Character 火 and its friend 烟

From the title, you may noticed that 烟, which basically means smoke, has 火 as its component. Actually, 火 is the radical too. 
I made the following video lesson to show you: the meaning of character 烟; how to recognize it; how to write it in 楷书(regular script) and 行书(semi-cursive script); how to use it in our daily life.

After I made this video lesson, I realized that I forgot some important usage of this character 烟. So I am adding some more information here:
烟 itself can refer to cigarette, tobacco. But usually there is another word specifically refer to cigarette-- 香烟, which literally means fragrant tobacco. 我不吸烟. So I don't think tobacco is fragrant. Maybe people who love smoking feel so.  :)

Let's do some practical exercise:
I want to buy a pack of cigarette.
我想买一包香烟。
or
我想买一包烟。

During the holiday of Chinese New Year, many people will shoot off fireworks. Fireworks in Chinese is 烟花 or 焰火. 
烟花 literally means smoke flower. That's a fantastic description of fireworks, right?  

More practice:
Let's shoot off some fireworks tonight.
今晚我们放烟花吧。

Usage of character 火 and its friends

First let's watch a video about character 火 and its friends:

After watching above video, would you like to try to read the following passage?  ;-P  I am sure that you can recognize some of these words.

(Click the video under the passage, you'll hear the reading of it. )
今年夏天太炎热，城里发生了好几场大火。大火迅速蔓延，灭火器无法控制火势。因空气中的烟尘太重，一些人感染了肺炎。大家盼望着秋天的天气会好转。

(Click the video under the text, you'll hear the reading of the explanation. )
讲解 Explanation：

今年夏天太炎热  -->    This summer is too hot.
今年, this year; 夏天, summer; 太, too (much); 炎热, sizzling hot, blazing hot;

城里发生了好几场大火 -->    Quite a few place caught big fire in town.
城里, in town; 发生, happen, take place; 了, implies that action is done, past tense; 好几场, quite a few, 场 is a measure word for fire (disaster);  大火, big fire, fire (disaster);

大火迅速蔓延 -->   The fire spread very quickly.
大火, the big fire; 迅速, quickly; 蔓延, spread;

灭火器无法控制火势 -->    The fire extinguisher couldn't control the fire.
灭火器, fire extinguisher; 无法, have no way to do something; 控制, control; 火势, the tendency of the spreading of the fire;

因空气中的烟尘太重，一些人感染了肺炎。 -->  Some people got pneumonia because of the heavy smoke and dust in the air.
因 is short for 因为, because;  空气中, in the air; 烟尘, smoke and dust; 太, too (much); 重, heavy;  一些人, some people; 感染, be infected with; 肺炎, pneumonia; 


大家盼望着秋天的天气会好转。 -->  Everyone is hoping the weather will become better in autumn.
大家, everyone, all the people; 盼望, hope, wish; 着, implies progressive tense; 秋天, autumn; 天气, weather; 会, will; 好转, become better;

If you are interested about Chinese calligraphy, the following video will give more detail about how to write the character 火.
In this video, professor Tian talks about the basic stroke order in Chinese calligraphy and how to write fire in three different writing styles.

From the beginning to 11:50 covers the theory of stroke order in Chinese calligraphy. From 11:51 to the rest of the video covers how to write the character 火 in regular script, semi-cursive script, and cursive script.

When do you need to say 是

Maybe you already knew that 是 is a pretty neat word. It covers all the 'am, is, are, was, were' in English. Then maybe you want to use it whenever you see 'to be' in any form.

Sometime, it's pretty safe to use it. Such as:

He is a magician. -->  他 是 魔术师。

My teacher is an American. -->  我的 老师 是 美国人。

Notice that in above sentences the words follow 'to be ' are all noun. 

Let's see more example,

Tony is young.   -->  托尼 是 年轻。 Oops!  That's not correct. A native speaker will tell you the correct way is : 托尼 很 年轻。There is no  是 in the sentence at all. Why? When the word follows 'to be' is adjective, you don't need to translate the 'to be' into  是 at all. The Chinese way to say the sentences like " Subject + be+  adjective"  is " Subject + 很 + adjective". More practice to make the rule clear? Let's move on...

You are pretty.   -->  You 很 pretty. -->  你 很 漂亮。

I am fine.  -->    I 很 fine.   -->   我 很 好。

I am tired.  -->  I 很 tired. -->  我 很 累。

Here is one more thing.  很  literally means 'very'. But in above sentences, 很 doesn't necessarily mean 'very'. The context or  the way how the person says it will tell you whether 很 means 'very' or not.

Now I am going to wrap up the rule about when you need to say 是.

If the English sentence structure is "Subject + be + noun" , you can safely do a word by word translation. Then we get the Chinese sentence structure is " Subject + 是 + noun".

If the English sentence structure is " Subject + be + adjective",  the Chinese sentence structure will become " Subject + 很  + adjective"。

Now it's you turn. Please translate the following sentences into Chinese and type your answer as comments if you like. 

Mike is handsome. 

Mark is a pilot.

I am an engineer.

We are smart.

I am thirsty.

Asking Name in Chinese

 Sometime people volunteer to tell you their name before you ask them. Sometime you need to ask them about their names. The words used to ask name are different when you are in different situation.

In informal situation and the people you meet are almost the same age or younger than you, you can simply ask them, " What is your name?" How to say that in Chinese? It will be: "你(nǐ) 叫(jiào) 什(shén)么(me)  名(míng)字(zì)？"你(nǐ) means you; 叫(jiào)means to call, 叫(jiào) is also frequently used when you introduce your own name; 什(shén)么(me)   means what; 名(míng)字(zì) means name. So literally, "你(nǐ) 叫(jiào) 什(shén)么(me)  名(míng)字(zì)？" means " you are called what name? "  And the response is "我wǒ 叫jiào+ < name> "

Click the following video to hear the sound:

In formal situation or the people you meet are much older than you, if you want to know their name, you need to choose some polite words. It will be: "您nín 贵guì 姓xìng？"  您nín is a polite way to say 'you'; 贵guì means honorary; 姓xìng means family name. "您nín 贵guì 姓xìng？"  literally means," your honorary family name? "  or  " May I have your honorary family name please? " Most of time, if you ask another person's name in this polite way, you will get the response as "免miǎn 贵guì 姓xìng+  < family name >"。免miǎn, basically means avoid, exempt; 贵guì means honorary; "免miǎn 贵guì " literally means to avoid the honoring (of my family name). It's a bit strange. But that's one common way to show your humbleness.  Anyway " 免miǎn 贵guì 姓xìng+  < family name >" means "my family name is ...  "

Click the following video to hear the sound:

 

Other articles that you may be interested:
Greetings in Chinese One
Self-introduction
Summary of Pronoun