Lesson Transcript

Welcome to Fun &Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com!
嗨大家好，我是李殷如. Hài dàjiā hǎo, Wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú.
Hi everyone, Yinru Li here.
Have you ever come across any Chinese characters that look very much alike?
Learning Chinese characters can be challenging.
One of the reasons why written Chinese is so difficult to learn is that there are many characters that look the same but are actually not.
One tiny stroke is enough to make a completely different 汉字 Hànzì, "Chinese character," with totally different meanings.
In this lesson, you will learn five sets of most confusing Chinese characters that are commonly used in daily life:
人入
Okay, here is our first pair.
Both of these two characters look very simple, with only two strokes: one left…one curved on the left and one curved on the right.
But if you look closely, the two curves are connected differently.
So, to write the on the left in a proper stroke order, it goes like this...one and two.
And to write this one...one and two.
Now, you can see the second stroke. This is first, this is second. The second stroke of the second character goes beyond the first stroke, while the first character doesn’t.
The one with the longer left curve, left stroke, it pronounced as 人 rén, with its é, 人 rén.
This means "person."
We can combine 人 rén with other characters to make compound words.
For example,we can combine 人 rén with 好 hǎo.
好 hǎo means “good.”
So, 好人 hǎorén, together means "good person,"
[slow] 好人 hǎorén.
好人 hǎorén.
We can also combine 人 rén with a nationality to tell where someone is from.
For example, 中国 Zhōngguó means “China.”
中国 Zhōngguó
And 中国人 Zhōngguó rén means...
"China person" or "Chinese person / Chinese.”
[slow] 中国人 Zhōngguó rén
To say “I’m from China”, I can say 我是中国人。 Wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.
[slow] 我是中国人 Wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.
Okay, the one on the right, with a longer right curve is pronounced as 入 rù.
入 rù.
It means "to enter,"
For example, we can combine 入 rù with 口 kǒu to make the word 入口 rùkǒu.
口 kǒu means "mouth" or "opening," so 入口 rùkǒu basically is "enter opening" but it translates as "entrance." You may have seen this a lot on a sign.
“Entrance” 入口 rùkǒu
And another common verb with 入 rù is 进入 jìnrù
which also means "to enter."
[slow] 进入 jìnrù
Now, to recap, the one with the longer left curve means "person," 人 rén. The one with the longer right curve means "to enter" 入 rù.
土士
Our next pair is also made up with simple strokes.
They both have a cross, sort of a cross on top and a bottom line at the bottom. Well, the bottom lines are where the difference lies in.
To write this one, we start writing across, one...sorry. One and two, where the first horizontal stroke is longer than its parallel one. So make sure this third one, it’s longer.
This one is pronounced as tǔ.
It means "dirt" or "earth." You can think of the last, the bottom line, the last stroke, the bottom long horizontal line as the earth, with a little plant growing on top of it.
A common word with 土 tǔ is this one, 土地 tǔdì,
meaning "land."
[slow] 土地 tǔdì
Well, the next phrase or word, 土豆 tǔdòu, is a kind of vegetable. This vegetable grows underneath the dirt.
豆 dòu means "bean," and the kind of bean that grows under the dirt, in the dirt, in the earth is otherwise known as "potato."
[slow] 土豆 tǔdòu “potato”
And let’s look at this one with the shorter bottom line. Shorter bottom line, so to write it, make sure the third stroke is shorter than its horizontal...than its parallel horizontal line in a cross. And this one is pronounced as 士 shì.
士 shì
The same pronunciation as in the word “am, is, are, to be.”
[slow] 士 shì
Well, 士 shì refers to a certain group of people, such as 战士 zhànshì,
meaning "soldier".
[slow]战士 zhànshì “soldier”
Well, you can think of 士 shì as a soldier standing upright with his hands behind the back in the at ease position. It looks kind of like 士 shì
Okay.
Another group of people is 女士 nǚshì.
女士nǚshì
[slow]女士nǚshì
女士 nǚshì is a polite way to address ladies.
女 nǚ means "woman" or "female," so 女士 nǚshì together means “lady” or a “madam”.
To say "ladies and gentlemen" in Chinese is…
女士们先生们 nǚshìmen xiānshēngmen.
[slow] 女士们先生们 nǚshìmen xiānshēngmen.
So, to recap, the one with the longer bottom line represents the "earth" so 土tǔ. The one with a shorter bottom line is a certain group of people, 士 shì.
已己
Now, moving on to the third pair or to see the difference of the third pair of 汉字 Hànzì, you might need a magnifying glass. But I’m telling you here, the difference lies in here...
Okay. Let’s write them separately.
To write this one, we start with the horizontal line and we go down a little bit, then another horizontal line.
And the last stroke goes between the two horizontal lines, but be careful not to close the box. So we start here, go down to the right and up like a little hook.
Or to write its cousin, this one, the first two strokes are the same - 1, 2. Now, we have come to the third stroke which is the most important stroke. Remember, not to go beyond this horizontal line, so we start right at the lower horizontal line, go down and to the right and up. So here is the difference, is the last stroke.
And the one on the left with a longer last stroke is pronounced as yǐ and 已 yǐ looks like this.
[slow]已 yǐ
It means "already." But think of this as if the damage has already been done, since the last stroke has already crossed the line already.
[slow]已 yǐ
A common word with 已 yǐ, 已经 yǐjīng.
已经 yǐjīng also means "already."
[slow] 已经 yǐjīng
And when you text your friend, you may see this phrase or this compound word on your phone, 已读 yǐ dú,telling you that your friend has already read the text.
读 dú means "to read" and 已 yǐ “already,” so 已读 yǐ dú is "already read."
All right. The one on the right with a shorter last stroke is pronounced as 己 jǐ.
己 jǐ means "self."
Or you can think of this 汉字 Hànzì as if you are telling yourself not to go beyond the lower horizontal line when you write, when you write this character, 己 jǐ “self.”
And we often say 自己 zìjǐ "oneself."
[slow] 自己 zìjǐ
We can make more phrases with 自己 zìjǐ by adding the pronouns such as...
你自己 nǐ zìjǐ "yourself"
我自己 wǒ zìjǐ "myself"
他自己 tā zìjǐ "himself."
Now, to recap, the one with the longer last stroke, the one that has already crossed the line is "already" 已 yǐ.
And the one with self-control to not go beyond the line is 己 jǐ "self."
天夫无
The next set of confusing characters actually has three of them.
Okay, at first glance, they all look like there are two curved lines crossing ways with two horizontal lines, but we’ll use the first one as a standard to compare.
So let’s write the first one together.
The first one starts with a short horizontal line and the longer horizontal line below it, and then a left curve, a right curve.
And to write the second one. It starts out the same, short horizontal, long horizontal, and the third left curve starts beyond, above the first horizontal line. And the last stroke is the same, okay.
And let’s look at the third one. First, horizontal; second, horizontal; third left curve, the same as the first one, but the last stroke is different. Instead of a simple curve, we go down to the right and up. So, the last stroke is what differentiates the third one with the first one.
Okay, the first one with nothing going beyond is pronounced as tiān. 天 tiān means "sky" or "heaven."
Well, you can think of this character, the two horizontal lines as the outlines of the sky, and then there is a person, remember this one? Person under the sky is 天 tiān.
[slow]天 tiān
We can combine 天 tiān with 气 qì, 天气 tiānqì.
This compound word means "weather."
[slow] 天气 tiānqì
And this one, 天空 tiānkōng is another way of saying "sky."
[slow] 天空 tiānkōng
Well, the second one that goes where the curve goes beyond the top is pronounced as fū.
[slow] 夫 fū
夫 fū means "husband" or "a grown male." Well, in Chinese culture, a grown man is supposed to stand up upright and tall, with his head touching the sky and with his legs and feet on the earth. That’s why we need to go above the skyline to be a grown man.
丈夫 zhàngfu is a common, everyday word to say "husband."
丈夫 zhàngfu
But notice, the 夫 fu here has a neutral tone, which means it’s brief and light, 丈夫 zhàngfu.
丈夫 zhàngfu with no tone mark.
So is this word, 大夫 dàifu.
[slow]大夫 dàifu
夫 fu is also a neutral tone here.
大夫 dàifu is a way to address a doctor.
[slow] 大夫 dàifu “doctor”
Well, some of you may have noticed that this word has another pronunciation, which is the more commonly used pronunciation, 大 dà, meaning “big.” But remember, when you call a doctor, you don’t say dàfu, we say dàifu.
大夫 dàifu
All right.
And the third character with an interesting-looking right leg is pronounced as 无 wú.
无 wú means "none" or "do not have." Or you can think of 无 wú as the one… since, it has a broken, kind of broken bad leg, it can’t do anything fun, none.
[slow]无 wú
Okay.
A common word with 无 wú is 无法 wúfǎ.
[slow]无法 wúfǎ
无法 wúfǎ, it’s kind of a more formal way of saying “cannot do (something),” "incapable of doing (something)."
When a website cannot open, you may see this on your computer, 无法打开 wúfǎ dǎkāi, meaning “cannot open.” This website cannot open.
[slow] 无法打开 wúfǎ dǎkāi
So, to recap, the one with...with the outlines of the sky, but nothing go beyond is 天 tiān "sky."
The one that goes above the sky, to reach above the sky is 夫 fū "husband" or “grown male.”
And the one with the funny-looking right leg, cannot have fun, so it’s "none" 无 wú.
干千子
But now, we have come to the last set of confusing characters. The set also has three of them.
The first one has very simple straight, up and down, right and left lines.
To write it, 1, 2, 3. Very simple, very straight.
And the second one, it has a different first stroke. So, instead of a left-to-right horizontal stroke, it has a right-to-left kind of a curve, and the rest two strokes, same.
The third one starts out differently. So, the first stroke is first, a horizontal, and then, a little line pointing to the lower left. So, 1, 2, this is one stroke. The second stroke goes down a horizontal line and goes up a little bit like a little hook. And the third stroke is a long horizontal line.
The first one was three simple, straight lines. It’s pronounced...actually, it has two pronunciations.
Let’s look at them here.
When it’s used as an adjective, meaning “dry,” it’s the first...it’s the first flat and long tone, 干 gān.
干 gān meaning “dry” as in 干净 gānjìng.
[slow]干净 gānjìng
This word means "clean."
干 gān means “dry” and 净 jìng means “clean,” but together, 干净 gānjìng just means “clean.”
[slow]干净 gānjìng
Okay.
When this word is used as a verb, meaning “to do,” it is the fourth falling tone, gàn.
干 gàn as in 干嘛 gànmá which is a colloquial way to say "to do what," as in...
你在干嘛? Nǐ zài gànmá? “What are you doing?”
[slow] 你在干嘛? Nǐ zài gànmá?
This word, this phrase...
干什么 gàn shénme
is the same meaning as 干嘛 gànmá, which is also a very colloquial. So these two phrases are interchangeable, 干嘛 gànmá, 干什么 gàn shénme “to do what.”
So, to say, “What are you doing?” you can say…
你在干嘛? Nǐ zài gànmá?
Or you can also say...
你在干什么? Nǐ zài gànshénme?
Okay.
The second character, with a curve on top, it means "thousand."
千 qiān “thousand”
Well, a side note here: This cross under the curved line is another number, meaning 10. So, if we cover the top stroke, this is 10, 十 shí, with a top curve, it means “thousand” 千 qiān.
千 qiān is used almost only as a numeral, a number meaning “thousand” as in 两千 liǎngqiān "two thousand."
[slow]两千 liǎngqiān
But there’s one exception which is right here, 秋千 qiūqiān together means "swing."
秋千 qiūqiān “swing.”
秋 qiū means “fall” or “autumn” and 千 qiān means “thousand,” so somehow, “fall thousand” or “autumns thousand” together means “swing.”
[slow] 秋千 qiūqiān
Okay, the third character also has two pronunciations.
When it’s used as… with the meaning that’s related to "son" or "child," it’s the third tone, down and up, zǐ.
[slow] 子zǐ
As in 子女 zǐnǚ.
[slow]子女 zǐnǚ
子 zǐ here means "son" and 女 nǚ means "daughter." So 子女 zǐnǚ together, "son daughter" is "offspring."
[slow] 子女 zǐnǚ.
Okay, when this one is used in a noun as a suffix, a lot of noun ends with this word, this character, as in 房子 fángzi "house."
[slow] 房子 fángzi.
In this case, 子 zi is neutral tone, no tone mark, no stress, just brief and light, 房子 fángzi.
[slow] 房子 fángzi.
Or this noun 句子 jùzi, meaning "sentence."
[slow] 句子 jùzi.
Now, to recap, the one with the straight lines means “dry” or “to do.” When it means “dry,” it’s a first tone, 干 gān. When it means “to do,” it’s the fourth tone, gàn. Okay.
The one with the curved top, curved line on top with a 10 underneath the curved line is a number meaning "thousand" 千 qiān.
And the third one with two little hooks can mean a “child, son” or it’s a suffix in a noun.
Let’s do a short quiz as a review of this lesson. Try not to look at your notes.
Between this one (入) and this one (人), which one means "person"?
Right, the one with a longer left curve is person, 人 rén.
人 rén
Between this one (土) and this one (士), which one means "earth" or "dirt"?
Right, the one with the longer bottom stroke is “earth” or “dirt,” 土 tǔ .
土 tǔ
Between this one (已) and this one (己), which one means "already"?
Right, the one with the stroke poking above the lower horizontal line is “already,” 已 yǐ.
已 yǐ
And which one of these three 汉字 Hànzì (天 夫 无) means "none"?
Right, the one with a different last stroke is “none,” 无 wú.
无 wú
And which one of these three (干 千 子) means “thousand”?
Right, the one with a curved top stroke is “thousand,” 千 qiān.
千 qiān
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This is the end of this lesson. Thank you for watching. I’ll see you next time on ChineseClass101.com. 再见！Zàijiàn!

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