Chinese New Year is THE most important traditional holiday in China. It's somewhat the equivalent of Christmas in the western culture. It's all about family being together, all about happiness, fortune, and of course about lots of nice food and drinks.
The Chinese New Year's Eve is known as 'Chú Xī '. The first day of the first month (i.e. New Year's Day) is called 'Zhēng Yuè Chū Yī'. The 'Spring Festival' (Chūn Jié) starts from 'Zhēng Yuè Chū Yī' and lasts 15 days until the 15th day of the first month ('Zhēng Yuè Shí Wǔ'), also known as the 'Lantern Festival'.
During the 'Spring Festival', people will visit family members, relatives, and friends and give each other gifts and presents. The elderly will give the youngsters/children red envelops with 'lucky money' in them for good fortune. It's a custom that people express their best wishes to each other. Big meals/feasts are important part of the festival.
The Chinese zodiac is made of 12 animals, each representing a year on a rotating basis. Year 2012 is the year of Dragon (lóng nián). There are plenty of fortune-telling books and resources to guide you how to have a good year, if you believe in what they say.
What's written here about Chinese New Year is only the tip of the iceberg. With some research and study, you will find much more about the culture of the No. 1 holiday in China.
In English, we say one person, two eggs, three birds, etc. In Chinese, a measure word is used between the number and the noun to express the same.
For example, the Chinese for 'one person' is 'yí (one) gè rén (person)'. gè is a measure word here. Similarly, the Chinese for 'two eggs' is 'liǎng (two) gè dàn (eggs)'. Although gè is a very frequently used measure word, there are many other measure words in Chinese, depending on the nouns.
'zhī' is another measure word, commonly used for birds. So, now you can say 'three birds' in Chinese - 'sān (three) zhī niǎo (birds)'.
'tái' is the measure word for machines or equipment, e.g. 'yī tái diàn nǎo' - 'one computer'.
You will come across many measure words as you learn Chinese. You will need to learn them one by one and accumulate a whole collection of measure words.
In a way, learning to count numbers in Chinese is easier than learning to count in English or French. If you manage to remember how to count from 1 to 10, you can count up to 99. Let's see how it works.
'0' - líng; '1' - yī; '2' - èr; '3' - sān; '4' - sì; '5' - wǔ
'6' - liù; '7' - qī; '8' - bā; '9' - jiǔ; '10' - shí
After that, when you say '11', it's simply '10' and '1', i.e. 'shí yī'. For '12', it's '10' and '2', i.e. 'shí èr'. '13' - 'shí sān', ... '19' - 'shí jiǔ'.
Then, for '20', you say '2' and '10', i.e. 'èr shí'. When it comes to '21', you say '20' and '1', i.e. 'èr shí yī'; '22' - 'èr shí èr'; '23' - 'èr shí sān', '24' - 'èr shí sì'...'29' - 'èr shí jiǔ'.
...'35' - 'sān shí wǔ', ...'46' - 'sì shí liù', ...'57' - 'wǔ shí qī', ...'68' - 'liù shí bā', ...'77' - 'qī shí qī', ... '88' - 'bā shí bā', ... '99' - 'jiǔ shí jiǔ'.
Well, let's keep it within 100 for now. You can count from 0 to 99 now, can't you?
'Ma' (with a neutral tone) is a question word in Chinese. It doesn't have particular meaning by itself. However, when you place 'ma' after a statement, you change the statement into a simple question that can be answered with 'Yes' or 'No'.
For example, we learnt the sentence in the last blog: 'Nǐ shì David。' = You are David.
By adding 'ma' to the end of this sentence, we have 'Nǐ shì David ma？' which means 'Are you David?'
The answer can be: 'Shì, wǒ shì David。' = Yes, I am David.
Note: the first 'Shì' in the answer means 'yes' while the second 'Shì' in the answer is the equivalent of 'am'.
Or the answer can be: 'Bù, wǒ bú shì David。' = No, I am not David.
Note: 'bù' means 'no' or 'not' in Chinese.
One of the easiest ways to self introduce is 'wǒ shì ......'.
For example: 'Wǒ shì Mike。' = I am Mike.
'Nǐ shì David。' = You are David.
'Tā shì Julie。' = She is Julie.
'Tā shì John。' = He is John.
'Tā men shì wǒ de péng yǒu。' = They are my friends.
In the above examples, 'shì' is the equivalent of 'am, is, are' in English. In Chinese, 'he', 'she' and 'it' have the same pronunciation, i.e. 'tā'.
Make a sentence and introduce yourself to others.
