1. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
飞fēi
木mù
福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?
2. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
他的 tā de
你的 nǐ de
你㝵 nǐ dé
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.
3. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
没国méi guó
美国měi guó
英国yīng 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.
4. What is the Chinese word for green?
渔yú
绿lù
句jù
Both 绿lù and 红hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
5. Which word can you use to ask someone to wait
等 děng
儅 dāng
行 xíng
Děng 等 is a useful word to know when traveling; it is often prefixed with please : qing deng - please wait.
6. Yesterday is what in Chinese
来年 lái nián
昨天 zuó tiān
上月 shàng yuè
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
7. How do you express 1,000,000 in Chinese?
百万 bǎi wàn
双 shuāng
十万 shí wàn
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.
8. What is the Chinese for south?
南nán
男nán
西xī
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
9. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
两零八年 liǎng líng bā nián
二零八年 èr líng bā nián
二千八年 èr qiān bā nián
The 'zero' is not repeated so it is a bit like saying two thousand and eight.
10. What is the word for friend in Chinese?
迎友yíng yǒu
朋友péng yǒu
平友píng yǒu
Both of the characters in 朋友péng yǒu indicate friendship.
11. 晚上wǎn shàng refers to which time of day?
Evening
Afternoon
Day break
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
12. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
什么shén me
服务员fú wù yuán
医生yī shēng
The term 服务员fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
13. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
四朝sì zhāo
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.
14. 心xīn means what in English?
Star
Heart
Water
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that have to do with emotions.
15. The Chinese character for heaven or sky is what?
太tài
田tián
天tiān
The horizontal stroke on top represents the sky which is above the figure of a large man 大dà.
16. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Add 了le before the verb
Add 了le after the verb
Add 吗mǎ at the end of the sentence
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.
17. How do you bid someone welcome in Chinese?
高兴gāo xīng
朋友péng yǒu
欢迎huān yíng
欢迎huān yíng means Hearty Welcome and is a common greeting
18. 三月八日sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
8th August
3rd March
8th March
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
19. 小 Xiǎo means what in English?
eight
school
small or young
Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
20. What is the Chinese word for walk?
是shì
去qù
走zǒu
走zǒu is the character for walk, move, run or hasten.