CLO_195: Chinese Proverbs II

Proverbs: Numbers
Yan4yu3

Tiao2 tiao2 da4lu4 tong1 Luo2ma3
Huo2 dao4 lao3, xue2 dao4 lao3
Yan3 bu2jian4, xin1 bu4 fan2
Zuo4 shi4 nan2ren2 de shi4, shuo1 shi4 nv3ren2 de shi4.

Proverbs: Tone Marks
Yànyǔ

Tiáo tiáo dàlù tōng Luómǎ
Huó dào lǎo, xué dào lǎo
Yǎn bújiàn, xīn bù fán
Zuò shì nánrén de shì, shuō shì nǚrén de shì.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Level Four. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “CLO_195: Chinese Proverbs II”

1. Ruide Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 7:04 am

   @Adam/Luise
   i often see “live free or die” on US license plates. would you say this is a chéngyǔ or a yànyǔ. can you translate/write it pinyin ? thanks

2. Adam Says:
   October 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 am

   Hi Ruide,

   There is one similar in Chinese that says: Bù zìyǒu wú níng sǐ （不自由毋宁死）. This literally means “No freedom, rather die”.

   It would be more of a yànyǔ, since chéngyǔ only have 4 characters.

3. Ruide Says:
   October 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm

   Adam,
   what is the meaning of “wú” in above proverb.

4. Adam Says:
   October 26th, 2009 at 12:35 am

   Hi Ruide,

   It actually means “I”, so the meaning becomes “No freedom, I would rather die”. That usage of wú isn’t used in modern Chinese however, since this is a more ancient proverb (similar to “thou”).

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