A good example of a descriptive Mandarin Chinese noun is cài dan – “menu.”

Cài dan consists of two characters: ??. The first character, cài, means “vegetables,” or “a type of dish.” The second character, dan, means “list,” or “form.”

The literal translation of cài dan, then, is “a list of dishes.”

Examples of Cai Dan

Click the links to hear the audio.

Qing gei wo kànkan càidan.
???????｡
???????｡
Can I see the menu, please?

Huanyíng. Qing zuò. Zhè shì cài dan.
??｡ ??｡ ????｡
??｡ ??｡ ????｡
Welcome. Please have a seat. Here is the menu.