Category: Chinese Grammar

Saying how long you have done something is pretty simple in Chinese. Saying how long you have not done something is just as easy.

Multitasking is vital to life in the modern world (most likely you are reading this article on a separate tab among many in your browser!), therefore it would make sense to learn a way to express simultaneous tasks in Chinese!

In China, you often hear you should do this or that more (eat more, drink more water, wear more warm clothing etc.), and they often use the word 多 (duō). What's not intuitive to learners is that the word 多 should come before the verb.

不怎么 (bùzěnme) seems to mean "not how", but it actually can mean "not often" when used together with a verb.

Often heard when scolding or giving advice (like when parents talk to children) is 少 (shǎo) in Chinese grammar, which can mean "to do less of something."

Sometimes we may want to say something is "not even the least bit. . ." For example, we might say in English: "I am not at all hungry." In Chinese, we can use 一点也不 or 一点都不 to express "not at all"

“多亏” (duōkuī) can be translated as "thanks to" and is used to express that, due to somebody's help, a negative result has been averted. It is similar to 幸亏 but emphasizes a feeling of gratitude towards a specific person for the outcome, rather than attributing it purely to fortune. Often 了 is placed after it.