淋浴 - lín yù – shower

The first character is 淋, lín meaning to pour. It is pronounced lin with a 2nd or rising tone.

The second character is 浴, yù meaning to bath or bathe. It is pronounced you also with a 4th or falling tone. We learnt this character yesterday in the word 沐浴 - mù yù meaning bath

Together these characters mean a shower.

沐浴 - mù yù – bath

The first character is 沐, mù meaning to wash. It is pronounced moo with a 4th or falling tone.

The second character is 浴, yù meaning to bath or bathe. It is pronounced you also with a 4th or falling tone.

Together they mean a bath.

退房 - tuì fáng – check out

Having already learned about checking in ( 報到 – bào dào – check-in ), we need to learn about checking out.

The first character is 退, tuì meaning to withdraw from. It is pronounced tway with a 4th or falling tone.

The second character is one we already know, 房 fáng meaning room. We have seen this in 单人房 – dān rén fáng – single room and 房間 - fáng jiān –room , as well as 双人房 – shuāng rén fáng – double room and 普通房 – pǔ tōng fáng – standard room.

It is pronounced fang with a 2nd or rising tone.

電梯 - diàn tī – elevator

The first character is 電, diàn meaning electricity or electric. It is pronounced dee-yen with a 4th or falling tone.

The second character is 梯, tī meaning stairs. It is pronounced tea with a 1st or high, level tone.

An elevator is literally “electric stairs”.

行李 – xíng lǐ - luggage

The characters 行李, xíng lǐ mean luggage.

xíng is pronounced shing with a 2nd or rising tone.

lǐ is pronounced lee with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

A useful phrase is 我的行李找不到, wǒ de xíng lǐ zhǎo bù dào, which means “I’ve lost my luggage.”

報到 – bào dào – check-in

The first character of today’s word is 報, bào means to announce or report. It also somewhat confusingly, means a newspaper.

The second character 到, dào means to arrive.

The sense of the words in this case is “to announce one’s arrival” which in a hotel setting is exactly what you do when you check-in.

bào is pronounced like the English word bough, with a 4th or falling tone.

dào is pronounced like dow in the word endow, also with a 4th or falling tone.

押金 - yā jīn - deposit

The first character of today’s word 押, yā means to give something as security for something else. It is pronounced yah with a 1st or high, level tone.

The second character 金, jīn means money. It is pronounced like the word gin, also with a 1st or high level tone.

Together the meaning is clear, a deposit.

預定 - yù ding – reservation

Today’s word is 預定, yù dìng meaning a reservation.

The first character 預, yù means in advance or before. It is pronounced like the English word “you”, with a 4th or falling tone.

The second character is 定, dìng meaning to book, as in booking a seat, a place or in this case a hotel room. It is pronounced ding with a 4th or falling tone.

The phrase 我要訂房間, Wǒ yào dìng fáng jiān means “I want to book a room”.

普通房 – pǔ tōng fáng – standard room

Today’s word is 普通房 – pǔ tōng fáng meaning a room with a shared bathroom.

The first character 普, pǔ means general or universal. It is pronounced poo with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

The second one 通, tōng means common. It is pronounced tong with a 1st or high, level tone.

Together 普通, pǔ tōng means ordinary or standard or normal.

The third character is 房, fáng meaning a room, or a bedroom. It is pronounced fang with a 2nd or rising tone.

If you are traveling in China hotels with 3 stars or above will have a private bathroom.

厕所 – cè suǒ – toilet

The first character is 厕, cè meaning a toilet. It is pronounced tsur with a 4th or falling tone.

The second is 所, suǒ meaning a place. It is pronounced s-war with a 3rd or falling and rising tone

Together they mean a flushing toilet.

双人房 – shuāng rén fang – double room

Today we shall learn the Mandarin word for a double hotel room. It is双人房.

The first character is双, shuāng meaning twin or double. It is pronounced sh-wong with a 1st or high, level tone.

The second character 人 is rén meaning a person or people. It is pronounced ren with a 2nd or rising tone.

The third character is 房, fáng meaning a room, or a bedroom. It is pronounced fang with a 2nd or rising tone.

To ask for a double room you could use the phrase 我要双人房. Wǒ yào shuāng rén fang.

旅館 - lǚ guǎn – hotel

Today we shall learn another word for hotel.

The first character 旅, lǚ means to travel. It is pronounce loo with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.
The second character 館, guǎn means guest accommodation. It is pronounced gwan with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

Because there are two 3rd tones together in this word the first character is pronounced as a 2nd or rising tone.

房間 - fáng jiān -room

房間

Today’s word is another word for a hotel room. Yesterday we learnt 单人房 – dān rén fáng – single room


The first character is 房, fáng meaning a room, or a bedroom. It is pronounced fang with a 2nd or rising tone.

The second character is 間, jiān also meaning a room. It is pronounced jee-en, with a 1st or high, level tone.

单人房 – dān rén fáng – single room

单人房

Today’s word, in our hotels theme, is 单人房, dān rén fang, meaning a single room.

The character 单 is dān meaning one or single. It is pronounced dan with a first or high level tone.

The second character 人 is rén meaning a person or people. It is pronounced ren with a 2nd or rising tone. We have seen this character before in the words人日 – rén rì – everyone’s birthday and 铁人三项 – tiě rén sān xiàng - Triathlon.

Finally we have 房, fáng meaning a room, or a bedroom. It is pronounced fang with a 2nd or rising tone.

Whether you are travelling to China for pleasure or business, to Beijing for the Olympics or to shanghai for business we hope you find the words in this theme useful.

饭店 - fàn diàn - hotel

饭店, fàn diàn means hotel.

fàn is pronounced fan with a 4th or falling tone.
diàn is pronounce dee-en with a 4th or falling tone

New theme

We are starting a new theme on the Mandarin Word of the Day blog. We will be looking at words you will need when you travel in China, words connected with hotels.

Our first word is the word for hotel.

两 – two – liǎng

Today’s word is another way to say the number two.

The character 两, liǎng is pronounced lee-ang with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

This character is used when you have two of something.

万 – ten thousand – wàn

Today’s word is万, wàn meaning ten thousand, or in English we would call this a myriad.

It is pronounced wan with a 4th or falling tone.

百 - one hundred – bǎi

We haven’t finished learning numbers yet, here on the Mandarin Word of the Day blog.

Today’s word is百, bǎi, meaning one hundred. It is pronounced buy, with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

十 - ten – shí

Today we shall learn the Mandarin character for the number ten. 十 is written as shí in pinyin and is pronounced shur with a 2nd or rising tone.

Now that we have learnt all the numbers from one to ten you can practice counting. Concentrate on getting the tones right.

yī èr sān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ shí

There is another important point to remember about the number ten. In Mandarin the number ten can easily be confused with the number four. They sound very similar, sì and shí. I’m afraid it is not unknown for con-men to take advantage of this, so please be very careful, especially when you first arrive in China. Always remember to ask for a receipt when you take a taxi.

九- nine – jiǔ

Today’s character is 九, written jiǔ in pinyin, and pronopunced joh with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

八- eight – bā

The number eight is considered to be very lucky in China. Eight sounds like the word prosper or wealth 發, fā.

In Chinese culture there are stories of the Eight Immortals.

Eight is written as 八, or bā in pinyin. It is pronounced bah, with a 1st or high level tone.

七 – seven - qī

Today’s word is the number seven. In Mandarin, seven is written 七, and as qī in pinyin.
It is pronounced chi, with a 1st or high, level tone.

六- six – liù

Today we will learn the number six. The character 六 is written as liù in pinyin, and pronounced lee-oh with a 4th or falling tone.

Now that we have learnt 4, 5 and 6 you should practice saying them together to learn the tones.
四, sì is pronounced like the English word sir, with a 4th or falling tone.
五, wǔ is pronounced woo with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

So practice saying sì, wǔ, liù.

五 – five - wǔ

The number five is very important in Chinese culture. In ancient times the Five Elements were believed to be Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Wood. Many other things have been divided into categories of five, for example, the Five Virtues, the Five Blessings, the Five Emperors, the Five Immortals. Five is a popular number!

The character for five, 五 is written as wǔ in pinyin, and pronounced woo with a 3rd or falling and rising tone.

We have seen the number five before in 现代五项 – xiàn dài wǔ xiàng – Modern Pentathlon. I suppose you could think of the Pentathlon as "The Five Sports"...