Sudden revelation! In Chinese, the usual way to say ‘thank you’ is 谢谢 xièxie, though there is also a more formal word 感谢 gǎnxiè, which has roughly the same meaning.
In Vietnamese, ‘thank you’ is ‘Cảm Ơn’, which is pronounced something like ‘gam un’. It sounds curiously like the Chinese word 感恩, which means ‘to be grateful’ (it’s used in the Chinese word for Thanksgiving – 感恩节).
Some random linguistics trivia:
✩ ‘Saturday’ comes from the word ‘Saturn’
✩ Did you ever notice that the months ‘September’, ‘October’, ‘November’ and ‘December’ refer to the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively, but are actually the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th months?
Hey all. For various reasons I’m feeling a bit wistful today, so I thought it might be good to channel some of this feeling into showing you some words and phrases in the Chinese language that really have a sense of 诗意 (literally ‘poetic feeling’) and/or 画面感 (literally ‘the feeling of a scene’). Here’s some of my faves:
Here are some more of my calligraphic adventures with a Daiso calligraphy pen! Most of these are of biāng, otherwise known as ‘the most complicated Chinese character in existence’ (it’s actually the name of a noodle dish – biāng biāng miàn – from around Xī’ān).
Must be getting romantic in my old age. Me trying out my new Daiso ‘flexible tip’ pen. This is qíng – part of the word for ‘love’ (爱情 àiqíng).
So whilst Deliveroo is processing my order, I thought it was about time I update. Today’s theme is something that is in part something I’ve noticed myself and also part something that I’ve since seen written about to some degree in academic literature, but not really ever in Chinese learning materials.
Today’s post is about a really fundamental Chinese particle, 的.
Today’s post is actually slightly abstract in nature, but it’s also about something that causes students confusion right from the beginning of their Chinese-learning journey (and I don’t blame them – it’s never really flagged in any Chinese learning resources). So, let me ask you. Why do some noun-phrases have 的 linking the adjective / description to the noun e.g. 很美的地方 and others don’t e.g. 中国菜? Can we use either? Do they have any difference in meaning? Let’s take a look!
Today’s tip is about a structure often heard in colloquial Chinese, but not too often written about ever. The pattern is as follows:
subject + 有 / 没 + 的 + action verb*
‘there’s a lot [有] / nothing [没] for + subject + to + verb’
‘a journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step’
How many ways do you know how to say ‘goodbye’ in Chinese? Chances are you probably only know 再见 and maybe 拜拜~. Let’s spice up your Chinese with some other ways to bid someone farewell:
中文秘诀 | The Secret of Chinese