Greedy cat

The Character ‘猫’ (māo)means ‘cat’, and it can be used to describe people, here are some examples to show you how it works. First of all ‘馋猫’(chán māo) means ‘greedy cat’ which can be used in a sentence like this one ‘他真是个…..’(tā zhēn shì….). ‘他真是个馋猫’(tā zhēn shìgè chán māo) means ‘he really is a greedy cat’ which is to say someone is a glutton. Apply the same sentence structure to‘夜猫子’(yè māo zǐ) ‘night cat’, ‘他真是个夜猫子’(tā zhēn shì gè yè māo zi) means ‘he really is a night cat’, which is used to say someone has a nocturnal lifestyle.

Free time

The character ‘空’ has two pronunciations, which are (kōng) and (kòng). In colloquial speech ‘有空’ is pronounced (yǒu kòng) and it means ‘have free time’. Here is an example, ‘我今天有空, 你呢?’ means ‘I have free time, how about you?’ when ‘空’is used in a word which has an indication towards ‘free’ the pronunciation is (kòng). However when ‘空’ is used in a word which has no relation to ‘free’ the pronunciation is (kōng). Here are two examples, ‘空闲’(kòng xián) means ‘leisure time’, and ‘天空’ (tiān kōng) means ‘sky’, notice the pronunciation difference between them.

Have no strength

The word ‘没劲’(méi jìn) is often used among people who live in the north part of China, as part of colloquial speech ‘没劲’(méi jìn) can mean two things. The word literally means ‘ have no strength’, for example, ‘我没劲了’(wǒ méi jìn le) means ‘I have no strength’. However, when ‘没劲’(méi jìn) is used to describe an event it means ‘boring’, for example, ‘这是一件没劲的事’means ‘this is a boring event’. To emphasise the meaning of the word phrases like ‘…….死了’(….sǐ le) or ‘真……’(zhēn…..) can be useful.

A piece of cake

There are some phrases that are very similar between English and Chinese. Here is an example, in English the phrase ‘a piece of cake’ is used when a person finds a task easy to do, in Chinese ‘小菜一碟’ (xiǎo cài yì dié) carries the same meaning and it literally means ‘small dish one plate’

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'.

Ouch

‘哎呦’(āi yòu) is used when a person is getting hurt, which is the same as the English expression ‘ouch’. Other expressions include ‘咦’(yí) is used when a person is puzzled by something, for example, ‘咦? 他到哪里去了?’ (yí? tā dào nǎ lǐ qù le?) means ‘huh? Where did he go?’. ‘酷’(kù) is used by a lot of young people, which is the same as ‘cool’ in English. ‘拜拜’(bái bái) is the same as ‘bye bye’ and is used in casual conversations. The last one is ‘happy 牛 year!’(niú), which is the same as ‘happy new year’ and is the new phrase of 2009 since this year is the year of Ox.