L6 Tianxia 1

Lesson 6 - Tianxia Part 1

 

New Vocabulary   

國	guó	country, state, capital city
民	mín	the people
天	tiān	sky, heaven, nature
天下	tiānxià	the world
天子	tiānzǐ	emperor, son of heaven
地	dì	earth, ground, land, place
君	jūn	lord, ruler, sovereign, monarch,      you (honorific)
臣	chén	subject, vassal, minister, I (honorific)
王	wáng; wàng	king; to rule as king (in 4th tone)
不	bù	negative

Grammar note - 不 and parts of speech

   不 comes before a verb. It makes it negative, and means 'don't, doesn't, didn't, not'.

   Classical Chinese parts of speech can be really flexible: many nouns can act as verbs, or adverbs, and vice versa. So 王 can mean 'king' or 'to be king'. Similarly, can mean 'ruler' or 'to act as a ruler should' 君. Another example. 一 as a verb could mean 'to be whole, to be the same.' As an adverb: together (as one).

 天子

Study

1. 牛車
2. 王子

3. 國人
4. 母子
5. 天下之民

6. 天王

7. 君王

8. 君臣
9. 民之父母

10. 君君，臣臣，父父，子子。

(select below to see meanings:)

1. ox-cart

2. prince

3. person of the kingdom - citizen

4. mother and son

5. the people of the world

6. heavenly monarch

7. emperor (another name)

8. lords and subjects

9. parents of the people

10. The ruler acts as a ruler should; the vassals act like a vassal should; the fathers act like fathers should; the sons act like sons should.

 

Practice

Write in Chinese:

1. King of the country
2. land that abounds in rivers and lakes
3. the universe (heaven and earth)
4. the land of the emperor
5. The lord does not act like a lord should.
6. Heavenly kingdom

(select below to see answers:)

1. 國王 2. 水國 3. 天地 4. 天子之地 5. 君不君 6. 天國