Characters & Special Usages
Everyday phrases, rhetorical questions, and structures used in casual Mandarin.
38 articles
How do I read the different times on the clock in Mandarin Chinese?
Can I put two infixes in a row to express "Or?" (回得来回不来 huídelái huíbulái)
Does 不要 búyào mean "not want" or "don't"?
How can 什么 be used along with 吗？Aren't they contradictory question words?
How did we determine the 汉字 order for the Intermediate Course?
How do I handle sentences where I know the characters but still am not sure of the meaning?
How do I use '也 yě - also' to connect phrases in Chinese?
How do I use the character 理 lǐ?
How do I use 先... 再... properly for sequences?
How do I use 打包 dǎbāo?
How do I use 过去 guòqu/过来 guòlai?
How do you determine where to apply 的? (我放在桌子上的面包)
How do you use "再 something 也 something else" and contrasting antonyms (苦甜)?
How do you use "出问题" to mean "A problem emerged"?
How does 又 yòu function in a sentence?
How to modify psychological verbs?
How to think about characters with similar keyword? (兄 and 哥 )
How to use 区 qū to mean "administrative division" (e.g., 高新区 gāoxīn qū - "high-tech zone")
How to use 意外 yìwài? What's the difference between the noun and adjective versions?
How to use 活动 huódòng as a noun?
Should I re-learn characters that I haven't totally solidified?
Using 在 in relationship to time (e.g., 哥哥要*在*白天休息)
Using 的 with time words (e.g., 加班的时间 jiābān de shíjiān - 'amount of overtime')
What does 做人做事 zuòrénzuòshì mean?
What does 小姐 xiǎojiě mean?
What does 差 chà mean? Is it 'poor quality' or 'difference'?
What is the difference of characters, words, and morphemes?
What's the usage of analyzing sentence of 红肿 in 我的背上有一个红肿的包？
What's up with the "到 + place + 去" structure? Why just say "去 + place"?
What's up with 之?
What's up with 儿化 érhuà (i.e., syllables adding "儿 er" at the end)? When to use it?
What's up with 弄 nòng? It seems to have so many usages
When telling a story about the past in Chinese, can I omit 了？
When to use 的 地 得 "de" in sentences?
Why am I using the -en or -eng set for characters that don't have an "e"? (e.g., 'ming')
Why can you separate 见面 jiànmiàn (e.g., 见一次面)?
Why does 肉 mean "Pork"?
Why does 讨 tǎo get a keyword of "to coax"? Why are MB keywords sometimes different from Pleco?