In China, the number 10,000 was considered innumerable and is used to express 'countless' and 'myriad'. Numbers greater than 10,000 are expressed as multiples of 10,000 up to 100,000,000 which would be 10,000x10,000 and is a new character 亿 yì.
2. What is the Chinese word for walk?
支zhī
走zǒu
星xīng
走zǒu is the character for walk, move, run or hasten.
3. 三月八日sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
8th March
9th July
3rd August
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
4. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
你的 nǐ de
他的 tā de
的你 de nǐ
The possessive ' 的 de' is a very common character in Chinese, it can be used with any noun to make someone or something possess it.
5. The Chinese character for heaven or sky is what?
天tiān
田tián
广guǎng
The horizontal stroke on top represents the sky which is above the figure of a large man 大dà.
6. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
买国mǎi guó
没国méi guó
美国měi guó
美měi means beautiful on its own, so with 国guó it means beautiful country. It was chosen as a rough transliteration of America.
7. What is the word for friend in Chinese?
朋友péng yǒu
兴友xīng yǒu
迎友yíng yǒu
Both of the characters in 朋友péng yǒu indicate friendship.
8. What is the Chinese for south?
英yīng
南nán
北běi
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
9. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
服务员fú wù yuán
医生yī shēng
欢迎huān yíng
The term 服务员fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
10. What is the Chinese word for green?
六liù
绿lù
渔yú
Both 绿lù and 红hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
11. 晚上wǎn shàng refers to which time of day?
Night
Lunchtime
Evening
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
12. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
福fú
去qù
夫fū
The character for good fortune 福fú has an interesting derivation. It is widely seen on Chinese gifts. Just to add to confusion it is often shown ?upside down?
13. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
两零八年 liǎng líng bā nián
二千八年 èr qiān bā nián
二零八年 èr líng bā nián
The 'zero' is not repeated so it is a bit like saying two thousand and eight.
14. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
四张小sì zhāng xiǎo
四张票sì zhāng piào
四票sì piào
You need to include a measure word in Chinese; you can not say just four tickets, you need to add the measure word for things that are flat 四票sì piào between the number and the noun.
15. 小 Xiǎo means what in English?
small or young
big
school
Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
16. Yesterday is what in Chinese
明天 míng tiān
昨天 zuó tiān
上午 shàng wǔ
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
17. 心xīn means what in English?
Heart
Fewer
Ancient
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that have to do with emotions.
18. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Add 了le after the verb
Add 了le before the verb
Add 没méi before the verb
Changing the tense of a verb is easy in Chinese you do not have to learn declension or lots of new characters. Adding 了le to 买mǎi buy turns it into 买了mǎi le bought.
19. Which word can you use to ask someone to wait
来 lái
等 děng
儅 dāng
Děng 等 is a useful word to know when traveling; it is often prefixed with please : qing deng - please wait.
20. How do you bid someone welcome in Chinese?
欢迎huān yíng
时候shí hòu
再见zài jiàn
欢迎huān yíng means Hearty Welcome and is a common greeting