Another 45 Mandarin Sentences with Chinese Characteristics

(This post is a continuation from my previous article “45 Mandarin Sentences with Chinese Characteristics“.)

The following is a collection of sentences in Mandarin which I believe are special in some way.

What do I mean by “special”? Well, let’s just say grammatically and structurally they’re not exactly typical, and in most cases they stand-alone as independent expressions. Plus, many of them contain elements of Chinese culture that set them apart from regular sentences.

I’ve broken these up into beginners, intermediate and advanced levels and tried to explain not only the literal meaning of each sentence, but its function and near-equivalent translation in English. Of course your comments and constructive feedback are always welcome in the comments section. Enjoy!

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104 More Common Erhuayin Words in Mandarin

This is a follow-up to my previous post about 128 Common Erhuayin Words in Mandarin.

  1. 天儿 tiānr: 1. day 今天是什么天儿？What’s the day today? 2. weather
    1. 聊天儿: to chat
    2. 大白天儿说梦话：to talk in a delusional fashion; to speak as if one’s head is in the clouds; to sound as if one is daydreaming
  2. 影儿 yǐngr: shadow
    1. 电影儿: movie
    2. 没影儿: 1. be out of sight 2. be groundless/fantastic 3. disappear without a trace
  3. 鱼儿 yúr: fish
    1. 金鱼儿 goldfish
  4. 鸟儿 niǎor: bird
  5. 雏儿 chúr: 1. a newly hatched bird 2. an inexperienced person 3. chick (girl)
  6. 勺儿 sháor: spoon
  7. 桃儿 táor: peach
  8. 尖儿 jiānr: tip; point; top
  9. 球儿 qiúr: ball
    1. 煤球儿: charcoal briquette
    2. 棒球儿: baseball
    3. 小皮球儿: little rubber/leather ball
  10. 芽儿 yár: sprout; shoot; bud
    1. 豆芽儿: bean sprout
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128 Common Erhuayin Words in Mandarin

The following is a list of 128 most common 儿化音 (erhuayin, erhua) words in Mandarin.

For the uninitiated, erhuayin is when you add 儿 on the end of a word. Simple examples include 好玩儿 (hǎowánr, “fun”) and 画画儿 (huàhuàr, “to paint; to draw”).

Note that I haven’t included incidences where erhuayin is added on the end of names, e.g. 兰儿 Lánr, 辰儿 Chénr, 曼儿 Mànr, 小王儿 Xiǎo Wángr, etc.

If you have any to add, please leave a comment in the comments section at the bottom of this post. Cheers!

  1. 这儿 zhèr: here (synonym: 这里 zhèlǐ)
  2. 那儿 nàr: there (synonym: 那里 nàlǐ)
  3. 哪儿 nǎr: where (synonym: 哪里 nǎlǐ)
  4. 事儿 shìr: matter; affair 怎么回事儿？: what’s up?; what happened? 没事儿。No problem.
    1. 出事儿: to have an accident
    2. 找事儿: 1. to look for trouble 2. to look for sth to do
    3. 顶事儿: to be of use; useful; helpful
    4. 共事儿: to work together 他不好共事儿。He’s not easy to get along with.
    5. 办事儿: to handle affairs; to work
  5. 字儿 zìr: character (letter/symbol or Chinese character)
    1. 八字儿还没一撇儿: not even the first stroke of the character ba has been written down; things have not even begun to take shape yet; there is not the slightest sign of success yet
    2. 把我这X字儿倒过来写: eat one’s hat
    3. 白纸黑字儿: in black and white
  6. 词儿 cír: word
    1. 没词儿: to be at loss for words
  7. 画儿 huàr: painting; drawing 一张画儿: a painting
    1. 画画儿: to paint; to draw
  8. 门儿 ménr: door
    1. 开门儿: open the door; (of a business) open
    2. 关门儿: close the door; closed
    3. 出门儿: 1. to be away from home 2. to go on a journey 2. to exit; to leave
    4. 走后们儿: use backdoor connections
    5. 抠门儿: stingy
    6. 串门儿: to drop in on sb; to pay a visit to sb
    7. 有门儿: likely to be realised; hopeful
    8. 没门儿: unlikely to be realised; no way
    9. 邪门儿: strange; weird
    10. 上门儿: 1. to drop in for a visit 2. to meet with one’s future wife’s parents
    11. 窍门儿 qiàoménr: trick; key (to a problem); knack
  9. 活儿 huór: work; job
    1. 干活儿: to work
  10. 花儿 huār: flower
    1. 浪花儿: spray from waves; splash Read more »

Random Word Trivia #8

Now it’s time for another Random Word Trivia Quiz!

Which of these can you guess the Chinese and English for?


  1. You have a big belly, possibly from too much eating or drinking (noun)
  2. You know someone who has a huge vocabulary and seems to know the meaning of almost any word. (noun)
  3. One of the most painful sounds a human can make by rubbing two objects together. (cultural concept)
  4. You sing with your mouth closed, like a bee. (verb)
  5. A child who is a genius. (noun)
  6. There’s lots of bureaucracy you have to complete to get something done. (name of a concept)
  7. You have a really old, big mobile phone. (noun)
  8. You used to play this when you were a kid, throwing rocks across a river or lake. (verb)
  9. Those long really cars that celebrities and wedding parties ride in. (noun)
  10. You always believe the worst in people. (name of a concept)
  11. The person who makes an income to support the family.
  12. You set aside positions for your friends and family to fill. (name of a concept)

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Verb-Object Collocations in Chinese

Both students of Chinese and English alike have probably heard of the term “collocation” (固定搭配), the idea that certain words are more commonly used together than others. What we’re essentially talking about is a relatively “fixed” combination of two or more words.

It does not seem terribly difficult to come up with collocations in English. We say, for example, “eat soup”, not “drink soup” as the Chinese do (喝汤). Likewise, in English we say “make a phone call to sb” or just “call sb”, while Mandarin has the more complicated structure of 给[某人]打电话.

But while there are numerous collocations dictionaries in the English language, I’ve yet to come across any for Chinese. If anyone can suggest any in the comments section I’d be most grateful.

I am also trying to make my own list of collocations in Chinese, along with their English counterparts. The kind of collocations I want to focus on, as a Chinese learner, are the kind you can’t find in dictionaries. I don’t want to talk too much about structures like “一边…一边…”, “不但…而且…”, etc. either; the way I see it, they are more like sentence structures than collocations per se. Anyway, those kind of structures you can find in any decent Chinese textbook. What I want to explore is what common collocations exist in Chinese, specifically verb-object collocations as they are usually the most practical/interesting.

I think this kind of research can benefit learners of any language, since learning how to use collocations correctly is one of the most effective ways to improve your proficiency.
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Interpreting Speech #9 – Protecting Koalas (English-into-Mandarin)


You have been called to interpret for a visiting delegation from China. They are visiting the office of the Koala Conservation and Research Foundation. The director of the foundation is giving a speech about the protection of koala populations in Australia.


Listen to Speech


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25 Common Abbreviations in Mandarin

I’ve had a number of readers ask me when I’ll be updating Parts 3 and 4 of the Top 100 Chinese Words feature. They’re currently  a work in progress; I hope this list of common Mandarin abbreviations can tie you over in the meantime. If you can think of any good ones to add let me know in the comments!


25 Common Abbreviations in Mandarin

  1. 3P (“sān-pi”): threesome
  2. APP (“aye-pee-pee”): app (usually for smart phones)
  3. BBS (“bee-bee-es”): message board; online forum
  4. BL (“bee-ell”): Boys’ Love; Yaoi; Japanese homoerotic fiction
  5. BS (“bee-es”): hate; despise; look down upon (from 鄙视 bǐshì)
  6. BT (“bee-tee”): 1. BitTorrent (protocol); torrent file 2. perverted (from 变态 biàntài)
  7. CCTV (“see-see-tee-wee”): 1. China Central Television, i.e. 中国中央电视台Zhōngguó Zhōngyāng diànshìtái 2. CCTV surveillance camera (same as English)
  8. DINK (dīngkè): couples who choose not to have children (from Double Income No Kids)
  9. HSK (“aiche-es-kay”): Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi, i.e. 汉语水平考试 Hànyǔ shuǐpíng kǎoshì (the Chinese proficiency test used in the PRC)
  10. KO (“kay-oh”): to knock sb out (probably from English “knock out”)
  11. LV (“ell-wee”): Louis Vuitton
  12. LZ (“ell-zee”): the person who makes the first in an online forum (from 楼主 lóuzhǔ)
  13. MV (“em-wee”): music video
  14. NB (“en-bee”): fucking awesome; kick-ass (from 牛逼 niúbī)
  15. PO (“poh”): post (v.) (probably from English “post”)
  16. PK (“pee-kay”): “Player Killing” (player-versus-player conflict in MMORPGs and MUDs); to fight sb
  17. PPT (“pee-pee-tee”): PowerPoint presentation
  18. PSB (“pee-es-bee”): Public Security Bureau, i.e. 公安局 gōng’ānjú
  19. Q (“kewoh”): 1. chewy 2. cute
  20. SB (“es-bee”): stupid cunt (from 傻逼 shǎbī)
  21. SM (“es-em”): sadomasochism (probably from English “S&M”)
  22. UGG (“yu-ji-ji”): ugg (boot)
  23. VCR (“wee-see-ar”): short clip (probably corrupted from English “VCR”)
  24. YD (“why-dee”): dirty; perverted (from 淫荡 yíndàng)
  25. YY (“yee-yee”): to fantasise; to get pleasure from imagining a sexual act; to think pervertedly (from意淫 yìyín)