Character #457: 石 shí
3 Lessons
Make a Movie 石
KEYWORD:
Stone
Pinyin:
shí
Actor:
shi-/sh- Male
Set:
-Ø childhood home
Room within Set:
Hallway/Lobby or Kitchen
Prop(s):
一 Razor Blade
丿 Samurai Sword
口 Mouth
Image credit: CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Comments 6
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PHASE 1 (Levels 1-6)
- The Basics - Why Does This Method Work?
- How our Pinyin Chart is Different
- What are Chinese Characters?
- Props
- Sets
- Actors
- Scripts
- Inspiration for Scripts
- Special Effects
- Timeboxing
- Why SRS is So Important: Frequency & Memory
- How to Use SRS
- Habit Building Part 1 - Triggers
- Habit Building Part 2 - Routine
- Habit Building Part 3 - Reward
- Habit Building Part 4 - Belief
- Stroke Order Rule #1
- Stroke Order Rule #2
- Stroke Order Rule #3
- Stroke Order Rule #4
- Stroke Order Rule #5
- Stroke Order Rule #6
- Stroke Order Rule #7
- Stroke Order Rule #8
- Stroke Order Rule #9
- Stroke Order Rule #10
- Stroke Order Rule #11
- Stroke Order Rule #12
PHASE 2 (Levels 7-12)
- Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes
- The Six Steps to Learning Words
- 3 Questions About Words
- Top-Down & Bottom-Up Learning
Living Links Series
Word Structure Series
- Part 1 - What are Chinese Words?
- Part 2 - Verb-What 述宾式
- Part 3 - Verb-How 补充式
- Part 4 - Biased 偏正式
- Part 5 - Parallel 并列式
- Part 6 - Duplicated 重叠式
- Part 7 - Subject-Predicate 主谓式
- Part 8 - Affixed 附加式
PHASE 3 (Levels 13-20)
- The Basic Chinese Sentence
- Helper - Expressing Possession with 的
- Helper - When You Can Omit 的
- Helper - Completed Actions with 了
- Helper - Change of State with 了
- Helper - Present Actions with 着
- Connector - Saying 'But' with 但是 - 可是 - 不过
- Connector - Reasons & Actions with 因为..., 所以...
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 如果..., 就
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 要是...的话
- Connector - "Or" in Questions with 还是
- Connector - “Or" in Statements with 或/或者
- Relator - Using 为 to Express "For"
- Relator - Expressing "From" with 从
- Relator - Expressing Location with 在
- Special - Using 在 as a Verb
- Tone - Softening Tone of Voice with 呢
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Denial
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Degree
PHASE 4 (Levels 21-30)
Level 21
- Transferring Money by Smartphone or Bank
- Walk in the Park?! I Have 汉字 to Study!
- Who Determine's a Baby's Looks, Mom or Dad?
Level 22
- How Many Pages of the Book Have You Read?
- Many People Don't Want to Have Babies
- My Girlfriend Can Really Eat!
- What Do You Like to Do?
- What Method Works for Learning Chinese?
Level 23
- Eating Bread
- I Met My Girlfriend in the Park
- Something is Different About My Dog Lately
- The Older Brother is Better Than the Younger Brother
- The Right and Left Side of the Office
- Three Meals a Day
Level 24
- Annoying People
- Breaking Up at the End of the Date
- Going on a Date
- My Two Friends and I
- Overtime at Work
- Red Packets
- Two People in a Relationship
Level 25
- I Want to Find a Boyfriend Too
- My Dad and I
- My Dog Chouchou
- The Big Changes of China
- The Weather is Great, Let's Go to the Park!
- Xiaomei and Her Boyfriend's Day
Level 26
Level 27
- American Journalist Studies Chinese in China
- Can I Still Learn Chinese Anymore?
- Should I Change?
- Children and Their Parents
- Foreigner's Opinion of China
- What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Level 28
- Daughter & Mother
- Son's Eighth Birthday
- Study, Work & Life
- What's More Important, Looks, or Ability?
Level 29
- Advertisements
- Buying Tickets at Chinese New Year
- Everybody Restaurant
- How Does One Progress
- Son is Out of Control
Level 30
- Cars, Bicycles & Trains
- Potatoes & Beef
- Two Ladies Compare Who's Got it Better
- Young People Raising Cats and Dogs
Phase 4 Grammar Points
Get Involved!
Have any questions about the course? Want to share an interesting "movie scene?" How about an Actor, Set or Prop? Just leave a comment below the lesson in question and we'll talk about it in our weekly podcast!
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Nick Sims (戴燚）
Sean Connery (shi-) is in the kitchen of my childhood home listening to a chatty teeth mouth (口) lie and lie about his life. Give me a break I’m tired of your lies, can’t you talk about something other than yourself. Chatty Teeth starts to talk about me, Sean. And the insults just keep coming. Okay Chatty, you cast the first STONE. Sean takes out his samurai sword (丿) and slashes at chatty just as it is parried with a ninja star (一) thrown by chatty teeth. Chatty turned to STONE after the sword touched the tip of his mouth.
MB Team
This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZQKkvhvIjs&t=3603s
Oscar Haglund🤝
Unrelated to this character, but are there not a strangely large number of "shi" characters in the top 500 characters? There really does seem to be quite a big imbalance between how often our actors gets to be used.
Mandarin Blueprint
That's right, "yi" and "shi" are the top two most common syllables in Mandarin. It follows the Pareto principle in the sense that while there are countless "yi" and "shi," there are very few "pu," "juan" or "chuai." In my experience, however, this doesn't become a problem in the long run so long as you learn the characters properly (which you are in the process of doing).
Anne Giles 🤝
I searched, found lists of syllables in Mandarin, but not a list of the most common syllables in Mandarin. Is there a link to a source you could give us? If so, thanks!
Mandarin Blueprint
Hey Anne, apologies, I learned this at Sichuan University and I also can't find the confirmation of this online. I suppose one of my old textbooks probably has this fact, but I sold them after I graduated.