Measure words

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.

Numbers - begin to count

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?

Ask a question with 'ma'

'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.

Introduce yourself and others

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.

Tones Practice

To perfect your tones, it is recommended that you spend 5 minutes doing the following tones practice in the morning when your get up and in the evening before you go to bed. Read aloud the tones line by line, from left to right.


                          mā          má          mǎ          mà

                          bō           bó            bǒ           bò

                          hē           hé            hě           hè

                          nī             ní             nǐ            nì

                          dū           dú            dǔ           dù

                          lǖ             lǘ             lǚ            lǜ

                          tāi           tái             tǎi          tài

                          fēi           féi            fěi           fèi

                          kōu         kóu          kǒu        kòu

                          pāo        páo         pǎo         pào

                          de          me          ne           le

Note: The syllables in the last line do not have tone marks. They should be pronounced with a weak and short sound, which is named 'neutral tone'. 

Practice makes perfect! You will see your progress. 

Spend 10 minutes and get to know about China

I recently came across the flash video below and thought it provides quite true and updated information about China. I should definitely share this with all of you. Enjoy!

Pronouns

The following are the Chinese equivalents of the English pronouns:

'wǒ' - I / me;

'nǐ' - you (singular);

'tā' - he / she / it

To refer to more than one person, simply add 'mén' after the above pronouns. For example:

'wǒ mén' - we / us;

'nǐ mén' - you (plural);

'tā mén' - they / them

Now that we have learnt the pronouns, we are on our way to start saying short sentences.

Greetings

The easiest way to greet people in Chinese is 'Nǐ hǎo。' which means 'Hello.' In Chinese, 'nǐ' is 'you', 'hǎo' means 'good'. In response to 'Nǐ hǎo。', you can simply say 'Nǐ hǎo。' back.

Other greetings include the following:

'Zǎo shàng hǎo。' = Good morning.

'Zhōng wǔ hǎo。' = Good noon.

'Xià wǔ hǎo。' = Good afternoon.

'Wǎn shàng hǎo。' = Good evening.

Try using the greetings with your Chinese-speaking friends and see how they respond.

Chinese Names

Chinese people have family names and given names. However, unlike English names, Chinese last names come first while Chinese first names come last. For example, a famous Chinese film director is called 'Zhang Yimou'. His surname is 'Zhang' and his first name is 'Yimou'.

In China, when a woman gets married, she doesn't have to change her surname. In fact, most women don't. However, there is a phenomenon (mostly seen in Hong Kong) that a woman would add her husband's surname before her full name.

As a foreigner in China, you may find it useful to have a Chinese name (something that sounds like your original name and has a good meaning). Many Chinese people have English (or foreign) names. I guess it's all about finding common ground and making better communication. The video below is about names and really fun to watch.

Sexy Beijing - Lost in Translation - Danwei TV

Pin Yin & tones

Pin Yin literally means 'to combine sounds'. It is the phonetic system used to pronounce Chinese characters. Once you master Pin Yin, you can simply say anything in Chinese without having to learn the characters.

Pin Yin system consists of Latin letters. Similar to the English phonetics, Pin Yin has Initials (Consonants) and Finals (Vowels). A combination of Initials and Finals forms the pronunciation of a word. For example:

'n' + 'i' = ni; 'h' + 'ao' = hao

In the above example, 'n' and 'h' are Initials, 'i' and 'ao' are Finals. I strongly recommend you learn the correct Pin Yin from a Mandarin teacher as the letters in the system do not all sound like their English counterparts.

All the Initials are listed as below:

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s, y, w

All the Finals are listed as below:

a, o, e, i, u, ü, ai, ei, ui, ao, ou, iu, ie, ue, er, an, en, in, un, ün, ang, eng, ing, ong, zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci, si, yi, wu, yu, ye, yue, yuan, yin, yun, ying

Pin Yin is not complete without tones. There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese, namely the first tone, the second tone, the third tone and the fourth tone.

The first tone (symbol: "ˉ"): high pitch and leveled;

The second tone (symbol: "ˊ"): rising;

The third tone (symbol: "v" ): first falling, then rising;

The fourth tone (symbol: "ˋ"): falling

It is very important to learn tones properly under the guidance of a Mandarin teacher.

The different tones give more varieties of meanings to the same Pin Yin combination. For example: "mā" (with the first tone) means "mother"; "má" (with the second tone) means "linen"; "mǎ" (with the third tone) means "horse"; and "mà" (with the fourth tone) means "to swear".

Now you see how vital it is to get the tones right in order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding.

BBC website has some practice for tones. The link is as below:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/tones.shtml

There are two areas: 'Learn the Tones' and 'Straight to Play'. Both are very useful. You can listen to the tones in the 'Learn the Tones' section first and then go test yourself in 'Straight to Play' section.

Practice makes perfect. And good luck! 

About Mandarin

Mandarin (aka Pu Tong Hua) is the standard Chinese language spoken in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. It is also one of the four official languages of Singapore. In addition, millions of overseas Chinese people use Mandarin. Despite the fact that there are 56 nationalities and many local dialects  in China, everyone speaks Mandarin Chinese as it is a compulsory subject in primary schools, high schools and even in universities nationally.

Mandarin (Pu Tong Hua) is developed from the Beijing dialect. Although the two share great similarities, they are not exactly the same. News readers on CCTV (China Central Television, the equivalent of BBC in the UK) use Pu Tong Hua, not the Beijing dialect. It is a myth that you have to find a Mandarin teacher who is originally from Beijing. In fact, locals from Beijing still need to learn and practice in order to have decent Pu Tong Hua.

By the way, Cantonese is another popular Chinese dialect (mainly spoken by people in Hong Kong and in Guangdong, China, as well as some overseas Chinese from those areas). It is quite different from Mandarin. With China's rapid economic growth and its rising status on the international arena, even the used-to-be proud Hong Kong people are learning and using Mandarin nowadays.

The point is, if you decide to learn Chinese, I suggest you learn Mandarin (Pu Tong Hua) which is spoken by over 1 billion people in the world.