The Brain Dump

Doodle studies continue . . . My lack of grammar knowledge is beginning to weigh on me. I, of course, have no one to blame but myself, but I instead choose to blame pandas (lazy bastards). Christina and I have also designated Friday as our doodle study day, during which we'll try to retain all the things our tutor Cathrine has been giving us.

On a side note, Mandarin grammar is proving to be way easier to learn (when I bother to learn it) than, say . . . English grammar. For instance, I asked Cathrine how you change a verb to the future tense ("I will have") or the simple past ("I had"), and she replied, "Pfft . . . changing the verb . . . you just indicate the time to denote the 'tense' (e.g. "Yesterday, I have three books.")." Mandarin grammar really makes English grammar look like an asshole.

Anywho:

Monday

勹 - bao1 (to wrap)
的 - de (a suffix to nouns and pronouns: A 的 B means "A's B, the B of A;" a grammatical particle), di4 (bull's-eye)
包 - bao1 (to wrap; family name)
跑 - pao3 (run)
报 - bao4 (to hold in your arms, to hug; to have your first grandchild; to adopt a child; to cherish; to sit on eggs to hatch them; a measure for armfuls; [dialect] to consort with, to hang out with)
袍 - yi1 (gown [side-gown radical]); Just the left side of this one
饱 - [no pronunciation] (side-food radical); Just the left side of this one

Tuesday

饱 - bao3 (to be full, to have had enough to eat)
火 - huo3 (fire)
己 - ji3 (self; the sixth "heavenly stem" [used to enumerate headings in an outline])
已 - yi3 (already; to end, cease)
巳 - si4 (the sixth "earthly branch")
纪 - ji4 (write down; record; year; discipline), ji3 (to order, a family name)
记 - ji4 (to remember; to record; mark, sign)

Wednesday

吧 - ba (a sentence-final particle; indicates supposition [". . . , I guess"] or suggestion ["Maybe you should . . ."]), ba1 (snap! [onomatopoetic]; to draw [suck] on [e.g., a tobacco pipe]; bar [drinking place])
把 - ba3 (to grasp; a handful; to guard; a particle used to bring direct objects in front of the verb; a measure for things with handles [knives, teapots] or that you grasp [chairs, handfuls of rice, bunches of flowers])
爸 - ba4 (papa, father)
爪 - zhao3 (claws); The Wolverine doodle
爬 - pa2 (to crawl; to creep; to climb)
本 - ben3 (root; volume [book]; capital [money]; principal [money]; a measure for books)
对 - dui4 (to face; facing; to match; be correct)

Thursday

说 - shuo1 (to speak), shui4 (try to persuade)
姑 - gu1 (unmarried daughter; father's or husband's sister; temporarily; be lenient)
故 - [no pronunciation] (Knock radical); Actually just the right side of this one
故 - gu4 (be ancient; to die; cause; intentionally)
苦 - ku3 (be bitter)
重 - zhong4 (be heavy), chong2 (do over again, to repeat by mistake)
懂 - dong3 (to understand); "我不懂" is possibly the most useful sentence in Chinese

Friday

疋 - pi3 (bolt [of cloth])
是 - shi4 (to be, am, is, are; be right); This one's a tad important . . .
先 - xian1 (to precede; late [deceased])
生 - sheng1 (to bear [to give birth to])
亥 - hai4 (the twelfth "earthly branch," used in enumerations and to name two-hour periods of the day)
孩 - hai2 (child)
咳 - hai1 ("Depressing!" or "Regrettable!" or "Astonishing!;"), ke2 (cough, to cough; first syllable of ke2sou4, "cough")