HEYGOW
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HEYGOW
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中文
Home & daily life 100
100
phrases
Getting up
10
起床 - to get out of bed - is two characters, rise plus bed, and is not the same as 醒 (to wake). You can be 醒 for twenty minutes before you 起床, which is exactly what 我再睡五分钟 is about. 我出门了 is what you call out as you leave, and it expects no reply.
Winding down
10
我回来了 - I'm back - is called out on entering, the counterpart to 我出门了, and Chinese households run on this pair. 累坏了 uses 坏 - broken - as a degree marker: tired to the point of breaking. 早睡早起 is advice old enough to be proverbial.
Housework
10
家务 - housework - is a noun you 做, not a verb. 帮我搭把手 is the idiom worth taking: literally "lend me a hand-hold", it asks for a moment of help with something physical, and it is warmer than 帮我一下. 每天都做不完 states the truth about housework in any language.
In the kitchen
10
水开了 - the water has boiled - uses 开 yet again, this time for water reaching the boil. 关火 turns the flame off, the counterpart to the 火太大了 you met in the cooking set. 这个过期了 says something is past its date, and 过期 will appear on every package you buy.
Laundry
10
晾 - to hang out to dry - is a verb English needs a phrase for, and it matters because most Chinese households dry laundry on a balcony rather than in a machine. 今天不能晾 therefore means the weather has made the laundry impossible, which is a real daily calculation.
Cleaning up
10
扫 is to sweep and 拖 is to mop - literally to drag, because a Chinese mop is dragged rather than pushed. 大扫除 is the big clean, traditionally done before Lunar New Year to sweep the old year out, and the phrase still carries that seasonal weight.
Repairs
10
师傅 is what you call a tradesman - a plumber, an electrician, a driver - and it is a term of respect for skilled manual work with no good English equivalent. 找房东说一下 - go and tell the landlord - is the step that resolves most rental problems and the one tenants delay.
Running out of things
10
用完了 - used up - is the shape for anything that has run out: 纸巾用完了. 快递到了 announces a parcel, and 快递 - the courier system - moves at a speed that has reorganised Chinese shopping habits. 网上买更便宜 states the reason those parcels keep arriving.
Money at home
10
记账 - to keep accounts - is a habit and an app category in China, and saying 我记账 explains a great deal about someone. 自动扣款了 - it was auto-debited - describes the payment world most Chinese bills now live in. 预算有点紧 says the budget is tight without saying you are short.
Neighbours
10
小区 is the gated residential compound most urban Chinese live in - not a neighbourhood exactly, but a walled cluster of blocks with its own gates and guards. 帮我收个快递 asks a neighbour to take in a parcel, which is the commonest favour exchanged inside one.
Related categories
Weather & seasons 100
Phone & messaging 100
Accommodation 100
Work & office 100
School & study 100
Body & health 100
Hobbies & leisure 100
Internet & phone 100
中文