Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
2. Yesterday is what in Chinese
上午 shàng wǔ
明天 míng tiān
昨天 zuó tiān
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
Wall and Moat with corner guard post defend the Forbidden City, Beijing
3. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
的你 de nǐ
你的 nǐ de
他的 tā de
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.
4. How do you express 1,000,000 in Chinese?
百万 bǎi wàn
万百 wàn bǎi
十万 shí wàn
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.
5. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
夫fū
去qù
福fú
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?
Traditional lion dance near a temple
6. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
两零零八年 liǎng líng líng bā nián
二零零八年 èr líng líng 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.
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
8. 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 没méi before the verb
Add 么me after the 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.
9. 心xīn means what in English?
Love
Heart
Fewer
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that have to do with emotions.
10. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
英国yīng guó
买国mǎi 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.
Deng Xiaoping during Sino-American signing ceremony, 1st Jan 1979.
Image available under a Creative Commons license ➚.
11. What is the Chinese word for green?
白bái
绿lǜ
句jù
Both 绿lǜ and 红hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
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.
Starter level quiz about the Chinese language.
