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mǎ 马 mǎ 马 hū 虎 hū 虎

马马虎虎 mǎ mǎ hū hū

careless; so-so, just passable

Literally: horse horse tiger tiger

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Origin

Descriptive; no single source story. A popular folk tale about a painter who drew a half-horse half-tiger is a later explanation, not a documented source.

How to use it

Predicate or adverbial; negative or humorous. Reply 马马虎虎 to 最近怎么样; also 做事马马虎虎.

Example sentences

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  1. A：你的中文怎么样？B：马马虎虎，还要多练习。
    A: Nǐ de Zhōngwén zěnmeyàng? B: Mǎ mǎ hū hū, hái yào duō liànxí.
    A: How's your Chinese? B: So-so, I still need more practice.
    A: you (particle) Chinese how? B: horse horse tiger tiger, still must more practise
  2. 他做作业总是马马虎虎的，错了很多题。
    Tā zuò zuòyè zǒngshì mǎ mǎ hū hū de, cuò le hěn duō tí.
    He's always careless with his homework and gets lots of questions wrong.
    he do homework always horse horse tiger tiger (particle), wrong (particle) very many questions

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