Trust me…they’ll be impressed when you do □ In these types of situations, should you encounter them in China, you can say, “不要幸灾乐祸!/ bùyào xìngzāilèhuò!” or, “Don’t gloat on my misfortune!” Have you ever fallen down and instead of getting a helping hand from your friend, they laugh instead and make you feel even more embarrassed? 幸灾乐祸 / xìngzāilèhuò – To gloat about someone else’s misfortune You can use this in discussions on health and fitness to describe the importance of food or for more serious conversations such as the importance of food in solving world hunger. This five-character chengyu is a classical way of saying there is nothing more important than food. How about we just eat pizza from here on?” 民以食为天 / mín yǐ shí wéi tiān – People view food as their heaven “You say you like duck feet when you actually don’t. While in China, my local friends always wanted to eat duck feet together and I always went along with it to not spoil the fun. How many times in your life have you pretended to like something when you actually hate it? 叶公好龙 / yègōnghàolóng – To pretend to like something when actually you hate or fear it Simply say this phrase when you are talking about someone and they suddenly appear out of nowhere. While a bit of a tongue twister, this chengyu is quite common and easy to use given it has an English equivalent that most of us have heard before. You can always use the chengyu on its own to describe a crowded situation, but if you want to say a full sentence, you can use this model:įor example, “长城上人山人海! / chángchéng shàng rénshānrénhǎi!” means, it’s insanely crowded on the Great Wall! 说曹操,曹操就到 / Shuō cáocāo, cáocāo jiù dào – Speak of the devil and he shall appear So you’re likely to hear this chengyu in crowded places in China. Some Chinese may also say, “一路顺风 / yīlù shùnfēng,” which is similar to the phrase “Bon voyage!” 人山人海 / rénshānrénhǎi – Sea of peopleĬhinese aren’t shy about saying there are tons of people in China. You’ll likely hear Chinese say this to you as you check out of a hotel and board a train or plane. You can use this phrase when saying goodbye to someone that is leaving for a trip or vacation. You can kill two birds with one stone.” 一路平安 / yīlù píng’ān – Have a safe and pleasant journey! Kěyǐ yīshí’èrniǎo” or, “This is really good. To use 一石二鸟 / yīshí’èrniǎo, you can start by introducing your master plan or comment on someone else’s plan by saying, “这样很好。可以一石二鸟。/ Zhèyàng hěn hǎo. 一石二鸟 / yīshí’èrniǎo – To kill two birds with one stoneĪlmost any idiom in English can also be expressed in Chinese like this one. You’re likely to hear it as well should you encounter any strong culture shock while in China. To help me adjust, locals often used this idiom on its own as an encouragement encouragement. When I first visited China in 2010, getting used to the food was my biggest cultural adjustment. When visiting China, you’re bound to deal with plenty of culture shock. 入乡随俗 / rùxiāngsuísú – When in Rome, do as the Romans do When someone asks you questions like, “How was your meal?” or, “How was the movie?”, you can simply respond with “mǎmǎhūhū” if it was nothing great. This is usually the first chengyu anyone taking a course in Chinese will learn because it’s really easy to use. 马马虎虎 / mǎmǎhūhū – Just so-so or a careless person I’ve provided the Chinese characters, the pinyin, and a short explanation of how each chengyu is used to help learn each one. 21 Brilliant Chinese Idioms Worth Memorizing (aka chengyu)īelow are 21 Chinese idioms that are super useful and worth committing to memory as you’re learning the Chinese language.
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