Chinese 1 Simple Studies Review

Chinese 1 Simple Studies Review The Chinese language is based on characters. Each character is generally made up of one pinyin syllable. A pinyin syllable consists of an initial, final, and tone. The exception to this rule is that there are syllables that only have a tone and a final (excluding an initial.) Chinese Characters: ● Chinese characters are symbols used for writing Chinese. ● Each character represents a block of meaning. ● Each character has its own set of meanings that, when combined with other character(s), give the meaning of an entire word. ● Each character follows a strict stroke order. ● Examples of Chinese characters: 给，高，热，最 Pinyin: ● Is a phonetic transcription of Chinese characters that use the Roman alphabet to pronounce words, however pronunciation, and spelling of pinyin letters are different from English letters. ● Pinyin consists of two parts. The first part is called the initial: the first letter of a word (usually consonants.) ● The second part is called the final: the last letter(s) of a word. Basic Chinese Pinyin Alphabet Pronunciation Simple Finals b p m f d t n l pole man farm stay talk now lemon g k h j q x sky kite height jeep cheese shee p zh ch sh r z c s judge chick shop river kid s cats sad spent Formal Finals y w \“y” and “w” are place holders when there are no initials in a pinyin syllable. ● When “y” is connected to “i,” “y” is silent. ● When “y” is connected to “u,” “y” is silent and together they make an “ü” sound. ● When “y” is connected to “a,” “e,” or “o,” “y” is non-silent and sounds like “i.” ● When “w” is connected to “u”, “w” is silent. ● When “w” is connected to a, e, or o; w is non-silent and reads as “u.” Simple Finals a o e father law ago i bee u who ü ** as you make a continuous “ee” sound, round your lips into the position they would need to make an “oo” sound. Compound Finals ai ei ia ie ua uo ao ou uai uei/ui üe iao iou/iu Nasal Finals an en in ün ian üan uan un ang eng ong ing iang iong uang ueng Special Final e r ● Always by itself ● Can never be put after an initial Tones (5 in total:) The Chinese language has many characters with the same sound, so it can be hard to differentiate the meaning of these characters while speaking without adding tones to these words. Tones marks are added to pinyin to indicate the Chinese word that is being implied while speaking to others. 1. First tone (flat tone一) ● consistently flat like walking across a smooth surface. ● shown as a straight horizontal line above a pinyin final letter. 2. Second tone (rising tone / ) ● consistently rises moderately like going up a hill. ● shown as a rising diagonal line above a pinyin final letter. 3. Third tone (falling and rising tone v ) ● falls and rises like riding a roller coaster. ● shown as a by a dipping line above a pinyin final letter. 4. Fourth tone (falling tone \ ) ● Goes down very rapidly. ● shown as a falling diagonal line above a pinyin final letter. 5. Fifth tone (neutral tone) ● relatively short and weak. ● there is no tone mark above the pinyin final letter. Example: Overview of how all these components come to together to form characters General rules for a Chinese sentence: ● The words “the” and “a” do not exist in Chinese. ● Never place a question word at the beginning of a question as you do in English unless the question word is the subject of the sentence. ● The word order remains the same in both statements and questions. Subject+ Verb+ Object Examples: 1. 2. 3. Complex sentence structure for a Chinese sentence: Subject+ adverbial (time/place/manner) + verb + object (receiver of the action.) Examples: Character: 李明天吃中餐。 Pinyin: Lǐ míngtiān chī zhōngcān. Literal Translation: Li tomorrow eat chinese food. Standard Translation: Li will eat chinese food tomorrow. Characters: 李昨天下午三点半去看外国电影。 Pinyin: Lǐ zuótiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn qù kàn wàiguó diànyǐng. Literal Translation: Li yesterday afternoon 3:30 go watch foreign movie. Standard Translation: Li went to watch a foreign movie at 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Varying ways to ask and answer Questions ● A common way to form a question in Chinese is by repeating the verb or adjective in its affirmative or negative form. Verb/adjective + negative + verb/adjective Example: Person A: Characters: 你现在忙不忙？ Pinyin: Nǐ xiànzài máng bù máng? Literal Translation: You right now busy not busy? Standard Translation: Are you busy or not busy right now? / Are you busy right now? Person B: Characters: 我现在不忙。 Pinyin: Wǒ Xiànzài bù máng. Literal Translation: I right now not busy Standard Translation: I am not busy right now. Person A: Character: 你想不想看电视？ Pinyin: Nǐ xiǎng bùxiǎng kàn diànshì? Literal Translation: You want don’t want watch TV? Standard Translation: Do you want or don't want to watch TV?/ Do you want to watch TV? Person B: Characters: 是我想看电视。 Pinyin: Shì wǒ xiǎng kàn diànshì. Literal Translation: Yes, I want watch TV. Standard Translation: Yes, I do want to watch TV. ● Questions ending with 吗ma Subject+ Verb+ Object + 吗 When 吗 is added to the end of a declarative statement, it turns it into a yes or no question. To answer the question affirmatively, drop the 吗 from the end of the question。 To answer the question “negatively,” drop the 吗 and insert a negative adverb before the verb in the sentence. Example: Person A: Characters:你是老师吗？ Pinyin: Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? Literal translation: You are teacher？ English Translation: Are you a teacher? Person B: Answer 1 Characters: 我不是老师。 or VS. Answer 2 我是老师。 Pinyin: Wǒ bùshì lǎoshī. Wǒ shì lǎoshī. Literal translation: I am not teacher. I am teacher. Standard Translation: I am not a teacher. I am a teacher. ● Questions ending with 好吗 (hǎo ma) To ask for someone’s opinion use, “好吗？” after stating an idea or a suggestion. People also use “行吗“，“怎么样”，“好不好” interchangeably with this as well. Example: Person A: 我们 去 你 家 ， 好 吗 ？ Wǒmen qù nǐ jiā, hǎo ma? Let's go to your house, okay? Person B: 好！我们下次去你家。 Hǎo! Wǒmen xià cì qù nǐ jiā. Okay! Next time we’ll go to your house. ● Content questions that require real answers (who, what, where, when) Question and answers use the same phrase order, so you can simply replace the question word with your answer when replying back to a question. Example for questions asking “what?” Person A Person B Character: 那是什么？ Pinyin: Nà shì shénme? Literal Translation: That is what？ Standard Translation: What is that? Example for questions asking “who?” 那是狗。 Nà shì gǒu。 That is dog. That is a dog. Person A Character: 他是谁？ Pinyin: Tā shì shéi? Literal Translation: He is who？ Standard Translation: Who is he? Person B 他是我的爸爸。 Tā shì wǒ bàba He is my dad. He is my dad. Examples for questions asking “when?” Person A Character: 你的生日是什么时候？ Person B 我的生日是一月一号 。 Pinyin: Nǐ de shēngrì shì shénme shíhòu? Literal Translation: Your birthday is what time？ Wǒ de shēngrì shì yī yuè yī hào. My birthday is January first. Standard Translation: When is your Birthday? Person A Character: 现在几点了？ Pinyin: Xiànzài jǐ diǎnle? Literal Translation: Right now what time？ Standard Translation: What time is it right now? My birthday is January first. Person B 现在是十一点二十一。 Xiànzài shì shíyī diǎn èrshíyī. Right now is 11:21 It’s 11:21 right now. Example for questions asking “where?” Person A Person B Character: 你去哪儿？ 我去图书馆。 Pinyin: Nǐ qù nǎ'er? Wǒ qù túshū guǎn. Literal Translation: You go where? I go library. Standard Translation: Where are you going? I am going to the library. ● Content questions that require “because“ as an explanation (why) Example: Person A： Person B: Characters: 你为什么喜欢花？ Pinyin: Nǐ wèishéme xǐhuān huā? Literal Translation: You why like flowers? Standard Translation: Why do you like flowers? 我喜欢花，因为它们很漂亮 Wǒ xǐhuān huā, yīnwèi tāmen hěn piàoliang. I like flowers because they are beautiful. I like flowers because they are beautiful. ● Important grammar to remember The conjunction 那 (nà) then; in that case 那connects two sentences together or links up the sentences by the two speakers. Example: Speaker A: 今天晚上没事。 （We have nothing to do tonight.) Jīntiān wǎnshàng méishì. Speaker B: 那我们去看电影。 ) (In that case, let's go see a movie. Nà wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng. The preposition and verb给（gěi) ● Can be a verb or a preposition. ● Prepositions are generally combined with pronouns to form prepositional phrases which appear before verbs and verbals. Example of 给 in sentences: 1.你请给我打电话 Nǐ qǐng gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà Please give me a call. 2.你给我看一下， 行吗？ Nǐ gěi wǒ kàn yīxià, xíng ma? Can you let me take a look? The model verb 想（Xiǎng）want to; would like to ● Has multiple meanings. ● Must be followed by a verb or a clause. Example: 你想听音乐吗？ Nǐ xiǎng tīng yīnyuè ma? Would you like to listen to some music? 要 (yào) ● Has many meanings. ● Indicates a future action particularly a scheduled event or an activity one is committed to. ● Should be placed in front of the action verb to indicate the future action. Examples: 1. 我们下午要考试。 Wǒmen xiàwǔ yào kǎoshì We are going to have a test today this afternoon. 2. 我要去我的朋友的家。 Wǒ yào qù wǒ de péngyǒu de jiā. I am going to my friends house. The adverb 别（bié） ● Used to advise someone to refrain from doing something Example: 1.你别说英文。请说中文。 Nǐ bié shuō yīngwén. Qǐng shuō zhōngwén。 Don’t speak English. Please speak Chinese. 2.你别进来。 Nǐ bié jìnlái. Don’t come inside. 一下（yīxià）and (一)点 （Yīdiǎn) ● 一下Modifies verb ● 一点Modifies object ● Following a verb, both 一下 and一点can soften the tone in a question or an imperative sentence making it more polite. Examples: 1.我和一点咖啡人。 Wǒ hé yīdiǎn kāfēi. I’ll have a small amount of coffee. 2.你看一下，这是谁的照片? Nǐ kàn yīxià, zhè shì shéi de zhàopiàn? Take a look, whose photo is this? The preposition 在(Zài; at, in, on) Person A: 你的朋友在哪儿。 Nǐ de péngyǒu zài nǎ'er. Where is your friend? Person B: 他在学校。 Tā zài xuéxiào. He is at school. The particle 吧（ba) ● Ba is a sentence final “suggestion” particle, often used at the end of an imperative sentence to soften the tone of the sentence. Examples: 1.我帮你把。 Wǒ bāng nǐ ba. I will help you. 2. 你喝点茶吧。 Nǐ hē diǎn chá bā. Have some tea. The particle 了(le) ● Used to indicate past tense. ● Indicates that something has already happened or has been achieved. ● Placed after verb or at the end of a sentence. Examples 1.我喝了一瓶可乐。 Wǒ hēle yī píng kělè. I drank a coke. 2.你昨天晚上看书吗了吗？ Nǐ zuótiān wǎnshàng kànshū male ma? Did you read a book last night? Measure words: ● used to classify the type of object being discussed. ● generally is placed between a numeral and a noun. In English, we simply say “seven spoons,” but in Chinese， you would have ● to say “seven (measure word) spoons.” ● The most widely used measure word is 个 (gè), but there are many other specific measure words for different things such as people, vehicles, flat objects etc. Examples: 1. 2. 1 person 1 pencil 一个人 Yīgè rén 一支铅笔 Yī zhī qiānbǐ. More measure words People gè or wèi 个 or 位 Books běn 本 Vehicles liàng 辆 flat objects (paper) zhāng 张 Long round objects (pens, pencils) zhī 支 jiān 间 Rooms Numbers ● How to count in Chinese (#1-10): ● How to count in Chinese （#11-19） 10+1=11 ⇨十一 10+2=12 ⇨十二 10+3=13 ⇨十三 10+4=14 ⇨十四 10+5=15 ⇨十五 10+6=16 ⇨十六 10+7=17 ⇨十七 10+8 =18 ⇨十八 10+9=19 ⇨十九 How to count in Chinese (20-99) 10x2=20 10x3=30 10x4=40 10x5=50 二十 三十 四十 五十 10x2+1=21 二十一 10x6=60 六十 10x7=70 10x8=80 10x9=90 七七十 八十 九十 10x5+1=51 10x7+1=71 五十一 七十一 10x3+2=32 10x4+2=42 10x6+2=62 10x8+2+82 三十二 六十二 八十二 四十二 10x2+3=23 10x6+3=63 10x9+3=9 六十三 九十三 二十三 10x5+4=54 10x8+4=84 五十四 八十四 10x4+5=45 10x5+5=55 10x6+5=65 四十五 五十五 六十五 10x2+6=26 10x7+6=76 二十六 七十六 10x3+7=37 10x8+7=87 三十七 八十七 10x4+8=48 四十八 10x7+9=79 10x9+9=9 七十九 九十九 Time: Always start off from the biggest time unit to the smallest time unit (from most general to specific.) Example 1: Characters: 我二零零三年二月十三号出生。 Pinyin: Wǒ èr líng líng sān nián èr yuè shísān hào chūshēng. Literal Translation: I 2003 March 13 born. Standard Translation: I was born on March 13. Example 2: Characters: 我晚上八点零五分吃晚餐。 Pinyin: Wǒ wǎnshàng bā diǎn líng wǔ fēn chī wǎncān. Literal Translation: I night 8:05 eat dinner. Standard Translation: I eat dinner at 8:05 p.m. ● Years Year (年) always follows the numbers referring to that year. Unlike in English, years in Chinese are pronounced one digit at a time. Example: 2018 2019 2020 二零一八年 二零一九年 二零二零年 Èr líng yībā nián èr líng yījiǔ nián èr líng èr líng nián ● Months Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 一月 二月 三月s 四月 五月 六月 七月 八月 九月 十月 十一 十二月 Yī yuè èr ān sì wǔ liù qī bā jiǔ shí 月shíyī shí'èr yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè yuè ● Days of month 号（Hào:） Grammatical structure: _月_号 Examples: yuè June 22nd ⇨ 六月二十二号 April 2nd ⇨ 四月二号 March 17th ⇨ 三月十三号 December 30th ⇨ 十二月三十号 Monday is the first day of the week in China. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 星期一 星期二xīn 星期三xīng 星期四xīn 星期五xīn 星期六xīn 星期天xīn Xīngqí yī gqí'èr qísān gqíwǔ gqíliù gqítiān gqísì ● Time of day 早上 zǎoshɑnɡ early morning 上午 shànɡwǔ morning 中午 zhōnɡwǔ noon time 下午 xiàwǔ afternoon 晚上 wǎnshɑnɡ evening or night ● Hours 1 o’clock 2 o’clock 7 o’ clock 10 o’ clock 11 o’ clock 12 o’ clock 一点 二点 七点 十点 十一点 十二点shí'èr diǎn Yīdiǎn èr diǎn qī diǎn shí diǎn shíyī diǎn ● Minutes Key words: 半(bàn）= half an hour Grammar placement: ___点半 Examples: 5:30⇨ 五点半 12:30 ⇨十二点半 刻(kè) = quarter of an hour Grammar placement: ___点一刻，___点二刻，___点三刻 Example: 5:15⇨五点一刻 5:30⇨ 五点二刻 5:45⇨五点三刻 分fēn = minutes Grammar placement: ___点___分 Examples: 3:13⇨三点十三分 5:30⇨五点三十分 2:05⇨二点零五分 Family: Immediate Family Members ● 妈妈Māmā Mom ● 母亲mǔqīn Mother (formal) ● 爸爸bàba Dad ● 父亲fùqīn Father (formal) ● 哥哥gēgē Older brother ● 弟弟dìdì Younger brother ● 姐姐jiějiě Older sister ● 妹妹mèimei Younger sister Dad’s Side of Family (paternal) ● 爷爷 Yéyé grandfather ● 奶奶nǎinai grandmother ● 伯伯 bóbo dad’s older brother ● 伯母bómǔ older uncle’s wife ● 叔叔shūshu dad’s younger brother ● 婶婶shěnshen younger uncle’s wife ● 姑姑gūgū dad’s sister ● 姑丈gūzhàng husband of dad’s sister ● 堂兄táng xiōng older male cousin ● 堂弟táng dì younger male cousin ● 堂姐táng jiě older female cousin ● 堂妹 táng mèi younger female cousin Mom’s side of family (maternal) ● 外公Wàigōng grandfather ● 外婆wàipó grandmother ● 舅舅jiùjiu mom's brother ● 舅妈jiùmā wife of Mom's brother ● 阿姨āyí mom's sister ● 姨丈yízhàng husband of mom's sister ● 表哥biǎo gē older male cousin ● 表弟biǎo dì younger male cousin ● 表妹biǎomèi younger female cousin ● 表姐biǎojiě older female cousin