Posts Tagged ‘ calendar ’

(#33) Months / 月份

Since I had covered days of the week, I’ll make it complete by introducing the way to say the months. To say one month, you say 一个月 yi4 ge4 yue4, two months as 两个月 liang3 ge4 yue4, etc etc.

In this particular case, you cannot omit 个 ge4. Not that you should in any other cases, but because it is not a common grammar usage in english, I guess there is a chance you might leave it out in your usage.

But I was saying you shouldn’t omit 个 when you are saying months, because on its own, 一月 yi1 yue4 means January.

I think you can start smiling, because saying months in mandarin is really simple, you just take numbers, and add 月 yue4 to the back. By the way, 月 means the moon, just for your interest.

一月 = Jan
二月 = Feb
三月 = Mar
四月 = Apr
五月 = May
六月 = Jun
七月 = Jul
八月 = Aug
九月 = Sep
十月 = Oct
十一月 = Nov
十二月 = Dec

(As usual, I am not going to excessively go into repeating the numbers in hanyu pinyin. Have you guys memorised it already?)

2013
02/18
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Mandarin
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(#32) Week / 星期,礼拜,周

There are 3 methods to say ‘a week’ in chinese.

 

星期 xing1 qi1 < used most frequently.

礼拜 li3 bai4 < used in slightly informal situation

周 zhou1 < used in slightly formal situation. Not that the word is formal, just that you seldom hear it in normal conversations, but more on the news, or in commercials.

 

To say one week, you add 一个 yi1 ge4 to the front of the word – 一个星期 yi1 ge4 xing1 qi1 and 一个礼拜 yi1 ge4 li3 bai4

But for 一周, you don’t add 个 ge4 to it. There is not much logic to it, you just have to remember 一周 yi1 zhou1 but as a very irresponsible teacher I’ll just say forget this term and stick to the 星期 xing1 qi1,  it will be sufficient to get you around.

 

To say Monday, Tuesday etc, you just need to be able to count up to 6. On sunday, instead of ‘7’, the word becomes 日 ri4 which previously you would see that it means ‘day’. But in this case, it means ‘sun’.

星期一，星期二， 星期三，星期四， 星期五， 星期六， 星期日 xing1 qi1 ri4

礼拜一，礼拜二， 礼拜三，礼拜四， 礼拜五， 礼拜六， 礼拜日 li3 bai4 ri4

周一，周二， 周三，周四， 周五， 周六， 周日 zhou1 ri4

(I won’t post all the hanyu pinyin because I’m sure you get it now. If you don’t, study a bit harder. 🙂 numbers are really simple in chinese, and really helpful. )

 

2013
02/17
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Mandarin
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(#26) Valentine’s Day / 情人节

In mandarin, we say it is 应景 yin4 jing3, which means during specific activities aligned to the occassion.

Today is Valentine’s Day, so I’ll want to say Happy Valentine’s Day to you.
情人节快乐！qing2 ren3 jie2 kuai4 le4!

Let’s take the opportunity to go through some vocabulary related to this occassion.

我爱你   wo3 ai4 ni3   I love you
男朋友   nan2 peng2 you3   Boyfriend
女朋友   nv3 peng2 you3   Girlfriend
丈夫，妻子   zhang4 fu1, qi1 zi3   (Used as a pair; formal) Husband, wife
先生；太太   xian1 sheng1, tai4 tai4   (Used as a pair; used in introduction) Husband, wife
老公，老婆   lao3 gong1, lao3 po2   (Used as a pair； informal and cute) Husband, wife
恋人   lian4 ren2   Lovers
结婚   jie2 hun1   Marry, married (depending on context)
订婚   ding4 hun1   Engage, engaged (depending on context)
戒指   jie4 zhi3   Ring
玫瑰花   mei2 gui4 hua1   Rose
巧克力   qiao3 ke4 li4   Chocolate
红酒   hong2 jiu3   Red wine
钻石   zuan4 shi2   Diamond

2013
02/14
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(#15) Do, Eat, Drink / 做，吃，喝

Let’s start learing some common verbs!
This post will be full of vocabulary, but don’t get distracted away from the main points, which are the verbs.

‘To do’ is 做 zuo4. It can also mean ‘to make’ in certain contexts.

做工 zuo4 gong1 to work
我星期六得做工。 wo3 xing1 qi2 liu4 dei2 zuo4 gong1. I have to work this saturday.

做梦 zuo4 meng4 to dream
我昨晚做了个噩梦。wo3 zuo2 wan3 zuo4 le4 ge4 e4 meng4. I had a nightmare last night.

做功课 zuo4 gong1 ke4 to homework
我忘记做功课！ wo3 wang4 ji4 zuo4 gong1 ke4! I forgot to do (implied: my) homework
To eat is 吃 chi1. Nuff said.

吃饭 chi1 fan4 literally it means ‘eat rice’; but it generically means to have a meal.
你吃饭了吗? ni3 chi1 fan4 le4 ma1? Have you eaten?

吃早餐 chi1 zao3 can1 literally it means ‘eat breakfast’, but it is just means to have breakfast.
我忘记吃早餐 wo3 wang4 ji4 chi1 zao3 can1. I forgot to eat breakfast.
To drink is 喝 he1.

喝水 he1 shui3 drink water
一天要喝八杯水 yi4 tian1 yao4 he1 ba1 bei2 shui3 should drink eight glasses of water a day

喝啤酒 he1 pi2 jiu3 drink beer

New Vocabulary:

  • 星期六 xing1 qi2 liu4 saturday
  • 昨晚 zuo2 wan3 last night
  • 噩梦 e4 meng4 nightmare
  • 忘记 wang4 ji4 forgot
  • 早餐 zao3 can1 breakfast
  • 一天 yi4 tian1 a day
  • 八杯水 ba1 bei1 shui3 eight glasses of water
  • 啤酒 pi2 jiu3 beer
2013
02/08
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Mandarin
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