Chinese phrase , sentence – learn Mandarin – How to say ” I am hungry a bit and thirsty a bit too” in Chinese: 我有点儿饿，而且有点儿渴。Wo3 you3 dian3 er5 e4, er2 qie3 you3 dian3 er5 ke3. Wo3 (我 first person pronoun, I) you3 (有 verb, have) dian3 er5 (点儿 adverb phrase, a bit, to modify the following adjective) e4 (饿 adjective, hungry), er2 qie3 (而且 conjuction, as well as or and) you3 (有 verb, have) dian3 er5 (点儿 adverb, a bit) ke3 (渴 adjective, thirsty). 点儿 and 一点儿 are interchangeable, and they can both put before adjective or noun. When they are put in front of adjective, then they both function as adverb like the sentence we discussed above. These two phrases can be put in front of noun, in this case, they will serve as adjectives, for example:
Xiao3 Wang2 you3 dian3 er5 qian2. 小王有点儿钱。 Little Wang has a bit of money.
Xiao3 Wang2 you3 yi4 dian3 er5 qian2. 小王有一点儿钱。 Little Wang has a bit of money.
Both of dian3 er5 and yi4 dian3 er5 work as adjective to modify the noun, money. If we really want to make more specific demanding about the difference of them, then, dian3 er5 compared with yi4 dian3 er5, dian3 er5 would be a bit more than yi4 dian3 er5, but still a small amount. For the word dian3 点 means dot, if the amount of a thing is described like a dot, it would not be big at all.
The opposite of dian3 er5 or yi4 dian3 er5 is hen3 duo1 (很多，a lot). But, hen3 duo1 only functions as adjective, and it can only modify nouns. You can say, ta4 you4 hen3 duo1 bi3 (他有很多笔 He has a lot of pens), but ＊＊not＊＊, ta1 you3 hen3 duo1 ke3 (他有很多渴 He has a lot of thirty)(for ke3 is an adjective, and hen3 duo1 is not allowed to modify adjectives).The phrase that means “some” in Chinese is yi4 xie1 (一些， some), and the usage of yi4 xie1 is like hen3 duo1 – both can only describe nouns. However yi4 dian3 er5 or dian3 er5 can modify both nouns or adjectives. All these phrases are not measure words, but some general, rough phrases to express the imprecise amount of something. For example, I have four dollars 我有四块钱 Wo3 you3 si4 kuai4 qian2. The kuai4 is the measure word for money to show the exact quantity; while I have a bit of money 我有一点儿钱 Wo3 you3 yi4 dian3 er5 qian2, the a bit, yi4 dian3 er5 is a general phrase to show the vague, loose amount of something.
Some phrases with dian3, such as 点心 （dian3 xin1， snack）, 正点 （zheng4 dian3, on time, upright, or hot and beautiful, we will talk about zheng4 dian3 tomorrow.）
The following video is a tiny girl singing a wordless song, just for fun. There is a classic song called Wordless song 无言之歌 by 潘越云 Pan Yue yun, check it under the Chinese song category. It is one of my favorite, very beautiful.