Zhidao - I Know in Mandarin Chinese

Zhidao - I Know in Mandarin Chinese When learning a new language and practicing it with native speakers, you often need to indicate your knowledge of the topic. In Mandarin you use zhÄ «dao (know) and bà ¹ zhÄ «do (don’t know). These are used as you would expect if translated directly from English. If you get asked a question, the most natural way of saying you dont know is  wÇ’Â  bà ¹ zhÄ «do (I don’t know). ZhÄ «dao is made up of two characters: çŸ ¥Ã© â€œ. The first character çŸ ¥ (zhÄ «) means to know,† or â€Å"to be aware† and the second character é â€œ (do) means â€Å"truth,† or â€Å"principle.† Do also means â€Å"direction† or â€Å"path† and in this context it forms the first character of â€Å"Daoism† (Taoism). Pleas note that this word is also commonly pronounced with a neutral tone on the second syllable, so both  zhÄ «dao and zhÄ «do are common. Examples of Zhidao QÇ ngwà ¨n, sheà ­ zhÄ «dao nÇŽli yÇ’u yà ³ujà º?è «â€¹Ã¥â€¢ , è ª °Ã§Å¸ ¥Ã© â€œÃ¥â€œ ªÃ¨ £ ¡Ã¦Å"‰éÆ' µÃ¥ ±â‚¬?è ¯ ·Ã©â€" ®, è ° Ã§Å¸ ¥Ã© â€œÃ¥â€œ ªÃ©â€¡Å'æÅ"‰é‚ ®Ã¥ ±â‚¬?Excuse me, does anyone know where the post office is?WÇ’ bà ¹ zhÄ «do.我ä ¸ Ã§Å¸ ¥Ã© â€œÃ¦Ë†â€˜Ã¤ ¸ Ã§Å¸ ¥Ã© â€œI don’t know. There are more words that have a similar meaning in Mandarin, so lets look at how  zhÄ «do related to words like 明ç™ ½ (mà ­ngbai) and ä ºâ€ Ã¨ § £ (liÇŽojiÄ›). Both these are better translated as understand, compared to just knowing about something.  Ã¦ËœÅ½Ã§â„¢ ½ (mà ­ngbai) has the added meaning that something is not just understood, but also clear. This is typically used to ask if someone understands something that was just explained or to express that you understand what your teacher just explained. ZhÄ «do is more commonly used when you just want to say that you have noted a fact someone mentioned or that youre aware of something. Update:  This article was significantly updated by  Olle Linge  on May 7thth, 2016.