to exist; to be alive / (of sb or sth) to be (located) at / (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
to be (followed by substantives only) / correct; right; true / (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well / (adverb for emphatic assertion)
是
=
旦
+
龰
:
Mnemonic symbol: a skull, from "to be or not to be".
Sherlock Holmes (sh) starts his day in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) with a mug of coffee (旦). Holding a skull (mnemonic symbol for 是) in his hands, he asks himself "to be, or not to be" (是). He wonders if he can make the skull come back to life using lots of coffee, and injects coffee from his mug into the skull using a syringe (龰).
Sherlock Holmes (sh) starts his day in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) with a mug of coffee (旦). Holding a skull (mnemonic symbol for 是) in his hands, he asks himself "to be, or not to be" (是). He wonders if he can make the skull come back to life using lots of coffee, and injects coffee from his mug into the skull using a syringe (龰).
是
=
日
+
下
+
人
:
Mnemonic symbol: a skull, from "to be or not to be".
Sherlock Holmes (sh) watches the Neanderthal Man (人) trying to climb to the sun (日) on a ladder (下) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). Sherlock is afraid that he'll open the window, so he puts on a big skull (是) and scares him off.
Sherlock Holmes (sh) watches the Neanderthal Man (人) trying to climb to the sun (日) on a ladder (下) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). Sherlock is afraid that he'll open the window, so he puts on a big skull (是) and scares him off.
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire; whole; all; throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
Maud Younger (y) forgot her keys to the space station (Ø1), all she brought outside was her flute (一). She has no choice but to crash the door with the giant flute.
(classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier) / (bound form) individual
(completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) / (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)
to finish / to achieve / variant of 瞭|了[liao3] / to understand clearly
了
=
乛
+
亅
:
Mnemonic symbol from "to finish" and the shape of the character: a prize cup.
Li Qingzhao (li) is responsible for manufacturing a prize cup (了). She only needs to add a poetic engraving. Unfortunately, she suffers from a writer's block. In the aorta's living room (ao3), someone left a cryptic message engraved on the walls using a sickle (乛), which is still lying on the floor. Being an accomplished poet Li Qingzhao is able to understand the message clearly (了), realizes its poetic potential and starts to engrave it on the prize cup using a crowbar (亅).
Li Qingzhao (li) is responsible for manufacturing a prize cup (了). She only needs to add a poetic engraving. Unfortunately, she suffers from a writer's block. In the aorta's living room (ao3), someone left a cryptic message engraved on the walls using a sickle (乛), which is still lying on the floor. Being an accomplished poet Li Qingzhao is able to understand the message clearly (了), realizes its poetic potential and starts to engrave it on the prize cup using a crowbar (亅).
