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Lesson 25 of 37

寄 in Context

CONGRATULATIONS! 
The Character You Just Learned is Also a Common Word!

Usage 1 - "to mail": 

Sentence:

我寄信给你。

English:

I’ll mail a letter to you.

Top-Down Words:

给 gěi - (prep) for, by, to


Sentence:

他给她寄了一封信。

English:

He mailed a letter to her.

Top-Down Words:

给 gěi - (prep) for, by, to
封 fēng - measure word for letters


*Sentence:

你不但可以在手机银行上给他们寄钱,

English:

Mobile banking isn't the only way to send them money.

Top-Down Words:

不但 búdàn - not only
钱 qián - money



Need a Reminder?

The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words


Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020

Do you also want to leave a comment? You can do so below!

Andreas Lienemann

I'm a little bit lost how & when we made the leap from 信 (as in 'to believe') to 寄信 ('mailing a letter')?

Andreas Lienemann

I actually found the answer to this.

The Outlier dictionary in Pleco gives me the following definition "tree" for 信: 1(orig.) honesty, -> 2 to trust, to believe, 3 -> person who delivers letters (i.e., a trustworthy person. Only used in ancient texts), 4 => letter, correspondence, 5 => message, information.

So that makes complete sense. Of course I would only have a person I trust deliver my letters!

It's so awesome how Chinese employs such stringent & precise, yet simple structures for its expression. It's so efficient as well!

In that way it is definitely the most beautifully constructed language of the ones I have learned; and those are quite a few.

MB Team

Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1PFx8JEpo4&t=3075s

Great Job! Keep Going! 宝宝 in Context
Comments   5

Tina Clark

你不但可以在手机银行上给他们寄钱

In the flashcards, could 发 work here, in place of 寄?

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

发 is usually for intangible information such as text messages/emails

REPLY

Tina Clark

Ah, got it! Thanks!

REPLY

Keith Travis

他给她寄了一封信

I to you mailed a sealed letter.

REPLY

Jerod Cox

Hey guys I checked outlier's course out. I haven't bought it, but it seems like it would be a great help to improve accents. I was wondering about that b/c I know that my American accents really difficult to understand.

REPLY