Learn to say different weathers in Chinese

Learning to talk about different weathers in Chinese is a big part in Chinese online lessons. Weather is one of the most fundamental areas of communication as it is so closely connected to our daily life. Another reason we need to learn different weathers is that this topic appears frequently in HSK exams, which demand us to pay more attention in the HSK prep.

                                                                       大雨

About Rains

In Chinese, the most commonly used decoration words are “大”,“中”and“小”meaning “big”, “medium” and “small”. So, when there is a heavy rain, we can say：“今天大雨”，and likewise, we can also say “中雨”and “小雨”. Besides, there are other words to describe different types of rains such as 雷阵雨，which is thunder shower, 暴雨 which is rainstorm, and 细雨 which means “It is drizzling.”

About Snow

Actually, the words describing a snowy weather is quite the same to the ones describing 雨. In Chinese, we can say“大雪”,“中雪”，“小雪”or “暴雪”. But we can’t say “雷阵雪”or “细雪”.

                                      晴天

Besides “雨” and “雪”，there are other types of weathers: If you want to say the weather is sunny, you can say qíng (晴)；cloudy, duō yún (多云)，etc. The above are the most frequently used expressions we learned from today’s mandarin tutorial, and I hope that you will master them because it will be very helpful for you when you need to talk about weather in Chinese.

Before we end, I will put a question here: Among the different weathers, maybe the most uncomfortable one is “雨夹雪”. Do you know what it is like if the weather is “雨夹雪”？

Authentic Greetings in Chinese

From our online Chinese lessons, we know there are many ways to make greetings when people meet. However, the ways to greet may vary according to different situations.

How do you greet a new friend? If you want to start a conversation with a person that you have never met before, you usually say 你好, or you can use 您好 to show your respect. It is usually common to add很高兴认识你 “Glad to meet you.” after that. This way of greetings is often used in circumstances such as business activity, a social party, etc.

If you meet a friend that you are not quite familiar with, you are supposed to say 早上好“Good morning?”, 下午好“Good afternoon?”,  晚上好“Good evening?”, 你好吗“how are you?” etc. to greet each other in a friendly way. Sometimes, they will say those greetings with a hug.

However, Chinese people greet each other in quite a different way when if they know each other well. And if you’re a foreigner, you’ll find it quite interesting by this very authentic way. If you have ever been to China, you’ll find some interesting greetings. Usually, when Chinese people meet on the way, they will say “Where are you going?” nin2 qu4 na3 （您去哪？）, “Have you had your meal?” chi1 le5 ma5（吃了吗？）, or “Are you going to the street?” shang4 jie1 ya5（上街呀？）etc. To many people who are learning basic Chinese, these greetings are questions about privacy and they are quite confused.

To put it in a nutshell, different greetings in China, Britain and the U.S. owns to different cultures. British and American people may not enjoy greetings in China because they think they are too specific and individual. While Chinese people won’t use British and American greetings for the ones they greet would feel they are not being familiar, especially people in rural areas.

Having said that, as we learn Chinese, we should not confuse us by asking “why did they greet each in this seemingly weird way.” Chinese is a language, and we should not learn it like it’s mathematics, right? 

Can you use “方便 （fāng biàn）” accurately in Chinese?

We all know that learning Chinese online can be a great way to know Chinese language. It not only saves much time on the way to school but give us a lot of convenience. 方便（fāng biàn） is a very commonly used word in Chinese. For those of you who have learned Chinese either by yourself or with an online mandarin tutor, it is easy to understand that方便（fāng biàn）means convenience in Chinese.

For example: When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” Here the word means convenience, and she means when it is convenient or when she has time to have party with her friend.

However, there are other meanings that are quite different to its original meaning. It can be used in this phrase: “方便一下（fāng biàn yī xià）.”which has the meaning of going to the bathroom in Chinese.

                              Convenient or 方便？

Many times in China, this expression confused the foreigner.

A foreigner who has taken mandarin lessons online is having dinner with some Chinese friends. Then one of them said我要方便一下. People around him told the foreigner that his friend wanted to go to the lavatory. The foreigner then understood that in Chinese “方便（fāng biàn）” meant “ to go to the lavatory.

The next day, another Chinese man proposed a toast and told the foreigner : ”Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）” of meeting you when I go abroad next time.” This made the foreigner more confused than before.

But what made him most confused was the following event. When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” The foreigner was stunned:” How can I give you an interview when answering nature’s call?”

In this story, we may find that there are two meanings of “方便 （fāng biàn）.” The first meaning is to go to the bathroom and the second meaning is “convenient.” In the second case, the Chinese man told the foreigner “Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）”  of seeing you when I go abroad next time” . Here, “方便 （fāng biàn）” means at someone’s convenience.

What’s your love situation?

The Chinese Valentine’s Day has just passed. Some of you may have received gifts from your loved ones, while others may not. Chinese Valentine’s Day is a very romantic day for couples, young and old to get together. Speaking of romance, let’s learn trending Chinese words concerning a person’s love situation.

单身 (dān shēn)

People don’t receive gifts on Valentine’s Day for various reasons. One of them may because they are single. In Chinese it is called 单身 (dān shēn). In this word, 单 means “single” or “only one”, while 身 means a person’s body. So, literally 单身 means “a single body”.

Let’s see an example:

小王：莉莉，长得真漂亮！你有男朋友吗？

Xiao Wang: Lily, you are so beautiful! Do you have a boyfriend?

莉莉：谢谢，我还是单身。

Lily: Thank you. I am still single.

Bachelor‘s Day Falls  on November 11

There are other words to express the status of being single such as单身汉(dān shēn hàn) and 光棍儿 (guāng gùn r). Both of these words refer to a man who is single. Do you know the very famous Chinese festival called 光棍儿节? The festival may get its name from its date 11.11, which consists of four single “1”. In China, 光棍儿节 is a festival for single men to party, to drink beer and to celebrate the opportunity of being free.

初恋 (chūliàn)

What’s the meaning of 初恋 (chūliàn)? 初 (chū) in Chinese means "first," and 恋 (liàn) means "to fall in love." So 初恋 (chūliàn) means "first love." 初恋 (chūliàn) can be used to describe the first time you fell in love as well as the first person you fell in love with.

Romance of Being in Love

Usage of 初恋：

1. 这么多年，他还是无法忘记他的的初恋。

   After many years, he still cannot forget his first love.

2. 她是我的初恋。She is my first love.

      

已婚(yǐ hūn)

初恋(chū liàn) is like eating an unripe apple: bitter-sweet. Some bear fruits, some don’t. For those who are married, we can call their love situation as已婚(yǐ hūn). 已 is short for 已经(yǐ jīnɡ), which means “already”, while 婚 means “marriage”. The Chinese character 婚 has a very interesting explanation. 婚 consists of two parts: “女” which means woman, and “昏” which means “dizzy” or “faint”. In Chinese, some people believe women agree to get married only when they are dizzy and unconscious of themselves.

Being married is called 已婚 in Chinese

未婚(wèi hūn)

The Chinese character 未 means “not (yet)”.

For example:

我还有很多工作未完成。

I still have a lot of work that are not finished yet.

Knowing the meaning of 未, it will be pretty easy to understand the meaning of 未婚. Can you guess its meaning? And what’s your current love situation?

Learn how to buy tickets in Chinese

Traveling in China can be fun, but it can also get you in trouble if you are not able to take a train such as buying tickets. In this episode, you are going to learn easy Chinese in buying a train ticket, asking for help at a railway station, etc. Stay tuned with us and learn conversational Chinese with short videos. Learn Chinese can be easy and fun!

Learn more Easy Chinese with us.

Easy Chinese 6 What to do in case of an emergency in China

Learn to speak survival Chinese in case of an emergency in China. Accidents happen from time to time, so what do you do in case of emergency in China?  In this episode of Easy Chinese series, you are going to learn very basic spoken Chinese such as what number to dial, how to call an ambulance, and how to report an accident to the police. Besides this video, also pick up some Simple Chinese phrases and sentences.

Learn easy chinese - booking a hotel room in Chinese

When you are in China, you might want to live in a hotel. Most hotel rooms in China needs to be booked in advance. And being able to book by yourself in Chinese can be pretty cool! In this short video, you are going to learn very handy and simple phrases for booking a hotel room in Chinese. Stay with our Easy Chinese Series to learn more simple mandarin phrases with our online mandarin teachers!

Learn How to Greet People in Easy Chinese-Ni Hao

你好(nǐ hǎo)

The most commonly used phrase for greeting in Chinese is 你好. 你 means “you”, 好 means “good”, so 你好 literally means “you good”. In English, it simply means “Hello”.

In China, people use 你好 to show respect. You can say 你好 to someone you meet for the first time as well as people you know. When you have a question or ask somebody to do you a favor such as asking time, you always begin by saying 你好, as a way to draw someone’s attention.

你好 is kind of a neutral word, which is seldom used among very close friends or your families. Just as in English language, you often say “Hey, buddy!” instead of “Hello” to your best friends.

In Chinese, there is another word that has exactly the same meaning as 你好. It is 您好(nín hǎo). The only difference between 你好 and 您好 is that 您好 is more formal, usually used in formal occasions or to address people that are older than you.

你好吗(nǐ hǎo ma)？

In Chinese grammar, to ask someone “How are you?” in Chinese, you simply put 吗 after 你好. 吗 in Chinese is a “question word” which doesn’t have a particular meaning. When a statement is followed by 吗， that statement becomes a question. For example: "你是小王吗?(nǐ shì xiǎowáng ma？)" means “Are you Xiao Wang?” "你吃了吗?(nǐ chīle ma？)" means “Did you eat?”

How do we reply to "你好吗?" in Chinese?

If you are felling fine, you can say 我很好(wǒ hěnhǎo) which means “I am very good.”

If you are feeling bad, you can say 我不好(wǒ bùhǎo) which means “I am feeling bad” and then you can go on by explaining exactly why you are feeling bad.

If you are neither feeling very good or very bad, you can say 一般般(yī bān bān) or 还好( hái hǎo). Both of these phrases mean “just ok”.