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Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 8
我从机场来 I'm coming from the airport
The standalone preposition 从 ("from"): 从 + place + V marks the starting point of motion. Picks up transit-hub vocabulary (机场 / 火车站 / 地铁) and the arrival pair 到 / 到达.
Dialogue
我从机场来 — I'm coming from the airport
- 张天 周雨, 你到了吗? Zhou Yu, are you here?
- 周雨 我到了. 我从机场来, 方向没错吧? I'm here. I came from the airport — is this the right way?
- 张天 机场离这儿不远, 是吧? The airport's not far from here, right?
- 周雨 是, 不远. 我坐地铁来的. Right, not far. I came by subway.
- 张天 好. 我也快到了. Good. I'm almost here too.
Dialogue
我从火车站来 — I'm coming from the train station
- 周雨 张天, 你从哪儿来? Zhang Tian, where are you coming from?
- 张天 我从火车站来. I'm coming from the train station.
- 周雨 火车站近吗? Is the train station close?
- 张天 比机场近一些. 从火车站到这儿很快. Closer than the airport. From the station to here is quick.
- 周雨 那好, 我们都到了. Good — we're both here.
Dialogue
飞机到达了吗 — Has the plane arrived
- 张天 飞机到达了吗? Has the plane arrived?
- 周雨 到了. 是从北京来的飞机. It has. It's the flight from Beijing.
- 张天 机场离这儿远吗? Is the airport far from here?
- 周雨 不远. 从这儿到机场不到一个小时. Not far. From here to the airport is under an hour.
- 张天 好, 那我们出发吧. Good, let's set off then.
Vocabulary
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 从 | cóng | prep. | from — 从 + place + V (chapter grammar anchor; standalone use, not 从来) |
| 火车站 | huǒchēzhàn | n. | train station |
| 飞机场 | fēijīchǎng | n. | airport (full form; 机场 is the short form) |
| 机场 | jīchǎng | n. | airport (short form, more common in speech than 飞机场) |
| 地铁 | dìtiě | n. | subway; metro |
| 站 | zhàn | n. | station; stop (suffix in 火车站, 地铁站, 公共汽车站) |
| 到 | dào | v. | arrive; reach |
| 到达 | dàodá | v. | arrive at (formal pair with 到; more bookish / written register) |
| 离 | lí | prep. | distance from — A 离 B + adj/distance (revisit ch6; formal lesson ch13) |
| 远 | yuǎn | adj. | far (revisit ch6) |
| 近 | jìn | adj. | near; close (revisit ch6) |
New characters
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 站 | zhàn | station; stop; to stand 火车站 huǒchēzhàn — train station | |
| 达 | dá | reach; attain (in 到达 = arrive at — formal pair with 到) 到达 dàodá — arrive at (formal pair with 到; more bookish / written register)表达 biǎodá — express (verbally) |
Hanzi — writing & recognition
zhàn station; stop; to stand Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 立 (stand) radical + 占 (zhàn, phonetic). Original sense: "to stand". The "station / stop" sense extends from "a place where you stand and wait". Used as a noun-suffix throughout transit vocabulary: 火车站, 地铁站, 公共汽车站. Also as a verb meaning "to stand" (e.g. 站起来 = "stand up", coming in ch9).
lí distance from (revisit ch6 vocab); apart from Writing
离 originally meant "to separate, to be apart from". As a preposition it describes the static distance between two points: A 离 B + adj/distance ("A is X far from B"). KEY contrast with this chapter's 从: 离 is STATIC distance ("how far is A from B?"), 从 is DYNAMIC origin ("come from B"). Both translate as "from" in English; Chinese splits them. Formal grammar lesson is ch13.
dào arrive; reach; (also: V + 到 result complement, taught ch10) Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 刂 (knife) radical + 至 (zhì, phonetic and semantic — 至 originally meant "to arrive at a target"). Together: "to reach a destination, like an arrow hitting its mark". As a verb (this chapter): 到 = "arrive" (我到了 = "I've arrived"). In ch10 you'll see 到 used as a result complement (找到 = "found", 看到 = "saw"), but that grammar isn't covered here.
dá reach; attain (in 到达 = arrive at — formal pair with 到) Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 辶 (walking) radical + 大 (dà, phonetic). Original sense: "to reach by walking, to arrive". Near-synonym of 到; the compound 到达 doubles up the arrival sense for formal register. 达 also extends to abstract reach: 表达 (express, "reach with words"), 达到 (achieve, "reach a goal"). The 辶 radical (motion / path) connects 达 to ch6's 远 / 近 and ch9's 进 — the motion-radical cluster.
chǎng open field; venue (in 机场, 商场, 广场) Recognition
dì / de earth; ground (dì, in 地铁, 地方); structural particle (de, deferred) Recognition
tiě iron; metal (in 地铁 = subway, lit. "underground iron") Recognition
jī machine (revisit ch3); also opportunity (in 机会) Recognition
Grammar
从 + 处所 + V — "from" 从 + place + V — "(set off / come) from a place"
"从"是介词, 表示动作的起点。规则: 从 + 处所(place) + V。"处所"可以是地名(从北京来), 位置词(从里面出来), 也可以是站点(从火车站出发)。"从"必须有一个动词跟着, 不能单独出现: "从北京"不完整, "从北京来"才对。注意区别: ch3 的"从来"(adv. "从未")和这一课的"从"是同一个字, 但是不同的词类——"从来"是副词, 跟"没"和"过"一起用("我从来没去过"); "从"作为介词, 后面接处所和动词("我从北京来"). 不要混淆.
从 is a preposition expressing the starting point of motion. The rigid pattern: 从 + place + V. The "place" slot can be a placename (从北京来 = "come from Beijing"), a locative (从里面出来 = "come out from inside"), or a transit hub (从火车站出发 = "depart from the train station"). 从 ALWAYS takes a verb afterward — it never stands alone. 从北京 is incomplete; 从北京来 ("come from Beijing") is the full pattern. CRITICAL contrast with ch3: 从来 is an adverb meaning "always / never" (with negation), used as 从来 + 没 + V + 过. 从 alone is a preposition meaning "from", used as 从 + place + V. Same character, completely different roles. Don't confuse them.
- 我从机场来. Wǒ cóng jīchǎng lái. I'm coming from the airport.
- 周雨从火车站来, 张天从地铁来. Zhōu Yǔ cóng huǒchēzhàn lái, Zhāng Tiān cóng dìtiě lái. Zhou Yu's coming from the train station, Zhang Tian's coming from the subway.
- 从这家到那家不远. Cóng zhè jiā dào nà jiā bù yuǎn. From this place to that place isn't far.
Pronunciation
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