Learning Chinese language—abundant meanings of “yi4si1”

In general, when you hear of “yi4si1”, you’ll think about its common meaning---“implication or meaning”. For example, “qing3 ni3 jie3shi4 yi2xia4 zhe4ge4 ju4zi3 de1 yi4si1” (please explain the meaning of this sentence.) or “zhe4pian1 wen2zhang1 de3 yi4si1 ni3 nong4dong3 le1 mei2you3?” (Do you figure out the implication of this article?). This meaning of “yi4si1” is the same at many countries. However, in China, you’ll see meanings of “yi4si1” are much more than that. Then, let’s start learning Chinese language—abundant meanings of “yi4si1” in China.

---A: zhe4jian4shi4 ni3wen4guo4 ta1 le3 ma1? ta1 shi4 shen3me0 yi4si1?  (Have you asked him about this? What’s his idea?)

---B: wo3wen4guo4le1. Ta1de3 yi4si1 shi4 ta1 bu4 tong2yi4 zhe4me1 zuo4.  (Yes. He disagreed to do so.)

We can see “yi4si1” in that dialogue means” wish or idea”. Another example, “wo3men0 gen1ta1 you3 he2zuo4 de3 yi4si1”  “yi4si1” in that sentence is also means idea.

The second meaning is temperament or interest. For instance, “zhe4ge4 gu4shi4 hen3 you3 yi4si1” (This book is very interesting.)

It also can express a kind of feeling or a trend. “wo3 kan4 Tom you3dian3 xi3huan1 ta1” (In my perspective, Tom kind of likes her.)

There is another meaning when “yi4si1” is combined with the form of ABAB—like yi4si1yi4si1. For example, “zhe4shi4 wo3de1 yi4dian3 xiao3 li3wu4, yi4si1yi4si1, qing3 shou1xia4 ba0” (This is my little gift for you, please receive it.) “yi4si1” contains the meaning that gift represent my mind in that sentence. It’s widely used in Chinese daily life.

Here comes the last meaning---shows a person’s unhappy or dissatisfied emotion. You can say “ni3 zhe4shi4 shen3me0 yi4si1?” to present your angry.  It is a tone of questioning. Have you dizzied by these meanings? Just a word can present six meanings, which is a universal phenomenon when you learn Chinese language.

So, how to recognize different meanings in sentences?  You need to relate the word with context or tone to help you understand the meaning. You may have to practice Chinese listening to be familiar with these words. Also, you can do some online Chinese learning and search more words like “yi4si1”.

Source:  http://amusingbucket.tumblr.com/post/101743621671/learning-chinese-language-abundant-meanings-of-yi4si1