Our character for today is 过
Simplified Chinese character: 过
Traditional Chinese character: 過
(The right hand part is different in the simplified and traditional character)
Pronunciation:
This character is pronounced guò in a 4th tone.
What it means:
过 normally means one of two things. Either it can be a verb meaning ‘to pass by’ or ‘to cross’, for example 过马路 ‘cross the road’
Or it can be a particle indicating that you have had an experience or done something at least once in the past. For example, 你去过中国吗？Have you been to China (before)?
Let’s break it down:
过 is divided up into two parts. The left hand side is the radical 辶 ‘travel’ or ‘go’, which is connected with the meaning of the character.
The right hand side in the traditional character has a similar pronunciation 咼 guō, so it indicates how the character is pronounced. In the simplified character, it has been changed into 寸, which means ‘inch’.
The post Chinese Character Bites – #42 – 过 appeared first on Fluent in Mandarin.com.