(bó lín) - Berlin in Mandarin
bólínTraditional: 柏林
Translation
Berlin
Word origin
A sound transcription of the German place name Berlin, written with 柏 (cypress) and 林 (forest) for their pronunciation rather than their meaning.
- Origin
- German
- Root
- Berlin (German place name)
Stroke order
柏
林
Examples
。
Berlin is the capital of Germany.
。
I want to go and see Berlin next year.
。
He lived in Berlin for three years.
冬。
Winters in Berlin are very cold.
。
It is easy to get there by train from Berlin.
柏林 (Bó lín) is Berlin. Like most European city names in Chinese it is a transcription: the characters were chosen to approximate the sound, and their dictionary meanings, cypress and forest, are not part of the name. Reading meaning into them is a mistake beginners make with every transcribed name.
It behaves as an ordinary place noun. 在柏林 (in Berlin), 去柏林 (to go to Berlin), 柏林的冬天 (Berlin winters). You will meet it most often beside 德国 (Germany), and in the names 柏林墙 (the Berlin Wall) and 柏林电影节 (the Berlin Film Festival).
The trap is the reading of 柏. In this name it is bó, second tone, but the same character is bǎi in 柏树 (cypress tree) and bò in 黄柏. A dictionary lookup or a naive text-to-speech engine will often give you bǎi lín, which is wrong for the city. Learn the name as a fixed unit and the polyphone stops biting.
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柏林: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "柏林" (Berlin): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 60.