Chinese Pronunciation
Chinese is not a phonetic language. The pronunciation is not related to the writing of Chinese words (characters). A special tool called Pinyin (pronouncing the sound) is created for people to learn Mandarin pronunciation. Pinyin is a way to transcribe Chinese characters so people can pronounce it. The writing of Pinyin is similar to English alphabet.
Syllable=Initials+Finals
Initials: B,P // M,F//D,T//N,L//G,K,H//J,Q,X// ZH,CH,SH,R//Z,C,S
Finals: A: a, ai,an,ao,ang
O: o,ou,ong
E: e,ei,ie,en,eng
U: u,iu,ui,un
Ü
Tones:
| Transliteration | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ā | high level | 妈(mā)=mother |
| Á | high rising | 麻（má)=hemp |
| Ǎ | low falling-rising | 马(mǎ)=horse |
| À | high falling | 骂(mà)=scold |
| A | Neutral | 吗（ma)=question particle |
Greeting
Hello: nǐ hǎo
Goodbye:zài jiàn
Thank you: xiè xiè
How are you: nǐ hǎo ma?
Yes:shì // shì de
No: bù shì
Correct: duì
Incorrect: bù duì
In oral Chinese, when there are two characters with “high falling” tone together, we pronounce the first “high falling”tone as “high rising”tone.
For instance, word “incorrect”: we type as bù duì, but we pronounce as bú duì
Introduction(I)
- What is your name?
A: nǐ dè míng zì shì shén me?
B: nǐ jiào shén me?
- My name is…
A: wǒ dè míng zì shì…
B: wǒ jiào…
- What is your nationality?
nǐ shì nǎ guó rén
- My nationality is…/I am…
wǒ shì…. rén
- What language do you speak?
Nǐ shuō shén me yǔ yán?
- I speak…
Wǒ shuō…yǔ
Vocabulary–Country&Language
Greece:xī là
Swizeland:ruì shì
Italy: yì dà lì
Moldova: mó ěr duō wǎ
Denmark: dān mài
China: zhōng guó
In Chinese, normally we simply add “yǔ”(language) after the name of country to express the language of that country. For instance, Greek is xī là yǔ (Greece+language); Moldovan is mó ěr duō wǎ yǔ.
However, for some countries who end with “guó”(country) in Chinese, we replace “guó” with “yǔ”or “wén”. For instance, France is fǎ guó while French is fǎ yǔ or fǎ wén .
This rule works on the following countries:
The UK(yīng guó), France(fǎ guó), Germany(dé guó), Thailand(tài guó), South Korea(hán guó)
Number:
Zero:líng
One:yī
Two:èr
Three:sān
Four:sì
Five:wǔ
Six:liù
Seven:qī
Eight:bā
Nine:jiǔ
Ten:shí
Eleven:shí-yī
Twelve:shí-èr
Thirteen:shí-sān
Twenty:èr shí
Twenty-one: èr shí-yī
Thirty:sān shí
Forty:sì shí
Fifty:wǔ shí
Introduction(II)
- How old are you?
A:Nǐ duō dà le?
B:Nǐ jīn nián jǐ suì?
- I am…years old
A: number
B: wǒ jīn nián…suì
- Do you have….?
Nǐ yǒu….ma?
- I have…
Wǒ yǒu…
- How many…do you have?
Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè…?
- How much…do you have?
Nǐ yǒu duō shǎo….?
Vocabulary–Family
Family: jiā tíng
Family member: jiā rén
Mother:mā mā
Father:bà bà
Parent: bà mā // fù mǔ
Older sister:jiě jiě
Younger sister:mèi mèi
Older brother: gē gē
Younger brother: dì dì
Sister(in general): jiě mèi
Brother( in general):xiōng dì
Sibling: xiōng dì jiě mèi
Measure word for describing people: gè
- One older sister: yī gè jiě jiě
None: méi yǒu
- I don’t have siblings:wǒ méi yǒu xiōng dì jiě mèi
| Personal pronoun | Possesive pronoun |
|---|---|
| I=wǒ | My=wǒ dè |
| You=nǐ | Your=nǐ dè |
| He=tā | His=tā dè |
| She=tā | Her=tā dè |
| It=tā | Its=tā dè |
| We=wǒ mén | Our=wǒ mén dè |
| You=nǐ mén | Your=nǐ mén dè |
| They=tā mén | Their=tā mén dè |
Time
Now: xiàn zài
Just now: gāng gāng //gāng cái
Future: jiāng lái
Past: guò qù
Day: tiān
Yesterday: zuó tiān
Today: jīn tiān
Tomorrow: míng tiān
Week: zhōu // xīng qī
Monday: zhōu yī// xīng qī yī
Tuesday: zhōu èr// xīng qī èr
Wednesday: zhōu sān// xīng qī sān
Sunday: zhōu rì// xīng qī rì
Month: yuè
January: yī yuè
February: èr yuè
March: sān yuè
December: shí èr yuè
Grammar:tense
Chinese does not have grammatical markers of tense; the time at which action is conceived to take place (past, present, future) can be indicated by expressions of time (“yesterday”, “now”, etc.) or may simply be inferred from the context.
The sentence structure in Chinese is very flexible. Word order and tense are not as strict as even English. The following summaries are only examples.
Present progressive: subject+zheng zai+verb+object e.g. Wǒ zhèng zài chī fàn( i am eating)
Past tense: subject+verb+le+object e.g. Wǒ dú le sān běn shū( i read three books)
Perfect tense: subject+verb+guò+object+le e.g. Wǒ xǐ wán zǎo le(i have taken bath)
Future tense: subject+yào//jiāng yào+verb+object e.g. Wǒ yào qù xué xiào( i will go to school)
Vocabulary: verbs
To come: lái
Come from: lái zì
To go: qù
Go back: húi
To study: xué xí
To eat: chī
To do: zuò
To be: shì
To like: xǐ huān
To love: āi
To be called: jiāo
To speak: shuō
To know: zhī dāo
To live: zhù // zhù zài
To read: dú
To look: kān