Level 24 Complete

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别人对你很Jealous!

以前，你不明白中文的一切。现在，你能明白很多字和词了。以后，你会有能力在中国上班！

Divide & Conquer

分 - 分钟 - 分手 - 分开

We love 分 as a character. Right off the bat, there’s a knife at the bottom 刀 that looks like it divided the top component in half 八.

Next, you see it combined with 钟 to create ‘minute.’ Of course! An hour is divided 分 into 60 minutes, which you can see on the clock 钟.

Do you know what boyfriends and girlfriends do? Hold hands. Uh oh, they’ve separated 分 their hands 手. They must have broken up 分手 :(.

Hey, sometimes you need to show what was the result of the “separations.” First, you *separate* 分, and the result is that there is a fair bit of *open* 开 space between them. 分开!

*给*我们一个机会来说明为什么“给”是那么有用的

Much of the time, 给 functions the same way “to give” does in English. “给我那个东西” is precisely the same grammatical structure as English (“Give me that thing.”) However, in Chinese you can put something before 给 to describe the nature of your “giving.”

分给我们 - separate and give to us
拿给他 - Pick up and give it to him
发给妈妈 - send to mother 
送给哥哥 - deliver to older brother

You could think of it like they are detailing the type of “giving.” We’ll “divide give,” “pick-up give” or “send give” or “deliver give.” They’re Biased Words in verb-form.

Before couriers and text messages, this usage of 给 was exclusive to things literally being handed over. Now, because you’re still ultimately “giving” someone a text (发给) or a package (送给), the meaning extends beyond literal hand-to-hand transfers. You’ll see this and the other uses of 给 many more times as you move through the course. All you have to do is notice & keep feeding!

Luke & Phil

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