Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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离 — How Far, How Long Until
动词「离」— A离B＋远／近／数字
我家离公司很近, 我家离机场很远, 离放假还有一个月: 离 measures the gap between two places — or between now and a moment you are waiting for.
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Memory hook
A 离 B + 远 / 近 / a number
The gap between two things
Five from the deck, then the questions it asks. Listen for 离 in the middle and the measurement at the end.
Tap any line to hear it
How far, how long多远，多久
No pressure — just making it stick.
我家____公司很近。
Wǒjiā ____ Gōngsī hěn jìn.
My home is close to the office.
You live thirty kilometres out. Which reply fits?
My home is close to the supermarket.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
现在离上课还____五分钟。
Xiànzài lí shàngkè hái ____ Wǔfēnzhōng.
Five minutes until class.
Your turn — say it
我家离机场很远。
My home is far from the airport.
公园离我家____100米。
Gōngyuán lí wǒjiā ____ 100 mǐ.
The park is only 100 metres from my home.
Measure each gap with the right piece.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Near and far, in pictures看图说远近
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four places the deck measures from home. Match each picture, then say 我家离……很近／很远.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
我家离健身房100米。
My home is 100 metres from the gym.
A month until the holiday.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
离下课还有十分钟。
Ten more minutes until class ends.
This lesson's characters
离 itself, and two from its measurements: near, and the field in 机场 and 商场.
to be apart from; to leave
会two ideas joined
The oldest 离 is a creature caught in a net — the same picture that lives in 禽, a bird or beast. The traditional 離 added 隹, a bird, on the right: a bird that has slipped the net and flown off — parted, gone. 离开 is to leave; 离婚 is divorce; and 我家离公司很近 uses the distance the bird has flown. From capture to departure to a ruler between two places.
near, close
形meaning + sound
The walking radical 辶 and 斤 — the axe, and also the market half-kilo — for the sound: a short walk away. 很近 is close, 最近 is 'the nearest time', recently, and 附近 is the neighbourhood. Its opposite 远 wears the same road radical: near and far are both about walking.
field, open ground; venue
形meaning + sound
Earth 土 with a sound part: a levelled piece of ground, a threshing floor. Any big open place is a 场 now — 机场 the airport, 商场 the mall, 广场 the square, 市场 the market. It is also the measure word for a match or a film: 一场比赛. 我家离机场很远 — my home is far from the machine-field.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Measure your day in 离: 我家离地铁站很近，离公司有点儿远，离放假还有三个星期. Three sentences, and your whole geography is in Chinese.
- Answer distance questions the Chinese way at least once — not in kilometres but in minutes: 坐地铁半个小时. It is what everyone around you will say.
- Start a countdown out loud: 离……还有……天. Birthdays, holidays, exams — 离 makes waiting into a sentence.