How to use chengyu

[Junior]

Ive noticed a few posts asking about what are good chengyu to learn. My question is how do you actually USE the chengyu in a conversation or piece of writing? Is it a standalone phrase? Or do you need a sentence around it to make sense?

I've always wanted to learn chengyu but after a few years of learning Chinese and pretty intermediate speaking proficiency I'm embarrased to say I still don't actually know how to use them. Could someone please explain this and possibly post a few "in context" chengyu examples...

[necroflux]

This is a great question, I've always wondered this myself. I think it probably depends on the idiom itself - I know I've come across a few that are used as standalone exclamations (原來如此 yuan2lai2ru2ci3, I understand this as "so I see" ） or salutations (萬世如意 wan4shi4ru2yi4, something along the lines of "may all your wishes come true"). But I've never seen an idiom used as part of a larger sentence, and would like to know how that would work.

[elina]

Have you ever seen another thread:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/551-which-chengyu-should-i-know-by-heart

There’s a very good source of example sentences on how to use chengyu:

Check this document out:

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~swgoh/chengyu128-jieshi.doc

Including 128 most used 成语

[semantic nuance]

(萬世如意 wan4shi4ru2yi4

It should be 萬事如意. I believe it must have been a typo.

To Junior, chenyu can be a standalone phrase as well as a combination into a sentence without its meaning changed. You can buy a chengyu dictionary with example sentences to see how it works!

Hope it helps!

[Phaco]

This is indeed an interesting question! Most of the chengyu are hard to use and I do really look forward to some answer too

Thanks in advance to chengyu's masters

[gougou]

I found that if a foreigner uses a 成语, people around you will be so excited that it doesn't matter whether you used it correctly or not.

But if you want to be on the safe side, get a 成语 dictionary that tells you the part of the sentence (a random flick through mine gives the following possibilities: 主谓，联合，偏正，补充。。。）

[bomaci]

I think 一无所知 counts as a 成语, so here is an example how to use it: 我对你一无所知=I know nothing at all about you. Another one I've come across is 始料未及. I came across it in this sentences 这些事情都是始料未及的=This things are(were) all unexpected.

[gougou]

Oh yeah, I might be stating the obvious here, but for usage examples for any kind of word, including 成语, run it through google (for 成语 there is even a decent chance you'll end up with a page explaining just that specific proverb you're looking for.)

[Ferno]

I'm assuming this is the case, but a person who hears a chengyu for the first time, won't actually understand it until they see the characters for it, right?

[gougou]

For a fairly large amount of 成语, you won't understand it even after seeing the characters.

Take 塞翁失马, for instance (hoping this is a 成语, still not clear on the distinction to 俗语...). If you don't know the story behing it, you will never know what some old guy losing a horse has to do with your life.

[Ferno]

I see

are these the same as what westerners refer to as "proverbs?"

is the Chinese idea of a literate, well spoken and verbose person someone who has memorized alot of these 4 character chengyu?

[Quest]

are these the same as what westerners refer to as "proverbs?"

Not exactly, 成语s are usually more vague and compact, and the majority of them are 4-character. They often function as normal words -- more like a specific form of idioms.

俗语 and 谚语 are more like western proverbs.

[tamora]

is the Chinese idea of a literate, well spoken and verbose person someone who has memorized alot of these 4 character chengyu?

Well, at least that seems what my Chinese teacher thinks. As she lets us memorize about 70 chengyu for next week's exam, among which we have such important expressions as 攻訐阿諛 (gong1 jie2 e1 yu2) --> found 477 times by google..

(by the way, it means something like: 去攻擊地位比你低的人的缺點, 同時又討好有權勢的人)

Tamora

[necroflux]

Well from another thread I started here is a sentence that incorporates a good 成語:

所以你的好主意將會是我們的活動越來越豐富多彩 (feng1 fu4 duo1 cai3)

I roughly translated this as "So your good ideas are what will make our exercises more and more rich and colorful."

As she lets us memorize about 70 chengyu for next week's exam, among which we have such important expressions as 攻訐阿諛 (gong1 jie2 e1 yu2) --> found 477 times by google..

Actually I only got 24 results, by using " " marks to search for that exact phrase.. maybe one of the characters is wrong?

If I were you I'd tell her "Uhh, this idiom you are making us memorize has only been used 24 times in the history of the Internet. Are you sure you didn't just make it up?"

[HashiriKata]

Well from another thread I started here is a sentence that incorporates a good 成語

I'm not sure if 豐富多彩 is a chengyu as chengyu is understood in Chinese. 豐富多彩 is better considered as a fixed expression.

[roddy]

Chengyu.info looks like it will be a very good source on how to use chengyu, as it was an example for each one. Unfortunately the site isn't finished yet - I've been in touch with the guy running it, and it's a case of if and when he has the time. . .

[skylee]

I just used 杯水車薪 talking to a co-worker. (There was a figure that I didn't like and she said that some other factors might bring it down a bit but that little bit was really 杯水車薪).

I used the same chengyu yesterday (there was just too little resources for our work and the amount of resources was 杯水車薪). Oh and I also used 四面楚歌 to describe our dire state.

[gougou]

(there was just too little resources for our work and the amount of resources was 杯水車薪). Oh and I also used 四面楚歌 to describe our dire state.

Sounds like a great company you're working at! Another proverb that comes to mind in this context: 仍不死心...

[chenpv]

I can clearly recall that even Xinhua News Agency online used 火中取'粟' (火中取栗)in a headline once last year, and that wrong character stayed distinct and clear on the website for at least 12 hours.

[eddiewouldgo]

Another proverb that comes to mind in this context: 仍不死心...

What proverd is 仍不死心??