If you’re new to learning how to read and write Chinese, you may not have come across radicals yet. But you’re here now, so let me introduce you to Chinese radicals! Before you start, let me tell you that radicals are really an essential part of learning to read Chinese characters as they are the… Read More
Prepositions are words that indicate the relationship between words, usually nouns, in a sentence and tell us where and when something is happening. There are 4 main types of prepositions: direction, time, location and space. Below are the different types of Chinese prepositions and how to use them in a sentence. Chinese Prepositions for Time,… Read More
It will only take [est_time] to read this post! Learning to read Chinese characters is something that many students of Chinese, who often just begin learning to speak, are reluctant to show interest in. I was one of those ‘students’ if I can even call myself that, who started to learn Chinese out of necessity…. Read More
A homophone or 谐音 (xié yīn) in Chinese is two or more words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings, origin, or spelling. There are plenty of homophones in the English language, but since Chinese uses tones to indicate the meaning of the spoken word, there are even more ways to create both spoken… Read More
It will only take [est_time] to read this post! Even if you’ve had Chinese lessons to prepare you for coming to China, there’s one thing these classes probably didn’t prepare you for: the various accents, dialects and local slang that REAL Chinese speakers use day-to-day. But don’t panic! It was always going to be different,… Read More
有点儿 (yǒu diǎnr) and 一点儿 (yī diǎnr) basically both mean the same thing: ‘a little’. The key thing is to learn how to use them correctly in a sentence. Below, I’ll explain the basics of using 有点儿 and 一点儿. First, I’d like to look at the 点 character and its meaning. The character’s general meaning… Read More