Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

The chIneSe wrITIng SySTeM: An OvervIew

3.3

Here are examples of characters with phonetics. As you can see, the pronunciation of the phonetic

may be identical or similar to the pronunciation of the character.

Character Phonetic: the character sounds like...

问/問 wèn 门/門 mén

to ask door

间/間 jiān

between

简/簡 jiǎn

simple

们/們 men

plural marker

清 qīng 青 qīng

clear blue or green

情 qíng

situation, sentiment

请/請 qǐng

to request

河 hé 可 kě

river approve, can

哥 gē

older brother

Noting phonetic information is a helpful way to remember characters. However, the phonetic

rarely provides complete information about the pronunciation of a character.

3.3 The traditional classification of characters

Chinese characters originated during the early Shang dynasty or the late Xia dynasty, in the

seventeenth century bc. One of the earliest Chinese dictionaries, the Shuowen Jiezi, compiled

in ad 121, established a classification of characters that is still used today. The classification

identified the following six categories based on structure and representation of meaning.

3.3.1 Pictographs 象形 xiàngxíng

Pictographs originated as pictures of objects. They represent only a small portion of Chinese

characters. The modern forms are stylized versions of the ancient forms. Here are comparisons

of the Shang Dynasty forms with the modern forms of the same characters.

Shang form Modern form Meaning

水 shuǐ water

日 rì sun

目 mù eye