工作

工作 (gōngzuò) is a very common word in Chinese. It is used to mean anything from "job" to "work" to "task" to "construction." You can say you are going to 工作, you have a 工作 to finish, or that there is 工作 happening across the street! Pretty simple, right?


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日

日 (rì) is an extremely common and useful word. Most of the time, it is used to mean "day," "date," or "day of the month." For example, when asking the date, you would ask ”今天几月几日？“ (jīntiān jǐyuè jǐrì?), literally "this day is which month, which day?" 星期日 (xīngqīrì) is the Chinese word for "Sunday." 日 can also be used to refer to the sun, as it does in Japan's name:日本 (rì běn), which means "the sun's origin.

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国

国 (guó) is a very simple word. It means "country," "kingdom," nation," or "land," and its use is straightforward. For example, you should know by now that 中国 （zhōngguó) is the Chinese word for "China." Literally, it means "central kingdom," or "middle land." Similarly, 英国 (yīngguó) is "England," and 美国 (měiguó) "America." Noticing a pattern? 国 can also be used more abstractly, i.e. 白痴国 (báichīguó), "a nation of idiots." 外国人 (wàiguórén) means "foreigner," or more literally, "person from outside the kingdom."



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小

小 (xiǎo) means "small." Using it is as easy as talking about small things. Of course, 小 finds its way into some Chinese words, but the usage is logical, i.e. 小时 (xiǎoshí) means "(an) hour," 小心 (xiǎoxīn) means "to be careful" or "to take caution." 小孩 (xiǎohái), finally, means "child." Picking this word out should be easy for speakers of any level!



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车

车 (chē) is a simple word. It means "vehicle," easy as that! 车 all by itself is used to refer to cars. To drive a car, you 开车 (kāichē). 自行车 (zìxíngchē) means "bicycle" (literally "by oneself/person-powered vehicle"). 火车 (huǒchē) is, quite understandably, "train" (literally "fire vehicle"). You should understand that 车 is generally used to refer to land vehicles (specifically those with wheels). 飞机 (fēijī), for example, uses the similar 机 to mean "airplane" ("flying machine"), vs the incorrect 飞车.

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天

天 (tiān) can be used to mean "heaven," "sky," or "day" depending on its context, though the general idea is the heavens/sky. For example, 天使 (tiānshǐ) means "angel" or literally "heaven's messenger." Similarly, 星期天 (xīngqītiān) can be interpreted as meaning "heavens' day," much like our "Sunday." Also, 天 is used to refer to specific days on a timeline, i.e. 今天 (jīntiān) "today," 明天 (míngtiān) "tomorrow" 昨天 (zuótiān) "yesterday."

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话

话 (huà) can be used to refer to speech, or the essence of verbal communication in general. You
can refer to words, a conversation, the words spoken by another, a dialect or language of any
given region and use 话 to do it. An example would be 上海话 (shànghǎihuà), or "Shanghainese."
(As you may know, there are many dialects. 普通话 (pǔtōnghuà) literally means "common language" or "the speech common to all")




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