Shareables · HSK 1 · 文 · Culture
成语 · 马马虎虎
Horse-horse-tiger-tiger: so-so, and the story of how careless gets you killed.
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马马虎虎mǎ ma hū hūso-so; careless, slapdash
逐字 · CHARACTER BY CHARACTER
| Character | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 马 | mǎ | horse |
| 马 | ma | horse |
| 虎 | hū | tiger |
| 虎 | hū | tiger |
The story goes that a careless painter drew an animal with the head of a horse and the body of a tiger. One son took it for a horse and was killed by a tiger; the other took it for a tiger and shot a horse. Careless work, the tale says, costs more than it saves.
用法 · IN USE
Nǐ de Zhōngwén zěnmeyàng? Mǎmahūhū.你的中文怎么样？马马虎虎。How's your Chinese? So-so.
The most useful modest answer in Chinese.
What this card is
A one-page Chinese lesson from the HSK 1 set, filed under 文 · Culture. Horse-horse-tiger-tiger: so-so, and the story of how careless gets you killed.
How to use it
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Where it fits
The source: 马马虎虎 in the dictionary.
See where this level sits in the HSK levels guide, browse every card, or look any word up in the dictionary.
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- 问 · 有…吗 Do you have — 有 + noun + 吗 is the whole question. Nothing else changes.
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A card is one idea. The course is the map they all sit on. HSK 0 through HSK 6 on a prerequisite-ordered knowledge graph: active recall in small steps, reviews timed to land just before you would forget, and speaking practice built on the comment + question method. From $49 once for lifetime access.
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