Ever bought all the furniture and still felt like something was missing? This little story tells us it takes more than tables and chairs to make a house feel like a home.
上个星期，我搬到了一个新家。
我第一天来的时候，房子里什么都没有。
我买了一张桌子。我买了两把椅子。我买了一张床。我买了一个灯。
现在，房子很好看。
但是我坐在椅子上，觉得房子不像家。
为什么？我不知道。
第二天，我的朋友来了。
他坐在椅子上。我们一起喝茶, 说话, 开玩笑。
他走了以后，我看了看房子。
椅子还在那里。桌子还在那里。
我发现，房子突然像家了。
有爱的人在的地方，就是家。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 搬到 | bān dào | to move to (a place) |
| 房子 | fáng zi | house |
| 椅子 | yǐ zi | chair |
| 好看 | hǎo kàn | good-looking, nice |
| 觉得 | jué de | to feel, to think |
| 像 | xiàng | to be like, to resemble |
| 以后 | yǐ hòu | after, afterwards |
| 发现 | fā xiàn | to discover, to realize |
| 突然 | tū rán | suddenly |
| 地方 | dì fang | place |
| 上个 | shàng ge | first (of two parts); last (week etc); previous; the above |
| 星期 | xīng qī | week; CL:個|个[ge4]; day of the week; Sunday |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 新 | Xīn | abbr. for Xinjiang 新疆[Xin1 jiang1]; abbr. for Singapore 新加坡[Xin1 jia1 po1]; surname Xin |
| 家 | jiā | used in 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5] and 傢俱|家俱[jia1 ju4]; home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some act… |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 一 | yī | 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 … |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 买 | mǎi | to buy; to purchase |
| 张 | Zhāng | surname Zhang |
| 桌子 | zhuō zi | table; desk; CL:張|张[zhang1],套[tao4] |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 把 | bǎ | to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the ob… |
| 床 | chuáng | bed; couch (furniture that one can lie down on) (CL:張|张[zhang1]); bed; bottom (of rivers, oceans, gardens etc); frame; chassis; classifier for blankets, quilts etc; variant of 床[chuang2] |
| 灯 | dēng | lamp; light; lantern; CL:盞|盏[zhan3] |
| 现 | xiàn | to appear; present; now; existing; current |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 坐 | Zuò | surname Zuo |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 不知 | bù zhī | not to know; unaware; unknowingly; fig. not to admit (defeat, hardships, tiredness etc) |
| 道 | dào | road; path (CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]); (bound form) way; reason; principle; (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization; (Daoism) the Way; the Dao; to say (introducing a direct quot… |
| 二 | èr | two; 2; (Beijing dialect) stupid |
| 朋友 | péng you | friend; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with); altogether; in total; an instance of; a case of (murder, accident, dispute etc) |
| 喝 | hē | to drink; variant of 嗬[he1] |
| 茶 | chá | tea; tea plant; CL:杯[bei1],壺|壶[hu2] |
| 说话 | shuō huà | to speak; to say; to talk; to gossip; to tell stories; talk; word |
| 开玩笑 | kāi wán xiào | to play a joke; to make fun of; to joke |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 撤走[che4 zou3]); to change (shape, form… |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 还 | Huán | surname Huan |
| 那里 | nà li | there; that place |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 爱 | ài | to love; to be fond of; to like; affection; to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen) |
| 人 | rén | person; people; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4],名[ming2] |
| 就是 | jìu shì | exactly; precisely; only; simply; just; (used correlatively with 也[ye3]) even; even if |
Last week, I moved into a new home.
On my first day here, there was nothing in the house.
I bought a table. I bought two chairs. I bought a bed. I bought a lamp.
Now, the house looks very nice.
But sitting in the chair, I felt that the house didn’t feel like a home.
Why? I didn’t know.
The next day, my friend came.
He sat in a chair. We drank tea together, we talked, we joked.
After he left, I looked around the house.
The chairs were still there. The table was still there.
But I realized that the house suddenly felt like a home.
Where there are people you love, that is home.