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己 (jǐ) vs 已 (yǐ)

I Have a Question
#1

Hi Chinesepod team,

i hardly to remember and understand correctly with this 2 words.
Can please help explain and give me example of this 2 words 己 (jǐ) vs 已 (yǐ)?

#2

Hi Eddie,

己 [jǐ] means self. This is most commonly seen in the word 自己.

  • 我自己会拿 [wǒ zì jǐ huì ná] (I will take it myself)

已 [yǐ] means “already”. A common word is 已经.

  • 我已经拿了 [wǒ yǐ jīng ná le] ( I already took it)

The way you can remember it is that 已 [yǐ] kind of sounds like the number 一 [yī], so there is one stroke that sticks out in 已. Or you can try to remember them from this: 己 ([jǐ], self) In Chinese culture, we are always asked to stay low-key, so we hide our heads ( l ). 已 ([yǐ], already): Something has already happened, so we need to poke our heads ( l ) to see what’s going on.