Chinese Dictionary of Examples
A dictionary of examples in Chinese and English to understand the use of words in a context sentence. Search a word or an expression and read real sentences that use it, each with its pinyin and its English translation.
Browse words with example sentences
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A word in a sentence is not the same word alone
A definition tells you what a word means; an example tells you how it behaves. In Chinese the difference is larger than in most languages, because so much of the grammar is carried by word order and by small particles rather than by endings. Knowing that a verb means to give does not tell you where its two objects go, and no definition will.
This is why an example dictionary is a separate tool rather than a section of the main one. You search for a word and get real sentences that use it, each with its pronunciation and its translation, which is the material you need in order to write a sentence of your own rather than merely to understand one.
It is also the fastest way to settle a doubt between two words that look interchangeable in the dictionary: put each into the search and read what people actually do with them.