Speak!

For many foreign students the usage of ‘讲’ (jiǎng), ‘说’ (shuō) and ‘告诉’ (gào sù) can be confusing. In this article we are going to find out how to use them appropriately.

First of all ‘说’ (shuō) means ‘ to speak’ or ‘to say’, for example, ‘她说她想睡觉’ (tā shuō tā xiǎng shuì jiào) means ‘ she says she wants to sleep.’, also in books ‘说’ (shuō) is often used.

‘告诉’ (gào sù) means ‘to tell’, for example, ‘他告诉我他要去火星’ (tā gào sù wǒ tā yào qù huǒ xīng le) means ‘he told me he will go to Mars’. However ‘告诉’ (gào sù) is often used when there is no explaining involved.

‘讲’ (jiǎng) means ‘to explain’ or ‘ to tell’, for example, ‘讲故事’ (jiǎng gù shì) means ‘ to tell a story’, the reason’告诉’ (gào sù) is not used in this case is because to tell a story involves explaining, whereas ‘告诉’ (gào sù) is only used to pass on the information.

Borrow and Lent

‘借’ (jiè) means ‘to borrow’ and ‘to lend’. When you have got something from someone temporarily ‘借’ (jiè) means ‘to borrow’, however if you have given something to somebody temporarily ‘借’ (jiè) means ‘to let’(see the article picture). For example, ‘你能借给我点钱吗?’ (nǐ néng jiè gěi wǒ diǎn qián mā?) means ‘can you lend me some money?’, and ‘我借了点钱给他.’ (wǒ jiè le diǎn qián gěi tā) means ‘I have lent him some money’, but if the sentence is like this ‘我借了点钱.’ (wǒ jiè le diǎn qián) it means ‘I have borrowed some money.’. Quite the opposite ‘我借出去了点钱.’(wǒ jiè chū qù le diǎn qián) means ‘ I have lent some money out.’, notice the word ‘出去’ (chū qù) it indicates something is going out, and that is why ‘借’ (jiè) in this sentence means ‘to lend’ instead.
Just remember when you give something out ‘借’ (jiè) means ‘ to lend’, on the contrary when you take something in ‘借’ (jiè) means ‘ to borrow’.

Spring time!

If you have noticed some honey bees in the wild that probably means it’s springtime! We all know honey bees are good insects because they produce honey, which is tasty and healthy. So today’s article we are going to have a look at the word ‘honey bee’ and ‘honey’ in Chinese.

‘蜜蜂’(mì fēng) means ‘honey bee’, the character ‘蜜’ (mì) means ‘honey’ and the character ‘蜂’(fēng) means ‘bee’ or ‘bees’. However in colloquial Chinese the word ‘蜂蜜’ (fēng mì) is frequently used to describe ‘honey’ instead, and ‘蜜月’(mì yuè) means ‘honey moon’. ‘甜蜜’ (tián mì) means ‘sweet’ or ‘cheesy’ it depends on the phrase.

Kitchen

Since food is very important to Chinese culture the character ‘厨’ (chú) is used a lot in all different kind of words which are related to food process.

‘厨’ (chú) is made up from three different parts: ‘厂’(chǎng) means ‘workshop’, ‘豆’(dòu) means ‘beans’ and ‘寸’(cùn) means ‘a unit of measure’, all together they make the character ‘厨’ (chú). However, in modern Chinese ‘厨’ (chú) is rarely used on its own. The word‘厨房’(chú fáng) means ‘kitchen’, ‘厨具’(chú jù) means ‘cooking utensils’ and ‘厨师’(chú shī) means ‘chef’.

Pain

The character ‘疼’ (téng) means ‘pain’, which is used to construct words related with body pain. For example, ‘headache’ in Chinese is ‘头疼’ (tóu téng) and ‘stomach-ache’ is ‘肚子疼’ (tù zi téng). However, the phrase ‘you are such a pain in the ass’ can’t be translated as ‘你是屁股疼’ (nǐ shì pì gù téng), it doesn’t make sense as a literal translation. Some people will pronounce the character ‘疼’ (tòng). Here is a list of words which have ‘疼’ (téng) as part of construction.

脖子疼(bó zi téng)	Neck pain
背疼(bèi téng)	Back pain
脚疼(jiǎo téng)	Foot pain
腿疼(tuǐ téng)	Leg pain
胳膊疼 (gē bó téng)	Arm pain

Broken

The character ‘坏’ (huài) can be used as a verb, which means ‘broken’ or ‘to break down’. For example, ‘我的车坏了’ means ‘my vehicle has broken down’. However when using ‘坏’ (huài) as an adjective it means ‘bad’, for example, ‘坏人’ (huài rén) means ‘bad person’. Also ‘坏’ (huài) can mean 'something is off', for example, '这个鸡蛋坏了'(zhè gè jī dàn huài le) means ' this egg is off'.

Don’t move

When the Character ‘别’(bié) is uesd in front of a verb like ‘动’(dòng) ‘to move’, ‘说’(shuō) ‘to speak’, ‘用’(yòng) ‘to use’ and ‘跑’(pǎo) ‘to run’ it means ‘don’t….’
For example, ‘别动’(bié dòng ) means ‘don’t move’, ‘别说’(bié shuō )means ‘don’t speak’, ‘别用’(bié yòng ) means ‘don’t use it’ and ‘别跑’(bié pǎo) means ‘don’t run’.

Hang on a second

‘……一下’(yí xià) is frequently used in Chinese language, the word itself means ‘….. a second’ which is often combined with ‘等’(děng) ‘to wait’ , ‘停’(tíng) ‘to stop’ and ‘试’(shì) ‘to try’ to create new phrases like ‘等一下’(děng yí xià) ‘wait a second’, ‘停一下’ (tíng yí xià) ‘stop for a second’ and ‘试一下’ ‘just try it’ (shì yí xià).

Stingy & Generous

To continue with the character ‘气’(qì) which can be used in many words. The following article is going to explain the difference between ‘小气’(xiǎo qì) and
‘大气’ (dà qì).

The word ‘小气’(xiǎo qì) means ‘stingy’. The character ‘气’(qì) in this situation reflects a type of personality, so someone with ‘小’(xiǎo) in their personality is not going to be very generous. Quite the opposite, the word ‘大气’ (dà qì) means ‘generous’, as you can guess, someone who has ‘大’(dà) in their personality is not going to care about petty little things.

Anger

The character ‘气’(qì) can mean a lot of things in Chinese language, mostly related with personality. Words like ‘消气’(xiāo qì) and ‘生气’(shēng qì) might be hard to remember, but after reading this article it should be easy for you to take them on-board.

The character ‘气’(qì) can mean ‘anger’, so the word ‘生气’(shēng qì) literally means ‘given birth to anger’. For example, ‘他很生气’(tā hěn shēng qì), which means ‘he is very angry’. On the contrary, the word ‘消气’(xiāo qì) is the opposite of ‘生气’(shēng qì). The character ‘消’(xiāo) means ‘ to put out’, so ‘消气’(xiāo qì) literally means ‘to put out anger’. For example, ‘你先消气, 有什么话好好说’ (nǐ xiān xiāo qì, yǒu shén mè huà hǎo hǎo shuō’ which means ‘ you should cool down first, and then talk a bit nicer’.

Chubby

If this is your first time coming across ‘肥’ (féi) and ‘胖’(pàng) here is a quick guide to help you understand the difference between them.

‘肥’ (féi) which means‘fat’, is an adjective generally used among animals and is using to describe animal fat, for example, ‘肥肉’(féi ròu) which means ‘fat meat’. Sometimes ‘肥’ (féi) can be used on humans too, but is an insult when used it on people.

‘胖’(pàng) which means ‘fat/chubby’, is often used on people and sometimes it can be used on animals too. It carries a cuteness within its meaning, for example, ‘胖乎乎’ (pàng hū hū) which means ‘cute chubby’, ‘肥乎乎’ (féi hū hū) which means ‘fat’.

Put ‘肥’ (féi) and ‘胖’(pàng) together to create a new word ‘肥胖’ (féi pàng) which means ‘obesity’.