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Points to remember:
You preface asking a question with 请问 to be polite.
Use 你叫什么名字? for people younger than you, and 您贵姓? for those of the same age or older.
Remember that 叫 is for the first name and 姓 is for the last name (surname).
Depending on context, 名字 could refer to your full name or just your first name.
您 replaces 你 when you want to show respect towards the person you are talking to (usually for someone older or of higher social status).
The 贵姓 also shows respect for the person you are talking to as opposed to 你的姓是?
When answering the question 你贵姓? you wouldn’t answer with 我贵姓 as such respect is reserved for others and not for you.
Using titles such as 先生 and 小姐 when referring to someone conveys respect to them.
Use 你几岁? only to ask the age of much younger people.

Culture Note:

Names: Unlike English, Chinese full names are read last name first. Last names are usually one character and first names are usually two characters. So most Chinese names have three characters in total. You usually wouldn’t ask someone their name right at the beginning. It’s normal to make some small talk first before asking someone for their name. If you don’t know someone’s name it’s perfectly okay to just call them by their title. For example at a restaurant, you can address your waitress as 小姐 or your waiter as 生生.

Also, only very close friends are on a first name basis. Chinese are very sensitive to age and social status so this needs to be respected. So in general use a last name and a title like 王先生. If addressing someone younger (or of a lower social status) than you, use the full name (note last name first).

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月 also means “moon.”
天 and 日 are synonyms meaning day. 日 tends to be used more often in written forms while 天 is more commonly used in the spoken form. As a result, you may see 今日 written in place of 今天.

When reading Chinese dates, you always go from biggest to smallest. So where applicable, we start with the year first, then month, then day.

Use of numbers in Chinese:

While many Chinese write numbers in English these days, the Chinese system of writing is still quite prevalent. You will notice that the characters use very simple strokes to allow them to be written quickly and easily. In more formal occasions however, like when writing cheques, a more complex system of writing numbers is used to prevent fraud (since it would be quite easy to change a “one” (一) into “two”(二) or “three” (三) otherwise). Take a look at the formal list in Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters.

Culture Note:

In Chinese, the number 4 is considered unlucky since 四 sounds very similar to 死, the word for death. The number 8 however is considered lucky because 八 sounds similar to 发, which means to “get rich.”

Review Examples and Exercises

Translate the following.

1. Q: 79 Show Answer

2. Q: 34 Show Answer

3. Q: 43 Show Answer

4. Q: 16 Show Answer

5. Q: 25 Show Answer

6. Q: 46 Show Answer

7. Q: 23 Show Answer

8. Q: 14 Show Answer

9. Q: 87 Show Answer

10. Q: 35 Show Answer

11. Q: 17 Show Answer

12. Q: 59 Show Answer

13. Q: 30 Show Answer

14. Q: 63 Show Answer

15. Q: 81 Show Answer

16. Q: June 12th Show Answer

17. Q: July 5th, 1993. Show Answer

18. Q: His birthday is (on) March 19th. Show Answer

19. Q: January 20th, 2003. Show Answer

20. Q: My birthday is on December 23rd, 1975. Show Answer

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Try to figure out the meanings of these sentences, then move your mouse pointer over them to see if you were right:

我出去.
我出去了.
我要出去.
我会出去.

左边
右边

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Supplementary vocabulary:

洗手间: Literally “Wash hand room”

Very important: When traveling in China, restrooms are usually labeled using the characters for male and female:

男 This character looks like a person with a big head.
女 This character looks like a person sitting down cross-legged.

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Supplementary phrases:

能不能?

Be careful when pronouncing 买 as it is very similar to 卖.

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Look at the construction of the following words and phrases:

些 functions as a universal measure word for a group of objects:

一个人. 五个人. 一些人.
一本书. (本 is the measure word for books). 五本书. 一些书.

During pronunciation, the accent of 一 can vary greatly depending on the tone of the word that follows it. Pay close attention to how the speakers pronounce it to notice these tone changes.

我借给你 is another way to say “I am lending to you.”

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Notice the differences between these phrases:

我很喜欢 and 我真喜欢.
我觉得蓝色跟白色很好看 and 我想蓝色跟白色很好看.

很好看 and 很好听.

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Other types of clothing:

牛仔裤
毛衣
衬衣
服装
裙子

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In this lesson, we saw:

1. 没关系

This is a very common expression and can also be used to mean “It doesn’t matter.”

2. 汉堡跟薯条

Here are some other common items you may see in a fast food restaurant:

水
可乐
鸡肉汉堡
比萨
意大利面

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In this lesson, we saw: 餐厅

Here are some alternate ways to say “restaurant”:

– 饭店 – this can also mean “hotel” depending on context.

– 饭馆.

As well, in the lesson we saw: 点餐.

Similarly, you could say 点菜.

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Alternate vocabulary:

When on a bus, train, car or taxi, you can combine some of the words we’ve seen recently to form some useful vocabulary:

上车.
下车.

Example: 我要在这里下车.

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In this lesson, we saw:

欢迎大家来和我们一起学习第三十二课.

Sometimes you will see 跟我们一起 whereas other times you may see 和我们一起. We will try and change around these intros and phrases to give you alternate versions.

很麻烦
This is a very common expression that can be used in many ways. When asking someone for a favor or even asking them to do something that may cause them the slightest bit of trouble you can start with 麻烦你 meaning “I know I’m troubling you by asking you this question” followed by your question.

出租车 / 计程车
These are two terms used to refer to “taxi.” In the lesson we identified the first one as being used in Mainland China while the latter is used in Taiwan. In this particular case, it is important to use the appropriate term for your region as using a different term may not be understood. This is similar to the different words used to identify “a flat” in England and “an apartment” in America.

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In this lesson, we saw:

上班 and 下班. Similarly, we could say 上课 and 下课.

请跟Kirin说. The literal translation of this phrase is “Please with Kirin speak.” In English though, that would suggest speaking together with Kirin. In Chinese though, 跟 also has the meaning of “follow” so the translation then becomes “Please follow Kirin speak” or in other words “Please repeat after Kirin.”

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呢 is used in reference to the context of your conversation. Similarly you could say: 他呢? or 我呢?

Most adjectives in Chinese use a 的 to indicate “of this type of quality” as in 真的 or 好的.

You answer “yes” or “no” to questions by restating the verb used in the question.

E.g. 你是中国人吗? 是，我是中国人.

In many cases when it is obvious, the pronoun is dropped. So in the above example, we answer 是 rather than 我是.

To reply “no” to such a question we negate the verb in question.
So in the example above:

Are you Chinese? Am not. I’m not Chinese.
你是中国人吗? 不是, 我不是中国人.

不 can change tone depending on the tone of the word that follows directly after it. If the word carries a falling tone, then 不 is pronounced with a rising tone 不.

The 一 in 一点 literally means “one” (you will learn numbers in lesson 6). There is no translation for “a” in Chinese so they use “one” instead.

The possessive particle 的 is sometimes omitted, when multiple objects require it, so you may hear 你中文说得很好 or 你的中文说得很好.

Note that in written form the 得 in 我中文说得不好 is different from the standard possessive particle 的 we see in 你的. Here it’s used as an adverbial particle to describe his speaking, rather than as a possessive particle.

Review Questions: Translate the following.

1. Are you American? Show Answer

2. No, I am British. Show Answer

3. I can speak a little Chinese. Show Answer

4. You speak English very well. Show Answer

5. I’m sorry, I can’t speak Chinese very well. Show Answer

Many adjectives like 好 also function as verbs, so the verb 是 is not used as often in Chinese as the verb “to be” is used in English. Most of the times it is used when you have a statement of the form A=B (e.g. 我是 Adam).

Some countries have alternate names in Chinese just like they may have in English (e.g. Britain / England, Holland / the Netherlands etc.)

In general, nationalities can be derived from countries by adding a 人 at the end of the country.

E.g. 印度 becomes 印度人

Similarly, languages are also derived from the names of countries but in different ways:

• By adding a 文 after the name of the country.
E.g. 西班牙 becomes 西班牙文
• By adding a 文 after the first character in the name of the country
E.g. 日本 becomes 日文
• In some cases you will see 语 being used in place of 文
E.g. 台湾 becomes 台语

Greetings:

你好

The literal translation is “you good”. Many adjectives in Chinese also function as verbs. So here, “good” also functions as “to be good”.

好

你好吗?

This is asked more seriously than in English, where we casually ask “how are you?” It is usually asked of people you haven’t seen for a long time.

我很好

The 很 has a lighter meaning than “very” in English, so here, 很好 could mean “pretty good.”

Pronoun summary:

你
我
他 / 她

Note: while the pronunciation of 他 / 她 for he and she is the same, when written there are separate characters for he (他) and she(她).

他好吗?

他很好 谢谢 谢谢你

Note: When the same character is repeated as in the above example, the second one frequently adopts a neutral tone

再见

The literal meaning is “again meet” or see you again (later)

Culture Note: When greeting someone in China, it is common to bow your head. For formal occasions, they will also shake hands as in the West. When businessmen meet it is obligatory to exchange business cards. When giving or receiving business cards, do so with both hands to show added respect.

Lesson One explains the four tones in Chinese.

This course focuses on Mandarin Chinese which is the official language of China and Taiwan as well as one of the official languages of Singapore. Together it is spoken by some 874 million people around the world which makes it the most spoken language in the world. English in comparison is spoken by only around 309 million people around the world (source: www.ethnologue.com)

The written Chinese language does not use a phonetic alphabet as we do in English, so to make things easier for you, this website uses pinyin, which is the standard form used to transcribe Chinese sounds into a Latin script. Pinyin will be used in all transcripts of dialogues and new vocabulary that is introduced in the actual lessons.

The Chinese written script uses a traditional (still used in Taiwan) as well as a simplified (used in mainland China) system of characters. Both are included in our Premium content.

Chinese is a tonal language. Since many words and concepts are monosyllabic, Mandarin uses 4 tones to distinguish between them. In fact, if you took out all the tones, there would only be around 400 words left in the entire language! The four tones are as follows:

• high tone: the tone starts high and stays constant
• rising tone: the tone rises from middle to high
• falling rising tone: the tone starts in the middle, falls, then rises up
• falling tone: the tone starts high and then falls abruptly

Note: Later lessons will also introduce a 5th neutral tone.

Listen to Kirin’s pronunciation of the word zhu using the four tones. Notice the tone marks used below, above the “u” to indicate which tone is being used to pronounce it. Tones marks like this will be used to indicate which tone should be used.

• 豬 high tone
• 竹 rising tone
• 煮 falling rising tone
• 住 falling tone

The best way to get a feel for the tones is to listen to how Chinese speakers say them. Over time you may also notice that sometimes in the middle of speech tones can change depending on where they are being sandwiched. This is why it is important to listen carefully to how Kirin says the words in the podcast and to repeat them in the same manner.

Background on Pinyin:

The system of transcribing Chinese into English that we are using here is called Pinyin (literally means “spell sound” in Chinese). It was developed in China in the late 1950s. It is based on English pronunciation so in general what you see written is what it sounds like. It is used today in China to teach elementary students how to pronounce words correctly and how to write essays before they have acquired enough Chinese characters to be able to do so.

Background on Chinese characters:

The origins of the Chinese written language date as far back as 10th century BC. At that time, Chinese characters were pictograms representing actual objects or actions. Over time, characters were added to represent sounds of words rather than illustrating actual objects. This caused a gradual shift in Chinese from pictorial to more stylistic and phonetic. Each character today represents one syllable in spoken Chinese.

In the 1950s, when the People’s Republic of China was formed, it was decided that the writing system needed to be simplified to increase the literacy rate of the population. Many characters were rewritten using fewer strokes or replaced altogether. Today, Simplified Chinese is the official writing system in mainland China while Taiwan and other communities continue to use the traditional method. Both versions will be used in the Premium lesson notes on our website here.

The official name for the Mandarin Chinese language in mainland China is 普通話, while in Taiwan it is 國語. The literal meaning is the “common language” or the Country language.” It was designated as the official language of China by the Mandarins, who were the government officials under the Emperor. However, the truth is most Chinese people don’t speak actual Mandarin at home or to each other. Each region in China has its own dialect that can be very different from Mandarin so at home or with other locals they usually end up speaking their own dialect or some combination of Mandarin with their local dialect. In Taiwan for example the locals speak Taiwanese which is similar to the Fukien or the Hokkian dialect spoken in Southern China. Mandarin however, being the official language in all these places is what is taught in schools and is the language used in the news and by government issues. So don’t be put off if the next time you listen to Chinese people speaking to each other, you can’t understand a word of what they are saying. That isn’t a reflection on your Chinese ability. If you approach them and start speaking the proper Mandarin you learned on our website they will certainly understand you and will reply in Mandarin as well.