Phrases 短语 (duǎn yǔ)

Tone Marks
First ā
Second á
Third ǎ
Fourth à
Neutral a

Pinyin and Characters

Pinyin use the tone marks to indicate the corresponding characters. More than one character can be in the same form of Pinyin, with the same tone marks.

Side Notes:

  • Although “室" is translated as “room”, there are more than one character and phrases that can also be translated into the word “room”. Such as "间" and "房间".
  • The phrase “房间” is often translated as the word “room”, and using the character “间” alone is usually used as a measure word for rooms.

Polyphonic Word 多音字 (duō yīn zì): ***

  • Many of the same Chinese characters has more than one way to pronounce.
  • Although it may not be any different when translated into English, the meaning of the character may vary from one pronunciation to another when used in Chinese.
  • Example: 教
    教 jiāo - to teach
    教 jiào - to instruct

    Reference: 教_百度百科
On the other hand, there are characters with the same pronunciation yet with different meanings: *
  • 是 vs 室 vs 世, these characters all has the fourth tone mark and the same Pinyin: shì
  • The character "是" can mean "yes" and "不是" means "no".
  • The character "室" means "room" such as in "教室" which means "classroom" or in "卧室" which means "bedroom".
  • The character "世" means "generation, world, era".

Links and Page References:

Introducing some of the basic Chinese phrases, may relate to previous characters:

Phrases 短语 (duǎn yǔ)
中文 pīn yīn English
工作 gōng zuò job, work, labor, task
上班 shàng bān to go to work
上课 shàng kè to attend class, to give lessons
学习 xué xí to study, to learn
学校 xué xiào school
学生 xué shēng student
医生 yī shēng doctor
房子 fáng zi house
有没有 yǒu méi yǒu have or have not
赚钱 zhuàn qián to earn money, to make money
现金 xiàn jīn cash
现在 xiàn zài now
教室 jiào shì classroom
办公室 bàn gōng shì office
宿舍 sù shè dorm, dormitory
公寓 gōng yù apartment
卧室 wò shì bedroom
房间 fáng jiān room
进来 jìn lái come in
进教室 jìn jiào shì to go into the classroom
她的爱 tā de ài her love
大家 dà jiā everyone, everybody
大家好 dà jiā hǎo hello everyone, hello everybody
例子 lì zi example
糟糕 zāo gāo terrible
上瘾 shàng yǐn overdose
世界 shì jiè world
天空 tiān kōng sky
月亮 yuè liàng moon
太阳 tài yáng sun
星星 xīng xīng star
地球 dì qiú earth
因为 yīn wèi because
所以(therefore)，如此(this way) suǒ yǐ，rú cǐ so
哟, 好(的) yō, hǎo (de) Yo, okay - this is not a traditional Chinese phrase, so the meaning in the Chinese translation is off.
宝贝(darling, treasure)，婴儿(infant) bǎo bèi, yīng ér baby
心，心脏 xīn，xīn zàng heart
命运 mìng yùn destiny
太多 tài duō too much
等，等待，(等一下) děng, děng dài, (děng yī xià) to wait, (wait)
女，女孩 nǚ, nǚ hái girl
男，男孩 nán, nán hái boy
疯，疯了，疯狂的 fēng, fēng le, fēng kuáng de crazy
是的 shì de yeah
回头！ huí tóu! Turn back!
滚/滚动的 gǔn/gǔn dòng de to roll/rolling
粗心，粗心大意 cū xīn, cū xīn dà yì careless, thoughtless
不在乎 bù zài hū careless, (not showing or receiving care)
无情 wú qíng heartless
愚笨的，(没头脑) yú bèn de, (méi tóu nǎo) mindless, (brainless)
没（有）人 ** méi (yǒu) rén ** no one
无名的，匿名 wú míng de, nì míng anonymous
关心，担心 guān xīn, dān xīn to care (about)

**The characters within the parenthesis can be omitted and the sentence still reserves the same meaning.