Language Quiz
Starter level quiz about the Chinese language. Only 71% of people have achieved 70% or more at this quiz.
1. 心 xīn means what in English?
Ancient
Heart
Fewer
2. How would you say the year 2008 in Chinese?
二零八年 èr líng bā nián
二零零八年 èr líng líng bā nián
两零零八年 liǎng líng líng bā nián
The 'zero' is not repeated so it is a bit like saying two thousand and eight.
3. How do you express 1,000,000 in Chinese?
百万 bǎi wàn
十万 shí wàn
双 shuāng
In China, the number 10,000 was considered innumerable and is used to express 'countless' and 'myriad'. Numbers greater than 10,000 are expressed as multiples of 10,000 up to 100,000,000 which would be 10,000x10,000 and is a new character 亿 yì.
4. What is the word for friend in Chinese?
迎友 yíng yǒu
朋有 péng yǒu
朋友 péng yǒu
Both of the characters in 朋友 péng yǒu indicate friendship.
5. To make a sentence to indicate an action is complete as in 'gone'; 'left'; 'bought' what can you do?
Prefix the sentence with 请 qǐng
Add 了 le after the verb
Add 了 le before the verb
Changing the tense of a verb is easy in Chinese you do not have to learn declension or lots of new characters. Adding 了 le to 买 mǎi buy turns it into 买了 mǎi le bought.
6. 晚上 wǎn shàng refers to which time of day?
Night
Evening
Lunchtime
Wanshang refers to evening and can be transliterated as late up.
7. What is the Chinese for south?
东 dōng
西 xī
南 nán
You will find south in a number of province names including Henan; Hunan; Yunnan and in the city of Nanjing (southern capital).
8. 三月八日 sān yuè bā rì is how you would write which date?
3rd August
3rd September
8th March
Dates in Chinese are easy, you just count the number of days and months.
9. The possessive 'your' is expressed how in Chinese?
你的 nǐ de
没有 méi yǒu
他的 tā de
The possessive ' 的 de' is a very common character in Chinese, it can be used with any noun to make someone or something possess it.
10. The United States of America is called what in Chinese?
中国 zhōng guó
美国 měi guó
华国 huá guó
美 měi means beautiful on its own, so with 国 guó it means beautiful country. It was chosen as a rough transliteration of America.
11. How would you say four tickets in Chinese?
四张票 sì zhāng piào
四票 sì piào
四朝 sì zhāo
You need to include a measure word in Chinese; you can not say just four tickets, you need to add the measure word for things that are flat 四票 sì piào between the number and the noun.
12. What is the Chinese word for walk?
昨 zuó
走 zǒu
支 zhī
走 zǒu is the character for walk, move, run or hasten.
13. What is the Chinese word for green?
句 jù
渔 yú
绿 lǜ
Both 绿 lǜ and 红 hóng contain the radical for silk in them, indicating the use of dyes to color cloth.
14. Which word can you use to ask someone to wait
等 děng
儅 dāng
冬 dōng
Děng 等 is a useful word to know when traveling; it is often prefixed with please : qing deng - please wait.
15. The Chinese character for heaven or sky is what?
天 tiān
广 guǎng
太 tài
The horizontal stroke on top represents the sky which is above the figure of a large man 大 dà.
16. 小 Xiǎo means what in English?
child
big
small or young
Division marks around a small object indicating smallness.
17. How do you bid someone welcome in Chinese?
高兴 gāo xīng
时候 shí hòu
欢迎 huān yíng
欢迎 huān yíng means Hearty Welcome and is a common greeting
18. Which character for good fortune is widely seen at Chinese New Year?
福 fú
孚 fú
木 mù
The character for good fortune 福 fú has an interesting derivation. It is widely seen on Chinese gifts. Just to add to confusion it is often shown ?upside down?
19. Yesterday is what in Chinese
去年 qù nián
昨天 zuó tiān
上午 shàng wǔ
昨 zuó on its own can mean yesterday. 天 tiān 'heaven' is day.
20. If you want to attract the attention of a waiter what do you say?
欢迎 huān yíng
什么 shén me
服务员 fú wù yuán
The term 服务员 fú wù yuán is roughly equivalent to uniformed attendent in English.
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