Level 6 · Lesson 13

歇后语
Xiehouyu — the two-part sayings

前边是比喻，停一下，后边才是意思。

A picture, a pause, then the point: 竹篮打水——一场空, 哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出.

听 · Listen

老师没说完的话
 安娜 —  今天老师对我们说：不复习就是竹篮打水……可是他没说完。 
Today the teacher said to us: not revising is like drawing water with a bamboo basket … and then he stopped.  
 李明 —  他不用说完，因为大家都知道后边是什么——一场空。 
He didn't need to finish, because everyone knows the rest: 一场空, nothing at all.  
 安娜 —  一场空？ 
Nothing at all?  
 李明 —  这是歇后语。前边是比喻，后边才是意思。用竹篮打水，水留不住，所以最后是一场空。 
It's a xiehouyu. The front half is a picture, the back half is the meaning. Draw water with a bamboo basket and none of it stays, so in the end you have nothing.  
 安娜 —  我明白了。所以只说前边，大家就懂了。 
I see. So you say only the first half and everyone understands.  
 李明 —  对。再给你一个：哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出。 
Right. Here's another one: a mute eating goldthread — bitterness he can't put into words.  
 安娜 —  黄连是什么？ 
What's huanglian?  
 李明 —  是一种很苦的药。哑巴吃了黄连，心里苦，可是说不出来。一个人有苦不能说的时候，我们就用这句话。 
A very bitter medicine. The mute eats it, feels the bitterness, and can't say a word about it. When somebody is suffering and can't speak of it, we use this line.  

讲解 · Explanation

歇后语有两半：前边是比喻，中间停一下，后边才是意思。

歇 means to stop or rest, so the name says how the saying works: you set up the picture, you rest, and the point comes after. In writing the pause is a long dash. In speech the pause is often the end of it — a Chinese speaker says only the first half, and the listener finishes it silently. That is why 不复习就是竹篮打水 already sounds complete: everyone hears 一场空 anyway.

竹篮打水——一场空。

竹篮 is a basket woven from bamboo, 打水 is to fetch water from a well. Water and a basket are a bad match, and 空 means empty — 一场空 is 'the whole thing came to nothing'. Use it for effort that produced no result: 他学了三天就不学了，真是竹篮打水一场空 (tā xué le sān tiān jiù bù xué le, zhēnshi zhúlán dǎ shuǐ yì chǎng kōng). Notice how the whole saying can drop into a sentence after 是 or 真是, exactly like a chengyu.

哑巴吃黄连——有苦说不出。

哑巴 is a person who cannot speak, 黄连 a famously bitter root used as medicine, and 苦 is both 'bitter' and 'hard to bear'. The second half turns on that double sense, and it uses the potential form you learned with 看不见: 说不出 — the words will not come out. A 歇后语 is playful and spoken; a 谚语, which comes next, is a plain statement of general truth in two balanced halves; a 成语 is four characters used as one word. Three shapes, three different jobs.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
歇后语	two-part allegorical saying	一句歇后语
谚语	proverb, saying	a whole sentence, said on its own
竹篮打水	to draw water with a bamboo basket	……一场空
哑巴吃黄连	a mute eating goldthread	……有苦说不出
比喻	a comparison, a figure of speech	这是一个比喻
苦	bitter; hard, painful	很苦, 心里苦

练习 · Practice

竹篮打水——______。 How does this xiehouyu end?

他心里很难受，可是不能对朋友说。这就是______。 Which saying fits: he is suffering but cannot tell anyone?

歇后语的前边是一个______，后边才是意思。 Fill in the word for the picture in the first half.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'This business really was drawing water with a basket — all for nothing.'

歇后语、谚语、比喻、苦、一场空 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

说一件你做了很久，可是最后没成功的事。用竹篮打水说出来。

Say it aloud in two sentences: what you worked at, and then the saying. 我学了半年画画，后来不学了，竹篮打水一场空 (wǒ xué le bàn nián huàhuà, hòulái bù xué le, zhúlán dǎ shuǐ yì chǎng kōng). Then try the other one about a time you had to keep something to yourself: 那天我哑巴吃黄连，有苦说不出 (nà tiān wǒ yǎba chī huánglián, yǒu kǔ shuō bu chū). Practise stopping after the first half — that pause is the whole art of a 歇后语.