Learn the word order for basic and complex Chinese sentences
Learn the Chinese grammar Golden Rule (time, location and method)
Understand how to effectively use Chinglish to learn Chinese grammar
Learn how to arrange different time phrases in one sentence
Learn the word order for a Chinese address
Learn the word order for a full Chinese name
Learn to construct sentences using “there is/there are”
Learn to construct sentences with “it” in them
Make sentences like “There’s a cup on the table” and “It’s hot today”
Learn how to negate present actions and where to put the negation word
Learn the rule of tonal change for the negation word bù (不)
Make sentences like “I don’t eat breakfast” and “I am not busy”
Learn the difference between méi (没) and bù (不)
Learn the right scenario in which to use méi and where to put it in a sentence
Make sentences like “I don’t have money” and “I’ve never had Thai food before”
Learn the negations words to use when saying “don’t/stop doing something”
Vocab Review: “to talk, to tell, others, to move, to sleep, to laugh, to horse around”
Make sentences like “Don’t tell”, “Don’t move” and “Stop horsing around”
Learn how to turn a statement into a yes or no question with the word “ma”
Learn where to put the word “ma” in order to form a yes/no question
Make the sentence “Are you a student?”
Turn a statement into a yes/no question using the “verb-not-verb” structure
Review vocab: “to love, to speak, tired, busy, water, to like, happy”
Make sentences like “Can you speak Chinese?” and “Do you like me?"
Learn some surprising things about the words “yes” and “no” in Chinese
Review vocab: “American, busy, to go, to understand”
Respond to questions like “Are you American?” and “Do you understand?”
Learn the pattern for forming sentences using words like “what, when and where”
Learn where in the sentence to put “what, when, where, why and how”
Use Chinglish to practice your Chinese grammar
Learn the words “who” and “whose” and how to use them in a sentence
Learn how to make things possessive in Chinese, the English equivalent of ‘s
Make sentences like “Who are you?”, “Who is that girl?” and “Whose kid is this?”
Learn how to ask questions using the word “what”
Review vocab: “to study, to want, to call, name, to do, job, to drive, car”
Say “What is this?”, “What’s your name?” and “What kind of car do you drive?”
Learn how to ask questions using the word “when”
Review vocabulary: “birthday, wake up, everyday, tomorrow, free time”
Make sentences like “When’s your birthday” and “When are you free tomorrow?
Learn how to ask questions regarding clock time
Review vocabulary: “o’clock, now, last night, to sleep”
Ask “What time is it now?” and “What time did you go to sleep last night?”
Learn to make sentences using the word “where”
Review vocab: “school, home, restroom, work, to want, to go”
Say “Where is he?”, “Where is the restroom?” and “Where do you want to go?”
Learn to express the word “how” in Chinese as in “how to do something”
Learn about the three different types of phrases that use the word “how”
Say “How do I say ___ in Chinese?, How do you know?, How come you’re here?”
Learn to express the word “how” in Chinese as in “how big/heavy”
Review vocab: “big, age, tall, heavy”
Make sentences like “How old are you?” and “How tall is he?”
Learn to express the word “how” in Chinese as in “how are you?”
Learn to ask “What do you think of him/me/my friend/this place?”
Make sentences like “How are you recently?” and “How’s the weather in Beijing?”
Learn the two different ways to express duration of time in Chinese
Learn to say “A long time ago”
Say “How long have you been here?” and “How long are you going to stay here?”
Learn to say “how much” and “how many” in Chinese
Review how to use the question word jǐ (几) to discuss quantities
Make sentences like “How much is it?” and “How many kids do you have?”
Learn how to use the word “or” in Chinese
Understand the different ways of saying “or” in statements and questions
Say “Do you want coffee or tea?” and “You can take the bus or the subway”
Learn about a special Chinese sentence structure with no English equivalent
Use this structure to discuss when, where, how and with whom regarding a past action
Make sentences like “Where did you guys meet?” and “We met on the internet”
Continue to review the unique shì (是) … de (的) sentence structure
Ask “With whom did you see the movie?” and “When did you go to Alaska?”
Answer questions about past actions: “I went last year & I went by plane”
Learn how Chinese adjectives are used differently than in English
Avoid a common English speakers mistake when expressing adjectives in Chinese
Make sentences like “You are beautiful”, “I’m not tired” and “I’m very good”
Learn the difference between expressing “She’s smart” and “She’s a smart girl”
Learn where to insert “de (的) when putting an adjective before a noun
Make phrases like “an interesting movie” and “a cute cat”
Learn the special Chinese sentence structure used to describe/comment on an action
Learn the Chinese word that converts adjectives into adverbs
Make sentences like “You speak well” and “You speak English well”
Learn more examples of describing or commenting on an action
Learn two ways to arrange a sentence when commenting on an action
Make sentences like “She drives slowly” and “I didn’t sleep well last night”
Expand the use of the “de (得)” structure to express “so….that”
Review vocab: “stomach, laugh, tired, to eat”
Say “He laughed so hard that his stomach hurt”
Learn the difference between verbs like “to look for” and verb-results like “to find”
Learn how to create a verb-result by adding dào (到) to the verb
Review vocab: “to look for, to find, to shop, to buy, to listen, to hear”
Learn two more complement of result words: jiàn (见) and wán (完)
Review vocabulary “to see, to smell, to hear, to do, to eat”
Make sentences like “Are you done talking?” and “I finished reading this book”
Learn two more complement of result words: hǎo (好) and huì (会)
Express that an action has been properly finished and the desired result achieved
Make sentences like “Dinner is ready” and “Your computer is fixed”
Learn to construct a past tense sentence that contains a complement of result
Say “I am finished with my homework, I am full from eating & I didn’t find the keys”
Review all the complements of result you have learned so far
Learn how to form a negative sentence using complements of result
Review all the common complements of result and their differences
Make sentences like “I didn’t see you” and “I didn’t do my homework”
Describe actions moving towards/away from you: lái (来) to come & qù (去) to go
Review directional words: “to move downward, to move upward”
Make the phrases “to come up, to come down, to go up, to go down”
Combine lái (来) to come & qù (去) to go w/ verbs jìn (进) to enter & chū (出) to exit
Review Chinese word-forming logic
Make the phrases “to come in, to come out, to go in, to go out”
Combine lái(来)to come & qù(去)to go w/ verbs huí(会)to return and guò(过)to cross
Learn to say “Go back home and Come back home”
Make the phrases “to come back, to go back, to come over here, to go over there”
Attach verbs to complements of direction to make phrases like “run towards me”
Review all 12 complements of direction learned in previous lessons
Say “He walks away from me”, “She runs towards me” and “He drives towards me”
Learn where to put the object in a sentence with complement of direction
Use complement of direction without specifying direction of action in relation to you
Say “He runs upstairs (towards me), He walks out of the bookstore (away from me)”
Go beyond literal translation: learn extended meanings for complements of direction
Learn an extended meaning for shàng (上): “to acquire through hardship”
Say “I finally got accepted to college” and “When did you start liking her?”
Learn an extended meaning for xià (下)
Learn to express capacity of a certain amount: “This plane can hold 200 people”
Say “He left a deep impression on me” and “To tear off a piece of paper”
Learn extended meanings for shàng lái (上来) and shàng qù (上去)
Learn about how Confucian culture affects Chinese language
Say “To surround and move closer” and “Did you hand in your report”
Learn the 5 extended meanings of xià lái (下来)
Make sentences like “The contract has been signed” and “The bus has stopped”
Say “The audience quieted down, This is a treasure passed down from our ancestors”
Learn extended meanings for xià qù (下去)
Say “Please continue/please proceed” and “You need to hang in there”
Say “I don’t want to continue to fight with you, She is getting thinner and thinner”
Learn extended meanings for jìn qù (进去)
Say “She is so skinny that her cheeks sink in”
Learn the phrase “I’ve really taken your opinion to heart”
Learn extended meanings for chū (出) and chū lái (出来)
Say “She let her secret out” and “I can tell he’s dishonest at first sight”
Say “I hear that you are disappointed” and “The magician conjured up a rabbit”
Learn extended meanings for guò lái (过来)
Say “He walked over to me and shook my hand” and “He turned his head to me”
Say “This book is translated from French” and “He woke up from a coma”
Learn the extended meaning for guò qù (过去) as compared with guò lái (过来)
Say “I walked up to him and shook his hand, She turned her head away from me”
Say “I called, but no one answered” and “Thank you for calling”
Learn the complements of direction of “qǐ (起) & qǐ lái (起来)”
Make sentences like “Don’t always sit, get up and do some exercises” and “Stand up”
Make sentences like “The sun has risen” and “Lift your head”
Learn the extended meaning for qǐ (起)
Say “Speaking of reading books, I just finished Harry Potter”
Say “Whenever I think of him, I get angry” and “He asks about you often”
Learn the extended meaning for qǐ lái (起来)
Make sentences like “It’s getting cold” and “Recently she started getting fat”
Say “She suddenly got better from sickness” and “After dinner we started chatting”
Continue to learn the extended meaning for qǐ lái (起来)
Make sentences like “She looks healthy” and “It looks like it’s going to rain today”
Make sentences like “This sofa feels soft” and “It’s easier said than done”
Learn how to use a potential complement to say “can” and “cannot”
Make sentences like “I can’t fall asleep after I watch a scary movie”
Learn the phrases “I can’t speak French” and “You can’t sleep in her class”
Learn to differentiate between saying “can” and “cannot”
Make sentences like “I can’t find my keys” and “You can’t fall asleep while driving”
Make sentences like “I can’t ride a bike” and “You can’t give up now”
Continue to learn to differentiate between saying “can” and “cannot”
Say “I can’t finish eating” and “There’s too much food, I can’t finish it”
Say “There isn’t enough time, I can’t finish saying what I want to say”
Continue to learn the potential complement structure of “cannot”
Say “There are too many people, I cannot see”
Make phrases like “cannot see, cannot hear and cannot get it through buying”
Continue to learn the potential complement structure of “can” and “cannot”
Make sentences like “You can’t come in” and “You are not able to come in”
Make sentences like “You can’t come home” and “It’s too heavy, I can’t lift it”
Continue to learn the potential complement structure of “can” and “cannot”
Make sentences like “This table can’t seat 10 people” and “I can’t recall”
Make sentences like “I can’t tell” and “I can’t answer”
Learn the potential complement structures of “can”
Make sentences like “I can swim” and “He can’t understand”
Ask questions like “Are you able to finish it?”
Learn how to ask the question “Can you do something”
Make the sentence “Can you understand what you heard?”
Make the sentence “Can you get up at 7 tomorrow morning?”
Review everything we have learned about “can” and “cannot”
Ask questions like “Can you ride a bike?” and “Can I ride a bike in the store?”
Make sentences like “I can ride a bike” and “I cannot put it in”
Learn a new way of saying “cannot” using the special complement bù liǎo (不了)
Make the sentence “Today’s homework is too difficult, I cannot do it:
Make the sentences “I cannot forget him” and “I cannot help him”
Learn how to use bù liǎo (不了) to express “cannot finish something”
Make the sentence “I cannot eat this much food”
Say “I cannot drink this much beer” and “I cannot spend this much money”
Learn to use the special complement bù qǐ (不起)
Ask “Houses in Beijing are too expensive now. Can you afford to live there?”
Say “I cannot afford to eat out every day” and “He looks down upon me”
Learn the special complement “cannot make it on time” and some others
Ask questions like “Is he reliable?”
Say “If you leave now, you can still make it on time”
Learn how to use the word bǎ (把) correctly in a sentence
Make sentences like “I ate your apple” and “Please open the door”
Make sentences like “I finished my homework” and “Let’s get married”
Continue to learn how to use the word bǎ (把) correctly in a sentence
Learn about the 1st mandatory bǎ (把) situation
Make sentences like “Put the computer on the desk” and “Hang this one on the wall”
Continue to learn the 1st mandatory bǎ (把) situation and some pointer words
Say “Put the computer on the desk” and “Hang this one on the wall”
Say “Throw this apple into the trashcan” and “Put the milk in the fridge”
Continue to learn the 1st mandatory bǎ (把) situation and some pointer words
Make the sentence “I just handed in my homework to the teacher”
Say “I returned the money to her” and “I’ll give the gift to her tomorrow”
Learn about the second mandatory “bǎ (把)” situation : treat A as B
Make sentences like “You always treat me like a child” and “treat A as B”
Make sentences like “Make yourself at home” and “I regard you as a good friend”
Learn about the third mandatory “bǎ (把)” situation : change A into B
Say “I want to change the garage into a gym, I want to convert US dollars to RMB”
Say “I want to exchange this sweater for a large one”
Learn when you cannot use “bǎ (把)”
Make sentences like "I ate an apple" and "I ate your apple."
Say "My friend gave me a gift." and "My friend gave me his own gift."
Subpages (1): B. Conjunctions