / 讓 ràng让 ràng — The Passive Sentence 2 In spoken Chinese, 叫 jiào and 讓 ràng让 ràng can stand in for 被 bèi to build a passive sentence. They follow the same idea — the subject receives the action — but…
Category: HSK 4
Direction Complements – Extension 1
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…
Competition and Season Words in Chinese
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 of 把 bǎ 2
OneDotDot Chinese Grammar · HSK 4 Grammar Point · HSK 4 把 bǎ把 bǎ — 把 Sentence 2 Four more shapes for the “something” that follows the verb in a 把 bǎ把 bǎ sentence:doing it briefly, doing it a set number of times, marking it as done, and shifting where an adverb sits. These patterns…
Body Parts & Vehicle
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…
Money Related & Natural
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…
Abbreviations of Chinese Grammar Terms
A field guide for learners Abbreviations of Chinese Grammar Terms Every grammar term you meet in a Chinese textbook comes with a small-print abbreviation — n., v., adj. — borrowed straight from English. Taiwan and mainland China don’t always agree on the term itself, though. Here’s both, side by side. Word-level — parts of speech,…
Objects at School
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…
Objects at Home
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…
Identity and Family in Chinese
T.M.I Before we look up identity and family words in Chinese, I want to tell you a not important fact. There are three kinds of fans in China. The first one is 團粉/团粉 tuánfěn. It means you like the whole idol group. The second one is 唯粉wéifěn. It means you like only one specific person…