之

zhī

marks preceding phrase as modifier of following phrase; it, him her, them; go to

How to write 之, stroke by stroke

(possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的); him; her; it

Ideographic: A foot meaning "to follow"; cursive version of 止

Made of 丶

之前zhī qiánbefore; prior to; ago; previously; beforehand
之后zhī hòuafter; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then
之间zhī jiān(after a noun) between; among; amid; (used after certain bisyllabic words to form expressions indicating a short period of time, e.g. 弹指之间)
之一zhī yīone of (sth); one out of a multitude; one (third, quarter, percent etc)
总之zǒng zhīin a word; in short; in brief
之中zhī zhōnginside; among; in the midst of (doing sth); during
之类zhī lèiand so on; and such
之外zhī wàioutside; excluding
之内zhī nèiinside; within
之下zhī xiàunder; beneath; less than
之所以zhī suǒ yǐ(after a noun N and before a predicate P) the reason why N P; Example: 我之所以讨厌他 "the reason why I dislike him (is ...)"
称之为chēng zhī wéito call it...; known as...

你觉得我之前在做什么？
nǐ jué de wǒ zhī qián zài zuò shén me ？
What do you think I've been doing?
几天之后你就可以开车了。
jǐ tiān zhī hòu nǐ jiù kě yǐ kāi chē le 。
You'll be able to drive a car in a few days.
我们之间完了，把戒指还给我！
wǒ men zhī jiān wán le ， bǎ jiè zhǐ hái gěi wǒ ！
It's over between us. Give me back my ring!
笑谈之中有至理。
xiào tán zhī zhōng yǒu zhì lǐ 。
Many a true word is spoken in jest.
地球表面的三分之一是沙漠。
dì qiú biǎo miàn de sān fēn zhī yī shì shā mò 。
One third of the earth's surface is desert.