{"id":5037,"date":"2011-07-04T16:27:47","date_gmt":"2011-07-04T20:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=5037"},"modified":"2011-07-04T16:27:48","modified_gmt":"2011-07-04T20:27:48","slug":"twocrucialcharacters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/twocrucialcharacters\/","title":{"rendered":"\u4e0a and \u4e0b – Two Crucial Characters to Learn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>These are two very important<\/strong> (\u91cd\u8981\u7684 \u2013 zh\u00f2ng y\u00e0o de), very useful<\/strong> (\u6709\u7528 \u2013 y\u01d2u y\u00f2ng) characters when learning Chinese \u2013 \u4e0a (sh\u00e0ng) and \u4e0b (xi\u00e0).<\/p>\n

In Chinese, you will encounter these two characters very, very often, as they both have many meanings.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look\"\"<\/a> at some of the many uses of these characters:<\/p>\n

LOCATION –<\/p>\n

To begin with, you can use \u4e0a and \u4e0b to describe the location of something.\u00a0 Here are two examples:<\/p>\n

\u4e66\u5728\u684c\u5b50\u4e0a (sh\u016b z\u00e0i zhu\u014d zi sh\u00e0ng) \u2013 This translates to, \u201cThe book is on top of the table.\u201d\u00a0 In this case, \u4e0a is used to show that something is on top of something else.\u00a0 It can also be used to describe something that is above something else.<\/p>\n

\u4e66\u5728\u684c\u5b50\u4e0b (sh\u016b z\u00e0i zhu\u014d zi xi\u00e0) \u2013 More often than not, these two characters serve as opposites, so in this case we have, \u201cThe book is under the table.\u201d\u00a0 As I\u2019m sure you can guess, \u4e0b is used to show that something is below, or under something.<\/p>\n

Unless you live under a rock, you probably know about a little city called \u4e0a\u6d77 (Sh\u00e0ng h\u01cei).\u00a0 The business center of China, the name of this modern metropolis actually translates to \u201con the sea.\u201d\u00a0 As Shanghai is split by the Huang Pu River<\/strong> (\u9ec4\u6d66\u6c5f \u2013 Hu\u00e1ng p\u01d4 ji\u0101ng), it is clear why this city has the name that it does.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u4e0a\u6d77 - On the Sea<\/p><\/div>\n

TIME –<\/p>\n

You can also use the characters \u4e0a and \u4e0b to describe the time (past or future).\u00a0 These characters are used when talking about weeks and months:<\/p>\n

\u4e0a\u4e2a\u661f\u671f (sh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 x\u012bng q\u00ed) means \u201clast week\u201d and \u4e0b\u4e2a\u661f\u671f (xi\u00e0 g\u00e8 x\u012bng q\u00ed) means \u201cnext week.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you may have guessed by now, \u4e0a\u4e2a\u6708 (sh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8) means \u201clast month\u201d and \u4e0b\u4e2a\u6708 (xi\u00e0 g\u00e8 yu\u00e8) means \u201cnext month.\u201d<\/p>\n

You also see these characters when talking about the time of day:<\/p>\n

\u65e9\u4e0a (z\u01ceo sh\u00e0ng) \u2013 early morning (literally \u201cearly on\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u4e0a\u5348 (sh\u00e0ng w\u01d4) \u2013 late morning (before noon)<\/p>\n

\u4e0b\u5348 (xi\u00e0 w\u01d4) \u2013 afternoon<\/p>\n

\u665a\u4e0a (w\u01cen sh\u00e0ng) \u2013 evening (literally \u201clate on\u201d)<\/p>\n

RESPONSIBILITIES –<\/p>\n

We all have to either go to class or work at some point in the day, and we can use \u4e0a and \u4e0b to talk about both class and work:<\/p>\n

\u4e0a\u73ed (sh\u00e0ng b\u0101n) \u2013 go to work\/begin work<\/p>\n

\u4e0b\u73ed (xi\u00e0 b\u0101n) \u2013 finish work<\/p>\n

\u4e0a\u8bfe (sh\u00e0ng k\u00e8) \u2013 have class\/begin class<\/p>\n

\u4e0b\u8bfe (xi\u00e0 k\u00e8) \u2013 finish class<\/p>\n

OTHER USES –<\/p>\n

While both \u4e0a and \u4e0b are very common characters in Chinese, you will probably hear and use \u4e0b on a more regular basis.<\/p>\n

One very common example is, \u201c\u2026. \u4e00\u4e0b,\u201d which means to do something for a short time.\u00a0 Here are a few phrases you might hear or say a lot in Chinese:<\/p>\n

\u4f11\u606f\u4e00\u4e0b (xi\u016b x\u00ed y\u012b xi\u00e0) \u2013 rest for a short while<\/p>\n

\u7b49\u4e00\u4e0b (d\u011bng y\u012b xi\u00e0) \u2013 wait for a short while<\/p>\n

\u770b\u4e00\u4e0b (k\u00e0n y\u012b xi\u00e0) \u2013 have a quick look<\/p>\n

Basically, you can use the formula (Verb + \u4e00\u4e0b) to show that you will do something casually, or for a short time.<\/p>\n

Now that you understand a bit more about these two very useful characters, keep an eye (and an ear) out for them when studying Chinese; you will surely find that you see them on a daily basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

These are two very important (\u91cd\u8981\u7684 \u2013 zh\u00f2ng y\u00e0o de), very useful (\u6709\u7528 \u2013 y\u01d2u y\u00f2ng) characters when learning Chinese \u2013 \u4e0a (sh\u00e0ng) and \u4e0b (xi\u00e0). In Chinese, you will encounter these two characters very, very often, as they both have many meanings.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a look at some of the many uses of these…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":5040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[11576,11577],"class_list":["post-5037","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-11576","tag-11577"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5037"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5164,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5037\/revisions\/5164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}