I was talking with a classmate who’s doing her master’s thesis on temporal marking in Mandarin (“tense”, aspect, etc.) and she mentioned this interesting distinction that using 的 makes in sentences like:
我会去美国。
我会去美国的。
Both sentences refer to the future (会), but the second sentence adds the speaker’s certainty on the matter. They know they’re going to travel, it’s certain to happen (at least in their opinion).
It feels similar to the 是…的 construction, which emphasizes the material preceding the 的. But in both cases, it seems like the final particle is serving the same underlying purpose of emphasizing, showing speaker certainty about the matter.
For example, if I say 他是在中国学习的汉语，I’m certain that he studied in China, and I’m highlighting that information as the focus of the sentence.
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Aside from its normal use as the second-person pronoun, Mandarin 你 has several other meanings it can take on, depending on the context.
Normal (propositional) use: 你 refers to the addressee
我好像见过你。
'I seem to have seen you before.' (Biq 1991: 308)
Impersonal use: Doesn't refer to the addressee, but to a generic person (English and many other languages have this as well)
那些小孩子恼得叫你不能专心做事。
'Those children make such a noise, it makes you (me, one) unable to concentrate on work.' (Biq 1991: 309)
Speaker-oriented use: The speaker uses 你 to refer to themself or to a group associated with the speaker (note that the reverse situation can occur with 我 referring to the addressee)
Context: An actor discusses his experience with a director
他每次比如说我在演的是手，他会跟你讲这个应该怎么样。
'He gives comments when I am acting, he will tell you (me) how it should be.' (Hsiao 2011: 805)
(Note the switch from 我 to 你: The speaker is inviting the listener to put themself in his situation.)
Metalinguistic use: Not used as a pronoun at all, 你 calls on the address to pay attention to the speaker's next point
Context: A and B are talking about the importance of education
A: Once education is developed many more doctors can be trained. Uh, this is one point but if not, ah?
B: This is medical education.
A: 就是医药，对吗，你整个儿的学校也多了，诶，上小学上中学的人都多了，那么上医学院的人也多了。。。
A: 'Just medicine, surely, <NI> the number of schools on the whole increases, eh, the number of people going to grade schools and middle schools increases, then the number of people going to medical schools will increase, too...'
(Biq 1991: 314-5)
I just think it's neat how this little pronoun can serve a variety of purposes, and it really goes to show just how creative speakers can be with the tools available to them in their language. I recently saw a presentation by a fellow grad student, Tian Xinhe, who formalized these uses of 你 from a theoretical syntax perspective. If anyone's interested in more details about that, I'd be happy to talk more. :)
References & further reading:
Biq, Yung-O. (1991). The multiple uses of the second person singular pronoun ni in conversational Mandarin. Journal of Pragmatics, 16, 307-321.
Hsiao, Chi-hua. (2011). Personal pronoun interchanges in Mandarin Chinese conversation. Language Sciences, 33, 799–821.
史金生 & 王璐菲. (2022). 虚拟对话与立场构: “你”在互动中的移指用法 [Virtual dialogue and stance interpretation: The reference shift
of "ni" in interaction.]. 中国语文, 6, 671–683.
Tian, Xinhe. (2025, March 28-29). The multi-functionality of the second person pronoun in Mandarin Chinese: a study on syntax-interaction interface [Conference presentation]. CHAMP3, Barcelona, Spain.
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High quality bilingual Chinese-English Periodic Table of Elements (PTE)!
Notes on things you may not know: the Chinese characters can help you understand more about chemistry than you knew before.
Any character with 金 or 钅is a metal, and any character containing those two or 石 is solid at room temperature (STP).
Any character with 气 is a gas at room temperature.
Any character with 水 or 氵is a liquid at room temperature. There are only two, 溴 Br and 汞 Hg.
The characters are pronounced usually very loyally to their sound component. Examples: 氢 is pronounced like 轻；锂，里；钠，呐；钾，甲；铷，如；铯，色；钫，方. However, this table works very well with Pleco's OCR, so if you're not sure, it is super easy to draw or scan the character to look it up. You may notice that both 锡 and 硒 are both pronounced the same as 西; to differentiate, if the need to arises, you can always say something like 锡纸的锡 or 石字旁的硒.
The last 15 characters are not type-able yet (except for 镆 because the character was in use prior to its being used as a chemical), so I had to manually make them using the components. I used a square to ensure their proportions, but if any of them look off, let me know. I'm not sure why, but the first time I built them in the program I was using, the sound component had chromatic aberration on it. Unfortunately, I didn't notice until I had built all 14, so that was a lot of additional work. I fixed them, but if you see that on any others, lmk.
Since those last 15ish are not type-able and since font compatibility is still iffy, here are the Unicode and Wiktionary pages for those characters so that you can copy and paste and look up their pronunciation.
Rf - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Db - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Sg - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Bh - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Hs - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Mt - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Ds - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Rg - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Cn - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Nh - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Fl - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Lv - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Ts - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Og - Wiktionary and Unicode pages
Is colourblind friendly. A lot of PTEs use colours to differentiate, but the colours can even be hard to discern for me, someone who does not have any colourblindness. So in addition to the type-colour, I also included a symbol. Originally, I chose roman numerals, but for some reason, the day before I posted this, the font changed and it got messed up. I couldn't tell what happened, so I switched them to Chinese numerals, and they're in order of when they show up.
不三不四 is a chinese idiom that literally means “not 3 neither 4″ and it means neither one thing nor the other; suspicious (characters); dubious; shady, bad person.
交些个不三不四的朋友: make friends with a lot of dubious characters
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Mandarin has more than just "或者 (huòzhě)" and "还是 (háishì)" to express “or.” Those two are the most common and foundational, but other words and structures are used depending on tone, formality, logical structure, or emphasis.
🔹 1. 还是 (háishì)
Used in: questions
Means: "or" (choice)
你喜欢茶还是咖啡？
Do you like tea or coffee?
Important: This form requires a question. Never use it in statements.
🔹 2. 或者 (huòzhě)
Used in: statements
Means: "or" (options, not a choice prompt)
我们可以坐车或者走路。
We can take a car or walk.
🔹 3. 要么 (yàome)
Used in: more emphatic “either… or…”
Often used for strong alternatives, especially in speech.
要么你来，要么我去。
Either you come, or I go.
她要么迟到，要么缺席。
She’s either late or absent.
This one highlights a firm choice—often used when there are only two clear options.
🔹 4. 或是 (huòshì)
Formal/literary version of 或者
Used mostly in writing or speeches
成功来自于努力或是运气。
Success comes from hard work or luck.
Not commonly used in casual speech.
🔹 5. 还是说 (háishì shuō)
Means something like: “Or are you saying…?”
Appears in more rhetorical or speculative questions.
他是忘了，还是说他根本没看到？
Did he forget, or are you saying he never saw it at all?
🔹 6. 抑或 (yìhuò)
Extremely formal or literary
Translates as “or,” “or else,” “alternatively”
他是真心的，抑或只是在演戏？
Is he sincere, or is he just acting?
Mostly found in classical Chinese, legal writing, or high-formality prose.
还是 (háishì) and 或者 (huòzhě) will cover 90% of your “or” needs.
要么 (yàome) is your next most useful for real-life speech.
The others are valuable if you read formal texts, write creatively, or want to recognize elevated styles.
(subjectively, non comprehensively) reviewing chinese input methods
for reasons which still bewilder me some days, it seems that i have, over four years and the study of two chinese topolects, shuffled through trying/using a fair few input methods (IMEs) for writing chinese on a device. since i'm currently procrastinating at work, let's go through them!
(note: this is all from the perspective of a native english speaker and semi-fluent cantonese + mandarin speaker who learned to read/write chinese later in life. people who grew up writing in chinese will probably have differing opinions on things like ease of learning.)
i've split the following list into 3 categories: phonetic/sound-based IMEs specific to putonghua, ones specific to cantonese, and then shape-based IMEs, which can be used regardless of spoken topolect.
phonetic-based IMEs (putonghua):
hanyu pinyin (漢語拼音) - probably the most well known IME on this entire list, given that pinyin is the romanization standard for putonghua in many places, and both native speakers on the chinese mainland and non-native putonghua speakers learn it. romanization-based IMEs tend to be quick to pick up, because after learning the rules of the romanization scheme, all you need is basic skill with a QWERTY keyboard. pinyin in particular is easy enough to cross over to for english speakers, as many of the represented sounds correspond.
pinyin is the first IME on this list i learned, and is for now still my default for writing putonghua on both my phone and computer, as i'm still quickest typing in latin alphabet. however, one frustration i've had over the years (and this applies to more than one IME on this list) is that the lack of specificity when typing makes it a bit clumsy when dealing with rarer characters. chinese has a lot of homophones. typing something like 'yu' and then having to scroll endlessly through the selection menu can get frustrating.
bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ/注音符號) - bopomofo is a phonographic script used for inputting characters and annotating pronunciations, invented during the chinese republic era and now primarily used in taiwan. each symbol corresponds to one possible part of a syllable in putonghua, e.g. b-, zh-, -ang, etc. these are typed to form full syllables and therefore words. although typing in bopomofo requires a bit of mental recaliberation in how sounds can be visualized, if one is used to pinyin, it's overall not difficult to cross over to. the sounds of pinyin can be mapped fairly straightforwardly onto the bopomofo script. it took me about 2-3 days to get used to typing with it.
i really like bopomofo, and if i didn't frequently write in both putonghua and cantonese, i would probably make this my default input method. not needing to type out each latin letter of a syllable makes bopomofo faster to use than pinyin once you're used to it, and bopomofo has the addition of tone indicators on its keyboard. being able to specify a character's tone when typing can vastly cut down on the amount of menu scrolling one has to do. the only personal downside i've found is that bopomofo uses the overhead number row as well as a few punctuation keys to input its symbols, which can make it feel rather spread out on a regular keyboard if you have smaller hands.
phonetic-based IMEs (cantonese):
firstly: cantonese does not have a broadly accepted romanization or phonetic IME on the level of what pinyin is to putonghua. there are multiple romanization schemes floating around and different ones may be used in different contexts (official names, classrooms, etc), but many native cantonese speakers don't learn them and instead use shape-based IMEs. using IMEs like the following should be more common among non-native cantonese speakers/learners who had need to learn a romanization scheme.
jyutping (粵拼) - this was developed by the linguistic society of hong kong, and has become a standard for romanizing cantonese in some classrooms and learning texts. i was taught jyutping in my university classes, and it's currently my primary method for writing in cantonese. you probably wouldn't see things like place names transcribed in jyutping, but for the sake of learning to pronounce new characters or inputting, i find it's very accurate at transcribing sounds. i believe it's also easy for putonghua speakers to cross over into using.
however, the way some sounds are transcribed may take some getting used to; for example, an equivalent sound to 'yu' in pinyin/putonghua would be 'jyu' in jyutping, and 'lan' would be transcribed as 'laan'. also, jyutping (and this goes for yale as well) being a romanization without tone specificity falls prey to the same weakness as pinyin, which is the endless scrolling for lesser-used characters.
yale (耶魯) - yale is still a default for transcribing cantonese in many places, and predates jyutping as a well-used romanization. you'll definitely see it for transcribing cantonese in older texts, and it lines up more with how you might see place and individuals' names romanized.
i don't know exactly how many people out there are using it as an IME. at least android offers it as on google keyboards though, so i assume there's some usage. overall however, i find jyutping a more phonetically accurate system. when i was using yale romanization for classes i also found its way of marking tone numbers to be more finnicky.
shape-based IMEs:
on to IMEs which do not rely on phonetic input! these can be more common for chinese speakers who have need to write in more than one topolect, or for those who don't use/learn romanization systems. this gives users of shape-based IMEs an advantage in not needing to switch keyboards between languages, but the learning curve on average is quite a bit steeper than for phonetic IMEs. if you can't recall the components/radicals or stroke order of a character (character amnesia), you won't be able to write. as a result, you'll absolutely see more native chinese speakers using these IMEs, as opposed to non-native learners. however, if you're one of the latter and want to level up your character recognition, maybe it would be a fun challenge to learn one of these.
cangjie (倉頡) - one of the more well-known shape based IMEs, cangjie is more common for people in areas where traditional chinese is used (hong kong, macau, and taiwan), although the newer version allows you to write in simplified as well. cangjie uses a system of 24 character/radical keys (+ 2 special keys), each mapping onto a letter on a qwerty keyboard. each radical represents both itself and an assigned number of possible shapes found in chinese characters. writing is done by inputting these radicals in a specific order, which together builds characters. once you're used to it, cangjie is fast, with any given character requiring a minimum of 1 keypress and maximum of 5 (most are 4), and writing characters out through radicals means that each combination of keys will have only ~2 possible resulting characters, maximum. i'm in the midst of teaching myself cangjie, and i'm having a lot of fun with it. i hope it (or sucheng) will eventually replace both pinyin and jyutping for writing chinese in my daily life.
however, a lot of people consider cangjie a beast to learn. aside from remembering which characters represent which strokes/shapes, cangjie does not break down characters in the same order or logic as handwritten strokes. for example, 里 in cangjie is 田 + 土, and 過 is 卜 + 月 + 月 + 口, with the radical for 'walk' being put down first. that's not how you'd handwrite either of those characters. learning cangjie requires learning a different writing order that you won't find anywhere else. cangjie also has some additional rules for input that can make starting off rather confusing, and there aren't quite as many english-language resources for it online.
sucheng (速成) - sucheng is a modified, simplified version of cangjie, which only requires the user to input the first and last radicals of a character before selecting it from a menu. it can mean a little more character scrolling, but it cuts down on typing time and needing to memorize the more complicated rules of cangjie. for this reason, a lot of people favour using sucheng. initially i set out to learn sucheng, but after trying it out decided to go back and learn the logic of full cangjie first. i might end up switching to sucheng in the future, we'll see.
wubihua (五筆畫) - wubihua is a very simple system that can be used on a regular number keypad, and relies on written stroke order. each key represents a directional stroke, and these are pressed in sequence to "write" out characters. some people consider this a fast writing method, especially if you're using simplified chinese, as most wubihua users are— traditional can get complicated due to the extra strokes involved. the fact that wubihua doesn't require a full qwerty keyboard also makes it less complex to work with.
i tried learning wubihua some time back, but as a personal difficulty, i wasn't able to fully visualize stroke order and translate that to pressing keys on a numberpad. if anyone writing with wubihua sees this, let me know your thoughts on it please!
handwriting (手寫) - probably the most technically straightforward shape-based IME. if you have a smartphone, you can just handwrite characters with their usual stroke order, no memorization of other systems needed. a lot of people do write this way today, and you can be fast if you're used to handwriting. smartphones are also intelligent enough to course correct for you if you make a writing error. i do prefer typing IMEs myself, but i keep a handwriting keyboard on my phone for searching up characters whose pronunciation i don't know/can't guess.
bonus:
voice-to-text - speaking can be quicker and simpler than any writing/typing method, so i know people who write chinese with voice-to-text wherever possible. chinese people also loooooove texting via voice recording for similar reasons. i don't do this often, but if i'm very tired and my brain isn't thinking very well i'll use this method.
of course, there are many more ways of inputting chinese out there (wubi, dayi, zhengma, shuangpin, etc) which you can check out if you want, this was just me writing down thoughts on the ones i myself have attempted to use/do use in everyday life. if you made it all the way down here, i hope you found it interesting, or learned something new. thanks for reading!
What are you even doing?
你在干嘛嘛～？
Nǐ zài gàn má ma~?
You doing what mm?
Whatchu doin’, hmm~?
What do you even know?
你知道啥呀～？
Nǐ zhīdào shá ya~?
You know what eh?
What do you even knooow~?
You don’t even care.
你才不在乎嘞～
Nǐ cái bú zàihu lei~
You totally don’t care eh.
You don’t even caaare~
This cat has a death wish.
这只猫咪不想活啦！
Zhè zhī māomī bù xiǎng huó la!
This kitty doesn’t wanna live anymore!
This kitty’s got a death wishhh~!
Trying to trip me, I see.
你是不是想绊倒我哇～？
Nǐ shì bú shì xiǎng bàndǎo wǒ wa~?
Are you trying to trip me eh~?
You tryin’ to trip me again, huhhh~?
Why are you trying to trip me?
为啥老是想绊妈妈啦？
Wèi shá lǎoshì xiǎng bàn māma la?
Why always trying to trip mama~?
Why you always trippin’ mamaaa?
She’s a good girl.
她是个乖乖喵～
Tā shì ge guāiguāi miāo~
She’s a good good kitty~
She’s a gooood girl~
She’s just a baby, your honor.
她她她只是个小宝贝嘛，法官大人～
Tā tā tā zhǐshì ge xiǎo bǎobèi ma, fǎguān dàren~
She she she is just a lil baby, Your Honor~
She’s just a widdle baaaby, your hooonor~
She’s just a baby girl.
她是小小女孩呀～
Tā shì xiǎoxiǎo nǚhái ya~
She’s lil-lil girl~
She’s just a baby girrrrl~
I love you so much, cat.
猫猫，我好爱你呦～
Māomāo, wǒ hǎo ài nǐ yōu~
Kitty, I love you so much yo~
I wuv you soooo much, kittyyy~
She’s purring.
她在呼噜噜噜啦～
Tā zài hūlū lūlū la~
She’s purring-purring~
She goin’ purr purr purr~!
Do you want some snacks?
要不要吃小零零呀？
Yào bú yào chī xiǎo línglíng ya?
Wanna eat some lil snackies~?
You want some snaccies, hmm?
True to form.
你就是你喽～
Nǐ jiùshì nǐ lou~
You just you, huh~
That’s my lil chaos queen~
Come on (the bed).
来嘛，上床床～
Lái ma, shàng chuángchuáng~
Come eh, get on bed-bed~
C’mere, get on the beddy-bed!
Come on, Paz.
Paz宝贝，快点儿嘛～
Paz bǎobèi, kuàidiǎnr ma~
Paz baby, hurry up eh~
Come on, Pazzy babyyy~
👶 Notes on Cutesy Mandarin
Reduplication is often used in baby-talk or pet-talk:
床 → 床床 (chuángchuáng – “bed-bed”)
抱 → 抱抱 (bàobào – “hug-hug”)
吃 → 吃吃 (chīchī – “eat-eat”)
Final particles like:
嘛 (ma), 啦 (la), 呀 (ya), 哇 (wa), 呦 (yo), and 喽 (lou)
add playfulness or whining/emotive tone
Small suffixes like 小 (xiǎo – little), 宝贝 (bǎobèi – baby/darling), or 喵 (miāo – meow/kitty) are affectionate and common when talking to pets
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I don't often see this article of clothing depicted when discussing Hanfu, but this is a Liangdang (裲裆). It's essentially an early vest. Historians speculate that it was initially worn on the inside as an undergarment, then gradually people started wearing it on the outside as well. The size and shape of it also changed from being small and square-ish to long enough to reach knee-length.
I feel like this would be a fun and cute Hanfu outfit to throw together for a day out. Since it's usually worn with pants, it's easier to walk around. I think it's also a piece that can be incorporated into modern-day wear too, through some shorts on, a pair of sneakers, and you're good to go :D
(A friend suggested I include a comparison to other civilizations' history when discussing Chinese Dynasties. She said when her European friends taught her history, she found it easier to relate it to Chinese Dynasties since she was more familiar with that. Below the cut, there's a chart where I compiled Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, and British History into a timeline, hopefully it helps a little.)
