As we’ve often said, to learn a foreign language it’s important to watch lots of films and listen to many songs in the original language, rather it would be better to memorize and sing them. Unfortunately, many don’t like Chinese language songs because they’re quite different than Western tastes. Fortunately for those learning Chinese, now …
The Chinese language has a vast gamut of auxiliary modals and it isn’t at all rare to find characters that can be translated in the same way but possess shades of meaning and context and slightly different ways of use. To fully master the Chinese language it is good to examine it in detail, even …
Auxiliary modals time-related expressions in Chinese Read More »
What is the Confucius Institute? The original Chinese name for this institute is Kongzi Xueyuan, 孔子学院. The Confucius Institute is an entity that concerns itself primarily with the dissemination and promotion of the Chinese language and culture in the world through Chinese language courses, through calligraphy, through taiqi, through martial arts, as well as supplying …
“All the children of the Gaomi region have come into this world thanks to the care and wisdom of Wan Xin’s hands, the only midwife in the area. Hers is a natural talent that in a short period of time transformed her into the beloved keeper of the secrets of maternity. But when, halfway through …
Mo Yan Life Mo Yan (莫言), which literally means “nothing to say”, is the pseudonym for Guan Moye (管谟业), an affirmed writer and essayist known worldwide, especially for having won a Nobel prize for literature in 2012 thanks to his ability to merge popular stories, history and modernism with a strong hallucinatory realism. During his …
The Writer Mo Yan: His Life and Most Important Works Read More »
The complement of company The complement of company indicates the person or inanimate being with which one finds in a specific circumstance or with whom one does or undergoes an action. The complement of company is introduced by the prepositions 跟 (gēn) “with”, 和 (hé) “and/ together with”. Here are a few examples: 我不跟他说了。 Wǒ …
Complements of Company, Means, Tools, Topics, and Directions Read More »
Phrases with 把 (bǎ) represent a peculiar characteristic of the Chinese language. The function of the character 把 is directly derived from classical Chinese where it had the meaning of “to take”. Now this character is used for the verb “to take” and as a classifier for objects that can be grasped or objects with …
Chinese structures with 把 (bǎ) in Chinese grammar Read More »
The topic-comment structure The topic-comment structure is perhaps one of the most difficult peculiarities of the Chinese language to master for those who aren’t Chinese. In short, the Chinese phrase can also be structured according to a sequence that is conventionally called “topic-comment”. The topic, located at the initial position of the phrase, is a …
The Topic-Comment Structure and the Direct and Indirect Objects in Chinese Read More »
In recent years, in many “western” schools teaching Chinese has been initiated and I have been fortunate to be one those who have had the chance to teach it in high schools (in Italy). I confess that I found myself taken aback since I didn’t have even a minimal idea of how to teach this …
In this article you’ll find grammatical constructions, the most important expressions and the most useful words that will help you pass the HSK exam level 4. The HSK 4 exam’s structure You’ll surely be more comfortable knowing how the exam is laid out. The HSK 4 exam is divided into 3 smaller sections: 45 listening …
This is the first article of the new category “Readers of SDC: Guide to Chinese literature”, centered around the writer from Hangzhou, Yu Hua. His life Yu Hua (余华) was born April 3, 1960 (one of Yu Hua’s works is entitled “What happened on April 3”, 四月三日事件) in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. At about one year …
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In this article, after a brief introduction, you’ll find a table with 150 characters that will help you begin learning Chinese on the right foot. Stephen Krashen, an American language teacher appreciated throughout the world and also in China (Chinese name: 史蒂芬·克拉申), famous mainly for the affective filter theory and for the hypothesis on acquisition …
150 most commonly used characters to begin learning Chinese Read More »
To out emphasis on a small quantity, you can insert one of the following three adverbs: 只(zhǐ), 就 (jiù) and 才(cái), translatable as “only”. Here are a few examples: 今天上课的人很少，就/只/才十一个人。 jīntiān shàngkè de rén hěn shǎo, jiù/zhǐ/cái shíyī gèrén. Today there were few in class, only eleven people. 我才/只/就睡了两个小时。 Wǒ cái/zhǐ/jiù shuìle liǎng gè xiǎoshí. …
This article is a collection of all the articles on Chinese grammar that we’ve published here on this site. General characteristics of the Chinese language In this article we’ll explain what counts as so-called “Mandarin Chinese”, how many dialects are spoken in modern China, what the Chinese writing is and the word in Chinese; how …
Directional verbs In Chinese, to express movement there are essentially two ways of doing so: 1. Introducing the place with a preposition (state, movement, and so on), to then insert the appropriate movement verb: Preposition + place + movement Here are a few examples: 我到中国去。 dào zhōngguó qù. I go to China. 你到哪儿去了？ Nǐ dào …
Directional complements, verbs and prepositions in the Chinese language Read More »
Contrasting conjunctives Contrasting conjunctives express a contrast, an impediment. The most used conjunctions are: 可是 (kěshì) “but, nevertheless”，可 (kě) “but, yet”，不过 (buguò) “but, however”，但是 (dànshì) “but, nevertheless”，但 (dàn) “but, yet”，不然 (bùrán) “otherwise”，要不然 (yàoburán) “else”，否则 (fǒuzé) “otherwise”. Let’s see a few examples: 他想吃披萨，但是要减肥。 Tā xiǎng chī pīsà, dànshì yào jiǎnféi. He wanted to eat pizza but …
With this article I want to give you an extremely succinct idea of the general characteristics of Chinese lnaguage and grammar. The objective is to provide you with a starting point for studying this wonderful language. Enjoy the read! The Chinese language Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world thanks to the …
General characteristics of Chinese language and grammar Read More »
Directional complements In the Chinese language, there are verbs of motion that, besides movement, also express direction. These verbs can be used transitively and intransitively, and are conventionally divided into two groups: The first group is made up of the verbs 来 (lái) “to come” and 去 (qù) “to go” Here are some examples: 老师来了。 …
A complementary resultative specifies the result or outcome produced by a phrase’s verb. As a verbal complement, the result is made up of characters that are firmly bound to the right of the verb of the main clause, specifying the outcome. Eventual particles or direct objects are positioned to the right of the complementary resultive. …
Boasting a continuous history of thousands of years, China has collected an extensive catalogue of rules – explicit and implicit – that govern social habits: the so-called Chinese etiquette (o 礼节). In the past, almost every aspect of Chinese life was regulated by what Master Confucius called 礼 (“li”, rites); failure to observe one of …
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