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. 心xīn means what in English?
Heart
Ancient
Water
Heart心xīn is used in many words and characters that have to do with emotions.
3. What is the Chinese word for green?
渔yú
句jù
绿lù
Both 绿lù and 红hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
4. Yesterday is what in Chinese
去年 qù nián
明天 míng tiān
昨天 zuó tiān
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
5. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
没有 méi yǒu
你的 nǐ de
你㝵 nǐ dé
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.
6. The Chinese character for heaven or sky is what?
大dà
天tiān
广guǎng
The horizontal stroke on top represents the sky which is above the figure of a large man 大dà.
7. What is the Chinese word for walk?
昨zuó
走zǒu
支zhī
走zǒu is the character for walk, move, run or hasten.
8. What is the word for friend in Chinese?
朋友péng yǒu
迎友yíng yǒu
兴友xīng yǒu
Both of the characters in 朋友péng yǒu indicate friendship.
9. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
服务员fú wù yuán
同志tóng zhì
什么shén me
The term 服务员fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
10. What is the Chinese for south?
南nán
东dōng
男nán
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
11. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
孚fú
木mù
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?
12. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Add 吗mǎ at the end of the sentence
Add 了le after 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.
13. How do you bid someone welcome in Chinese?
欢迎huān yíng
朋友péng yǒu
高兴gāo xīng
欢迎huān yíng means Hearty Welcome and is a common greeting
14. 晚上wǎn shàng refers to which time of day?
Evening
Lunchtime
Morning
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
15. Which word can you use to ask someone to wait
等 děng
行 xíng
来 lái
Děng 等 is a useful word to know when traveling; it is often prefixed with please : qing deng - please wait.
16. 三月八日sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
8th March
3rd August
9th July
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
17. 小 Xiǎo means what in English?
big
small or young
smile
Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
18. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
二零八年 èr líng bā nián
二零零八年 èr líng líng bā nián
二千八年 èr qiān bā nián
The 'zero' is not repeated so it is a bit like saying two thousand and eight.
19. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
四票sì piào
四朝sì zhāo
四张票sì zhāng 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.
20. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
买国mǎi guó
美国měi guó
中国zhōng 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.