Both of the characters in 朋友péng yǒu indicate friendship.
2. 三月八日sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
8th March
3rd September
8th August
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
3. 小 Xiǎo means what in English?
smile
small or young
big
Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
4. What is the Chinese word for green?
六liù
句jù
绿lù
Both 绿lù and 红hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
5. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
华国huá guó
中国zhōng guó
美国měi guó
美měi means beautiful on its own, so with 国guó it means beautiful country. It was chosen as a rough transliteration of America.
6. 晚上wǎn shàng refers to which time of day?
Evening
Day break
Night
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
7. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
二零八年 èr líng bā nián
两零零八年 liǎng líng líng bā nián
二零零八年 èr líng líng bā nián
The 'zero' is not repeated so it is a bit like saying two thousand and eight.
8. What is the Chinese word for walk?
走zǒu
支zhī
去qù
走zǒu is the character for walk, move, run or hasten.
9. 心xīn means what in English?
Water
Heart
Star
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that have to do with emotions.
10. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
五张票wǔ zhāng piào
四票sì piào
四张票sì zhāng 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.
11. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
的你 de nǐ
你的 nǐ de
没有 méi yǒu
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.
12. Yesterday is what in Chinese
昨天 zuó tiān
去年 qù nián
上午 shàng wǔ
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
13. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
去qù
福fú
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?
14. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Add 了le after the verb
Add 么me after the the verb
Add 没méi before 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. Which word can you use to ask someone to wait
行 xíng
等 děng
来 lái
Děng 等 is a useful word to know when traveling; it is often prefixed with please : qing deng - please wait.
16. What is the Chinese for south?
英yīng
南nán
东dōng
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
17. The Chinese character for heaven or sky is what?
同tóng
天tiān
太tài
The horizontal stroke on top represents the sky which is above the figure of a large man 大dà.
18. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
谢谢xiè xiè
服务员fú wù yuán
同志tóng zhì
The term 服务员fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
19. How do you express 1,000,000 in Chinese?
百万 bǎi wàn
十万 shí wàn
万百 wàn bǎi
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.
20. How do you bid someone welcome in Chinese?
高兴gāo xīng
欢迎huān yíng
先生xiān shēng
欢迎huān yíng means Hearty Welcome and is a common greeting