Difference between有一点儿 and 一点儿

 (This HSK grammar point is referred from HSK Course, an online hsk learning platform that provides hsk reading lessons, hsk online practice, and more.)

There are two ways to translate “a little” in Chinese: 有一点儿、一点儿. They have similar meanings, but very big difference in use. That’s why they confused many Chinese learners. Now we will see the difference between有一点儿and 一点儿, and their uses.

1、有一点儿yǒuyìdiǎnr

有一点儿 is often followed by an adjective in Chinese. And the whole sentence structure is:

S + 有一点儿 + adjective

jīntiān yǒuyìdiǎnr lěnɡ.

今天 有一点儿 冷。

It’s a little cold today.

 

zhèɡe fàndiàn yǒuyìdiǎnr ɡuì.

这个饭店 有一点儿 贵。

This restaurant is a little expensive.

 

Often, 有一点儿 is shortened to “有点儿”.

 

2、一点儿yìdiǎnr

V + 一点儿+Noun. The structure indicates that the amount is small.   

wǒ mǎile yìdiǎnr kuàicān.   

我 买了 一点儿 快餐。    

I bought some fast food.

 

qǐnɡ ɡěiwǒ yìdiǎnr shíjiān.

请 给我 一点儿 时间。 

Please give me some time.

  

wǒjiā yǒu yìdiǎnr píjiǔ.

 我家 有 一点儿 啤酒。

I have some beer at home.

Note that in the example “我家有一点儿啤酒”, 有一点儿 should be seen as separate parts: 有(V) + 一点儿

 

Adj + 一点儿. This structure is used to show comparison.

E.g.

kéyǐ piányi yìdiǎnr mɑ？

可以 便宜 一点儿 吗？

Can you give it to me a little bit cheaper?

 

nǐmen yǒu dà yìdiǎnr de mɑ？

你们 有 大 一点儿 的吗？

Do you have a bigger one?

What does 闺蜜 mean in Chinese?

HSK lesson word explanation: 闺蜜. 

What does it mean in Chinese? 闺蜜 (guī mì) is yet another internet buzz word that pop up in mandarin Chinese. 闺 is short for 闺房, which is the private room of unmarried girls. 蜜 is the honey of bees. The whole word闺蜜 (guī mì) is used to describe a very close friend.

In China, 闺蜜 is the kind of people who will support you wherever you are and whatever you have got. If you cannot sleep in the night, they will accompany you till dawn. If you have setbacks, they will throw themselves into the breach in spite of all the danger or risks they will take. They are familiar with everything about you, both advantages and disadvantages. When you are defeated, they will encourage you with all their effort.

Originally, 闺蜜 only refer to female friends, but now you can also use this word to male friends that you have a very close relationship with. You can also put 男, meaning “man/male” before this word – 男闺蜜 to specifically refer to “male inmate”.

Chinese Wedding You Need to Know

Have you ever been invited to a Chinese wedding ceremony? What’s it like? Let me give you a brief introduction to Chinese wedding ceremony.

When would a ceremony be held? Chinese people are quite picky with the procedure of a wedding ceremony especially with the date of the ceremony. According to Chinese lunar calendar, some days are meant for holding happy ceremony like wedding, moving to a new house, etc. But some days are considered unlucky and some activities should not be performed. “So, when is a ‘lucky’ day?” you might ask. Well, I should say the tradition varies from place to place, but generally public holidays, special days are considered lucky by most people such as the National Day, New Year, May Day Holiday, etc. And as the western Christmas is approaching near, some people choose to hold their wedding on Christmas. Isn’t it a happy thing to receive both Christmas greetings in Chinese and wedding wishes from friends and families?

What is a Chinese wedding ceremony like? Coincidentally, I was quite busy attending friends’ weddings these days. And I have come up with 3 keywords that may help you better understand Chinese way of romance. First, happiness. Happiness comes from everyone’s smile. Chinese people especially care about the atmosphere of a happy event such as a wedding ceremony. So, on this day, they will not mention unhappy things and will give whatever the kids like in case they cry. Second, difficult. This word is to describe the process of the bridegroom getting into the bride’s room. In a traditional Chinese wedding, relatives and friends of bride’s side will “make trouble” to prevent the couple from meeting each other. And they won’t let go until they receive the红包 (hong2bao1), which is a red envelope with money in it. 红包 is also the third keyword we will mention today. In a Chinese wedding ceremony, you can see 红包 almost everywhere. The relatives of bridegroom have to give 红包 to the people inside the door to meet his wife-to-be; guests invited to a wedding need to give 红包 as gifts, and parents of both sides should give their daughter-in-law and son-in-law 红包 when they call their mother-in-law and father –in-law Mom and Dad.

What’s the wedding ceremony like in your country? As a saying goes “When in Rome, do as Romans do.” When you attend a Chinese wedding, be careful with the 3 keywords, especially the 红包！

We wish you a merry christmas

Most of us may have listened to one of the best-known Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Both of the songs have been popular every year around the Christmas time. Indeed, the most common question we have received is “Can you provide the Christmas song lyrics in pinyin?” So, we have created the Christmas songs in Chinese characters and pinyin. Those who are a fan of Chinese language and Christmas melody can take this as a good taste.

In the previous post, we learned about the history and the author of the song “Jingle Bells.” Today, we will take a look at another popular Christmas song, widely enjoyed by people in China - "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

The Christmas song can trace its history back to England in the 16^th century, when it enjoyed a high popularity during Christmas time. We know the lyrics of this song include “Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and bring it fight here.” So, why is the figgy pudding appear in the lyrics and not other things? It is said that in the English tradition, wealthy people of the country used to give Christmas treats the poor on Christmas Eve, such as figgy puddings that were very much like modern-day Christmas puddings. Since this, the figgy budding is reflected by the author and composer of the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” song.

Over the years, however, the fashion for figgy puddings mentioned in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” has faded. And people nowadays don’t even think about the delicious figgy pudding on Christmas seasons. But it didn’t stop people from loving this song. Have you ever listened to the song in Chinese version, which is also a good resource to learn basic Chinese with pinyin pronunciation? Give it a hum!

Personality Traits Determined by Your Zodiac Animal 1

In our Chinese conversation lessons, we learned that there are 12 different zodiac animals in China. Today, we will further explore the myth of the Chinese zodiac system.

In the western astrology, a horoscope is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. While in Chinese astrology, people uses a zodiac system based on twelve different animals which are called 十二生肖(shí èr shēnɡ xiāo). According to Chinese astrology, each zodiac animal (or Chinese horoscope) is used to symbolize the year in which a person is born.

Do you know which animal is your zodiac sign? What does it mean if you belong to, say, the year of the Dragon. Today, we will learn the personality of traits different zodiac animals have.

The Chinese Zodiac uses the details of your birth to uncover your personality traits, best lifestyle, career direction, and degree of happiness throughout your lifetime. The year you were born can tell a great deal about your personality, likes, dislikes and even who you will be compatible with as a mate. If you have figured out your Chinese zodiac animal, now it’s time to know what kind of personality traits you have.

Dragon Personality Traits

Dragon is the most vital and powerful one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals is born under a lucky star. People born in the year of the Dragon are expected to possess the following personality traits: energetic, excitable, short-tempered and stubborn. And because the dragon is a yang sign, so they are expected to have a lot of energy and bravery in whatever they do.

Pig Personality Traits

Another zodiac animal that Chinese people favor is Pig. Those born in the Year of the Pig can be relied upon for their loyalty and often make true friends for life. They have sweet temper and are always optimistic about the future. However, they can be easily taken advantage of by others because of their idealistic and naïve nature.

Dog Personality Traits

People born in the year of Dog are loyal, faithful, and true. They often inspire confidence in others and are always willing to help those in need. Like Pig, Dog people are those who can make best friends of.

Rooster Personality Traits

People born in the year of Rooster has the personality of being loyal and trustworthy, Rooster people are also sociable, very accomplished and usually very well-dressed.

Monkey Personality Traits

They have the character of being charming, charismatic and extremely inventive. People born in the year of the Monkey are most noted for their intelligence and clever genius in working out difficult problems for themselves and others.

Sheep Personality Traits

Sheep is the most creative sign according to the Chinese zodiac. People born in the year of the Sheep are often artistic, sensitive, sweet and charming. They have a sweet and easy temper and are easy to get along with.

Stay with us to learn about the personality traits of the other 6 Chinese zodiac animals. If you have any question, you can join our online mandarin tutor.

Chinese Upside-down Blessing

Chinese New Year is the biggest and most important festival in China. Many people especially those who are learning Chinese online like it very much, not only because it’s the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, but because of its various traditional customs. 

Of its many special traditions, pasting red paper signs with the word “blessing” on walls and doors can be very interesting.  The Chinese character for “blessing” is “福”, which Chinese people like very much. The character is a prayer for a happy life and a better future. The interesting thing or the seemingly weird thing about the tradition is that Chinese people pasted the papers sighs upside down. This has confused many foreigners who don’t know much about this traditional Chinese custom. Did the Chinese people did this by mistake? If not, why are these paper signs pasted upside-down?

Emperor of the Ming dynasty commanded his soldiers to kill selected families. The doors of the selected families would be marked by a blessing sign. The kind-hearted Empress Ma heard this and wanted to prevent it. She secretly commanded the whole city to paste the blessing sign on their doors, so the soldiers would have no idea which families they were supposed to kill. But one family pasted a “blessing” sign upside-down as they had been in a hurry.

Since the emperor couldn’t decide which one to select, she simply picked the family who pasted the blessing upside down. When the emperor was about to kill the family, Ma quickly intervened and said the upside down blessing has a special meaning.

The Chinese character 倒 which means “upside down” or “reverse” has exactly the same pronunciation as the character 到 which means “to arrive.” She argued that this family knew the soldiers would be arriving that day and by pasting the sign upside-down, they meant that the arrival of the soldiers would be a blessing. She asked how the emperor could possibly want to kill this patriotic and kind family. The emperor heard this explanation and quit his idea of killing the family. Time passed by, and “pasting the “福” upside down” was carried on from generation to generation as traditional custom on Chinese New Year.

HSK grammar

Is it an idiom?

Idioms are usually four-character phrases that tell a special meaning. Because most idioms either come from folk stories or legend stories, people are familiar them. These days, however, a lot of seemingly weird “idioms” spring up from the Internet.

When we first heard phrases like喜大普奔, we can’t even guess its meaning it until we see the explanations. For example, 不明觉厉 (bù mǐng juě lì) is made up by the first characters of four Chinese idioms, which is 喜闻乐见 (xǐ wěn lè jiàn), 大快人心 (dà kuài rén xīn), 普天同庆(pǔ tiān tǒng qìng), 奔走相告(bēn zǒu xiāng gào). So, the meaning of this weird idiom喜大普奔 is actually a combination of the four idioms: the news is so exhilarating that everyone is celebrating and spreading it to the rest of the world. We can use this popular “idiom” in the following example: “告诉你一个喜大普奔的消息吧, 期末考试取消了！”, which means “Here is news for celebration: The final examination is canceled!”

So much so, this is not a word that you Chinese tutor will choose to teach you in class, because this is an Internet word, which many people think that it should only be used for fun instead of in formal occasions. To those of you who are reading this post, maybe you may regard this as a way to have fun. Maybe we can also understand a thing from this language phenomenon that: language is always changing as culture changes and that we should keep up with times.