Studying the sentences carefully will help you learn how to use Chinese words in everyday communication.
The example sentences in the Chinese-English sentences are all composed of the Chinese words that are treated as headwords in the dictionary. This means that this dictionary is self-contained.
10 English Translation of Chinese Sentences
All Chinese example sentences are accompanied by an English translation. In some cases a second translation is provided in brackets to aid comprehension and idiomatic expression. → indicates a freer, more idiomatic translation and ←, a more literal translation. For example:
让 ràng □ 你应该让那辆车先行。Nǐ yīnggāi ràng nà liàng chē xiānxíng. You should let that vehicle go first. (→You should give way to that vehicle.)
11 Note
The Note presented in a color box gives essential information on cultural context, pronunciation, grammar and usage. These help you use the language in a socially acceptable and idiomatic way. For example:
肥 féi…
NOTE: 肥 féi is normally used to describe animals. It is insulting to use it to describe humans.
12 How to find Chinese words
BY PINYIN SPELLING
Headwords are arranged alphabetically according to their pinyin spelling. So if you know how a word is pronounced, you can find it easily, just like the way you will look up an English word in an English dictionary.
If you do not know the pronunciation of a word you can find it either by its radical or the number of its strokes.
BY RADICALS
Radicals (部首bùshǒu) are certain component parts of characters that have been used in Chinese dictionary-making for nearly 2,000 years. Characters sharing a radical are grouped together under the heading of that radical. To find a character in a dictionary, follow these steps:
(i) In the List of Radicals, look up the character’s radical according to the number of strokes in the radical. This gives a Radical Index number.
(ii) Turn to the number in the Radical Index.
(iii) Locate the character according to the number of remaining strokes needed to write the character (i.e. number of total strokes minus radical strokes = remaining strokes). You will find the pinyin by the character.
For example, to find 活 by Radical Index:
(i) The radical group of 活 is 氵, which has three strokes. In the List of Radicals, look up 氵 in the section marked “3 strokes”:
3 strokes
氵 34
(ii) Turn to number 34 in the Radical Index.
(iii) As there are nine strokes in 活, and the radical has three strokes, six strokes remain to complete the character 活 (9 – 3 = 6). Look in the section “6 strokes” and locate 活:
6 strokes
活 huó
(iv) Turn to huó in the dictionary.
huó 活 …
BY STROKE NUMBERS
Unfortunately, looking for a character by its radical is not an entirely satisfactory method as learners may not always know which part of the character is the radical. Therefore, this section includes a Stroke Index to aid the learner further. Simply look for the character according to the number of its strokes, and then locate the character by its first stroke.
For example, to find 活 by Stroke Index:
(i) There are nine strokes in 活. Go to the section of nine strokes.
9 strokes
(ii) As the first stroke of 活 is “、”, locate 活 under “、”.
、
活 huó
(iii) Turn to huó in the dictionary.
huó 活 …
List of Radicals
| 1 stroke | |
| 丶 | 1 |
| 一 | 2 |
| 乛 | 3 |
| 乙 | 4 |
| 丨 | 5 |
| 丿 | 6 |
| 2 strokes | |
| 亠 | 7 |
| 冫 | 8 |
| 讠 | 9 |
| 二 | 10 |
| 十 | 11 |
| 厂 | 12 |
| 匚 | 13 |
| 匕 | 14 |
| 卜 | 15 |
| 刂 | 16 |
| 冖 | 17 |
| 冂 | 18 |
| 勹 | 19 |
| 刀 | 20 |
| 力 | 21 |
| 八 | 22 |
| 亻 | 23 |
| 人 | 24 |
| 儿 | 25 |
| 几 | 26 |
| 又 | 27 |
| 凵 | 28 |
| 厶 | 29 |
| 廴 | 30 |
| 卩 | 31 |
| 阝(on left) | 32 |
| 阝(on right) | 33 |
| 3 strokes | |
| 氵 | 34 |
| 忄 | 35 |
| 小 | 36 |
| 宀 | 37 |
| 丬 | 38 |
| 广 | 39 |
| 门 |