Spilled Water Cannot be Recaptured

Characters:

Pronunciation: fu(4) shui(3) nan(2) shou(1)
Explanation: Said of something that has been settled and can not change any more

Tone: neutral

The Story: In ancient China, there was a man named Jiang Taigong. He was very poor and lived in a small village. Then his wife left him after a few years and he was then very distraught!

Later a hidden talent of his was discovered and he became the Prime Minister of the Zhou Kingdom. When his wife heard this, she came back and asked for a reunion. Jiang did not refuse her directly; he just poured a basin of water on the ground and asked her to put all the water back it into the basin. Of course, the woman could not do it--all she got was mud. Then Jiang Said to her: "You see, the relation between you and me is just like the split water in the ground now. It can not go back to the way it was before."

Usage Example (Pinyin): Zhe(4) dui(4) fu(1) qi(1) bu hui(4) zai(4) he(2) hao(3) le. Ta(1) men(2) de guan(1) xi(4) fu(4) shui(3) nan(2) shou(1)

Usage Example (English translation): The couple will not be together again, their relation is like spilled water that cannot be recaptured.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.