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1500 questions
7
votes
4 answers
Why does 三明治 mean sandwich when 三 means 3, 明 means bright/clear, and 治 means to rule?
I am a native English speaker who is learning Mandarin Chinese for the AP Chinese test next year. I stumbled on this "anomaly", and I would like your help. Thank you.
user5844
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7
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4 answers
What is the difference between 参观 and 游览
What is the difference between 参观 and 游览. I know they have a similar meaning but are distinct in some ways (i.e. you can 参观 some places and 游览 others)?
Samuel Parsonage
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7
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2 answers
How to use 过 and 了?
How to use 过 and 了? What is the difference between them?
Are my sentences correct?
今天我学习了汉语。Today I studied Chinese.
我学习过汉语。 I have studied Chinese.
我学习了三个月中文。 I studied Chinese for three months.
我汉语学习了三个月了。 I have been studying Chinese for three…
user4703
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7
votes
6 answers
What does 出来 mean in 真看不出来你是外国人?
What does 出来 mean in this sentence?
真看不出来你是外国人
Doesn't 出来 mean "come out of ..."?
user4694
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7
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2 answers
If the simplified version of 態 is 态 is why isn't there one for 熊?
I ask because I'm curious as to what's the reasoning behind simplification. It would look something like:
太
灬
Steve
- 1,997
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7
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1 answer
How to say "craving for something"? (Food Related)
I remember there is something that translates closely to "mouth itches", you say it when you want to express a craving for a certain food.
grayQuant
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7
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3 answers
Uncommon (Unorthodox?!) Pinyin: What are these?
I find this sort of uncommon, unorthodox, whatever you wanna call it, pinyin very fascinating. These are the ones that I know of already - that, apparently, are still considered to be Mandarin. What I'm wondering is, are there others? What other…
Mou某
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7
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5 answers
When to use 想 versus 喜欢?
Could someone please give we a hint when to use either of those?!
My take is that 想 is used for actions and 喜欢 for things!? Am I right?
user137313
- 351
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7
votes
3 answers
What is the morphology or etymology of the word 列车?
This question is inspired from a recent question here about 列车.
The question: How is this word formed, and/or where does it come from?
(When I am asking this question, I have my own guess: this word is formed by the nominal element 车 referring to…
HYC
- 133
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7
votes
3 answers
Why is 得 in 多得做不完?
My understanding of 的-地-得 is the same as what's here: 的-地-得, when do you use which? -- which is summarised as: “地” usually appears before the verb while “得” appears after the verb.
However, I found a sentence which I found very curious in its…
Ming
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7
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1 answer
What are the different kinds of poems in Chinese?
In the question "Are there poems in Chinese that rhyme?", a debate started about what is considered a poem in Chinese.
The texts I presented — 《三字經》 (Three Character Classic), 《百家姓》 (The Hundred Surnames), 《千字文》 (Thousand-Character Essay) — that I…
Alenanno
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7
votes
2 answers
What's the difference between 番茄 and 西红柿?
There are 30m more hits on 番茄 in 百度. Search results are pretty much the same for both. Is one version used more in different regions than others?
Steve
- 1,997
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7
votes
1 answer
List of classifiers for Cantonese?
There are many resources listing classifiers for Mandarin, but do any pages exist that document classifiers for Cantonese?
Crashalot
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7
votes
5 answers
What is the most common word in use to describe 'DVD' and what is its measure word
I've heard the Chinese are fine to use the English word DVD, rather than the chinese word. What is more common, and what measure word do they use with it?
jaffa
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7
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2 answers
Why is 十面埋伏 related to the number 10?
How does that count?
As we know, Chinese directions can be categorized as 六合八方, but none of them is related to the number 10?
Joseph S WU
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