We aim to support your Chinese studies with free resources. In this series, we explore idioms and proverbs, full of meaning. Today’s feature is 「燕雁代飛」, explained below.
Our focus this time is on the idiom 「燕雁代飛」. You’ll find its definition and examples below.
Swallows come to temperate zones in the summer and return to the south in the winter; geese come to temperate zones in the winter and return to the south in the summer. It is a metaphor for being on different sides and unable to meet each other.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
yàn yàn dài fēi
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
yin3 ngaan6 doi6 fei1
There’s no shortage of Chinese idioms, each offering unique meanings and ways to use them. This guide is here to assist you as you improve your understanding of the language.
