Learn Chinese for Free - Lesson 34
Today's Chinese characters:
父母亲
妈妈 is the colloquial word for 'mother' (mummy, mum, ma). Today you're going to learn how to address her, and your father, in a more formal way.
| Character Knowledge Meter |
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19.4%
Today with this lesson your knowledge of Chinese characters will reach 19.4% of all the Chinese language usage! |
Characters' Essentials
| - | Father |
| - | Mother |
| - | Parent |
Description and Examples
Dialogue 19
Welcome back our dear number one most frequently used Chinese character!
Let's see how it's used in today's dialogue.
我是你们儿子的朋友
First of all, a little review: 的 is used between an attributive (before 的) and the headword (after 的). An attributive usually modifies a noun and the modified is called headword or central word. Sometimes, the structural particle 的 is needed between the attributive and the headword; at other times, however, it is not required. sometimes: ATTRIBUTIVE + HEADWORD at other times: ATTRIBUTIVE + 的 + HEADWORD When a personal pronoun is used as an attributive and the headword is a word for relatives, parts of the body or units or collectives to which the pronoun belongs, the structural particle 的 may be omitted. |
In our sentence, 的 is omitted when it's said "你们儿子", because we have here a personal pronoun used as an attributive and the headword is a word for relatives.
| 你们: | Attributive |
| 儿子: | Headword |
As you can see, however, this attributive-headword construction itself is used as an attributive, and this time 的 cannot be omitted.
你们儿子的朋友
| 你们儿子: | Attributive |
| 朋友: | Headword |
In English we'd say "the friend of your son" or "your son's friend".
Exercise
Find the mistakes
她是我父亲。
他是我母亲。
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Characters' Details
Chinese Character 70 of 1000
appearance score: # 589
frequency: 0.0354390%
| - | Father; male relative of a senior generation; person who invents something, person who begins something |
| - | Man, elderly man; a man's courtesy name |
| - | (A surname) |
There's no difference between the simplified and the traditional version of this character.
Chinese Character 71 of 1000
appearance score: # 565
frequency: 0.0369304%
| - | Mother; one's elderly female relatives; concave; source |
| - | Female |
| - | (A surname) |
There's no difference between the simplified and the traditional version of this character.
Chinese Character 72 of 1000
appearance score: # 362
frequency: 0.0612137%
| - | Parent; relative; marriage, match; bride |
| - | Related by blood; close, intimate, dear |
| - | In person, personally |
| - | Kiss; be close to |
| - | (A surname) |
| - | (First character of the Chinese word meaning 'parents of one's daughter-in-law or son-in-law' and 'relatives by marriage': 亲家) |
This character has a different traditional version.
I will contact you ASAP!
