1. Pinyin
2. Greetings
3. Strokes
1. Personal pronouns can be used as the subject and the object. For example:
Wo3 shi4 chen laoshi. (wo is subject)
Hen3 ga1 xing4 jian4 dao4 ni3. (ni is object)
This rule applies to all other personal pronouns, including plural personal pronouns. To make plural personal pronouns, simply add men to singular pronouns wo3, ni3 and ta1. On its own, men2 has the second tone, but becomes toneless in wo3men, ni3men and ta1men.
Wo3 I, me
Ni3 you (singular)
Nin2 you (polite form)
Ta1 he/she, him/her
Wo3men we, us
Ni3men you (plural)
Ta1men they, them
2. Sentences with “是 shi” (to be) and bu2 shi4 (to be not): verb shi4 remains the same.
wo shi…
ta shi,
women shi…,
wo bu2 shi4 Mei3guo2ren2.
w03 shi zhong1 guo2 ren2.
3. Yes/No Questions with “吗 ma”: to ask a yes/no question in Chinese, all you need to do is to add “ma” at the end of a statement and speak with a rising tone as in English. There is no need to change the word order. For example:
ni hao ma?
Ta shi laoshi ma?
Ni shi Dave ma?
Ni shi mei guo ren ma?
4. Verb-adjectives
In Chinese, some adjectives can incorporate the verb ‘to be’ to become verb-adjectives. When these verb-adjectives are used, they are usually modified by adverbs such as hen3 (very), ting3 (rather). For example:
Wo hen hao.
Wo hen3 gao1 xing4.
5. Greetings and self-introduction
When you address someone by his/her title or occupation in Chinese, make sure to say that person’s surname before his/her title or occupation.
When two people meet for the first time, it is customary for them to make a self-introduction immediately after greeting each other. During the introduction, either the surname or full name is usually mentioned while other personal information may also be included such as their occupation. Eg. Wo xing Chen. Wo shi …
Introducing others
On formal occasions, the person making introductions should clearly and politely state the name, positions, and nationality of people being introduced.
Essential phrases and greetings (see attachment)
Numbers, time and calendar (see attachment)
- Simplified Chinese Characters and Traditional Chinese
Simplified Chinese Characters (simplified Chinese: 简体字; traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: Jiǎntizì) are one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China has promoted them for use in printing in an attempt to increase literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China) and Singapore.
Traditional Chinese is currently used in the Republic of China or Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally use traditional characters, but simplified characters are often used among mainland Chinese immigrants.
- Learn to use a Chinese-English/English-Chinese Dictionary to locate pinyin for new characters
a) By English Meaning: use the English-Chinese section to find out the Chinese equivalent or near-equivalent of an English word
b) By Pinyin Romanization
c) By Number of Strokes: Look for a character according to the number of its strokes, and then locate the character by its first stroke.
For example, to find上:
- There are three strokes in上. Go to the section of three strokes.
- As the first stroke of上 is “|”, locate上 under “|”.
上 shang4
- Turn to shang4 in the dictionary
d) By Radical: （learn it next week）
Radicals (bu4shou3) are certain component parts of characters that have been used in Chinese dictionary. Characters sharing a radical are grouped together under the heading of that radical. To find a character in a dictionary, follow these steps:
In the List of Radicals, look up the character’s radical according to the number of strokes in the radical. This gives a Radical Index number.
Turn to the number in the Radical Index
Locate the character according to the number of remaining strokes needed to write the character. You will find the pinyin for the character.
- Learn to write them using right stroke order and write down the stroke order for each character.
Rules of Stroke Order
1. first horizontal, then vertical
2. first left-falling, then right-falling
3. first top, then bottom
4. first left, then right
5. first outside, then inside
6. finish inside, then close
7. first middle, then left, then right
一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
上 中 下 大 小 日 月 水 火 人
3. Read the following
上 下 一上一下 上 上 下 下
大 小 一 大 一 小 大 大 小 小
三月一日 五月一日
水中 水 上 水 下
小 火 小 火