Relevant Content
We'll always make sure you know exactly what the lesson is about. You will easily understand whether it is relevant for you.

Chengyu Series - Nine Buffaloes and One Hair

Great Hosts
Here at ChinesePod, all our lessons are presented in an entertaining manner by our great hosts. You'll find language learners, teachers, and even professors sharing their insights, ideas, and teaching methods in our video and audio lessons.
Brief Lesson Summaries
A brief introduction of the lesson will always tell you what this lesson is about and what language level is the intended target. If you're interested in the subject, but might not be able to understand it in full, fear not; we have transcripts of lesson dialogues vocabulary so you can follow along.
IN THIS LESSON
ID: 4356 Elementary
Chengyu are Chinese idioms that consist of four characters. Although they originate from classical Chinese, Chengyu remain as an important aspect in both spoken and written language. They may seem erratic and confusing to you at first since they don’t follow the usual sentence order and their meanings depend heavily on context. But don’t worry, in this Chengyu series, we will introduce simple Chengyu made up with all the characters that you already knew, and you can infer the actual meaning by looking at the separate characters! In this lesson, let’s take a look at three Chengyu with numbers 九 (nine) and 十 (ten) in them!
Fri Jul 31 2020 | Joe, Joy
Awesome Materials
Our lessons contain natural communication in Chinese in video and audio format. We have have lessons focused on video or a podcast format and our lessons have transcripts of Lesson Dialogues, Important Vocabulary, Expanded Materials for a deep dive into the lesson topic and Exercises focused on testing your retention.
Detailed Vocabulary
Each lesson has it's unique vocabulary and will provide you with definitions and recordings so you can practice the pronunciation. You will also be able to grasp the core material of a lesson at a glance. Here we're showing you the Simplified Chinese version.
SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
九牛一毛 jiǔniúyīmáo a drop in the ocean
只是 zhǐshì merely; simply; only
十之八九 shízhībājiǔ most likely; mostly (in 8 or 9 cases out of 10)
会 huì will
九牛一毛
jiǔniúyīmáo
Lit: Nine buffaloes and one hair. Fig: Few or little.
这些钱只是九牛一毛。
zhèxiē qián zhǐshì jiǔniúyīmáo 。
This amount of money is nothing.
我知道的只是九牛一毛，还有很多可以学。
wǒ zhīdào de zhǐshì jiǔniúyīmáo ，háiyǒu hěnduō kěyǐ xué 。
I know very little, and I still have a lot to learn.
十之八九
shízhībājiǔ
Lit: Eight or nine out of ten. Fig: Likely.
Natural Dialogues
Each lesson is centered around a natural dialogue with key vocabulary directly prepared and translated for your use. You can also listen to each sentence as an individual recording to improve your listening and comprehension skills.
Try It For Free
ChinesePod is 100% Free to Try. Create an account today and get started!