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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 8

我从机场来 I'm coming from the airport

Wǒ cóng jīchǎng lái

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zhōu雨yǔ, 你nǐ到dào了le吗ma? Zhou Yu, are you here?
周雨我wǒ到dào了le. 我wǒ从cóng机jī场chǎng来lái, 方fāng向xiàng没méi错cuò吧ba? I'm here. I came from the airport — is this the right way?
张天机jī场chǎng离lí这zhè儿ér不bù远yuǎn, 是shì吧ba? The airport's not far from here, right?
周雨是shì, 不bù远yuǎn. 我wǒ坐zuò地dì铁tiě来lái的de. Right, not far. I came by subway.
张天好hǎo. 我wǒ也yě快kuài到dào了le. Good. I'm almost here too.

Dialogue

我从火车站来 — I'm coming from the train station

周雨张zhāng天tiān, 你nǐ从cóng哪nǎ儿ér来lái? Zhang Tian, where are you coming from?
张天我wǒ从cóng火huǒ车chē站zhàn来lái. I'm coming from the train station.
周雨火huǒ车chē站zhàn近jìn吗ma? Is the train station close?
张天比bǐ机jī场chǎng近jìn一yì些xiē. 从cóng火huǒ车chē站zhàn到dào这zhè儿ér很hěn快kuài. Closer than the airport. From the station to here is quick.
周雨那nà好hǎo, 我wǒ们men都dōu到dào了le. Good — we're both here.

Dialogue

飞机到达了吗 — Has the plane arrived

张天飞fēi机jī到dào达dá了le吗ma? Has the plane arrived?
周雨到dào了le. 是shì从cóng北běi京jīng来lái的de飞fēi机jī. It has. It's the flight from Beijing.
张天机jī场chǎng离lí这zhè儿ér远yuǎn吗ma? Is the airport far from here?
周雨不bù远yuǎn. 从cóng这zhè儿ér到dào机jī场chǎng不bú到dào一yí个gè小xiǎo时shí. Not far. From here to the airport is under an hour.
张天好hǎo, 那nà我wǒ们men出chū发fā吧ba. Good, let's set off then.

Vocabulary

从cóng: preposition from — 从 + place + V (chapter grammar anchor; standalone use, not 从来)
火huǒ车chē站zhàn: noun train station
飞fēi机jī场chǎng: noun airport (full form; 机场 is the short form)
机jī场chǎng: noun airport (short form, more common in speech than 飞机场)
地dì铁tiě: noun subway; metro
站zhàn: noun station; stop (suffix in 火车站, 地铁站, 公共汽车站)
到dào: verb arrive; reach
到dào达dá: verb arrive at (formal pair with 到; more bookish / written register)
离lí: preposition distance from — A 离 B + adj/distance (revisit ch6; formal lesson ch13)
远yuǎn: adjective far (revisit ch6)
近jìn: adjective near; close (revisit ch6)

New characters

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

站

zhàn station; stop; to stand Writing

10 strokes left-right radical 立

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).

离

lí distance from (revisit ch6 vocab); apart from Writing

10 strokes top-bottom

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.

到

dào arrive; reach; (also: V + 到 result complement, taught ch10) Writing

8 strokes left-right radical 刂

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.

达

dá reach; attain (in 到达 = arrive at — formal pair with 到) Writing

6 strokes left-right radical 辶

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.

场

chǎng open field; venue (in 机场, 商场, 广场) Recognition

6 strokes left-right radical 土

地

dì / de earth; ground (dì, in 地铁, 地方); structural particle (de, deferred) Recognition

6 strokes left-right radical 土

铁

tiě iron; metal (in 地铁 = subway, lit. "underground iron") Recognition

10 strokes left-right radical 钅

机

jī machine (revisit ch3); also opportunity (in 机会) Recognition

6 strokes left-right radical 木

Grammar

从 + place + V — "(set off / come) from a place"

Explanation

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.

Examples

我从机场来. I'm coming from the airport.
周雨从火车站来, 张天从地铁来. Zhou Yu's coming from the train station, Zhang Tian's coming from the subway.
从这家到那家不远. From this place to that place isn't far.

Pronunciation

三音节词的重音 — 3-syllable word stress 3-syllable word stress patterns

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