五百年前是一家

five hundred years ago we were the same family (idiom) (said of persons with the same surname)

five / 5

hundred / numerous / all kinds of

hundred years / century / lifetime

surname Nian

year / CL:個|个[ge4]

grain / harvest (old) / variant of 年[nian2]

before the end of the year / before the new year

by the end of the year / at the end of the year; shortly before New Year

front / forward / ahead / first / top (followed by a number) / future / ago / before / BC (e.g. 前293年) / former / formerly

variant of 是[shi4] / (used in given names)

to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion)

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

the whole family / the same family / the family ... (when preceded by a family name) / group

see 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5]

home / family / (polite) my (sister, uncle etc) / classifier for families or businesses / refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China / noun suffix for a specialist in some activity, such as a musician or revolutionary, corresponding to English -ist, -er, -ary or -ian / CL:個|个[ge4]