「放生」 to free animals/ to free captive animals

Before we talk about this word "放生," let's look at the photo below.

http://9gag.com/gag/a3YZGZ5?ref=fb.s

請勿放生 The translation for this phrase is "Do not animals." (What?) 

Let's look at it again character by character.

請 = please

勿 = do not

放 = put; place; let go; set free

生 = life

A rough word-by-word translation would tell you that it means "please do not let go of life." What the sign is missing is the meaning of 「放」.

「放生」together makes up a meaning, which is "to free animals." 

• 「放」here means "to let go,"  as in the case of :

             放手！     ( Let go of my hand! )
             放開我！ ( Let go of me! )

 

• 「生」here means 「生命」, that is "life."

 In my interpretation, 「放生」can be read as 「放開那個動物，讓牠過自己的生活。」 ( Let go of that animal. Let it lead its own life.)

What's yours?

-----------------

Embarrassingly enough, the sign is made by NTU, my alma mater.

The Magical Character「地」

「地」is so magical a character that it can turn an adjective into an adverb!

For example:

• 高興 (happy) + 地  ---> 高興地 (happily)
• 生氣 (angry)  + 地  ---> 生氣地 (angrily)
• 小心 (careful) + 地  ---> 小心地 (carefully)
• 客氣 (polite)  + 地  ---> 客氣地 (politely)

When you want to combine "他很高興" and "他說" together, you can simply say

 "他很高興地說" (he said happily......)。

How about these below?

1. "他很客氣" + "他吃飯" 
2. "我很小心" + "我問"
3. "她很生氣" + "她看電影"

「下」+N ...to fall/bring down something

The Chinese character 下(xià ) contains a lot of meanings. It can mean "down, underneath, below, to bring down, to fall" and so on. You name it.

Today, I'd like to concentrate on its meaning of "to fall/ to bring down something." It's usually used to describe the weather, such as:

1. 下雨了！It's raining!
   xià yǔ le
2. 下雪了！It's snowing!
  xià xuě le
3. 下冰雹了！It's hailing!
  xià bīngbáo le
4. 下青蛙了！It's raining frogs!!! (I've seen it in a movie!)
  xià qīngwā le
 

As you can perceive, the 下 here is indicating that something is falling from the sky, be it rain drops, snow flakes, hails, or even frogs. For the first two examples, you can extend the phrases by putting adjectives in them, such as 大 and 小, to further describe the situation.

Anyone knows where to put the adjectives?
BINGO. Just put the adjective before the noun. Show me how you do it!

For more information: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8B

-------------
Fortunately, I still remember to mention the inspiration of this article.
Thanks to the Taiwanese band 四分衛(BackQuarter)'s live and one of their classic songs
 "雨和眼淚" (Rain and teardrops).
  yǔ hé yǎnlèi

「N+快到了」N be coming/ approaching/ near

聖誕節快到了！
shèngdànjié kuài dào le
圣诞节快到了！

The Christmas is coming! Therefore, the first article is dedicated to the phrase "_____快到了," since the big holiday is around the corner now. This phrase "N+快到了" can be used to describe something or someone is near/ approaching/ coming.

With People:

A: 你在哪裡？Where are you? (On the phone)
B: 我快到了！I'm coming! J'arrive!

With Holidays/ Festivals/ Seasons:

A: 夏天終於快到了！The summer is finally coming!
B: 還是冬天......你還好嗎？It's still winter......are you okay?

A:周末快到了！The weekend is coming!
B: 我等不及了！I can't wait!


聖誕節快到了！你會做些什麼事？
The Christmas is coming! What will you do?

I think I will hang out with my friends and have a great dinner!