In China, the number 10,000 was considered innumerable and is used to express 'countless' and 'myriad'. Numbers greater than 10,000 are expressed as multiples of 10,000 up to 100,000,000 which would be 10,000x10,000 and is a new character 亿 yì.
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
Division of a traditional Feng Shui compass
4. Yesterday is what in Chinese
来年 lái nián
上月 shàng yuè
昨天 zuó tiān
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
Wall and Moat with corner guard post defend the Forbidden City, Beijing
5. 三月八日sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
9th July
8th March
3rd March
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
6. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
你㝵 nǐ dé
他的 tā de
你的 nǐ de
The possessive ' 的 de' is a very common character in Chinese, it can be used with any noun to make someone or something possess it.
7. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
四张票sì zhāng piào
五张票wǔ zhāng piào
四票sì piào
You need to include a measure word in Chinese; you can not say just four tickets, you need to add the measure word for things that are flat 四票sì piào between the number and the noun.
14. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Add 么me after the the verb
Add 吗mǎ at the end of the sentence
Add 了le after the verb
Changing the tense of a verb is easy in Chinese you do not have to learn declension or lots of new characters. Adding 了le to 买mǎi buy turns it into 买了mǎi le bought.
15. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
二千八年 èr qiān bā nián
二零零八年 èr líng líng bā nián
两零零八年 liǎng líng líng bā nián
The 'zero' is repeated. It can also be specified, but more rarely, as 两千零八 liǎng qiān líng bā.
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that are to do with emotions.
17. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
福fú
夫fū
孚fú
The character for good fortune 福fú has an interesting derivation. It is widely seen on Chinese gifts. Just to add to confusion it is often shown ‘upside down’
Traditional lion dance near a temple
18. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
服务员fú wù yuán
医生yī shēng
欢迎huān yíng
The term 服务员fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
Starter level quiz about the Chinese language.
