25 Common Chinese Idioms You Should Know - Part 4

In our previous blogpost, 25 Common Chinese Idioms You Should Know - Part 3 , we introduced 5 成语 (chéng yǔ) - Chinese idioms - that we hope you enjoyed learning and have already found to be useful!

In this blogpost you'll find 5 more fun and frequently used Chinese idioms, taught and explained in long-form video, short-form video, image and text for your learning convenience!

16

wù měi jià lián

物美价廉

cheap but good, a bargain

Characters

• 物 (wù) - object
• 美 (měi) - good, pleasing
• 价 (jià) - price
• 廉 (lián) - cheap, inexpensive

Tips

物美价廉 (wù měi jià lián) is for commonly used items that are small enough to carry. It's not used for any of the following:

• food or beverages
• things that are not manufactured, like plants or animals
• large things like houses or cars
• or luxury items, like jewelry

Examples

You're out shopping with a friend and you say:

nǐ kàn zhè tào dāo jù cái wǔ shí kuài ér qiě shì pǐn pái de zhēn shì wù měi jiā lián a

你看，这套刀具才50块，而且是品牌的，真是物美价廉啊！

Look, this knife is only 50 bucks, and it's also a brand name, what a bargain!

You are talking about one of your favorite clothing stores and you say:

xiāng xìn wǒ nà jiā diàn de yī fu jué duì wù měi jiā lián wǒ jīng cháng qù tā men nàr mǎi dōng xi

相信我，那家店的衣服绝对物美价廉，我经常去他们那儿买东西！

Trust me, that store's clothing is an absolute bargain, I go there all the time to buy stuff!

17

tūn tūn tǔ tǔ

吞吞吐吐

to mutter and mumble, to mince words

Characters

• 吞 (tūn) - to swallow, to gulp
• 吐 (tǔ) - to spit, to throw up

Tips

You can think of 吞吞吐吐 (tūn tūn tǔ tǔ) as someone gulping in and spitting it out their words, and it's used when someone is either beating around the bush, struggling to speak due to being anxious, or just speaking unclearly.

Examples

Your boyfriend is acting strangely and speaking vaguely. You could say:

nǐ yǒu shén me shì jiù zhí shuō bié tūn tūn tǔ tǔ de

你有什么事就直说，别吞吞吐吐的！

If you have something to say just say it, don't mince your words!

Your child is trying to talk with their mouth full. You can say:

nǐ zěn me shuō huà tūn tūn tǔ tǔ de zuǐ lǐ yǒu shén me dōng xi ma

你怎么说话吞吞吐吐的，嘴里有什么东西吗？

Why are you mumbling, is there something in your mouth?

18

huǎng rán dà wù

恍然大悟

to suddenly understand or realize

Characters

• 恍 (huǎng) - sudden, abrupt
• 然 (rán) - functions as an adverbial suffix
• 大 (dà) - large, great
• 悟 (wù) - realization, understanding

Tips

恍然大悟 (huǎng rán dà wù) is typically used when someone has been trying to figure out something for a long time, and then they suddenly get it.

Examples

One of your coworkers quit a while back and you could never figure out why until one day you remembered an important detail. You could say:

wǒ jīn tiān cái huǎng rán dà wù míng bái le tā lí kāi gōng sī de zhēn zhèng yuán yīn

我今天才恍然大悟，明白了他离开公司的真正原因。

Today I had a sudden realization, and understand the real reason he left the company.

You have been trying to wrap your mind around a tricky Chinese idiom until you watched our YouTube video! You can say:

wǒ yì zhí xiǎng bù tōng zhè ge chéng yǔ de yì si bú guò kàn wán zhè qī shì pín wǒ mǎ shàng jiù huǎng rán dà wù le

我一直想不通这个成语的意思， 不过看完这期视频，我马上就恍然大悟了！

I could never understand the meaning of this idiom, but once I watched this video, I suddenly understood it!

19

qiān fāng bǎi jì

千方百计

every possible way

Characters

• 千 (qiān) - thousand
• 方 (fāng) - method, way
• 百 (bǎi) - hundred
• 计 (jì) - plan

Tips

It actually works quite well to think of this 成语 (chéng yǔ) literally as "a thousand methods and a hundred plans". It’s somewhat similar to the third 成语 (chéng yǔ) that we shared in our last post, 想方设法 (xiǎng fāng shè fǎ), in that it's used when someone tries every possible way to get or do something. However, unlike 想方设法 (xiǎng fāng shè fǎ), 千方百计 (qiān fāng bǎi jì) doesn’t have any verbs in it. So it functions as an object of the verb preceding it or is used with 地 (de) to function as an adverb and modify the verb that follows it.

Examples

You're talking about how your mom found an old friend and say:

tā yòng jìn qiān fāng bǎi jì shì wèi le zhǎo dào yí wèi shī lián duō nián de péng you

她用尽千方百计，就是为了找到一位失联多年的朋友。

She exhausted every possible way to find a friend that she'd lost contact with for many years.

You're talking about a lazy co-worker and say:

tā wèi le shēng zhí qiān fāng bǎi jì de xiǎng yào tǎo hǎo lǐng dǎo ér bú shì bǎ jīng lì fàng zài gōng zuò shang

他为了升职，千方百计地想要讨好领导，而不是把精力放在工作上。

In order to get promoted, he tried every possible way to curry favor with the leaders, instead of putting his energy into his work.

20

jí yú qiú chéng

急于求成

over-anxious to finish

Characters

• 急 (jí) - urgency, impatience
• 于 (yú) - prepositional character that indicates the aim or goal of the word that precedes it
• 求 (qiú) - to seek, to strive
• 成 (chéng) - completion

Tips

急于求成 (jí yú qiú chéng) is typically used when you notice someone is impatiently striving to finish something, and you want to warn them that if they don't have patience and take their time, they might end up getting poor results.

Examples

You're working on a team project at school and you say to your teammates:

wǒ men bú yào tài jí yú qiú chéng bù rán kě néng bú huì shōu dào lǐ xiǎng de xiào guǒ

我们不要太急于求成，不然可能不会收到理想的效果。

We can't be too over-anxious to finish, otherwise we might not get ideal results.

You're the manager of a group of employees who didn't do a good job and you say:

zhè cì de xiàng mù nǐ men tài jí yú qiú chéng le guò chéng zhōng fàn le hěn duō cuò wù

这次的项目你们太急于求成了，过程中犯了很多错误。

You all were too over-anxious to finish the project this time, and made many mistakes in the process.

That's 20 成语 (chéng yǔ) that you’ve now learned with us, but you better not be too 急于求成 (jí yú qiú chéng) because we still have 5 more 成语 (chéng yǔ) that we are excited to teach you next time!