Mnemonic comic for

Translation

zài = z + ai4: to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

Mnemonic

A mnemonic is a short, deliberately ridiculous scene, built to be hard to forget. Who appears in it and where it takes place are how the pronunciation is stored; the objects in it stand for the parts the character is written with. That is the Marilyn Method, and the comic below is the same scene, drawn.

Zorro (z) and Rosa Luxemburg (亻) exist (在) in the airplane’s bathroom (ai4). Rosa is in the middle of balancing a flute (一) on her head and on a pile of clay (土). Zorro uses his rapier to inscribe “Z” into the flute, so as to mark that the pronunciation of “在” begins with “z”.

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How to pronounce 在

MandarinBanana teaches pronunciation with the Marilyn Method: every Pinyin syllable is one initial plus one final, the initial becomes a person, an animal or a deity, and the final becomes a place in your memory palace — with the tone deciding which part of that place the scene happens in. Remember the little story below for each half and the whole syllable comes back with them.

= z initial

Z is for Zorro.

By Matthias • updated 6 months ago
+ ai4 final

In the airplane’s bathroom.

By Matthias • updated 5 months ago

在 character breakdown

Chinese characters are built out of smaller characters. Each component carries a mnemonic symbol - one concrete object that stands in for it - and a mnemonic story hands those objects to the person and the place that stand for the pronunciation. Learn a component once and every character that reuses it gets easier.

Component Translations
= y + Ø1
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
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rén = r + (e)n2
"person" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 9)
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= tu + Ø3
Tu (ethnic group) / surname Tu
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= tu + Ø3
earth / dust / clay / local / indigenous / crude opium / unsophisticated / one of the eight categories of ancient musical instruments 八音[ba1 yin1]
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Characters with 在 as component

guài = gu + ai4
variant of 怪[guai4]
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chá = ch + a2
stubble land after crop has been taken / a second crop obtained by rotation of land / an opportunity
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Words with 在

show 270 more
now / at present / at the moment / modern / current / nowadays
just at (that time) / right in (that place) / right in the middle of (doing sth)
to exist / to be / existence
Sentences with 在
hái
ér
men
zài
shāo
děng
piàn
 
 
ǎn
jiù
lái

Want to remember 在 for good?

Make it your learning target and MandarinBanana works out the shortest route to it: the two sounds its syllable is built from, then the components of the character itself, one short step at a time. No account needed to start.

zài

to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

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