GUANG-4

('guang' in the fourth tone)

There are about eleven standard Chinese characters with a ‘guang’ pronunciation. For six of them, 光 is the sound-determining component.

The three most common ‘guang’-pronounced characters are:

光 = guang(1) = light

广 = guang(3) = wide

逛 = guang(4) = to go for a stroll

逛 = guang(4) = go for a stroll

Please note that while逛 by itself does mean ‘to go for a stroll’, Chinese in general, and in this case too, aims to create two-character units. Possible solutions are:

逛一下 = guang(4) yi(1) xia(4) = go for a stroll a little bit

逛街 = guang(4) jie(1) = go for a stroll on the streets

陪我去逛街好不好? = Pei(2) wo(3) qu(4) guang(4) jie(1) hao(3) bu(4) hao(3)? = Wouild you like to go for a walk with me?

(Insert sound file: pei–accompany.wav / link to the Chinese sentence above)

街 = jie(1) = street

陪...去 = pei(2)...qu(4) = accompany to go

陪我去 = pei(2) wo(3) qu(4) = go with me

管 = tube, to manage

As a stand-alone verb for the meaning 'to manage', the two-character version is much more common:

管理 = guan(3)li(3) = to manage

Many Windows programs that are named 'manager' in English use 管理 in Chinese. However, the Chinese word for a person heading a business, is:

经理 = jing(1)li(3) = manager

***

资源管理器 = zi(1)yuan(2) guan(3)li(3) qi(4) = Filemanager (in Windows)

资源 = zi(1)yuan(2) = natural resources, resources

源 = yuan(2) = source of a river, source (in a more general sense)

***

通讯管理 = tong(1)xun(4) guan(3)li(3) = connection manager (in Windows programs)

通讯 = tong(1)xun(4) = communications

***

保管 = bao(3)guan(3) = to store and manage

保管箱 = bao(3)guan(3) xiang(1) = safe deposit box (e.g. in a bank)

Please note: when two third tones follow each other, the first of the two is spoken as a second tone. However, in Pinyin  with tone marks, tone changes are often not indicated, as this would make it difficult to identify the meaning of the respective Pinyin word. One just has to remember that if there are two third tones in a row, the first is spoken as a second tone.  

宝宝 = bao(3)bao(3) = baby

宝贝 = bao(3)bei(4) = jewelry, sweetheart

Please note: a third tone in the first place of a two-morpheme word or a two-morpheme expression is never spoken as a third tone. If it preceeds a first, second, or fourth tone, it is spoken as a so-called 'half third tone', which, technically, is only the falling first half of a third tone, but for simplicity could be considered a fourth tone.

管家 = guan(3)jia(1) = butler

血管 = xue(4)guan(3) = blood vessel