{"id":517,"date":"2023-07-07T22:25:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/?p=517"},"modified":"2023-07-07T22:25:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T14:25:56","slug":"my-10-favorite-chinese-idioms-and-sayings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/?p=517","title":{"rendered":"My 10 Favorite Chinese Idioms and Sayings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mandarin is a wonderful and interesting language to learn. I personally derive a lot of joy from learning Chinese idioms and sayings. Just like our English sayings and idioms, the Mandarin ones are packed full of meaning. I have put together a list of ten of my most favorites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.\u767e\u6298\u4e0d\u6320 b\u01cei zh\u00e9 b\u00f9 n\u00e1o<\/strong>\uff1aLiterally this means, \u201cOne hundred breaks\/losses, no scratch\/yield.\u201d So the meaning here is to keep on fighting in spite of all setbacks or to be indomitable. This is a great one to keep in mind when studying Mandarin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2.\u6c34\u6ef4\u77f3\u7a7f shu\u01d0 d\u012b sh\u00ed chu\u0101n<\/strong>\uff1aLiterally this means, \u201cWater drops, stone is bored through.\u201d In other words dripping water can penetrate through rocks. The idea here is closely related to the English saying, \u201clittle strokes fell great oaks.\u201d This idiom encourages you to be persistent and keep your goals in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. \u5927\u60d1\u4e0d\u89e3 d\u00e0 hu\u00f2 b\u00f9 ji\u011b<\/strong>\uff1aLiterally this means, \u201clarge confusion, no understanding.\u201d The idiom means to be at a complete loss or to be unable to make head or tail of something. Sometimes I feel this way when studying new characters and so it is an appropriate \u6210\u8bedch\u00e9n\u0261 y\u01d4 to use here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4.\u70df\u6d88\u4e91\u6563 y\u0101n xi\u0101o y\u00fan s\u00e0n<\/strong>\uff1aLiterally this means, \u201cSmoke vanishes, clouds disperse.\u201d In other words, to vanish like smoke as disperse like clouds. The meaning here is to completely vanish or disappear. Perhaps in English a close comparison could be when we say someone went AWOL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5. \u6361\u4e86\u829d\u9ebb\uff0c\u4e22\u4e86\u897f\u74dc ji\u01cen le zh\u012b m\u0251 \uff0c di\u016b le x\u012b \u0261u\u0101<\/strong>\uff1aLiterally this means, \u201cTo pick out the seeds and neglect the watermelon.\u201d In other words, to dwell on trifle issues and thus lose sight of the bigger picture. This idiom is interesting because it uses the imagery of food, (who doesn\u2019t love watermelon?), to explain a larger issue. This is definitely one of my favorites\u3002<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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6.\u5c06\u4fe1\u5c06\u7591 ji\u0101n\u0261 x\u00ecn ji\u0101n\u0261 y\u00ed<\/strong>\uff1a This literally means, \u201cto use belief and to use doubt.\u201d In other words half believing and half doubting. You can use this idiom to describe a situation in which you feel skeptical or not completely convinced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. \u62d2\u4e4b\u95e8\u5916j\u00f9 zh\u012b m\u00e9n w\u00e0i<\/strong>\uff1a This literally means, \u201cto refuse what is outside the door.\u201d The meaning behind this idiom is to lock the door and refuse to see someone, or in other words, completely refuse or disregard someone or something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.\u5982\u83b7\u81f3\u5b9d r\u00fa hu\u00f2 zh\u00ec b\u01ceo<\/strong>\uff1aThis idioms meaning is, \u201c as if one had found a priceless treasure. \u201d For me, this describes my sentiments towards learning Mandarin, as it is indeed as if I have stumbled upon a priceless treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9.\u5728\u5bb6\u9760\u7236\u6bcd\uff0c\u51fa\u95e8\u9760\u670b\u53cbz\u00e0i ji\u0101 k\u00e0o f\u00f9 m\u01d4 \uff0c ch\u016b m\u00e9n k\u00e0o p\u00e9n\u0261 you<\/strong>\uff1aThis one is interesting because it talks about the significance of relationships, literally, \u201cAt home you rely on your parents, but when you go out into the world you rely on friends.\u201d This tells you the significance of friends in your life and how important it is to have someone to rely on, as well as to be someone reliable for your fellow friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10.\u4fbf\u5b9c\u4e00\u5206\u662f\u4e00\u4efd pi\u00e1n yi y\u00ec f\u0113n sh\u00ec y\u00ed f\u00e8n<\/strong>\uff1aThis is a financial saying and if you use it when bargaining it probably will get you that discount. It literally means that with regards to money, even one cent is a part of the whole. In other words even one cent can make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are so many more idioms and saying. Do you have any you would like to add? Feel free to add them in the comments below and help us all increase our idiom knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Blogger<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stephanie<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having grown up in South Africa, attended College in the US and now living in China, has allowed Stephanie to experience a multitude of differing cultural perceptions of the world. She’s learning Mandarin AT Mandarin Inn and is studying for her HSK-LEVEL 5 certificate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Mandarin is a wonderful and interesting language to learn. I personally derive a lot of joy from learning Chinese idioms and sayings. Just like our English sayings and idioms, the Mandarin ones are packed full of meaning. I have put together a list of ten of my most favorites:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,3,10],"tags":[7,5,6],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":519,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions\/519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/online.mandarininn.cn\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}