ChinesePod

1 lit. three monks have no water to drink (idiom)
2 fig. everybody's business is nobody's business
3 (If there is one monk, he will fetch water for himself. If there are two, they will fetch water together. But if there are three or more, none will take it upon himself to fetch water.)

全军覆没

quán jūn fù mò

1 total defeat of an army (idiom); fig. a complete wipeout

八字没一撇

bā zì méi yī piě

1 lit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)
2 fig. things have not even begun to take shape
3 no sign of success yet

八字还没一撇

bā zì hái méi yī piě

1 lit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)
2 fig. things have not even begun to take shape
3 no sign of success yet

八字还没一撇儿

bā zì hái méi yī piě r

1 lit. there is not even the first stroke of the character 八 (idiom)
2 fig. things have not even begun to take shape
3 no sign of success yet

Sample Sentences

我先生今儿出门儿的时候，说要和大学同学聚餐，我总觉得不对劲儿，一定有事儿，就打电话问了一个熟人，他就露馅儿了，我压根儿没想到他会这样骗我。

wǒ xiānsheng jīnr chūméner de shíhou ，shuō yào hé dàxué tóngxué jùcān ，wǒ zǒng juéde bùduìjìnr ，yīdìng yǒu shìr ，jiù dǎdiànhuà wèn le yīgē shúrén ，tā jiù lòuxiànr le ，wǒ yàgēnr méixiǎngdào tā huì zhèyàng piàn wǒ 。

When my husband went out today and said he was going to have dinner with his college friends, I couldn’t help feeling that something was wrong. I called an acquaintance and he gave my husband away. I had no idea he would lie to me like that.

Go to Lesson

现在很多学生，上课的时候不是在打盹儿，就是在和哥们儿聊天儿，没几个好好儿听课、把老师当回事儿的。老师们看了，很不是滋味儿。

xiànzài hěnduō xuésheng ，shàngkè de shíhou búshi zài dǎdǔnr ，jiùshì zài hé gēmenr liáotiānr ，méi jǐge hǎohāor tīngkè 、bǎ lǎoshī dāng huí shìr de 。lǎoshī men kàn le ，hěn búshi zīwèier 。

Nowadays many students either take naps in class, or chat with their friends. Few of them would listen to the class carefully and take the teacher seriously. The teachers saw and felt sad about it.

Go to Lesson

明儿你就给我出门儿去找工作，别成天赖在家里。没个正经工作，我看你上哪儿找媳妇儿！

míngr nǐ jiù gěi wǒ chūméner qù zhǎo gōngzuò ，bié chéngtiān lài zài jiālǐ 。méi ge zhèngjīng gōngzuò ，wǒ kàn nǐ shàng nǎr zhǎo xífur ！

Tomorrow You’re gonna go out and get a job. Don’t stay home all day. If you don’t have a serious job, I’ll see where you can find a wife!

Go to Lesson

主管，恕我直言，我认为这个做法太没效率了。

zhǔguǎn ，shùwǒzhíyán ，wǒ rènwéi zhège zuòfǎ tài méi xiàolǜ le 。

Mister, sorry for being too direct, I think this way might be too inefficient.

Go to Lesson

你需要一个团队，我明白。可是老板还没同意。

nǐ xūyào yīgē tuánduì ，wǒ míngbai 。kěshì lǎobǎn hái méi tóngyì 。

I understand that you need a team. But our boss hasn’t given us the green light/