The Chinese Way to Use ‘make’
When I learned English, ‘make’ was a verb, which always confused me. For me, there are too many meanings of ‘make’ and some of them are quite different in Chinese…
Basic Verbs that are Different in Chinese and English
When I learned English, I always made some mistakes which known as ‘Chinglish’ where I would use English in a Chinese way. Now as a Chinese teacher, I know the…
How to Make Our Communication in Chinese Better? – Annoying ‘好吧’
As a Chinese teacher, I always enjoy teaching Chinese in my class with the standard curriculum. However, I also notice there are multitudes of small pieces of information which wouldn’t…
How To Use The Structural Particle “地” In Chinese Grammar
The structural particle 地 (de), which contains the components 土 (tǔ) and 也 (yě), acts like the suffix “-ly” in English. To put it in simple terms, 地 changes adjectives…
Come Again? Mastering repetition in Chinese with 又, 再, and 还
Have you ever struggled to understand the difference between the Chinese adverbs 又(yòu), 再(zài), and 还(hái), all of which can be translated into English as “again”? It’s easy to get…
A Beginner’s Guide to Asking Questions in Chinese: Particles and Sentence Patterns
Asking questions is one of the most fundamental skills in learning any language. Throughout your whole journey, you’ll be asking and responding to different kinds of questions at every step…
Where Was I? Using Using 在, 有 and 是 to Talk About Location
When describing the position of someone or something, Mandarin Chinese commonly uses three verbs: 在(zài), 是(shì), and 有(yǒu). These three words have very similar uses, but in most cases they…
The Common Chinese Homonyms in Daily Life
“Do you believe my tears can tear up the world?” As a native English speaker, you may not notice anything strange about this sentence. However, for an English learner, it…
The Usage of Chinese Location Words
Direction word such as 东/西/南/北/前/后 /左/右/上/下/里/外 are often used in conjunction with suffixes such as 边/面. Together they form a location word (place word). For example: Direction word such as…