Chinese Lesson Online: Do You Know What is “铁哥们(tie3 ge1 men5)”?

As we all know, each language has its own conventional expressions. The special ways of addressing others have been mentioned in the formal Chinese language lessons. And today, in this Chinese lesson online, I would like to tell you how to address those people who have a really close relationship with you.

The first phrase mentioned is “铁哥们(tie3 ge1 men5)”. You may be familiar with “哥们(ge1 men5)”, which is equivalent to “buddy” or “guys” in English. It is usually used to describe the male friends group. However, if “铁(tie3)” is added to this phrase, some puzzlement may occur. You can not understand it as “iron buddy”, because no one knows what it means. Actually, “铁” is a special word in Chinese. And it can be used as a adjective sometimes which refers to “very good or very tight”. Here this phrase should be explained as “very good friends” or “the male friends enjoying a tight relationship”. That is the right understanding of “铁哥们(ti3 ge1 men5)”.

This Chinese lesson will not only tell you the meaning of “铁哥们” but also make you master the special usage of “铁”. Some Chinese people like to say “我们关系够铁(wo3 men5 guan1 xi4 gou4 tie3)”. Can you guess the meaning? Yes. “铁(tie3)” here means good and tight. This sentence can be interpreted as “we are really tight” or “we are on good terms”.

Another common word containing “铁” is “铁饭碗(tie3 fan4 wan3)”. We say “国家公务员真是个铁饭碗(guo2 jia1 gong1 wu4 yuan2 zhen1 shi4 ge4 tie3 fan4 wan4)”, which means the national public servant is a good and stable job. “铁饭碗” can be understood as “good and stable position”.

As you can see, we have learned the special usage of “铁”. There are many other interesting characters with special usages will be explained in the following Chinese lessons. See you later.

source:  http://smile1xia.over-blog.com/2014/12/chinese-lesson-online-do-you-know-what-is-tie3-ge1-men5.html