为什么手机连接不上W乚AN_百度知道
为什么手机连接不上W乚AN
我有更好的答案
路由器的事
采纳率：18%
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个人、企业类
违法有害信息,请在下方选择后提交
色情、暴力
我们会通过消息、邮箱等方式尽快将举报结果通知您。w乚an网一般输入到手机,还是s丨m卡_百度知道
w乚an网一般输入到手机,还是s丨m卡
w乚an网一般输入到手机,还是s丨m卡
我有更好的答案
WLAN一般也叫无线WIFI，，和你家的路由器信号类似，如果是电信移动这些的城市WIFI，需要购买流量或者开通
采纳率：82%
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违法有害信息,请在下方选择后提交
色情、暴力
我们会通过消息、邮箱等方式尽快将举报结果通知您。手机移动w乚an怎样使用_百度知道
手机移动w乚an怎样使用
我有更好的答案
那个是破不了的 你要是用那个破解工具也得别人把密码上传上去才可以破解 破解了之后可以用re文件管理器查看密码
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我们会通过消息、邮箱等方式尽快将举报结果通知您。From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
This is the
You won't see this message or any elements not part of the book's content when you print or
this page.
Chinese (Mandarin)
The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the .
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中华人民共和国 (中国)
新加坡共和国 (新加坡)
People's Republic of China
Republic of Singapore
(Singapore)
The Chinese cultural sphere of influence
The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語 or 中文; : , , ) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. About one-fifth of the world speaks some form of Chinese as its native language, making it the most common natively-spoken language in the world.
There is great internal variety within Chinese, and spoken Chinese languages such as Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), Shanghainese (Wu), and Cantonese, which are not mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, there is a single standardized form of Chinese known as Standard Mandarin (国语), which is based on the dialect of Beijing, which is in turn its own Mandarin dialect, among a large and diverse group of Chinese dialects spoken in Northern and Southwestern China. Standard Mandarin is the official language of Mainland China and Chinese Taiwan, one of four official languages of Singapore, and one of six official languages of the United Nations. Standard Mandarin also corresponds to the modern standard written Chinese language used by people speaking all forms of Chinese from all corners of China, including Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Hakka, Min-nan, and so forth. This textbook will teach Standard Mandarin, both spoken and written.
Chinese grammar is in many ways simpler than European languages (for example, you will see no tenses, plurals, or subject-verb agreement), but there are also plenty of pitfalls that will trip up the unsuspecting beginner (for example, you will encounter tones, measure words, and discourse particles, which do not feature as strongly in European languages.) In addition, the complexity of the writing system often daunts newcomers, as Chinese is one of the few languages in the world that does not use an alp instead, thousands of characters are used, each representing a word or a part of a word. However, most complex Chinese characters are composed of only a few hundred simpler characters and many contain phonetic hints. There is a common Western misconception of Chinese writing as having thousands of distinct and idiomatic symbols each representing a single word, however, Chinese writing is surprisingly mnemonic, granted it is not as simple as the writing of Romance languages. The government of China has developed a system of writing Standard Mandarin pronunciation in the Roman alphabet, known as Hanyu Pinyin, or simply, pinyin (汉语拼音/漢語拼音, "spelling according to sounds"). Hanyu Pinyin is used to write out Chinese words phonetically in an effort to help learners of Chinese with their pronunciation. This wikibook will teach you Hanyu Pinyin first, before any actual sentences. All examples and new vocabulary will always be given together with Hanyu Pinyin.
There are two character sets: Simplified Chinese characters (简体字/簡體字, : ) and Traditional Chinese characters (繁体字/繁體字, : ). Traditional characters trace their lineage through thousands of years of Chinese history, and continue to be used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and among many overseas Chinese. Simplified Chinese characters were the result of reforms carried out in Mainland China to increase literacy rates and is now used in Singapore as well. The two systems share many of the same characters or with systematic, predictable
however, some changes are not as formulaic. As a result, most native Chinese speakers are able to write in only one of the two systems, though they can usually read both. You are recommended to do the same. It is considered easier for people who learn Traditional to read both sets than people who learn Simplified only, but Simplified characters are less intimidating for beginners. In this wikibook, all examples and vocabulary are given in both systems, and you are encouraged to choose one system and stick with it throughout.
Chinese characters have also been used in the past by other neighbouring Asian countries, and are still being used by some of them today. Some older Koreans still know how to read and write Chinese characters, but although the members of younger generations are taught Chinese characters or hanja, they are rarely used and unnecessary for literacy in Korean, with the native alphabet, hangul. Chinese characters are occasionally used for abbreviations, to clarify technical vocabulary (as Chinese serves roughly the same role in Korean that Latin serves in English), and to write family and many personal names. The Japanese still preserve many Chinese characters or kanji today and use them along with two syllabaries to write the Japanese language.
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This textbook will assume that you have no prior knowledge of Chinese, but are willing to take Chinese as a serious subject of study. Each lesson contains a combination of new vocabulary and new grammar in a gradual progression, building on previous lessons.
Each lesson should be appropriate for a week's worth of daily classes, so don't feel overwhelmed by the amount of material per lesson. Learning to write new characters will probably be your limiting factor, so split up the memorization of a lesson's characters over two or three days and use class time mostly for work on grammar and speaking skills.
Each lesson consists of five parts:
Dialogue. Here you will see a dialogue carried out by two or more people. All texts are given in 4 versions: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin, and an English translation.
Grammar. This section breaks down all of the new sentence structures introduced in the dialogue and shows example sentences to reinforce them.
Vocabulary. New vocabulary for the lesson, with translation and pronunciation. Every newly introduced character will be linked to an image or animation showing its stroke order.
Examples. A page of sentences and phrases giving more examples based on the lesson material.
Exercises. Questions and activities to test comprehension of the material. May be used as homework or as review material for lesson exams.
All the lessons and appendices of this Wikibook are arranged as subpages of the Chinese main page (the Table of Contents). Navigating between lessons is done by clicking the appropriate link in the green mini-Table of Contents box found at the top and bottom of every page. To navigate to less-commonly-accessed pages from a subpage, you must first return to the Chinese main page by clicking on "& Chinese" which appears in the top left corner of all subpages.
Additionally, lesson subpages have subpages branching off of them which contain supporting material for the lesson such as examples, exercises, and animations demonstrating the stroke orders of new characters. You'll also find "Traditional" listed as a subpage, which is a toggle button for accessing the traditional version of the page. Click on it, and "Simplified" replaces it, meaning you can easily switch back and forth between the simplified and traditional character versions of this text.
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Learn pinyin. Not only is it used throughout this book to explain proper pronunciation, it is needed to look up words in dictionaries and to type in Chinese.
Pay attention to the tones. Since there are so few syllables in Chinese, there are many homonyms, making attention to tones very important. Learning to write the pinyin with correct tones at the same time as you learn the characters will improve your pronunciation and your listening comprehension.
Read the text aloud. Speaking (and hearing yourself speak) will help reinforce the text in your memory. Exaggerating the tones can help you remember them. In Chinese, character (something that when writing takes a space unit), word (which may include some characters or a single character), and sentence may be different from English. When speaking Chinese, the pronunciation of each character should be a single unit.
Find a language partner. There may be a Chinese language club in a nearby city or university. There are also free websites on the Internet that can help you set up a language exchange using
or other VoIP programs. Two examples are
Use a Text To Speech (TTS) service. In other words, have a computer read the text for you. Free examples include
and . Google Translate can not only read the text (the volume icon, not available for large texts) but also give you the pinyin (the A with the umlaut), and, of course, translate.
Consume Chinese media. Immersing yourself in Chinese after learning the basics will make learning easier. To learn pronunciation, make the voices of native speakers your constant companions, and after finishing this book, continue to immerse yourself—you will have learned enough to take on Chinese "in the wild". A wide variety of multimedia options exist for exposing your ears to native Chinese speakers. Two of the best sites for easy listening materials are
and . Advanced learners can listen to broadcasts of , China's official news network, or visit , a Chinese incarnation of YouTube (YouTube is blocked in China, and Facebook as well, for that matter). Download as much audio as you can from these sites to your MP3 player and start listening. You can listen to Chinese whenever you're in the car, commuting, or doing mechanical tasks. Note that, since Internet Explorer 6 is still a popular browser in China, Chinese websites may seem a bit quirky, and video streaming services may not work at all on modern browsers.
Practice writing—a lot. When you study, write a character at least ten times, and more if you have trouble remembering it. You can find special grid paper for writing practice with Chinese characters on the I for example, PDF sheets are available on , and a practice sheet generator is available at
(or , French). The output is set up as a grid, so that a typical printer can print 11 characters with 8 boxes each per page in portrait mode, giving each character one row, or 5 characters with 17 boxes each, and so on. In landscape mode, a printer can print 8 characters with 11 boxes each per page, or 4 characters with 23 boxes each giving each character two lines. Remember to quiz yourself periodically to test your memory and to find which characters you need to practice more. As you write, think of the sound and meaning of the character, or say it out loud. Check out the
wikibook for more help with Chinese writing. Learn the correct stroke order initially and write carefully, looking at the printed character each time before copying. Actually writing is important to establish a 'motor memory' of each character, which will allow your writing to flow more easily.
Use a flashcard program. Many people who use flash cards memorize information, but there's often much time wasted reviewing what they already know well, or in relearning what they forgot. The free programs
and , can optimize your review schedule using their algorithms. They can also use audio for pronunciation help and 3-sided cards to study reading, writing, and translation separately. You can download , , or write them yourself to fully customize your character selection.
A radical highlighted in 3 characters
Look for radicals.
are components of Chinese characters that you will see repeated over and over again. Learning the meaning of radicals will help you to see the connections between similar categories of words. Many characters are comprised of radical-phonetic pairings, where the radical is the "root" that hints at the meaning of the word, while another part of the character hints at the sound of the word. Learning to spot radicals is also useful since they can be used when looking up words when you don't know the pinyin in Chinese dictionaries.
Buy a dictionary. They're useful for looking up new words or just browsing. Beginner's dictionaries have larger fonts, usage examples, and Pinyin pronunciation, all of which are sometimes missing in comprehensive dictionaries.
is a thorough Chinese-English dictionary available under Creative Commons.
is a free iOS app that uses CEDICT. A good physical dictionary that provides many example sentences and phrases is
(Simplified characters only). A good online dictionary would be . It is searchable by pinyin, characters, and sketches, via a drawing panel. It not only contains definitions, also shows the stroke order of a character, and gives examples of its use.
Children's story books (the characters are easier, many include pinyin or zhuyin for difficult characters)
is the official Chinese news network, but again, it is mostly for advanced learners.
Flashcard program
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This lesson shows the pronunciation of pinyin, the standard Romanization system used for Mandarin Chinese and the one that will be used throughout the textbook. While most of the letters are the same or very close to the English usage, there are some important differences.
Mandarin Chinese may sound strange, but is actually relatively easy for English speakers to pick up—much easier than it is for Mandarin-speakers to learn English. A large part of the reason is that Chinese has a very limited sound inventory, meaning there are not many sounds in the language, and hardly any new ones if you already know English. On the other hand, that means Chinese-speakers trying to grasp English must learn to produce dozens of entirely new sounds—remember that as you proceed through these first lessons on pronunciation!
One very different aspect of Chinese is its use of . Because of its limited sound inventory, the pitch, also known as the tone or inflection, is used to help differentiate between words. Words with different tones usually have entirely different meanings, but may have the same base with different radicals. While some dialects of Chinese have up to nine tones, Mandarin is comparatively easy with only four. It's often difficult for beginners to distinguish the tone of a word, especially when not sure of the context, people who do not speak a
are not used to listening for pitch in conversation. Speaking Chinese is like singing, but even if you have perfect pitch, it may be hard to follow or reproduce what seems like a roller coaster ride of tonal transitions. Don't worry though, you'll improve by listening and practicing. These lessons will describe how to understand and reproduce all the syllables and tones of Mandarin.
If you are familiar with Zhuyin (bopomofo), Tongyong Pinyin, or the Wade-Giles system of Romanization, Wikipedia has an
comparing the different systems.
Hanyu Pinyin is the most common Romanization system for Chinese, which will be used for the rest of the text. However, you may find Tongyong Pinyin and Zhuyin helpful in understanding the correct pronunciation, as they treat .
The , or International Phonetic Alphabet, is a standard set of symbols that can be used to write any sound from any human language. The sounds of pinyin will be listed on the next pages in IPA.
There are three parts to all syllables in M the , the , and the tone. In pinyin, the tone, initial, and final are represented as follows:
The tone is represented by a tone mark placed on top of the syllable. There are exactly four tone marks: ˉ, ˊ, ˇ, and ˋ. The two dots on ü (like a German umlaut) do not have to do with the tone, so if you see ǖ, ǘ, ǚ, or ǜ, the symbol above the dots represents the tone.
The initial is...
in the beginning of a syllable
a consonant (excluding y, or w)
usually one letter, except for zh, ch, sh
The final is made up of the letter(s) after a syllable's initial, not including the tone mark. A final...
begins with a vowel
can be made of 1-4 characters
ends with a vowel, n, ng, or r
For example: in dua?n, d is the initial, uan is the final, and ˋ is the tone.
Some syllables have no initial or no final. In Pinyin, this is shown as follows:
For syllables with no final:
an unpronounced i is added to the end of the syllable: ch → chi
Occurs only with the following initials:zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s
For syllables with no initial:
if the final begins with an i, it is replaced with a y: iao → yao (pronounced like English "yow")
if the final begins with an u, it is replaced with a w: uan → wan (pronounced like English "one")
if the final begins with an ü, it is replaced with yu: üan → yuan
Exceptions:
i alone is replaced by yi, in is replaced by yin, ing is replaced by ying;
iu is replaced by you.
u alone is replaced by wu;
ui is replaced by wei, un is replaced by wen, ueng is replaced by weng.
One other exception:
when combined with initials j, q, x; any ü in a final is changed to u.
If that looks intimidating, don't sweat it. The next few pages will give some actual examples of how initials and finals are pronounced, put together, and how to use tones.
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Remember, since hearing is very important for learning to speak, audio samples and the voices of native speakers should be your constant companions.
Explanation
unaspirated p, as in spit
帮 bāng, to help
包 bāo, (Chinese) bun
as in English
炮 pào, cannon
as in English
马 mǎ, horse
as in English
风 fēng, wind
unaspirated t, as in stand
大 dà, big
刀 dāo, knife
as in English
头 tóu, head
as in English
男 nán, male
as in English
老 lǎo, old
unaspirated k, as in skill
格 gé, grid
歌 gē, song
as in English
看 kàn, to see
like the English h if followed by "a"; otherwise it is pronounced more roughly (not unlike the
好 hǎo, good
喝 hē, to drink
画 huà, to draw
like q, but unaspirated. (To get this sound, first take the sound halfway between joke and check, and then slowly pass it backwards along the tongue until it is entirely clear of the tongue tip.) While this exact sound is not used in English, the closest match is the j in ajar, not the s in As this means that "Beijing" is pronounced like "bay-jing", not like "beige-ing".
叫 jiào, to call
家 jiā, home, family
近 jìn, close
尖 jiān, sharp
like j above, but with strong aspiration. Similar to ch pass it backwards along the tongue until it is free of the tongue tip
气 qì, air, gas
桥 qiáo, bridge
like sh, but take the sound and pass it backwards along the tongue until it is cle very similar to the final sound in German ich, Portuguese enxada, luxo, xícara, puxa, and to huge or Hugh in some English dialects
小 xiǎo, little, small
心 xīn, heart
想 xiǎng, to want
ch with no aspiration (take the sound halfway between joke and church and curl it upwards); very similar to merger in American English, but not voiced
长 zhǎng, to grow
中 zhōng, center, middle
重 zhòng, heavy
Like zh above, but with strong aspiration. Similar to chin, but with the t very similar to nurture in American English, but strongly aspirated
吃 chī, to eat
茶 chá, tea
as in shinbone, but with the t very similar to undershirt in American English
沙 shā, sand
手 shǒu, hand
上 shàng, up, on
similar to the English r in rank, but with the lips spread and with the tongue curled upwards
日 rì, sun
热 rè, hot
unaspirated c (halfway between beds and bets), (more common example is suds)
紫 zǐ, purple
like ts, aspirated (more common example is cats)
草 cǎo, grass
次 cì, time(s)
送 sòng, to send
as in English. If followed by a u, pronounce it with rounded lips
月 yuè, moon
音 yīn, tone
as in English
外 wài, outside
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Final-only form
Explanation
[??], [??]
-i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant following z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- or r-.
(In all other cases, -i has the sound of bee; this is listed below.)
if ending a syllable, then as in "father"
when occurring at the end of a syllable and not in the combinations of ie, üe, ue, then a backward, unrounded vowel, which can be formed by first pronouncing a plain continental "o" ( and
law) and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue. That same sound is also similar to English "duh", but not as open.
like English "eye", but a bit lighter
as in "hey"
approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o
as in "so", "dough"
starts with plain continental "a" ( and
bud) and ends with "n"; as in "stun", "fun"
as in "taken"
as in German Angst, including the English loan word angst (starts with the vowel sound in fat as in "flung", "dung", "young";like song in American English)
like e in en above but with ng added to it at the back
starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing
like ar (exists only on own, or as last part of final in combination with others- see bottom of list)
like English "ee", except when preceded by "c", "ch", "r", "s", "sh", "z" or "zh"
as i + a; like English "yard" or the name "iago"
as i + ê; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet)
as i + ê + n; like English yen
as i + en; as in the English word "in";
as i + ang
as i + ong;
like English "oo", except in xu and yu, where it is pronounced as u
as u + o (as o after initials b, p, m and f); the o is pronounced shorter and lighter than in the o final
as u + ei; here, the i is pronounced like ei
as u + en; like the on in the English won
as u + ang; like the ang in English angst or anger
as u + eng
as in German "üben" or French "lune" (To get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)
as ü + ê; the ü is short and light
as ü + ê + n;
as ü + en;
Interjections
as in "bet". Only used in certain interjections.
plain continental 'or'. Only used in certain interjections.
Finals that are a combination of finals above + er final
Explanation
as e + er (not to be confused with er final on its own- this form only exists with an initial character before it)
as ai + er, an + er
as ao + er
as ou + er
as ang + er
as ia + er, ian + er
as in + er, i + er
as ing + er
as uo + er
as ui + er
as ong + er
as ü + er
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Relative pitch changes of the four tones
Every syllable in Chinese has a clearly defined pitch of voice associated with it to distinguish characters with the same sound from each other. Unfortunately, there is no indication of the tone given when reading a character, so the tones for words must be individually memorized. To help with this, pinyin uses four easily-remembered diacritical marks to tell you what the tones of words are. The diagram to the right shows the pitch changes of the four tones on a five-bar scale going from lowest (1), to highest (5), while the five tone marks are:
First tone (阴平)( ˉ ), high level.
Second tone (阳平)(ˊ), middle rising.
Third tone (上声)( ˇ ), low dipping.
Fourth tone (去声)(ˋ), high falling.
Tone of unstressed syllable (轻声)(without any marks), low level.
Tone marks are always placed over vowels, never consonants. If there is more than one vowel in the syllable, the mark placement is determined by three simple rules.
If there is an a or an e, the tone goes on the a or the e. No pinyin syllable contains both an a and an e.
In the ou combination, the o takes the tone mark.
In all other cases, the final vowel gets the tone mark.
Each bar of this musical staff represents the relative pitch changes when saying tones 1, 2, 3 and 4
Say the first tone as if you were singing a high note. The second tone is pronounced like a question in English, with your pitch rising at the end of the syllable. Third tones are low and extended, noticeably longer than the other tones because of the dip. The fourth tone is said abruptly and forcefully, like a curt command in English. The neutral tone's pitch depends on the tone that precedes it. It is described more fully below, but in general, they are pronounced quickly and softly. The classic example used to show the difference tones make is:
(mā) (má) (mǎ) (mà) (·ma)
(Being "mother", "hemp", "horse", "scold" and a question particle, respectively.)
A sound sample of the four tones
The shape of the 3rd tone when before 1st, 2nd and 4th tones
In many cases, several characters can have exactly the same syllable and tone. For example, along with 马, the characters 码 and 蚂 are also pronounced exactly the same (mǎ). 马 can be used alone to mean the animal "horse." It can also be combined with other characters for new meanings. 马上mǎshàng- 马球mǎqiú- 马路mǎlù- etc. Other characters with the same pronunciation will be used differently as well. 数码相机shùmǎ xiàngjī- 蚂蚁mǎyǐ- etc. Since these characters alone sound exactly the same in conversation, the only way to distinguish them is through context.
The third tone, with its dip-and-rebound, is hard to fit into a continuous sentence. This is why the third-tone changes depending on its environment. There are two rules:
If a third tone comes before another third tone, then it is pronounced as a second tone.
If a third tone comes before any other tone, then it only dips, and doesn't rebound and is called a half-third tone (see image).
Because of these broad rules, the majority of third tones you encounter will be spoken as second tones or half-third tones. Be mindful of this because the written tone marks remain unchanged despite the differences in actual pronunciation.
Some syllables don't have a tone and carry no tone mark. They are not stressed, and they take their tone from the syllable before them:
If it follows a first- or second-tone syllable, then the toneless syllable is mid-range.
If it follows a third-tone syllable, then the toneless syllable is high, as if the dip-and-rebound of the third-tone continues right into it.
If it follows a fourth-tone syllable, then the toneless syllable is low, as if the fall of the fourth-tone continues right into it.
Congratulations! You have completed the pronunciation lessons. Continue to
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7.3.4 The question particle 吗  
7.3.5 The question particle 呢  
It is appropriate to start off the introduction to Chinese with the common greeting 你好   (“hello”)。 Below is a dialogue between two people meeting each other for the first time.
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
我叫金妮。你叫什么名字？
我叫金妮。你叫什麽名字？
我叫欧文。
我叫歐文。
I'm Ginny. What's your name?
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
他们是谁？
他們是誰？
她是艾美，她是中国人。他是东尼，他是美国人。
她是艾美，她是中國人。他是東尼，他是美國人。
你也是美国人吗？
你也是美國人嗎？
不是，我是英国人。你呢？你是哪国人？
不是，我是英國人。你呢？你是哪國人？
我是法国人。
我是法國人。
Tāmen shì shéi?
Who are they?
Tā shì ?iměi, tā shì Zhōngguórén. Tā shì Dōngní, tā shì Měiguórén.
She is Amy. She's Chinese. He's Tony, an American.
Nǐ yě shì Měiguórén ma?
Are you also American?
Bú shì. Wǒ shì Yīngguórén. Nǐ ne? Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?
No, I'm British. How about you? Which nationality are you?
Wǒ shì Fǎguórén.
I'm French.
Note: Visit this lesson's
subpage to see images and animations detailing how to write the following characters. Audio files of the words are linked from the pīnyīn when available. Problems listening? See .
Simplified
Traditional (if diff.)
English [??]
你  
you (singular, masculine)
妳  
妳  
you (singular, feminine)
好  
们  
們  
(particle)
(noun plural marker)
你们  
你們  
you all (plural, masculine)
妳们  
妳們  
you all (plural, feminine)
我  
我们  
我們  
他  
她  
他们  
他們  
they, them (masc.)
她们  
她們  
they, them (fem.)
叫  
to be named, (lit.) to call
什么  
什麽  
名字  
是  
to be (am/is/are)
谁  
誰  
国  
國  
人  
person [个   (個  )]
也  
吗  
嗎  
(question particle for yes or no questions)
呢  
(question particle for known context)
哪  
what, which
不  
(negates verbs)
Simplified
Traditional (if diff.)
中国  
中國  
美国  
美國  
英国  
英國  
法国  
法國  
Forming the nationality is usually as simple as adding on 人   (“person”) to the country name. 中国   (“China”) becomes 中国人   (“a person of Chinese nationality”), and so forth.
The sentence structure of Chinese is very similar to that of English in that they both follow the pattern of
(SVO). Unlike many languages, verbs in Chinese are not conjugated and noun and adjective endings do not change. They are never affected by things such as time or person.
1. 我叫艾美。
Wǒ jiào ?iměi.
I'm called Amy.
The equational verb 是   (“to be”) can be used as the English is or equals. 是   can only be used to equate combinations of nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns. In Chinese, 是   (“to be”) is not used with adjectives, as it is in English, as in, "He is cold."
S + 是 + O
1. 我是中国人。
Wǒ shì Zhōngguórén.
I am a Chinese person.
2. 她是金妮。
Tā shì Jīnní.
She is Ginny.
3. 她们是英国人。
Tāmen shì Yīngguórén.
They are English.
是   is negated when preceded by 不   (“not”). 不   is normally 4th tone, but changes to a 2nd tone when it precedes another 4th tone.
S + 不 + 是 + O
1. 他不是东尼。
Tā bú shì Dōngní.
He is not Tony.
2. 我不是美国人。
Wǒ bú shì Měiguórén.
I am not American.
There are no articles in Chinese grammar. While English noun clauses often begin with "a", "an", or "the", Chinese is less verbose.
An example:
我是中国人。
Wǒ shì Zhōngguórén.
I am [a] Chinese person.
An "a" appears in the English translation, but the
nature of 中国人   (“Chinese person”) is just inferred in Chinese.
Adding the modal particle 吗   to the end of a sentence makes a statement into a question. There is no change in word order unlike in English.
The declarative example sentence in #1 is transformed into an interrogative in #2.
1. 她是金妮。
Tā shì Jīnní.
She is Ginny.
2. 她是金妮吗？
Tā shì Jīnní ma?
She is Ginny ?
Using the ending modal particle 呢   makes a question when the context is already known, similar to saying "How about...?" in English. A common circumstance is when you wish to repeat a question that was just asked for another subject. Simply add 呢   to the end of the noun or pronoun to ask "How about this".
1. 我叫东尼, 你呢？
Wǒ jiào Dōngní, nǐ ne?
I'm called Tony. How about you?
2. 艾美是中国人, 他呢？
?iměi shì Zhōngguórén, tā ne?
Amy is Chinese. How about him?
Question words like 哪   (“what”) and 谁   (“who”) also make statements into questions without changing the order of the sentence. In Chinese, each question word appears where its answer would complete the surrounding sentence.
1. 他们是哪国人？
Tāmen shì nǎ guó rén?
What nationality are they? (literally, "They are what country person?")
2. 谁是美国人？
Shéi shì Měiguórén?
Who is American?'
3. 她是谁？
Tā shì shéi?
Who is she? (literally, "She is who?")
Lesson 2 contains a dialogue of two students discussing their classes for the day.
Dialogue 1
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
艾美，早上好（早安）。
艾美，早上好（早安）。
早。你好吗？
早。你好嗎？
我很好，谢谢。你呢？
我很好，謝謝。你呢？
我也很好。你今天忙吗？
我也很好。你今天有空嗎？
今天我很忙。我有五门课。
今天我很忙。我有五門課。
五门？太多了！我今天只有一门。
五門？太多了！我今天只有一門。
一门？太少了！
一門？太少了！
Good morning, Amy.
Good morning. How are you?
I'm fine, thanks. And you?
I'm also fine. Are you busy today?
I'm very busy today. I have five classes.
Five? That's too many! Today I only have one.
One? That's too few!
Dialogue 2
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
艾美，下午好。
艾美，下午好。
下午好。你那五门课上完了吗？
下午好。你那五門課上完了嗎？
上了三节，你呢？
上了三節。你呢？
上完了，下午想去公园。
上完了，下午想去公園。
哦。这个计划不错。
哦。這個計劃不錯。
谢谢夸奖。那么，明天见！
謝謝夸獎。那麼，明天見！
?iměi, xiàwǔ hǎo.
Good afternoon, Amy.
Xiàwǔ hǎo. Nǐ nà wǔ-mén kè shàng-wánle ma?
Good afternoon. Did you finish your five classes?
Shàng-le sān-jié, nǐ ne?
I finished 3 of them. And you?
Shàng-wánle, xiàwǔ xiǎng qù gōngyuán.
I'm free now. I am going to the park.
O. Zhègè jìhuà bùcuò.
Oh. That's a good plan.
Xièxiè kuājiǎng. Nàme, míngtiān jiàn!
Thanks a lot. Hey, see you tomorrow.
Míngtiān jiàn!
Note: Visit this lesson's
subpage to see images and animations detailing how to write the following characters. Audio files of the words are linked from the pīnyīn when available. Problems listening? See .
Simplified (traditional in parentheses)
English [??]
morning (often spoken alone as a shortened form to mean "good morning" just like with English)
good morning
谢谢 (謝謝)
to have, possess
negates yǒu
(measure word for school courses)
class [節-measure word for class]
too, extremely
(combines with 太 - see grammar)
only, merely
good morning
good afternoon
Though translated as "very", Hěn [很] has a weaker meaning than it does in English. It is often added before a single-syllable adjective just to enhance the rhythmic flow of the sentence. Hěn is used before the adjective in affirmative sentences, but not in negative sentences or questions. A common mistake of beginners is to insert shì [是] into adjectival sentences, but this usage is incorrect as shì can only be used to equate combinations of nouns, noun phrases and pronouns.
1. 我很忙。
Wǒ hěn máng
I am (very) busy.
The particle le [了] has many different functions in Chinese, but in this case, it serves to add emphasis to the verb or adjective of the sentence. It can be seen paired with tài [太] to express excessiveness.
1. 太多了。
Tài duō le.
(That's) too many.
2. 太少了。
Tài sh?o le.
(That's) too few.
A sentence can be made into a question by having both affirmative and negative options together. To answer in the affirmative, the verb or adjective is repeated. (An affirmative adjective in this case is usually preceded by hěn [很] to avoid a comparative tone.) Responding in the negative is simply saying "not verb" or "not adjective".
S + V 不 V + O?
Because the bù in affirmative-negative questions is often said quickly, marking the tone on bù is not strictly necessary in their case.
Q: 他是不是东尼？
Tā shì bu shì Dōngní?
Is he Tony?
literally, "he is/is not Tony?"
A: 是的。（是，他是/嗯，他是。）or 不是。 （不，他不是。）
The de is not necessary. You can simply answer 是 (shì).
Shì de. (Shì tā shì) or Bú shì (Bù tā bú shì).
Yes (he is). or No (he isn't).
S + adj. 不 adj.? （The second adjective can be omitted.）
Q:艾美今天忙不忙？/艾美今天忙不？
?iměi jīntiān máng bù （máng）?
Is Amy busy today?
literally, "Today, Amy busy/not busy"
A: 她很忙。or 她不忙。
Tā hěn máng. or Tā bù máng.
Yes, she's (very) busy. or No, she's not busy.
Yǒu [有] means to have and indicates possession.
S + 有 + O
我有三门课。
Wǒ yǒu sān mén kè.
I have three classes.
Yǒu is negated when preceded by méi [没].
S + 没 + 有 + O
今天，他们没有课。
Jīntiān tāmen méi yǒu kè.
Today, they don't have any classes.
Yǒu is negated when preceded by méi [没].
S + 一 + O + 都没有
The adverb 都 (dōu) is required here in front of 没有 to emphasize the lack of a single one of the object. Also, be sure to remember to place the proper measure word between 一 and the object.
今天，他们一门课都没有。
Jīntiān tāmen yì mén kè dōu méi yǒu.
Today, they don't have a single class.
The Chinese language employs heavy usage of particles to modify the meaning of characters and sentences. Since Chinese has neither inflections nor tense, the mastery of particles is an absolute must if one is to fully comprehend both written and spoken Chinese. Below, you will find some of the most common particles in everyday Chinese.
The particle de [的] can be used to indicate possession. It is roughly equivalent to the contraction "X's" in English, where X is the subject.
Tā de míngzi shì Jīnní.
Her name is Ginny.
sometimes "的" is suffixed to a word to indicate that it's used as an adjective.
Example 她是一个美丽的姑娘
Tā shì yīge měilì de gū’niang.
She is a beautiful girl.
where "美丽" "beautiful" is an adjective, and
Example 研究是一个科学的过程
Yánjīu shì yígè kēxué dè guòchéng
Researching is a scientific process.
and where "科学" is a noun in Chinese and is turned into adjective using "的".
Perfective Aspect Particle
The {了} particle is used mainly to indicate a completed action (this overlaps somewhat with the English perfect aspect, i.e. "to have gone", "to have eaten").
Tā z?u le.
He has gone.
※The "le" here is used to modify 走 (z?u, to go) into an action which has already been completed.
The {了} can also be used as an imperative, that is, a command which is issued by the subject
Bié zài d?r?o w? le!
Do not bother me again!
※In this instance, le is used in conjunction with bié ("do not") to form an imperative. Note: most imperatives are not formed using this construction.
The {了} , as in Li?o (a homographic variant) can be used to indicate the subject's capability in doing such and such.
W? shízài chī bù li?o le.
I cannot possibly eat any more.
At first glance, this sentence may seem a bit daunting as it includes two instances of the le particle, paired side-by-side. However, the first le is understood to be li?o given its placement (bù + le is a nonsensical pairing). Therefore, li?o serves to indicate the capability of eating any further and le emphasizes this assertion.
The particle Zhe [着] is used after a verb to show that the action is in progress or that the results from that action are continuing.
1. 他睡着觉时有人敲门。
Tā shuìzhe jiào shí yǒurén qiāomén
While he was sleeping, someone knocked on the door.
For this sentence, you can take out "着" and say "他睡觉时有人敲门。" as "时" means "while" here.
The particle Zháo [着] is used after a verb to show accomplishment or result.
Note: It is not to be confused with the identically written particle Zhe, which shows continuation (Lesson 3).
1. 我终于把东西买着了!
(我終於把東西買著了!)
W? zhōngyú b? dōngxī m?i zháo le.
I've finally been able to buy this item!
And another word, dào [到], can be seen as a substitution for 着, in most cases they are interchangeable.
2. 他在行窃时被当场抓到。
Tā zài xíng qìe shí beì dāng chǎng zhuā dào.
He was(is) caught in the act of stealing.
The 把 + N + V + 着(到)了 construction is particularly useful and should be studied.
The particle de [得] is used in few special constructs to indicate degree of complement (how fast, how early, how expensive, etc.). It has no equivalent in English but must be used to indicate the meanings below.
S + V + 得 + adjective
1. 我说得很好.
W? shuō de hěn h?o.
I speak very well.
This construct often requires a context to gain its full meaning.
If you wish to speak more specifically about an action, the two constructs below demonstrate the use of 得 with a direct object.
S + V + O + V + 得 + adjective
2. 我说中文说得很好.
W? shuō zhōngwén shuō de hěn h?o.
I speak Chinese very well.
Note the dual-use of the verb.
O + S + V + 得 + adjective
3. 中文我说得很好.
Zhōngwén w? shuō de hěn h?o.
I speak Chinese very well.
This construct emphasizes the object (here being "Chinese").
S + O + V + 得 + adjective
4. 我中文说得很好.
W? zhōngwén shuō de hěn h?o.
I speak Chinese very well.
This expression is the simplification of the 2nd expression by eliminating the 1st verb. This form is even more frequently used than the 2nd expression above.
Note: Visit this lesson's
subpage to see images and animations detailing how to write the following characters. Audio files of the words are linked from the pīnyīn when available. Problems listening? See .
Simplified
Traditional (if diff.)
English [??]
to walk, leave
emphatically, etc.
(lit.) time. When used in conjunction with a verb, it means "when/as" that action is taking place
door, gate
finally, eventually
a general expression for "thing"
Only be used to express "play" as in "play the game." It can't be used like "play the piano" or "play video"...etc.
The order of most Chinese sentences, like in English, is S-V-O, that is Subject-Verb-Object.
我看这本书。
我看這本書。
Wǒ kàn zhè běn shū.
I read this book.
Word order in Chinese is more rigid than in English. However, sometimes you may find sentences that seem to defy normal word order. For example, 我住在中国。wǒ zhù zài zhōngguó. The English translation does this too: I live in China. The reason for this is that "in China" is a preposition (prepositions indicate place or time) that is tacked on to the main sentence—"I live." More examples:
下午一点半，我们走。
Xiàwǔ yīdiǎn bàn, wǒmen zǒu.
At 1:30 in the afternoon, we'll go.
在青岛，我看到了。
Zài qīngdǎo, wǒ kàn dào le.
In Qingdao, I saw it.
As in English, a preposition can also appear after a subject.
我在我家看这本书。
我在我家看這本書。
Wǒ zài wǒ jiā kàn zhè běn shū.
I read this book at my house.
我明天看这本书。
我明天看這本書。
Wǒ míngtiān kàn zhè běn shū.
I will read this book tomorrow.
When using both a preposition for time and a preposition for place, put the preposition for time first.
我明天在我家看这本书。
我明天在我家看這本書。
Wǒ míngtiān zài wǒ jiā kàn zhè běn shū.
I will read this book at my house tomorrow.
明天在我家，我看这本书。
明天在我家，我看這本書。
Míngtiān zài wǒ jiā, wǒ kàn zhè běn shū.
Tomorrow at my house, I will read this book.
明天，我在我家看这本书。
明天，我在我家看這本書。
Míngtiān, wǒ zài wǒ jiā kàn zhè běn shū.
Tomorrow, I will read this book at my house.
Note the variation in word order. You can also place a preposition for place, but not for time, at the end of a sentence.
我看这本书在我家。
我看這本書在我家。
Wǒ kàn zhè běn shū zài wǒ jiā.
I read this book at my house.
Another structure for Chinese sentences is topic-comment. That is, the first thing mentioned is the topic of discussion and then the speaker will add a comment following that.
It is used to emphasize a certain part of the sentence. In the following example, the speaker wants to emphasize that he is going to read the particular book being discussed.
这本书，我明天在我家看。
這本書，我明天在我家看。
Zhè běn shū, wǒ míngtiān zài wǒ jiā kàn.
I will read this book tomorrow.
Comparisons can be made using bǐ [比]. Adverbs (like 不，也，只，都）and any auxiliary verbs are placed before bǐ in the sentence. The amount of the disparity between the two is placed after the adjective.
A 比 B + Adj.
她比我忙。
Tā bǐ wǒ máng.
She is busier than I am.
东尼也比我忙很多。
東尼也比我忙很多。
Dōngní yě bǐ wǒ máng hěn duō.
Tony is also a lot busier than I am.
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
【宋】邵雍
一去二三里
烟村四五家
亭台六七座
八九十枝花
【宋】邵雍
一去二三里
煙村四五家
亭臺六七座
八九十枝花
Shāncun Yǒnghuái
【Sòng】Shàoyōng
Yí qù èrsān lǐ
Yāncūn sìwǔjiā
Tíngtái liùqīzuò
Bājiǔshízhī huā
The sigh for a village
【Song】Shao Yong
The distance is two or three miles,
and I can see four or five houses
with smoking chimneys.
There are six or seven pavilions,
and eight, nine or ten flowers.
Simplified (traditional in parentheses)
English [??]
mountain village
It's short for 宋朝（song dynasty,960–1279）.
shàoyōng
A poetic name.
be apart (away)
be at a distance from
This usage is only used classical Chinese.
Mile and 里 are not identical.In song dynasty,1里≈415.8m.Now China,1里=500m.
烟村（煙村）
The village with smoking chimneys
This usage is only literary works.
the measure Words of family
the measure Words of building
the measure Words of flower
In Chinese, most specified or numbered nouns must be preceded by , also known as classifiers, according to the type of object. Consider the English phrase, "two pairs of pants." Like the word "pair," Chinese measure words are placed between the noun and the preceding number.
1. 这本书里没有一个汉字。
Zhè b?n shū lǐ méi y?u yí gè Hànzì.
This book doesn’t contain one Chinese character.
2. 那间宿舍有六十个学生。
Nà jiān sùshè y?u liùshí ge xuésheng.
That dorm has sixty students.
The phrase 一朵花 (yī duǒ huā) means "one flower," but how would you say "a pile of flowers?" It's simple: just change the classifier. The phrase 一堆花 (yī duī huā) means "a pile of flowers." You could also say 一把花 (yī bǎ huā; a handful of flowers), 一桶花 (yī tǒng huā; a bucket of flowers), or 一种花 (yī zhǒng huā; a kind of flower). You can see that measure words act as adjectives.
In Chinese, like in English, you can omit the noun if it's already known, leaving only the classifier. 你看到那种（花）吗？ (Nǐ kàn dào nà zhǒng (huā) ma?) means "Did you see that kind (of flower)?" You can see that measure words also act as nouns.
Measure words are also used with
(this, that). For example, 这朵花 means "this flower," and 那朵花 means "that flower."
You might also encounter something like this: 书架上有书本。 (Shūjià shàng yǒu shūběn.) which means "The bookshelf has books on it." Note that the classifier is after the noun. This signifies multiple books where the exact number is not important, here translated "books." The sentence 书架上有书。, means the same as above, but is without the classifier.
Column key: Trad. is Traditional, Simp. shows changes made for the simplified variant (if any).
individual things, people — usage of this classifier in conjunction with any noun is generally accepted if the person does not know the proper classifier.
一个书包 yí ge shūbāo, a schoolbag
"handful", "fistful" — objects that can be held or grabbed (knives, scissors, also chairs)
一把刀 yì b? dāo. One knife.
一把盐 yì b? yán. A handful of salt.
"package", "bundle"
一包纸巾 yì bāo zhǐ jīn. A package of paper towels.
"cup" — drinks
一杯水 yì bēi shuǐ. A cup of water.
"volume" — any bound print or written matter (books, etc.)
一本书 yì běn shū. A book.
slimmer volumes of books
"time" — opportunities, accidents
两次 liǎng cì. Twice. 三次 sān cì. Three times.
"droplet" — water, blood, and other such fluids
一滴水 yì dī shuǐ. A drop of water.
ideas, suggestions, can also mean "a bit"
你睡一点。 Nǐ shuì yīdiǎn. Sleep a bit.
"pile" — anything in a pile
一堆书 yī duī shū. A pile of books.
flowers, clouds
一朵花 yì du? huā. One flower.
newspapers, jobs
一份报 yì fèn bào. A newspaper
thin, slender objects, lit. "a root of a..." (needles, pillars, grass, vegetable roots etc.)
一根针 yì gēn zhēn. A needle
gathering of people (families, companies, etc.)
一家人 yī jiā rén. A family of people.
objects with a "frame" generally used for machines or mechanical objects (esp. cars, planes, etc.)
一架飞机 yī jià fēijī. One plane.
matters, clothing, etc.
一件衣服 yí jiàn yī fù. An article of clothing.
"a section" — of bamboo, tutorials and classes, etc.
automobiles, bicycles, vehicles, etc.
一辆车 yí liàng chē. One car.
any flat and smooth objects, lit. "a surface of a..." (mirrors, flags, walls, etc.)
一面镜子 yí miàn jìng zi. One mirror
horses and other mounts, or rolls/bolts of cloth
一匹马 yì pǐ m?. One horse.
"slice" — any flat object, like cards, slices of bread, tree leaves, etc.
一片叶子 yì piàn yè zi. One leaf.
"bottle" — drinks
objects that open and close (doors, windows)
一扇门 yì shàn mén. One door
一艘船 yì sōu chuán. One ship.
any buildings, apartment
heavy objects (TVs, computers, etc.) and performances (esp. in theatre, etc.)
一台电脑 yī tái diànnǎo. One computer.
long, narrow, flexible objects (fish, trousers, etc.)
一条鱼 yì tiáo yú. One fish.
"head" — herd animals (pigs, cows, sheep etc., never for fowls or birds), hair
一头牛 yì tóu niú. One head of cattle (Literally translated into English, "头" means head).
polite classifier for people (e.g. gentlemen, professors, customers)
几位？Jǐ wèi? How many (people)?
"some" — anything that's plural
一些书 yī xiē shū. Some books. Never 两些书
"sheet" — squarish or rectangular flat objects (paper, tables, etc.), faces, bows, paintings, tickets, constellations
一张纸 yì zhāng zhǐ. One piece of paper.
stick-like objects (pens, chopsticks, etc.)
一支笔 yì zhī bǐ. One pen.
one of a pair (e.g. hands, limbs), animals (birds, cats, etc.)
一只狗 yì zhī g?u. One dog.
types or kinds of objects, ideas, etc.
一种书 yì zhǒng shū. One type of book.
building object
一栋房子 yí dòng fáng zí. One house
on Wikipedia for a more complete reference.
王明：你好，李红。
李红：嗨！王明。你去哪儿？
王明：我去图书馆。你呢？
李红：回家。
王明：再见。
李红：再见。
Wang Ming: Nǐ hǎo, Lǐ Hóng.
Li Hong: Hài! Wáng Míng. Nǐ qù nǎr?
Wang Ming: Wǒ qù túshūguǎn, nǐ ne?
Li Hong: Huí jiā.
Wang Ming: Zài jiàn.
Li Hong: Zài jiàn.
Wang Ming: Hello, Li Hong.
Li Hong: Hi, Wang Ming. Where are you going?
Wang Ming: I'm going to the library. What about you?
Li Hong: Going home.
Wang Ming: See you.
Li Hong: See you.
NOTE: It's also appropriate with close friends (ones who you would use "你" (nǐ) instead of "您" (nín) with) to greet with "哎" (aì), the closest equivalent in English being "Hey". This can precede or even take place of the traditional "你好" greeting, and partially serves as an attention-getter. However, if the pronunciation of "哎" (aì) is stretched/lengthened, it may sound as if you are complaining about something, which uses the same word.
嗨 / hài = hi
去 / qù = go
哪儿 （哪兒） / nǎr = where
图书馆 (圖書館） / túshūguǎn = library
再见 （再見 / zàijiàn = bye, goodbye (literally: see you again)
王明：这是什么？
李红：这是书。
王明：那是什么？
李红：那是钢笔。
王明：那是杂志吗？
李红：不，那不是杂志。那是字典。
Wáng Míng: Zhè shì shěnme?
Lǐ Hóng: Zhè shì shū.
Wáng Míng: Nà shì shěnme?
Lǐ Hóng: Nà shì gāngbǐ.
Wáng Míng: Nà shì zázhì ma?
Lǐ Hóng: Bù, nà bùshì zázhì. Nà shì zìdiǎn.
王明是中国人。
王明是学生。
史密斯是美国人。
史密斯是王明的朋友。
史密斯是律师。
Wáng Míng shì Zhōngguórén.
Wáng Míng shì xuéshēng.
Shīmìsī shì Měiguórén.
Shīmìsī shì Wángmíng de péngyǒu.
Shīmìsī shì lǜshī.
王明 (Wáng Míng)
n. Wang Ming [personal name] [Wang= Family Name, Ming=First name/Personal name]
李红／李紅 (Lǐ Hóng)
n. Li Hong [personal name] [Li= Family Name, Hong= First/Personal name]
这/這 (zhè)
pron. this
v. to be (is/are)
什么／甚麼 (Mainland shénme
and Taiwan shěme)
pron. what
pron. that
n. a generic term for all pens
钢笔 (gāngbǐ)
n. fountain pen
铅笔 (qiānbǐ)
原子笔 (yuánzǐbǐ)
n. ballpoint pen
毛笔 (máobǐ)
n. brush (calligraphy pen)
杂志 (zázhì)
n. magazine
报纸 (bàozhī)
n. newspaper
书本 (shūběn)
传单 (chuándān)
n. pamphlet
final interrogative particle used
to form a question sentence
字典 (zìdiǎn)
n. dictionary
n. person/people
中国人 (Zhōngguórén)
n. PRC Chinese (中国：China　人：people)
外国人 (Wàiguórén)
n. Foreigners (外：Outside　国：Country　人：People)
日本人 (Rìběnrén)
n. Japanese (日本：Japan 人：People)
英国人 (Yīngguórén)
n. British (英国：Britain 人：People)
新加坡人 (Xīnjiāpōrén)
n. Singaporean （新加坡：Singapore)
美国人 (měiguórén)
n. American
学生 (xuéshēng)
n. student
老师 (lǎoshī)
n. teacher
校长 (xiàozhǎng)
n. principal
史密斯 (Shǐmìsī)
美国人 (Měiguórén)
n. American
朋友 (péngyǒu)
律师 (lǜshī)
笔记本/筆記本 (bǐjìběn)
铅笔/鉛筆 (qiānbǐ)
英国人/英國人 (Yīngguórén)
法国人/法國人 (Fǎguórén)
报纸/報紙 (bàozhǐ)
老师/老師 (lǎoshī)
作家 (zuòjiā)
n. notepads
n. British people
n. French people
n. newspaper
n. teacher
will be added if it's helpful.
In Chinese names, the family name comes before the given name. Family names are passed down paternally and usually have only one character. Chinese given names are usually two characters long, but may also be one character.
Hence a man called 王明 (Wáng Míng) is addressed as Mr. Wang, not Mr. Ming. A woman called 李红 (Lǐ Hóng) is addressed as Mrs./Miss Li.
However, if the person has a western personal name, it is presented in the GIVEN-NAME/FAMILY-NAME format, following the Western convention. Hence if 李红 (Lǐ Hóng) has a western-style personal name of Mary, she is usually introduced as "Mary Li" and not "Li Mary"
In this lesson, we learn how to say "something is something" in Chinese. The first thing you need to know is that the sentence structure of Chinese is very similar to that of English in that they both follow the pattern of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). But unlike many Western languages, verbs in Chinese aren't conjugated and noun and adjective endings don't change. They are never affected by things such as time or person.
This sentence means "What's this/that?":
这是什么？(What's this?)
那是什么？(What's that?)
The sentences, if broken down literally, shows that the ordering of words differs in English and Chinese:
The order of the sentences may seem a little bit tricky, but don't worry about that, we will discuss this later.
This sentence means "A is B."
"是" (shì), the equational verb to be, can be used as the English is or equals. When used in a simple Subject-Verb-Object sentence, the subject defines the object. Since Chinese verbs never change, no other forms for shì exist such as was or am in English. Also, articles like a and the are absent in Chinese. They are not translated.
For example:
这是书 (zhe4 shi4 shu1): this is (a) book.
那是杂志 (na4 shi4 za2zhi4): that is (a) magazine.
This sentence means "A is not B." in which shì is negated when preceded by "不" (bu). "不" literally means "no", "not".
For example:
这不是书 (zhè bú shì shū): this is not (a) book.
Now, we come back to the "what's this/that?" questions. We already see that the order is a bit tricky comparing to the English question order. But comparing to the latter pattern "A　是　B", we find the similarity: their orders are identically the same. In fact, like particles, question words make statements into questions without changing the order of the sentence. To make one, simply substitute the QW in for place the subject would be in the answer.
Comparison:
这是书。(This is (a) book.)
这是什么？(This is what?)
那是杂志。(That is (a) magazine.)
那是什么？(That is what?)
"吗"(ma) is a final interrogative particle used to form a question sentence. Adding this character at the end of a statement transforms the sentence into a question.
Example 1:
这是书 (zhe4 shi4 shu1)。(This is (a) book.)
这是书吗 (zhe4 shi4 shu1 ma)？(Is this (a) book?)
Example 2:
这不是杂志 (zhe4 bu2 shi4 za2 zhi4)。(This is not (a) magazine.)
这不是杂志吗(zhe4 bu2 shi4 za2 zhi4 ma)？(Isn't this (a) magazine?)
"是" (shi4) can be used to answer a simple yes/no question. In this case, "是" means yes, whilst "不" (bu2) or "不是" (bu2 shi4) means no (literally, not is).
How to answer yes/no questions correctly in Chinese? Usually, it's the same as in English, but pay attention if the questions are negative, like "Isn't this a book?". In Chinese, you answer to the questions, not the fact. If the question itself is a negative answer, use "不是" or simply "不", vice versa. For example:
A: 这不是书吗？zhe4 bu2 shi4 shu1 ma? (Isn't this (a) book? = This is not a book, right?)
B: 是，这不是书。shi4, zhe4 bu2 shi4 shu1. (No, this is not (a) book. = Y this is not a book.)
B: 不，这是书。bu4, zhe4 shi4 shu1. (Yes, this is (a) book. = You' this is a book.)
A asks if that's a book in a negative way. If the object is not a book, you should nevertheless approve A's saying first. So we use "是" to acknowledge that A is correct, and then say "this is not (a) book" to emphasis A In the case of that is a book, you should deny A's saying first, using "不" (no) to point out A is wrong, then make a new statement by noting that "这是书" (this is (a) book). One more example:
他今天晚上不来参加宴会了，对吗？(He's not going to the party tonight, is he?)
不，他肯定要来。(Yes, he's definitely coming.)
是 啊，他很忙呢！(No, he's so busy!)
Character "的" (de) indicates that the previous word has possession of the next one. In English it functions like 's or like the word of but with the position of possessor and possessee switched. For example:
史密斯(Shǐmìsī)的书(shū: book) &-& Smith's book
王明的钢笔 &-& Wang Ming's pen
约翰** (Yuēhàn: John)的朋友** (péngyǒu: friend) &-& John's friend or a friend of John's
Replace the underline words, and practice.
史密斯是美国人。
这不是杂志。
Replace the underline words, and then answer the questions with both positive answers and negative answers.
史密斯是法国人吗？
是，史密斯是法国人。
不，史密斯不是法国人。
那是杂志吗？
王明是学生吗？
Translate the following English into Chinese.
Wang Ming is not a teacher. Wang Ming is a student. Wang Ming is a Chinese. Wang Ming is not an American.
Answer(答):Wang Ming不是老師。Wang Ming是學生。Wang Ming是中國人。Wang Ming不是美國人。
Smith is a lawyer. Smith is not a writer. Smith is an American. Smith is not a French.
Answer(答):Smith是律師。Smith不是作家。Smith是美國人。Smith不是法國人。
This is Smith's book. That is Wang Ming's pen.
Answer(答):這是Smith的書。那是Wang Ming的筆。
Read the following article, and then answer the questions in Chinese.
你好(nǐhǎo, hello)，我(wǒ, I)是王明。我是学生，我是中国人。这是史密斯。史密斯是我的1 朋友，史密斯是律师。那是史密斯的妻子(qīzi, wife)，安娜(Ana)。安娜是我的英语(yīngyǔ, English language)老师。
1."我　的" means "my", we will discuss this in the next lesson.
Questions:
Who is "I"?
What does Smith do?
Who is Ana?
What does Ana do?
Greetings. How to greet people in Chinese?
你好！(nǐhǎo): Hello!
嗨！(hài): Hi!
幸會 (xìnghuì) Great to meet you!
你吃过饭了吗？(nǐ chīguofàn le ma?): Have you had your meal? (This is a causal greeting between friends etc. But it doesn't mean you are asked to a dinner! Another derivation of this phrase commonly used in Beijing is "你吃了吗？")
再见。(zàijiàn): Goodbye
拜拜。(bāibāi): Bye-bye
回头见。(huítóujiàn): See you later.
Chinese characters
Sentences breakdown
English translation
王明：这是什么？
(王明：這是什麼？)
李红：这是书。
(李紅：這是書。)
王明：那是什么？
(王明：那是什麼？)
李红：那是钢笔。
(李紅：那是鋼筆。)
王明：那是杂志吗？
(王明：那是雜誌嗎？)
李红：不，那不是杂志。那是字典。
(李紅：不，那不是雜誌。那是字典。)
Wang Ming: This is what?
Li Hong: This is book.
Wang Ming: That is what?
Li Hong: That is pen.
Wang Ming: That is magazine (final interrogative particle)?
Li Hong: No, that not is magazine, this is dictionary.
Wang Ming: What's this?
Li Hong: This is a book.
Wang Ming: What's that?
Li Hong: That's a pen.
Wang Ming: Is this a magazine?
Li Hong: No, that's not a magazine. That's a dictionary.
王明是中国人。
王明是学生。
史密斯是美国人。
史密斯是王明　的　朋友。
史密斯是律师。
Wang Ming is Chinese.
Wang Ming is student.
Smith is American.
Smith is Wang Ming's friend.
Smith is lawyer.
Wang Ming is a Chinese.
Wang Ming is a student.
Smith is an American.
Smith is Wang Ming's friend.
Smith is a lawyer.
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
杨勋：你今天好吗？
何铭：我很好。
杨勋：你吃饭了吗？
何铭：还没。
杨勋：要不要一起去吃饭？
何铭：好啊。我昨天看到你跟一个女生去图书馆，她是谁？
杨勋：她是我的女朋友，她叫陈洁。
何铭：原来你有女朋友，这么厉害啊！
杨勋：哪里，不敢当。我们要去哪里吃饭？
何铭：都可以。
楊勳：你今天好嗎？
何銘：我很好。
楊勳：你吃飯了嗎？
何銘：還沒。
楊勳：要不要一起去吃飯？
何銘：好啊。我昨天看到你跟一個女生去圖書館，她是誰？
楊勳：她是我的女朋友，她叫陳潔。
何銘：原來你有女朋友，這麼厲害啊！
楊勳：哪裡，不敢當。我們要去哪裡吃飯？
何銘：都可以。
Yáng Xūn: Nǐ jīntiān hǎo ma?
Hé Míng: Wǒ hěn hǎo.
Yáng Xūn: Nǐ chīfàn le ma?
Hé Míng: Hái méi.
Yáng Xūn: Yào bú yào yīqǐ qù chīfàn?
Hé Míng: Hǎo ā. Wǒ zuótiān kàndào nǐ gēn yīge nǚshēng qù túshūguǎn, tā shì shuí?
Yáng Xūn: Tā shì wǒ de nǚpéngyǒu, tā jiào Chén Jié.
Hé Míng: Yuánlái nǐ yǒu nǚpéngyǒu, zhème lìhài a!
Yáng Xūn: Nǎli, bùgǎndāng. Wǒmen yào qù nǎli chīfàn?
Hé Míng: Dōu kěyǐ.
Simplified Characters
Traditional Characters
王明：我叫王明。你叫什么名字？
李红：我叫李红。
王明：她的名字是什么？
李红：她的名字是周朱丽。
王明：周朱丽是一个很好的名字。
李红：是，但是我比较喜欢你的名字。
王明：为什么比较喜欢我的名字？
李红：因为你的名字听起来很聪明。
王明：哪里，我不敢当。
王明：我叫王明。你叫什麼名字？
李紅：我叫李紅。
王明：她的名字是什麼？
李紅：她的名字是周朱麗。
王明：周朱麗是一個很好的名字。
李紅：是，但是我比較喜歡你的名字。
王明：為什麼比較喜歡我的名字？
李紅：因為你的名字聽起來很聰明。
王明：哪裡，我不敢當。
Wáng míng: Wǒ jiào wáng míng. Nǐ jiào shén me míng zì?
Li hóng: Wǒ jiào li hóng.
Wáng míng: Tā de míng zì shì shén me?
Li hóng: Tā de míng zì shì zhōu zhū lì.
Wáng míng: Zhōu zhū lì shì yī gè hěn hǎo de míng zì.
Li hóng: Shì, dàn shì wǒ bǐ jiào xǐ huan nǐ de míng zì.
Wáng míng: Wèi shé me bǐ jiào xǐ huan wǒ de míng zì?
Li hóng: Yīn wèi nǐ de míng zì tīng qǐ lái hěn cōng míng.
Wáng míng: Nǎ lǐ, wǒ bù gǎn dāng.
Simplified
Traditional (if diff.)
English [??]
Zhōu Zhūlì
(proper noun)
Person's Name
(conjunction)
But, However
by comparison
wèishénme
Why (lit. "because of what?").
(conjunction)
tīng qǐlai
Sounds like
cōngmíng
(adjective)
intelligent
lit. Nowhere, can be used as a polite response to a complement.
bùgǎndāng
I don't accept (not at all) / polite response to a compliment
(conjunction)
túshūguǎn
nǚpéngyǒu
girlfriend
Chinese characters
Sentences breakdown
English translation
楊勳：你今天好嗎?
何銘：我很好。
楊勳：你吃飯了嗎？
何銘：還沒。
楊勳：要不要一起去吃飯?
何銘：好啊。我昨天看到你跟一個女生去圖書館,她是誰?
楊勳: 她是我的女朋友,她叫陳潔。
何銘: 原來你有女朋友,這麼厲害啊!
楊勳: 哪裡, 不敢當。我們要去哪裡吃飯?
何銘: 都可以。
Yang Xun: How are you today?
He Ming: I'm very good.
Yang Xun: Have you eaten yet?
He Ming: Not yet.
Yang Xun: Would you like to go eat together?
He Ming: Sure. Yesterday, I saw you going to the library with a girl, who is she?
Yang Xun: She is my girlfriend, her name is Chen Jie.
He Ming: All along you have had a girlfriend, it's so good!
Yang Xun: Thanks, that's flattering. Where do you want to go to eat?
He Ming: Anywhere is fine.
Chinese characters
Sentences breakdown
English translation
王明：我叫王明。你叫什麼名字？
李紅：我叫李紅。
王明：她的名字是什麼？
李紅：她的名字是周朱麗。
王明：周朱麗是