Confused - new person and basic problem

[Nita]

I'm just start to learn Chinese and I have a problem with using hanzi.

For example 囚 means prisoner, and 囚犯 also means prisoner.... What are the difference. When I suppose to use one hanzi and when two?

I know that for you it's a basic knowledge but I can't find answer anywhere...  If anyone could help me I will be very grateful.

[Tomsima]

To keep it very simple, you're gonna mostly be using two characters together in modern Chinese whereas its often just one in classical chinese. it also helps for clarification in speech, where chinese is filled with many many homonyms.

[anonymoose]

Where did you learn this character from?

 

I suggest the main source of your new vocabulary should be from authentic sources of modern Chinese (magazines, newspapers, television) or your textbooks. You need to see what vocabulary is actually being used in context, and how, and learn from that.

 

If you want to find out how to say something in Chinese, looking it up in a dictionary is fine, but then Google it to find some example sentences, and see if it is used in the way you want.

 

I think you will find very few modern Chinese material that uses 囚 in isolation.

[Tomsima]

6 hours ago, anonymoose said:

I think you will find very few modern Chinese material that uses 囚 in isolation.

 

I disagree; it appears quite often in historical dramas written on prisoners clothes as a single character in isolation. I can imagine a beginner seeing the character and wanting to know what it means, nothing wrong with a bit of curiosity

[anonymoose]

7 minutes ago, Tomsima said:

I disagree; it appears quite often in historical dramas written on prisoners clothes as a single character in isolation.

 

Disagree with which part? I said "very few", not "none", and I said "modern Chinese", and your example is from a historical drama.

 

8 minutes ago, Tomsima said:

I can imagine a beginner seeing the character and wanting to know what it means, nothing wrong with a bit of curiosity

 

Absolutely. Like I suggested, do a Google search to see how characters/words are used in context.

[Zbigniew]

3 hours ago, anonymoose said:

 and I said "modern Chinese", and your example is from a historical drama.

囚 is regularly found in isolation in modern Chinese.