This Learn Chinese Online lesson will help you understand how to describe the beginning of a time span in Chinese. For example:

Since he was seven years old, he started to go to school on his own.

Before we look at the Chinese way of saying it, please review the following new words first.

Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	English Definition
自从	自從	zi4 cong2	since (a time); ever since;
七岁	七歲	qi1 sui4	seven years old
开始	開始	kai1 shi3	to begin; to start
打	打	da2	hit; since
再也	再也	zai4 ye3	(not) any more
出现	出現	chu1 xian4	to appear; to show up
真的	真的	zhen1	really; indeed
以后	以後	yi3 hou4	afterwards; later on
骂	罵	ma4	to scold; to abuse

 

Now, we can start by using the direct translation of the word “since” in Chinese: “自从”. Then the whole sentence can be translated into this:

自从他七岁，开始自己上学了。

zìcóng tā qī suì， kāishǐ zìjǐ shàngxué le。

The above sentence can be understood by Chinese. However, the word flow is not quite comfortable. It will be more smooth if we convert the above sentence into the following sentence pattern :

自从。。。开始, 就 。。。

zìcóng。。。 kāishǐ, jiù 。。。

 

Like this:

 

自从他七岁开始，就自己上学了。

zìcóng tā qī suì kāishǐ， jiù zìjǐ shàngxué le。

 

Now the sentence is getting smoother and much more comfortable. “自从” can also be shortened to “自” or “从“. Therefore, the following two sentences are good too:

 

自他七岁开始，就自己上学了。

zì tā qī suì kāishǐ， jiù zìjǐ shàngxué le。

从他七岁开始，就自己上学了。

cóng tā qī suì kāishǐ， jiù zìjǐ shàngxué le。

 

You can also use another sentence pattern to express “since”, this one is mostly used in spoken mandarin:

 

打。。。开始, 就 。。。

dǎ。。。 kāishǐ, jiù 。。。

 

Let’s fit our example into this pattern:

 

打他七岁开始，就自己上学了。

dǎ tā qī suì kāishǐ， jiù zìjǐ shàngxué le。

The function of “就” here is as a conjunction to connect the two clauses. It can be replaced by other words as long as the other words could connect the two clauses similarly as “就”. For example,

打他七岁开始，已经自己上学了。

dǎ tā qī suì kāishǐ， yǐjīng zìjǐ shàngxué le。

 

“打。。。开始，。。。” and “自从。。。开始。。。” can also be written like this:

打。。。起,。。。   dǎ。。。 qǐ,。。。

自打。。。起,。。。  zìdǎ。。。 qǐ,。。。

 

If you just want to say “since then….“, then there are a few phrases you can choose from to express just that:

 

从那以后。。。  cóng nà yǐhòu。。。

自那以后。。。  zì nà yǐhòu。。。

打那以后。。。  dǎ nà yǐhòu。。。

 

Are you clear now? Before we finish, let’s look at three examples that express “since then …“:

 

从那以后, 她再也没有出现。

cóng nà yǐhòu, tā zàiyě méiyǒu chūxiàn。

Since then, she had never appeared.

 

自那以后, 他就真的爱上了她。

zì nà yǐhòu, tā jiù zhēn de àishàng le tā。

Since then, he had fallen in love with her.

 

打那以后, 妈妈没有再骂过他。

dǎ nà yǐhòu, māma méiyǒu zài mà guò tā。

Since then, his Mom never scolded him anymore.

 

Now it’s time for a good rest! Good night, my friends! 🙂

 

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

If you’ve followed my lessons to this far, the previous topic “How to ask questions in Chinese? (1)” might leave you wonder what if I want to ask questions that don’t have enough known information to structure as a statement first. Such as “W” questions in English. For example, questions as below:

What is your name?

Where is your baby sister?

When did you go home?

Which one is Beijing University?

How did your presentation go?

… …

Well, the strategy to structure the above questions in Chinese is still the same as it was in the previous lesson.

Turn the sentence into a statement, fill the unknown information with corresponding “W” or “H” words: what, where, when, which, how etc..

I’ll show you the way to do it in the following examples:

1) What is your name?

The process to form the sentence in Chinese is:

Your name is what. ==> Your name is what?

nǐ de míng zi shì shén me

你的名字是什么 ==> 你的名字是什么?

Isn’t it straight forward enough? OK then, let’s learn a few new words first before we move on:

shén me	nǎlǐ, nǎr	shén me shí hòu
什么 (what)	哪里, 哪儿 (where)	什么时候 (when)
nǎ yī ge	zěn me yàng	míng zi
哪一个( which)	怎么样 (how)	名字 (name)
mèi mei	zài	Běi jīng
妹妹(younger sister)	在 (at)	北京(Beijing)
dà xué	bào gào
大学 (university)	报告 (presentation)

Once you’ve passed the “new words” phrase, please go on with the rest of the examples (each uses one “W” or “H” word). Pay attention to the top sentence that is written in English, but in Chinese word order.

2) Where is your baby sister?

Your baby sister is where. ==> Your baby sister is where?

nǐ de mèimei zài nǎlǐ

你的妹妹在哪里. ==> 你的妹妹在哪里?

 

3) When did you go home?

You when went home. ==> You when went home?

nǐ shén me shí hou huí de jiā

你什么时候回的家. ==> 你什么时候回的家?

 

4) Which one is Beijing University?

Which one is Beijing University. ==> Which one is Beijing University?

nǎ yī ge shì Běi jīng Dà xué

哪一个是北京大学. ==> 哪一个是北京大学?

 

5) How did your presentation go?

Your presentation went how. ==> Your presentation went how?

nǐ de bào gào zěn me yàng

你的报告怎么样. ==> 你的报告怎么样?

In brief, for “W” questions in Chinese, just simply replace the unknown word with “W” or “H” word and add a question mark to the end of the sentence.

I’ll show you how many “W” or “H” words in Chinese you need to know to form these type of questions. Again, they are only a few, I’d suggest you to memorize the following basic mapping list, so they’ll become handy when your smart brain cells need to reach them.

What – 什么

where – 哪里, 哪儿

when – 什么时候

which – 哪一个

how – 怎么样

 

Enough of questions. Hope you’re not overwhelmed so far. Now let’s have some take-away for today’s lesson. Please use google or any search engine you like to search for the above “W” or “H” words in Chinese. See whether you can figure out what is being asked. You can use an online dictionary to help you translate the Chinese words in the question.

Again, repeat with the recording for as many times as you could. See if you can create some “W” questions in Chinese with the help of online dictionary. You’re welcomed to paste the questions you created in your comment too!

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

Asking questions might have become your basic needs when you’re learning a new language or culture. To meet your basic need at this stage, I compiled all the commonly used Chinese question sentence patterns for you in two lessons. You’ll happily notice that question sentence patterns in Chinese are actually very easy and straight forward. You don’t need to change orders of words, or forms of words at all.

For questions asking for confirmation, all you need to do is churning out your question as a statement, and then add certain exclamatory particle, such as 吗(ma), in the end and a question mark. Done.

Let’s have a look at the right thinking process to form a question in Chinese first:

nǐ shì Zhōng wén lǎo shī ma

你是中文老师吗?

Are you a Chinese teacher?

1) Structure your question as a positive statement first:

“你是中文老师.”

“You are a Chinese teacher.”

2) Then add exclamatory particle to the end of the sentence. And a question mark to finish it.

“你是中文老师吗?“

“You are a Chinese teacher ma?”

Another example:

wǎnshang nǐ lái ma?

晚上你来吗?

Will you come tonight?

I’ll show you again how did the question got formed. Please be aware that you need to put “when” before verb in Chinese. We’ll come to this topic in next few lessons.

1) Structure your question as a positive statement first:

“晚上你来.”

“You will come tonight.”

2) Then add exclamatory particle to the end of the sentence. And a question mark to finish it.

“晚上你来吗?“

“You will come tonight ma?”

Easy, right? As long as you can work out the basic sentence, you’ll be able to turn it into a question. You know what? For a non-English, non-Chinese speaker, to grasp question sentence patterns in English should take longer than that in Chinese. You say Chinese is hard, you really don’t know how hard English is for many Chinese students. 🙂

Now you might wonder exactly how many exclamatory particles you can use to form a question in Chinese. Hmn… not many though, in fact, only a few. The following is all I can think of:

ma	la	le
吗	啦	了
le ma	de
了吗	的 (possessive particle: “of”)

Please be aware that they are all with fifth tone (pronounced flatly, softer than first tone).

Also four new words we’ll learn in our examples:

gē ge	jiě jie	rèn shi
哥哥 (elder brother)	姐姐 (elder sister)	认识 (know)
huíjiā
回家

Well of course, just as in English, you can turn a Chinese sentence into a question by simply adding a question mark in the end. When you say it, raise the tone of the last character or word a bit to imply it’s a question, not a statement. Let’s listen to some examples, with or without exclamatory particles:

statement:

nǐ shì Mike de gē ge

你是Mike的哥哥.

You’re Mike’s elder brother.

statement + 吗?

nǐ shì Mike de gē ge ma

你是Mike的哥哥吗?

Are you Mike’s elder brother?

statement + ?

nǐ shì Mike de gē ge

你是Mike的哥哥?

You’re Mike’s elder brother?

Another example:

statement:

nǐ rèn shi tā de jiě jie

你认识她的姐姐.

You know her elder sister.

statement + 吗?

nǐ rèn shi tā de jiě jie

你认识她的姐姐吗?

Do you know her elder sister?

statement + ?

nǐ rèn shi tā de jiě jie

你认识她的姐姐?

You know her elder sister?

“了” and “啦” are used to question whether it has completed or not:

statement + 了 (or 啦) ?

tā huí jiā le

她回家了?

 

tā huí jiā la

她回家啦?

Has she gone home? (She’s already at home now?)

 

OK, now, let’s have a break … are you drinking tea, or coffee? Since it’s a vacation day morning for me, I’d like to have some snack now.

Enjoy your tea, or coffee, or whatever refreshment you’re taking… stay healthy and see you in next lesson!

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

In English, we often use “used to do …” to describe a habit,  behavior or facts that happened in the past and stopped already. It is not possible to find an equivalent expression by just translating “used to do …” into Chinese verbatim. In this Learn Chinese Online grammar lesson, we’ll find out what are options out there that we can use to express “used to do …” in Chinese.

First of all, let’s go over new vocabulary list and then we’ll start with an example. Please use the estroke tool under the new word table to help you with your writing practice.

Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	English Definition
曾经	曾經	ceng2 jing1	previously; ever
以前	以前	yi3 qian2	before; previous; ago;
原来	原來	yuan2 lai2	former; originally; at first
本来	本來	ben3 lai2	original; originally
店	店	dian4	shop; store
买	買	mai3	to buy
常常	常常	chang2 chang2	often;
公园	公園	gong1 yuan2	park (for public recreation)
玩	玩	wan4	play; have fun

 

If we want to say, “I used to live here.” That means, “I do not live here anymore. But I lived here in the past.” To turn that sentence into Chinese, you can use a word called “曾经 céngjīng“:

我曾经住在这里.

wǒ céngjīng zhù zài zhèlǐ.

That’s the best translation I can think of. However, the following alternatives are also acceptable:

我以前住在这里.

wǒ yǐqián zhù zài zhèlǐ.

 

我原来住在这里.

wǒ yuánlái zhù zài zhèlǐ.

 

我本来住在这里.

wǒ běnlái zhù zài zhèlǐ.

 

以前 yǐqián means “before; in the past”. “原来 yuánlái” and “本来 běnlái” means “originally”.

Please be aware that “曾经  céngjīng” can be shortened as a single character “曾  céng“. “曾  céng” and “曾经 céngjīng” share the same meaning.

Let’s look at another example:

I used to buy books in this store.

A good translation for this sentence could be:

我以前常常在这个店买书.

wǒ yǐqián chángcháng zài zhège diàn mǎi shū.

I used to buy books in this store.

“以前常常 yǐqián chángcháng” describes a habbit that went again and again in the past. Do you see the difference? The first few examples demonstrated a verb that lasts for a long duration. The last example used a verb of instant behavior. “以前常常 yǐqián chángcháng” emphasizes the repeat occurrence of the behavior.

Let’s finish this lesson with two more examples then:

他以前常常来这个公园玩.

tā yǐqián chángcháng lái zhège gōngyuán wán.

He used to spend his leisure time in this park.

 

他曾经学过中文.

tā céngjīng xué guò Zhōngwén.

He used to learn Chinese.

 

Now, for practice purpose, could you translate the following two sentences into Chinese please?

1. She used to be a teacher.
2. She used to have lunch at school.

You can leave your answers in the comment area, thanks!

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

I don’t know whether it just happens in English or any other languages, the sentence pattern that I gonna talk about today seems very very important due to the high demands of its usage:

“Why on earth did this happen?”

Even a toddler that survives a full day daycare program in Canada would always pop out the follow phrase 🙂 :

“What the … ?!”

So I figure for my Learn Mandarin online friends, we can’t miss out on this importance pattern. No matter you come from English background, or any other language background, this Chinese sentence pattern will come handy for you in your Chinese conversation for sure.

The new words we gonna learn in this lesson are only two of them:

jiū jìng	dào dǐ
[hanzi]究竟[/hanzi]	[hanzi]到底 [/hanzi]
What on earth …	What on earth …

Let’s get started by translating the title sentence pattern into Chinese:

“Why on earth did this happen?”

jiūjìng wèishénme huì fāshēng zhèzhǒng shì?

究竟为什么会发生这种事?

究竟 jiū jìng is one main keyword that you can use for this purpose. You can also reorder the sentence by placing 究竟 jiū jìng in a difference position too. Let’s reorder it like this :

fāshēng zhèzhǒng shì jiūjìng shì wèishénme?

发生这种事究竟是为什么?

究竟 jiū jìng can be replaced by 到底 dào dǐ as well. So the above two sentences can be reworded like this :

dàodǐ wèishénme huì fāshēng zhèzhǒng shì? 

到底为什么会发生这种事?

 

fāshēng zhèzhǒng shì dàodǐ shì wèishénme?

发生这种事到底是为什么?

Now let’s do a little practice using these two keywords:

 

[ Practice 1:  What on earth is this? ]

First, let’s get rid of the “on earth” and turn the question into a simple W question:

What is this?

In Chinese, we say:

zhè shì shénme?

这是什么?

Then we place 究竟 jiū jìng or 到底 dào dǐ in the proper position of the sentence to turn it into the sentence pattern we learned today:

zhè jiūjìng shì shénme?

这究竟是什么?

or

zhè dàodǐ shì shénme?

这到底是什么?

Do you get a feel of it now? Let’s look at another question :

 

[ Practice 2:  What exactly did you do yesterday? ]

The Chinese translation of this type of question is same as the previous example, you can say:

nǐ zuótiān dàodǐ zuò le shénme?

你昨天到底做了什么?

 

nǐ zuótiān jiūjìng zuò le shénme?

你昨天究竟做了什么?

As for the toddler’s phrase:”What the … ?!”, usually it can be directly translated into “怎么回事 zěn me huí shì?!” in Chinese. The complete sentence could be “到底怎么回事 dào dǐ zěn me huí shì?!”

Do you get it now? Feel free to share any other ways you know to express “What on earth …”, “What exactly …” kind of sentence patterns in Chinese.

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

Before you go too far into a general conversation in Chinese on a plan, a project, a whatever topic that’ll demand actions, you’ll realize that you need to express “I can …”, ” I’m able to …” in Chinese frequently.

The equivalent words in English are only a few: can, could, be able to etc…. In Chinese, they are not many either.

OK, let’s go through some new words first. There are only three of them:

kěyǐ	jiè	bǐjì
[hanzi]可以[/hanzi](could, be able to)	[hanzi]借[/hanzi](borrow)	[hanzi]笔记[/hanzi] (notes)

Let’s get started…

I can do this.

wǒ néng zuò zhège.

我能做这个.

 

Or,

wǒ huì zuò zhège.

我会做这个.

 

I’m able to do this.

wǒ kěyǐ zuò zhège.

我可以做这个.

 

Focus on following three keywords:

néng,   huì,   kěyǐ

能,        会,      可以

Basically, you just put one of the above keywords right before the verb. If those keywords are used in question or answer pattern, do it this way:

If you wanna say:

[Can you do this?

Yes, I can.

No, I can’t.]

 

You can use either one of the following patterns:

<Pattern 1>

nǐ néngbùnéng zuò zhège?

你能不能做这个?

wǒ néng.       néng.

我能.    Or simply 能.

wǒ bùnéng.     bùnéng.

我不能. Or simply 不能.

 

<Pattern 2>

nǐ huìbùhuì zuò zhège?

你会不会做这个?

wǒ huì.       huì.

我会.    Or simply 会.

wǒ bùhuì.     bùhuì.

我不会. Or simply 不会.

 

<Pattern 3>

nǐ kě bùkěyǐ zuò zhège?

你可不可以做这个?

wǒ kěyǐ.              kěyǐ.

我可以.      Or simply 可以.

wǒ bùkěyǐ.             bùkěyǐ.

我不可以.     Or simply 不可以.

 

You might have noticed that when you answer such type of questions, you really don’t need to say “Yes” first as you do in English. Just jump directly to “I can.” or “I can not.” Or simply “Can.” or “Can’t.”.

Aside from 能, 会 and 可以, you can also use “行 (xíng)“. But remember, this word can NOT be followed by any other words. Using it as the meaning of “can”, you can only use it simply as below:

 

nǐ xíng bùxíng?

你行不行?

xíng.

行.

 

Hope I’ve explained it clear to you on how to say “I can …” and “I’m able to …” sentence pattern in Chinese. Now let’s have a look at the following examples to reinforce what you’ve learned from this lesson:

Can you go to the company today?

nǐ jīntiān néngbùnéng qù gōngsī?

你今天能不能去公司?

néng.

能.

 

Another way of asking the same question is:

nǐ jīntiān néng qù gōngsī ma?

你 今天能去公司吗?

néng.

能.

 

When you answer such type of questions, you really don’t have to use the exact keywords that has been used in the question. You can use anyone of the following in your answer:

néng.

能.

 

huì

会.

 

kěyǐ.

可以.

 

xíng.

行.

 

Now you need to give yourself a chance to practice as well. Try to translate the following sentences into Chinese first by yourself, then look at the answer below:

1. Can I have lunch at school?

Yes, you can.

 

Answer:

wǒ jīntiān néng zài xuéxiào chīfàn ma?

我今天能在学校吃饭吗?

néng.

能.

 

2. May I borrow your notes to read?

Yes, no problem.

 

Answer:

nǐ néng jiè wǒ kàn yīxià nǐ de bǐjì ma?

你能借我看一下你的笔记吗?

xíng, méiwèntí.

行, 没问题.

 

3. Could my sister stay here tonight?

Yes, go ahead!

 

Answer:

wǒ mèimei jīnwǎn néng zhù zhèr ma?

我妹妹今晚能住这儿吗?

kěyǐ, zhù ba!

可以, 住吧!

 

4. Can you write Chinese?

Yes, I do.

 

Answer:

nǐ huì xiě Zhōngwén ma?

你会写中文吗?

huì.

会.

 

Have you enjoyed your lesson … 🙂 Learning Chinese definitely requires hard work. However, as long as you work in a balanced pace, mix your study with fun together, you’ll be amazed at your progress one day soon…

Feel free to leave your comment before you go … see you next time, my good friend!

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

If you’ve tried to read some Chinese articles, you should have a good chance to come across character “把(bǎ)”. It’s a character that can be used both as noun and a help character with other verb. As a help character, it is the keyword to form a certain sentence pattern.

As noun, it can be used as the following two meanings (as explained in Wiktionary):

1. measure word for anything that can be held in one’s hand (sān bǎ dāo) 三把刀: three knives
2. handle (normally used with other characters to combine into new word), such as:
   (bǎ wò) 把握: grasp

This is straight forward. The difficult part for this character lays in its usage with verb. Let’s move on with new words of this lesson first:

bǎ	dēng	guān
把 (helping verb)	灯 (light)	关 (turn off)
qián	diū	zuàn jiè
钱 (money)	丢 (lose)	钻戒 (diamond ring)
rēng xiàng	dà hǎi	fàng dào
扔向 (throw to)	大海 (sea)	放到 (put down, place on)
zhuō shàng
桌上 (on the table)

According to Wiktionary, as helping verb, 把 is “a special type of helping verb which, when placed in front of the object of a sentence, allows for the object of the sentence to be placed before the verb. This allows for greater flexibility in complex sentence construction.”

It’s a good summary of its usage, however, I don’t think you can really understand how to use it by just reading its usage. There’s no easy counterpart in English that can be used the same way. I hope I can help you to understand the usage of this character in this post. (Yes, it needs a whole post to explain!)

Let me pull out two sentences that have “把” with verb in it first:

Example 1:

wǒ bǎ dēng guān le.

我把灯关了.

 

Example 2:

tā bǎ qián diū le.

他把钱丢了.

 

The sentence pattern in the above examples are like this:

who + 把 + what + verb

They are similar to the English pattern as “have something + past tense verb”. In this case, the above can be translated as:

Example 1: I had the light turned off.

and …

Example 2: He had the money lost.

Do you want to see some more examples? Please continue …

tā bǎ zuànjiè rēng xiàng le dàhǎi.

她把钻戒扔向了大海.

 

lǎoshī bǎ shū fàng dàoliǎo zhuō shàng.

老师把书放到了桌上.

Honestly, you can equivalently translate the above two sentences into “have something + ad verb” pattern to English. It’s not a graceful translation in English though. Only so it’s easier for you to understand how the pattern was used:

straight translation: She had her diamond ring thrown into the sea.

graceful translation: She threw her diamond ring into the sea.

straight translation: The teacher had the book to be put on the table.

graceful translation: The teacher put her book on the table.

In my opinion, the need to use pattern “…把…” is to emphasize on the verb part. To lead the audience to focus on the consequence of the verb, to move their attention to things that could happen as a consequence if the verb being executed. If you turn pattern “…把…” sentence back into ordinary word order, the consequence that the verb might cause is not emphasized:

 

我把灯关了. (I have the light turned off.)

As compared to:

我关了灯. (I turned the light off.)

 

他把钱丢了. (He had the money lost.)

As compared to:

他丢了钱. (He lost his money.)

After this lesson, could you make some “把” pattern Chinese sentences by yourself? Don’t be shy to put them down in your comment.

Hope you’re having a wonderful day today!

See you soon!

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

 

To kickstart today’s lesson, I’d suggest you to do a character search on a random Chinese article that you can pull out from the Internet. Just search for Chinese character 就(jiù) in the article. I bet you’ll be able to find it, not once, possibly a lot.

No doubt this is a high frequency character. You might be able to translate it as “will” in one place, but under other circumstances, it is combined with other characters to render various meanings. For that reason, it’s worthwhile to have a whole lesson just for it.

First of all, a few new words to go through first:

kāi shǐ	kǎo shì	xià yǔ
开始 (start)	考试 (exam)	下雨 (rain)
qǔxiāo
取消 (cancel)

 

See if I can put its usages all together into one list:

• … will …    =>    … 就jiù(会huì, 要yào) + verb …
• … is …    =>   … 就是jiùshì… (emphasis on “is”)
• Once … then …    =>    … 就jiù + verb …
• right “where” …   or   right “when” …   =>   就在jiù zài

The easiest way to learn them is through examples. That gonna make our life easier… 🙂

 

… will …    =>    … 就(会, 要) + verb …

rúguǒ míngtiān xiàyǔ, yīnyuèhuì jiù huì qǔxiāo.

如果明天下雨, 音乐会就会取消.

If it rains tomorrow, the concert will be canceled.

 

… is …    =>   … 就是… (emphasis on “is”)

tā jiùshì xiǎo lǐ de mèimei.

她就是小李的妹妹.

She IS Xiao Li’s sister. (confirmed)

 

Once … then …    =>    … 就 + verb …

wǒ dàoliǎo nàr, yīnyuèhuì jiù kāishǐ le.

我到了那儿, 音乐会就开始了.

Once I arrived, the concert started.

 

… right “where” …   =>   就在

tā de jiā jiù zài zhèr.

他的家就在这儿.

His home is right here.

 

… right “when” …   =>   就在

tā de kǎoshì jiù zài zǎoshang.

他的考试就在早上.

His test was right in the morning.

 

“就”can also appear in compound words to form different meanings other than above.

Hope today’s lesson would help you to learn how to use this high frequency character in your own spoken or written Chinese.

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

Character “ 着“ is a frequently used character that has no equavelant counterpart in English. There are also two ways to pronounce the mysterious character, I’ll show you how soon.

However, as scary as it sounds, it’s really not that difficult in terms of usage. Once you grasp it, and can use it freely, it’ll help you to “craft” your Chinese to be more “native”.

Before anything else, let’s go through your new vocabulary drill first. 🙂 :

pèng	zhuàng	zhuānxīn
[hanzi]碰[/hanzi] (bump)	[hanzi]撞[/hanzi] (hit)	[hanzi]专心 [/hanzi](concentrate)
jìng jìng dì	yǔ shēng	chē zi
[hanzi]静静地[/hanzi](silently)	[hanzi]雨声 [/hanzi](sound of rain)	[hanzi]车子[/hanzi] (car)
qiáng	bǐ jì běn	zhǎo
[hanzi]墙[/hanzi] (wall)	[hanzi]笔记本[/hanzi](note book)	[hanzi]找[/hanzi] (search)
shí jiān	zhōng yú	rè
[hanzi]时间[/hanzi] (time)	[hanzi]终于[/hanzi](finally)	[hanzi]热[/hanzi] (hot)
diàn shì	zǒng suàn	shuì
[hanzi]电视[/hanzi] (TV)	[hanzi]总算 [/hanzi](finally)	[hanzi]睡[/hanzi] (sleep)
yī huì r
[hanzi]一会儿[/hanzi] (a little while)

 

When you finish, move on please…

The first pronounciation:

zhe
着

It’s placed right after a one character verb. To show the action is on-going right now. Something like present tense in English.

For example:

看着 kàn zhe – watching

听着 tīng zhe – listening

Or it’s placed right after a one character verb. To indicate the completion of the motion. Or to balance the whole sentence.

For example:

碰着 pèng zhe – bumped

撞着 zhuàng zhe – hit

Let’s put the words in sentence to make them more alive to you:

tā zhuānxīn de kàn zhe nà zhāng huà.

她专心地看着那张画.

She is looking at the picture attentively.

 

tā jìng jìng de tīng zhe yǔ shēng.

他静静地听着雨声.

He is listening to the rain silently.

 

nǐ pèng zhe wǒ le.

你碰着我了.

You bumped me.

 

chēzi zhuàng zhe qiáng le.

车子撞着墙了.

The car hit the wall.

 

The second pronounciation is:

zháo
着

It’s placed right after a verb to emphasize the status after the completion of verb. It put an emphasis on the status change caused by the full completion of the verb.

Don’t worry, I know you’re most likely puzzled now. Let me explain.

If you lost a wallet full of Ids and money, and you’re looking for it. The result of finding it or not means big difference to you, doesn’t it? Your mood for the whole day would be totally different you find it or not, isn’t it so? In English, “looking for it” means you haven’t found it. “Found it” means it’s been found. The two states are significantly different to you.

However, in Chinese, you have to use the same one character “找 zhǎo” for actions of “looking for” or “found it”. Therefore to tell “it’s found” you need to use the magic character “着” and to form the word “找着 zhǎo zháo” to represent the meaning of “found”.

The same usage goes to “睡着 shuì zháo”. “睡 shuì” means sleep (not explicitly showing you’re trying to sleep or has slept soundly). “睡着 shuì zháo” means “soundly asleep” in comparison to being awake but trying to sleep.

Examples:

wǒ de bǐjìběn bùjiàn le, wǒ zhǎo le hěn cháng shíjiān, zhōngyú zhǎozháo le.

我的笔记本不见了. 我找了很长时间, 终于找着了.

My notebook was lost. I’ve been looking for it for a long time, and finally I found it.

 

zuówǎn hěn rè wǒ shuì bùzháo. kàn le yīhuìr diànshì hòu wǒ cái zǒngsuàn shuìzháo le.

昨晚很热我睡不着. 看了一会儿电视后我才总算睡着了.

I couldn’t sleep last night. Then I watched TV for a while and finally felt into sleep.

Are you clear now? If yes, it is time for you to grab some Chinese content to do a quick read, just to see if you can understand better with the sentence that has 着 in it. Feel free to leave your questions in the comment.

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂

 

Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	English Definition
职位	職位	zhi2 wei4	position;
需要	需要	xu1 yao4	to need; to want
电脑	電腦	dian4 nao3	computer
文件	文件	wen2 jian4	document; file
处理	處理	chu3 li3	to handle; to process
培训	培訓	pei2 xun4	training;
各种	各種	ge4 zhong3	all kinds of; various kinds
类型	類型	lei4 xing2	type; category
简单	簡單	jian3 dan1	simple
会议	會議	hui4 yi4	meeting; conference
布置	佈置	bu4 zhi4	to put in order; to arrange
同事	同事	tong2 shi4	colleague; co-worker
冲突	衝突	chong1 tu1	conflict; to conflict
冷静	冷靜	leng3 jing4	calm; cool-headed
沟通	溝通	gou1 tong1	to communicate;
如果	如果	ru2 guo3	if
经理	經理	jing1 li3	manager
寻求	尋求	xun2 qiu2	to seek; to look for
帮助	幫助	bang1 zhu4	help
请求	請求	qing3 qiu2	request

Zhou Yang is interviewing a Zhang Ye for a temparory job position in the hotel …

 

zhōu yáng:” nǐhǎo, zhāng yè! zhège zhíwèi xūyào huì yòng diànnǎo zuò yīxiē wénjiàn chǔlǐ. nǐ huì zuò ma?”

周杨:”你好, 张叶! 这个职位需要会用电脑做一些文件处理. 你会做吗?”

 

zhāng yè:” huì! wǒ yǒu guò wénjiàn chǔlǐ de péixùn. wǒ huì chǔlǐWord, Powerpoint hé Excel děng gèzhǒng lèixíng de wénjiàn.”

张叶:”会! 我有过文件处理的培训. 我会处理Word, Powerpoint 和 Excel 等各种类型的文件.”

 

zhōu yáng:” nà nǐ huì zuò jiǎndān de huìyì bùzhì ma? nǐ néng zài hěn duǎn de shíjiān lǐ bǎ huìyìshì bùzhì hǎo ma?”

周杨:”那你会做简单的会议布置吗? 你能在很短的时间里把会议室布置好吗?”

 

zhāng yè” néng， wǒ yǒu guò zhè fāngmiàn de jīngyàn. wǒ kěyǐ yòng yī tiān de shíjiān bùzhì liǎng gè huìyìshì。”

张叶:”能，我有过这方面的经验.我可以用一天的时间布置两个会议室。”

 

zhōu yáng” hěn hǎo。 rúguǒ nǐ zài gōngzuò zhōnghé tóngshì yǒu chōngtū， nǐ huì zěnme zuò?”

周杨:”很好。如果你在工作中和同事有冲突，你会怎么做?”

 

zhāng yè” wǒ huì xiān ràng zìjǐ lěngjìng， zài hé tóngshì gōutōng。”

张叶:”我会先让自己冷静，再和同事沟通。”

 

zhōu yáng” rúguǒ tóngshì bùyuàn hé nǐ gōutōng， nǐ huì zuò shénme?”

周杨:”如果同事不愿和你沟通，你会做什么?”

 

zhāng yè” wǒ jiù hé jīnglǐ gōutōng， cóng jīnglǐ nà xúnqiú bāngzhù。 qǐngqiú jīnglǐ bāng wǒ hé tóngshì gōutōng。”

张叶:”我就和经理沟通，从经理那寻求帮助。请求经理帮我和同事沟通。”

 

[ translation ]

 

Zhou Yang:”Hi Zhang Ye! This position requires computer skills to process document. Can you do it?”

Zhang Ye:”Yes, I can. I had word processing training before. I can handle document processing tools such as Word, Powerpoint and Excel etc.”

Zhou Yang:”Then do you know how to arrange meeting rooms? Can you arrange a meeting room giving very limited time?”

Zhang Ye:”Yes, I can. I’m experienced in this area. I could arrange two rooms in one day.”

Zhou Yang:”Very good. If you have a conflict with your colleague, what would you do?”

Zhang Ye:”I’ll calm myself down first, then have a talk with my colleague. ”

Zhou Yang:”If your colleague doesn’t want to talk to you, what would you do then?”

Zhang Ye:”Then I’ll talk to my manager, and seek help from my manager. Let my manager to talk to my colleague.”