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二/两
èr / liǎng
Chinese has two number twos
Read the 2 printed on a sign and it comes out 二; put two of something in your palm and count them, and it becomes 两.
Chinese
5 uses
会/能/可以
huì / néng / kěyǐ
Three locks on the same door marked can
One door labelled I can, with three locks on it. 会 opens with what you have learned, 能 with what your body and your day allow, 可以 only when someone else turns the key.
Chinese
5 uses
想/要/打算
xiǎng / yào / dǎsuàn
Want to, going to, planning to — how far your feet have moved
Measure the distance from your head to your feet. 想 never leaves your head, 要 has your hand already out, 打算 has the route drawn on paper.
Chinese
5 uses
一点儿/有点儿
yìdiǎnr / yǒudiǎnr
Move a bit from the front to the back and a complaint turns into a request
One tiny grain. Hold it out and ask for it and you get 一点儿 after the adjective; find it already stuck to you and grumble, and you get 有点儿 in front.
Chinese
5 uses
就/才
jiù / cái
就 and 才 don't measure time. They measure your expectations
A ruler of time with one tick on it: the point where you expected things to land. Finish before that tick and you get 就; land past it and you get 才.
Chinese
5 uses
还是/或者
háishi / huòzhě
Hold the question mark at the fork and you get 还是
You are standing at a fork. Hand the question mark to the other person and it's 还是; say either road is fine and put the question mark down, and it's 或者.
Chinese
5 uses
从/离
cóng / lí
从 is where the line starts; 离 is the gap between two dots
从 marks the dot a line sets off from. 离 marks the empty space measured between two dots that both stay put.
Chinese
5 uses
对/给
duì / gěi
对 turns your face; 给 puts something in a hand
对 is your body turning to face someone. 给 is something leaving your hand and arriving in theirs. With 对, nothing changes hands.
Chinese
5 uses
太/很
tài / hěn
很 is not very — it is a stand that props the adjective up
A gauge with a needle. 很 is only the stand that lets the needle rest somewhere on the dial; 太 is the needle shooting past the red line and taking your feelings with it.
Chinese
5 uses
不/没
bù / méi
不 is a door you closed; 没 is a footprint that was never made
不 is you pulling a door shut. 没 is looking back down the road and finding no footprints. 不 is about intent; 没 is about traces.
Chinese
5 uses