Taking your first shot at the HSK? Click through to the quiz section to test your knowledge of basic characters and words with our first fill in the blank exercise for beginners.Even if you're already a hotshot, you should give this a try. The HSK has lots of trick questions and isn't as easy as you might think....
brett
said on September 2, 2008
Isn't 年龄 the right answer in question 7? Tricky question if not.
trevelyan
said on September 2, 2008
年纪 is the correct answer, but it's definitely a tricky question. I'll check with Echo and see if there's a good explanation for the difference.
Echo
said on September 5, 2008
Actually there's no huge difference between the meaning of 年龄 and 年纪, but 年龄 is usually used as a formal word. It's like you can be often asked to write you age in a column which called 年龄 when you get your registered in China. 年纪 is always be used to ask old people's age. You can also say 岁数 instead though. For people who are younger than you, “你多大了？”is the correct question.
There are some tricky questions in the HSK test, and this is one of them. The right answer is just *better*. This is why the HSK is a good test, and why it helps people improve their Chinese quickly.
--Echo
Maple
said on September 10, 2008
Hi everyone and congratulations on the launch of this site ! I especially like the HSK section. I have been learning Chinese for a while now, I would say I am at an intermediate level, but I am fairly new to doing it online. All these professional comments are slightly intimidating;)
I would like to ask a question, anyways:
Concerning 伏天 (fútiān, hot summer days, dog days) I found the expression: 今天是个伏天了!
What does adding the particle 了 change in that sentence ? I hope it is okay asking such a specific grammar question in this section...
The explanation on 'age' was really helpful, gee, I had no idea one is not supposed to just ask '多大了?' if the person is older...
trevelyan
said on September 10, 2008
great question Maple. I'd guess change of state, but we'll see what Echo has to say and get you a more definitive answer. Anyone else know?
leanne
said on September 10, 2008
Hi Maple,
I'm a groupie of David's.
leanne
said on September 10, 2008
Hi Maple,
I'm a groupie of David's.
leanne
said on September 10, 2008
Hi Maple,
I'm a groupie of David's.
"今天是个伏天了!"...I don't really talk like that...Anyway, adding the particle 了 made it past tense in Chinese, to my understanding. Although I would prefer to translate it into 'It has been like a summer day today' or 'it feels like a summer day today', rather than using past tense or simply say 'it's a summer day today'.
'多大了?' ... if you just say these 3 characters, usually it refers to kids. If you ask someone senior, you would say '您多大了？or even ‘您高寿？'. Use '您' to show respect.
Maple
said on September 10, 2008
Hi groupie of David's,
I was actually looking up '伏天' (fútiān, hot summer days) because I wasn't familiar with the word and wanted to know if it could be used to refer to just one day. My guess for the use of the particle would also go more along the lines of 'change of state', I somehow think 'It has been like a hot summer day' would be something else, but don't know what;) It could well be 'it is a summer day today' and the rest is overanalyzing;)
The other comment was more referring to the information that one should add '年纪' (niánjì) to the end of the question...coming to think of it, I heard '多大了?' when asking about a kid's age, but I remember being told that '几岁'(jǐsuì, how many years?) would be used for kids under 10 years old...maybe someone can correct or confirm;)
Echo
said on September 11, 2008
@Maple,
伏天, you can also say 三伏天, refers to a certain period of time during Chinese solar period 小暑 and 大暑. Therefore, we rarely say 今天是伏天 or tomorrow is not. It's a period of time. More often, people would say 今天入伏了 or 今天是入伏的第一天, which means stepping into 伏天. You can also say 今天是几伏(天)了, because we 头（初）伏，二伏，三伏，altogether 三伏天. There are 10 days for one 伏.
For the 了 question, Leanne has already given a good answer. We use 着，了，过 to mark different tense, since we don't have verbal inflection in Chinese. 了 is for past tense.
We don't have specific rules that 几岁 has to be used for kids under 10 years old, but it's definitely used to ask kids' ages. I don't think it is always respectful to ask someone older 您多大了 though. 您多大年纪了 or 您多大岁数了 is better. 您高寿了 is also very good.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Maple
said on September 11, 2008
Oh, I thought it had something to do with weather. Thanks, Echo !
brett
said on September 11, 2008
Wow. 伏天 isn't even in my dictionary at all, although it's in my IME so it gotta be a legit word. Where did you run into it?
Maple
said on September 11, 2008
Yep, I guess there are better words to have a discussion on;) It is the last answer option of question #3, I looked it up and got tipped of in the wrong direction. Next time I run into a word like that, I will just write: 'What the ...??!'
Echo
said on September 11, 2008
@brett,
I studied Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language in Beijing Language and Culture University for 4 years. It is my major.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Echo
said on September 11, 2008
@Maple,
When you have chance coming to Beijing, try to use this word. People would be surprise and think you are very 地道.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Maple
said on September 11, 2008
@Echo,
What a prospect;)...
orbital
said on September 11, 2008
That's it then. I'm going to try tossing 伏天 into conversation a couple of times tomorrow. If my coworkers don't think I'm 地道 they'll just think I'm crazy.
Echo
said on September 11, 2008
@orbital,
Good Luck tomorrow:)
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
ipsi
said on September 15, 2008
Suggestion: It would be nice to have forms in the PDF so that I can quickly jot down my answers without having to load up a text editor or printing it out! (Yeah, right :)). They don't have to be savable or anything, it would just save me from having to try and remember them :).
ipsi
said on September 15, 2008
Or I could just click on the Quiz button - that works too!
brett
said on September 15, 2008
ipsi - you can try the text version too. they don't put the answers upside down though so it is harder to stay honest.
gedaozhen
said on January 12, 2009
Great conversation! Asking someone's age was definitely one of those areas where I was confused before about the appropriate way to say it...Thanks to Echo, I am not confused anymore. Echo, I'll let you be the first person I try this on... 您多大岁数了?
Echo
said on January 12, 2009
@gedaozhen,
Hi, very glad to know that you like this lesson. Although...I'm not quite sure that if you are not confused anymore from the question you asked...or perhaps my voice is really that mature...
小女没“多大岁数”，双十年华 :P
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
gedaozhen
said on January 13, 2009
Yikes...guess I am still confused. I thought that you were saying that “多大岁数 was appropriate to ask any adult. In my Chinese class, only two distinctions were really taught with respect to asking about age...what to ask kids under 10 and what to ask everyone else. I thought the teacher had told us to ask, 你今年多大? for most everyone and, for the really young kids (<10) ask, 你几岁？ Should I add to this list that for 很老人 I should ask 多大岁数?
谢谢您帮我忙！
orbital
said on January 13, 2009
@gedaozhen - ha ha. I think you just hit a sore point. Someone called Echo's voice "mature" earlier on and we haven't heard the end of it yet. :p
stratman1
said on January 13, 2009
@gedaozhen
If I have it right: you can ask 你/您今年多大 to anyone. Adding 年纪 or 岁数 just makes things a little more formal and polite. I've had a middle aged person ask me 你今年多大年纪了, and I'm in my early twenties. So there are no hard rules, but you should in general be a little more polite when talking to older people.
@echo
我还以为你没有那么大呢，但大家都说你好mature喔。。你已经毕业了很久很久么？？
Echo
said on January 13, 2009
Guys...
First and most important, 我没有很大年纪啦！！“双十年华”嘛~ 你不是把10和10作了乘法吧，stratman1? 呵呵呵 :P
"你/您今年多大"--我完全同意stratman1的观点，它是万能句。加上“年纪”和“岁数”更加正式，但是一般不会用在小孩子身上。
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Eric.Haupt
said on March 19, 2010
“他吃牛了” 有什么特别的意思？ also, why would you pull your stomach? I guessed right, but none of the answers made sense...
拉肚子。？？？
ckw4y
said on March 19, 2010
@Eric: pull your stomach means Diarrhea. It kindof makes sense if you think about it. And 他吃牛了 means "he ate beef."
Echo
said on March 20, 2010
@eric & ckw4y,
Usually we would say 他吃牛肉了, because 牛肉 means beef. 牛 means cows, so it is not very natural to say 他吃牛了.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Eric.Haupt
said on March 20, 2010
Oops. My two questions created confusion...
13. is 别相信他，他最喜欢吃牛了。 Does it really mean his favorite food is beef, or is it more like the English "shoots (sometimes chews) the bull", which later morphed into "he's full of BS" or "he's full of it" -- all meaning that he lies continually.
scott
said on March 20, 2010
应该说“吹牛“, to brag or boast.
barrister
said on March 20, 2010
Yes, definitely 吹牛 for boasting or bragging,
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 22, 2010
Has any body heard of this dialogue?
-天为什么这么黑？
-因为牛在天上飞。
-牛为什么在天上飞？
-因为你在地上吹。
xiaoxin
said on March 22, 2010
你们听过这个吗？
两个人比谁更高，一个人对另一个人说，你非常高，你的上嘴唇顶着天(your upper lip touches the sky)，下嘴唇顶着地(your lower lip touches the ground)。那个人问，那我的脸呢？第一个人回答，你总是吹牛，还要什么脸啊？！
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 22, 2010
@xiaoxin,
这个嘛，我貌似听过。。。
Mccormickbrian
said on May 24, 2011
It is not clear how to switch on pinyin
Echo
said on May 24, 2011
@Mccormickbrian,
If you are a premium subscriber, you can switch on simplified, traditional s
or pinyin on the right side of the page when you browse transcripts or quizzes. You can also go to "account-settings", and set the display control there.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
trevelyan
said on May 24, 2011
Echo,No... he's talking about something funky with the change-on-the-fly settings. It may be javascript not supporting an older version of the markup. I'll take a look in a bit once we have today's lesson up and get it fixed.http://popupchinese.com/account/customizeSwitching display options to pinyin site-wide is a temporary workaround though. [UPDATE: fixed -- pinyin is back in action.]--david
murrayjames
said on May 3, 2013
Hi guys,The second answer for Question #14 shows up as "unknown" instead of 拉. My account is set to traditional characters.As for asking someone's age, last week a college kid in 重慶 asked me 你貴庚？I'd never heard that expression before.
HSK Beginner
said on May 6, 2013
@murrayjames,Thanks! I've fixed. Wow, 貴庚 is really old-fashioned. However, some dialects in China, they keep a lot of words in ancient Chinese language.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
