Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Interesting Chinese characters 十shí ten - 百bǎi hundred - 千qiān shousand



We will learn 3 charcaters which are related to numbers today,
十shí ten - 百bǎi hundred - 千qiān shousand


十shí means ten in Chinese. Originally it was a knot, please look at the oracle bone character










Some words with 十
•        十一(shíyī) 11
•        十二(shíèr) 12
•        十三(shísān)13


百bǎi means hundred. It looks like a head in old character, please have a look. Ancient Chinese people use the image of head to show the meaning of hundred.
 
Words with 百

•        一百(yì bǎi)      100
•        二百(èr bǎi)        200
•        三百(sān bǎi)     300


千qiān means thousand. Since we use a head to show Hundred, how do we show Thousand?  It must be bigger than a head, isn’t it? It is a person with a horizontal line.
 
Words with 千

•        一千(yì qiān)           1000
•        一千人(yì qiān rén)     1000 people
•        几千人(jǐ qiān rén)      thousands of people

 
Here is the video


Find your tutor on: www.thechineseclassroom.com
Email: zhongshandl@gmail.com





Beginner Spoken Chinese - lesson 008 - how to say time in Chinese

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Interesting Chinese characters 白bái white - 月yuè moon - 明mínɡ bright

We will learn 3 charcaters which are related to SUN today,
白bái white - 月yuè moon - 明mínɡ bright


We know 日means sun in Chinese, if you put one more stroke on the sun to show the light of the sun, you got the character 白which means white, just the color of the light of the sun.

•         白天(báitiān)      day time
•         白酒(báijiǔ)       white spirit
•         白色(báisè)        white(color)


月,doesn’t it look like a moon? Yes, it does! Let’s look at the oracle bone character 3000 years ago.


oracle bone character moon


•         一月(yīyuè)          January
•         一个月(yí ɡe yuè)     one month
•         月饼(yuèbǐnɡ)         mooncake


明=日+月. The sun and the moon which are the brightest stars in the sky, so we put them together to mean Bright. This character also got the meaning of Next.
oracle bone character bright

•         明天(mínɡtiān)   tomorrow
•         明年(mínɡnián)   next year
•         明珠(mínɡzhū)    bright pearl

writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-bai2-white


writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-yue4-moon
writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-ming2-bright


Find your tutor on: www.thechineseclassroom.com

Email: zhongshandl@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Interesting Chinese characters 水 water 川 river 州 state

We will learn 3 charcaters which are related to WATER today, 水,川,州。


Please look at the ancient characters. 


 
水looks like flowing water. 川 looks like a river. 州 looks like an island in a river.
So 水 means water,川means river and 州 means state

Some words with 水 shuǐ
•         热水(rèshuǐ)hot water
•         冰水(bīnɡshuǐ)cold water

A word with 川 chuān
四川(sìchuān) A province in China famous for spicy food

Look at this spicy fish!

And you might know Kung Pao Chicken,it is one of the most favourite food chosen by Westerners in China!

Some words with 州 zhōu
•         加州(jiāzhōu)
•         九州(jiǔzhōu)

writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-shui3-water
writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-chuan1-river

writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-zhou1-state














Here is the video


Find your tutor on: www.thechineseclassroom.com
Email: zhongshandl@gmail.com





Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Learn interesting Chinese characters 口kǒu,日rì,电diàn- Chinese symbols

Today We will learn three new characters 口kǒu,日rì,电diàn, let's start.

口kǒu means mouth, hole, doesn't it look like a mouth. Let's look at the oracle bone character for 口kǒu 3000 years ago

Some words with 口kǒu

•门口(ménkǒu) doorway 
•入口(rùkǒu) entrance
•出口(chūkǒu)exit

日rì means Sun in Chinese, we just add a line in the character 口 to make a difference. 
oracle bone character for 日rì 3000 years ago


Some words with 日rì


•日出(rìchū) sunrise
•s日落(rìluò) sunset
•日本(rìběn) Japan

电diàn means electricity. It looks like a lightning coming from the sky shining as a sun.

Some words with 电diàn

•电力(diànlì) electricity power
•闪电(shǎndiàn) lightning
•电话(diànhuà)telephone

The order of the characters


writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-kou3

writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-ri4
writing-order-chinese-character-symbol-dian4
Find the video here:

Find your tutor on: www.thechineseclassroom.com
Email: zhongshandl@gmail.com



Beginner Spoken Chinese lesson 005 – Do you have coffee?