Lesson 12: City, Native Place in Chinese
In The previous lesson, you have learned how to communicate countries and nationalities in Chinese. In this lesson, we will further explore the expressions on geographic locations in Chinese, specifically on cities and native place.
Vocabulary:
| Chinese Character | Pinyin | Pronunciation | English Translation | |
| 地方 | dì fāng | geographical location | ||
| 地 | dì | earth; soil, ground, region | ||
| 方 | fāng | a square, rectangle; a region; local | ||
| 首都 | shǒu dū | capital | ||
| 首 | shǒu | head; first; leader, chief; a poem | ||
| 都 | dū | metropolis, capital; all, the whole | ||
| 北京 | bēi jīng | Beijing | ||
| 北 | bēi | north; northern; northward | ||
| 京 | jīng | capital city | ||
| 香港 | xiāng gǎng | Hong Kong | ||
| 香 | xiāng | fragrant, sweet smelling, incense | ||
| 港 | gǎng | port, harbor; small stream; bay | ||
| 广州 | guǎng zhōu | Guang Zhou | ||
| 广 | guǎng | wide, extensive, broad | ||
| 州 | zhōu | administrative division, state | ||
| 上海 | shǎng hǎi | Shanghai | ||
| 海 | hǎi | sea, ocean; maritime | ||
| 很 | hěn | very, quite, much | ||
| 哪儿 | nǎer | which, where, how | ||
| 纽约 | niǔ yuē | New York, NY | ||
| 纽 | niǔ | knot; button; handle, knob; tie | ||
| 约 | yuē | treaty, agreement, covenant | ||
Tips:
- Many Chinese cities or provinces are named based on the geological characteristics such as mountains, lakes, rivers or sea. (e.g. Shanghai = upper sea, Hunan = south of the lake, Shanxi = west of the mountain, etc.)
- Similiar to the country expressions, when you want to say you are from a city, simply say "I am" + "the city" + "people" (ren人). (e.g. from Shanghai = 上海人, from Beijing = 北京人, from New York = 纽约人).
Dialog A:
Click to hear the above dialog.
English Translation A:
Which country is this?
This is China.
Where in China is this?
This is Beijing, the capital of China.
Is that Hong Kong?
That's not Hong Kong, that's Guangzhou.
Dialog B:
Click to hear the above dialog.
English Translation B:
Are you Chinese?
I am Chinese.
Where in China are you from?
I am from Shanghai.
Is Shanghai a big city?
Shanghai is big.
Where are you from?
I am from New York.
Chinese Calligraphy:
地 方 首 都 北 京 香 港 广 州 海 很 儿 纽 约
Questions and Comments
