中文 (Zhōngwén)

• 你好 - nǐhǎo (hello)
• 再见 - zàijiàn (goodbye; see u again)
• 你好，龙大。- nǐhǎo, Lóngdà (hello Long Da)
• 龙大，再见。- Lóngdà, zàijiàn (Long Da, goodbye)
• 我 - wǒ (I; me)
• 我是龙大。- wǒ shì Lóngdà (I am Long Da)

•是 - shì : to be

Subject + (shì) + object

"Shì" is equivalent to the English verb conjugation of "to be" and is generally translated as "is" or "are".

"Shì" in Chinese is used to connect two nouns. The correct sentence structure for using 是 is:

Noun 1 + 是 + Noun 2

Note that verbs in Chinese never change their form. No matter who does the action or when the action takes place, the verb conjugation always remains the same. E.g. "am" "is" "are" "were" & "was" are all translated into the same Chinese verb conjugation.

Personal pronouns

"你(nǐ)", "我(wǒ)", "他(tā)" and "她(tā)" are all personal pronouns in Chinese. 你 means "you" and 我 means "I".

There are no nominative or accusative pronouns in Chinese, that is to say "I" and "me" are both translated into the same pronoun 我. It is also important to note that pronouns and nouns in Chinese always take on the same form, no matter singular or plural.

• 中国 - zhōngguó (China)
• 你是中国人。- nǐ shì zhōngguó rén (you are chinese)
• 美国 - měiguó (United States )
• 我是美国人。- wǒ shì měiguó rén (I am "american")
• 他 - tā (he; him)
• 他是美国人。- tā shì měiguó rén (he is "american")
• 他不是中国人。- tā bù shì zhōngguó rén (he is not chinese)

•不 - bù : not

Negation with 不

不 means "not" in Chinese. It is used to represent the negative form of most verbs. 不 should be placed in front of a verb in order to transform it to its correct negative form. The correct sentence structure for using 不 is:

Subject + 不 + verb + object

• 我不是中国人。- wǒ bù shì zhōngguó rén (i am not chinese)
• 他不是美国人。- tā bù shì měiguó rén (he is not "american")
• 你不是美国人。- nǐ bù shì měiguó rén (you are not "american")
• 他不是中国人。- tā bù shì zhōngguó rén (he is not chinese)

• 你是美国人吗？- nǐ shì měiguó rén ma (are you "american"?)

•马 - ma : question particle for "yes-no" questions

The particle word 马 in Chinese is used the same way as "?" would in English. A statement structure ending with "ma" in Chinese is the equivalent to a "yes-no" question in English.

• 你是美国人吗？- nǐ shì měiguó rén ma
• 你是中国人吗？- nǐ shì zhōngguó rén ma
• 她是美国人吗？- tā shì měiguó rén ma

"你好" should only be used as a polite greeting when meeting someone for the first time. When talking with friends or acquaintances, "你好" should be replaced with another form of greeting instead:

∆嘿 (hēi, hey) / 嗨 (hāi, hi) - Used amongst young people

• ∆你去哪里? - Nǐ qù nǎlǐ? (Where are you going?) - Often used by older generations or in rural areas.
• ∆你去干吗？- Nǐ qù gàn mā? (What are you going to do?) - Often used by older generations or in rural areas.
• ∆你吃了吗？- Nǐ chū le mā? (Have you eaten yet?) - Often used by older generations or in rural areas.

∆Head nod, waving, saying their (?) formal spoken greetings required - Amongst people who are already familiar with each other such as coworkers or close friends.

Native Chinese speakers NEVER use this phrase. One of the most common mistakes made by Chinese language Learners is using "你好吗?" under the false impression that it's exactly the same as asking "how are you?" in English (plot twist: it's not).

∆how someone has been recently - If they haven't seen each other for a long time

∆more specific questions such as how was your weekend, how work was, etc - When greeting someone they're already familiar with

∆他(tā, he) / 她(tā, she) / 它(tā, it) - The pronouns "he", "she" and "it" are all pronounced in Chinese.

There's no way of telling them apart in oral Chinese without any extra information or seeing the written character form for clarification.

In Chinese there is a common word composition pattern where the same character can be used to compose many different words.

"国(guó)" is the Chinese character for country. It can be combined with other characters to compose the specific names of different countries, Eg:

• 中国 - Zhōng guó - China
• 美国 - Měi guó - United States
• 英国 - Yīng guó - England

The first character in these names countries' names are all different, and are used to indicate which country in particular we are talking about. Notice how they are all followed by the second character "国(guó)".

• 新西兰 - Xīn xī lán - New Zealand
• 澳大利亚 - Ào dà lì yà - Australia

When there are more than two characters in the country's name, "国(guó)" isn't added to the end.

Just like how "国(guó)" is used in names of countries when discussing nationality in Chinese, the character "人(rén)" meaning "people/person" is used in the same way:

Simply add a "人(rén)" character after the country's name to refer to the people from that country.

• 中国人 - Zhōng guó - Chinese
• 美国人 - Měi guó - "American"
• 新西兰人 - New Zealander

There is no absolute equivalent for the English words "yes" or "no" in Chinese. The proper reply is purely situational and depends on the specific verbs used in that sentence. So when answering yes-no questions, it is important to remember that.

∆The sentences main verb should be repeated on its own to express "yes"

∆"不(bù)" + the main verb should be used to express "no" - Note that "不(bù)" cannot be used on this own as a reply

Eg. "你是美国人吗？(Nǐ shì Měi guó rén mā? - are you "american"?)" should be answered with either "是(shì; yes)" or "不是(bù shì; no)".

The tone of "不(bù)" often changes in oral Chinese depending on the tone of the character following after it:

∆"不(bù)" in the forth tone - Fourth tone "不(bù)" is used when it is said before other characters that are in the first, second or third tone.

∆"不(bú)" in the second tone - Second tone "不(bù)" is used when placed before other fourth-tone characters.

"再见(zàijiàn)" should only be used when saying goodbye to people we are not particularly close with or when addressing someone we respect, as it is a fairly formal greeting. When talking to other close friends or colleagues, we can use these instead:

∆拜拜 (báibái, bye-bye) - Mainly used among young people.

∆慢走 (màn zǒu, walk slowly/take it easy) - Often used by older generations or in rural areas.

∆我走啦 (wǒ zǒu la!, I'm heading off!) - Can be said when you are the one who's doing the leaving

• 英语 - yīngyǔ (english)
• 汉语 - hànyǔ (chinese)
• 中国人说汉语。- zhōngguó rén shuō hànyǔ (Chinese people speak Chinese)

•说 - shuō : to speak, to say

• 我们说英语。- wǒ men shuō yīngyǔ (We speak Chinese)

•们 - men : plural marker for people

In Chinese, "men" is used to pluralize nouns or pronouns related to humans. It is placed after the noun or pronoun in any given sentence. That is to say, 我 means "I;me", whereas 我们 means "we;us", 你 means "you(singular)", 你们 means "you(plural)".

• 我们是美国人。- wǒ men shì měiguó rén (we are "american")
• 他们说汉语。- tā men shuō hànyǔ (they speak chinese)
• 他们说英语。- tā men shuō yīngyǔ (they speak english)
• 他们说汉语吗？- tā men shuō hànyǔ ma (do they speak chinese?)
• 你们说英语吗？- nǐ men shuō yīngyǔ ma (do you speak english?)
• 我们说英语。- wǒ men shuō yīngyǔ (we speak english)

• 我们都说英语。- wǒ men dōu shuō yīngyǔ (we all speak English)

•都 - dōu : both; all

都 is used to express "all" or "both" in Chinese. It should be used before the verb or adjective in any given sentence. The correct sentence structure is:

Subject + 都 + verb + object

• 他们都是中国人。- tā men dōu shì zhōngguó rén (they are all chinese)
• 我们都是美国人。- wǒ men dōu shì měiguó rén (we are all "american")
• 我们都学汉语。- wǒ men dōu xué hànyǔ (we all learn chinese)

•学 - xué : to learn; to study

• 他们都学英语。- tā men dōu xué yīngyǔ (they all learn english)
• 你们都学汉语。- nǐ men dōu xué hànyǔ (you all learn chinese)
• 你们都学汉语吗？- nǐ men dōu xué hànyǔ ma (do you all learn chinese?)

• 写 - xiě (write)
• 汉字 - hànzì (Chinese characters)
• 我写汉字 - wǒ xiě hànzì (I write Chinese characters)
• 汉 - hàn (Chinese [Language]; Han ethnic group)
• 他们写汉字。 - tā men xiě hànzì (they write Chinese characters)

•也 - yě : also; too

也 means "also" in Chinese, it always comes after the subject in any given sentence. The correct sentence structure is:

Subject + 也 + verb + object

• *他也写汉字。- tā yě xiě hànzì (she also writes Chinese characters)
• *字 - zì (character)
• *我们也写汉字。- wǒ men yě xiě hànzì (We also write Chinese characters)
• *我也学汉字。- wǒ yě xué hànzì (I also learn Chinese characters)
• *他们也写汉字。- tā men yě xiě hànzì (they also write Chinese characters)

• 苹果 - píngguǒ (apple)
• 我吃苹果。- wǒ chī píngguǒ (i eat apples)

•吃 - chī : to eat

• 西瓜 - xīguā
• 她吃苹果和西瓜。- tā chī píngguǒ hé xīguā (she eats apples and watermelon)

•和 - hé : and

和 means "and" in Chinese. It is important to note that 和 IS ONLY USED AS A LINK BETWEEN NOUNS, and is not used to link verbs or whole sentences. The correct sentence structure for using 和 is:

Noun 1 + 和 + Noun 2

•瓜 - guā : melon

• 我们都吃西瓜。- wǒ men dōu chī xīguā (we all eat watermelon)
• 芒果 - mángguǒ (mango)
• 菠萝 - bōluó (pineapple)
• 芒果和菠萝 - mángguǒ hé bōluó (mango and pineapple)
• 他们吃西瓜和芒果。- tā men chī xīguā hé mángguǒ (they eat watermelon and mango)
• 菠萝和苹果 - bōluó hé píngguǒ (pineapple and apple)
• 我们吃西瓜和芒果。 - wǒ men chī xīguā hé mángguǒ. (we eat watermelon and mango)
• 她吃苹果和菠萝。- tā chī píngguǒ hé bōluó (she eats apples and pineapples)
• 我不吃芒果和西瓜。- wǒ bù chī mángguǒ hé xīguā (i don't eat mango and watermelon)
• 你吃西瓜和芒果吗？ - nǐ chī xīguā hé mángguǒ ma? (do you eat watermelon and mango?)

• 面包 - miànbāo (bread)
• 鸡蛋 - jīdàn (egg)
• 我吃面包和鸡蛋。- wǒ chī miànbāo hé jīdàn (i eat bread and egg)
• 饼干 - bǐnggān (cookie; biscuit)
• 水果 - shuǐguǒ (fruit)
• 我喜欢饼干。- wǒ xǐhuan bǐnggān (i like cookie)

•喜欢 - xǐhuan : to like

Verbs relating to thoughts and feelings such as 喜欢 can be used before nouns and other kinds of verbs. The correct sentence structure is:

Subject + 喜欢 + verb + object

• 我喜欢水果。- wǒ xǐhuan shuǐguo (i like fruit)
• 我不喜欢面包。- wǒ bù xǐhuan miànbāo (i don't like bread)
• 喜 - xǐ (to like)
• 他喜欢吃水果。- tā xǐhuan chī shuǐguǒ (he likes to eat fruit)
• 我不喜欢吃饼干。- wǒ bù xǐhuan chī bǐnggān (i don't like to eat cookies)
• 她不喜欢吃鸡蛋。- tā bù xǐhuan chī jīdàn (she doesn't like to eat eggs)
• 你喜欢吃饼干吗？- nǐ xǐhuan chī bǐnggān ma (do you like to eat cookies?)
• 我不喜欢吃饼干。- wǒ bù xǐhuan chī bǐnggān (i don't like to eat cookies)
• 我喜欢吃面包和饼干。- wǒ xǐhuan chī miànbāo hé bǐnggān (i like to eat bread and cookies)

• 咖啡 - kāfēi (coffee)
• 茶 - chá (tea)
• 我喝茶。- wǒ hē chá (i drink tea)

•喝 - hē : to drink

• 果汁 - guǒzhī (fruit juice)
• 水 - shuǐ (water) [shuei]
• 我喝咖啡和茶。- wǒ hē kāfēi hé chá (i drink coffee and tea)
• 你喝水吗？- nǐ hē shuǐ ma? (do you drink water?)
• 我喝水。- wǒ hē shuǐ (i drink water)
• 你喜欢喝果汁吗？- nǐ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī ma? (do you like to drink juice?)
• 我喜欢喝果汁。- wǒ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī (i like to drink juice)
• 我喜欢喝果汁和咖啡。- wǒ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī hé kāfēi (i like to drink juice and coffee)
• 你喜欢喝咖啡吗？- nǐ xǐhuan hē kāfēi ma? (do you like to drink coffee?)

• 牛奶 - niúnǎi, milk
• 我买牛奶。- wǒ mǎi niúmǎi, I buy milk

•买 - mǎi : to buy

• 啤酒 - píjiǔ, beer
• 他喝啤酒。- tā hē píjiǔ, he drinks beer
• 酒 - jiǔ, alcohol; liquor
• 可乐 - kělè, "cola" as in coke
• 我想买可乐。- wǒ xiǎng mǎi kělè, I want to buy cola

•想 - xiǎng : to want

The verb 想 means "to want to do something". The correct sentence structure for using 想 is:

Subject + 想 + verb + object

• 他想喝牛奶。- tā xiǎng hē niúnǎi, he wants to drink milk
• 你想买可乐吗？- nǐ xiǎng mǎi kělè ma?, do you want to buy cola?
• 我想买可乐。- wǒ xiǎng mǎi kělè, I want to buy cola
• 我想买啤酒和可乐。- wǒ xiǎng mǎi píjiǔ hé kělè, I want to buy beer and cola
• 你想买牛奶吗？- nǐ xiǎng mǎi niunǎi ma?, do you want to buy milk?
• 我想买牛奶和可乐。- wǒ xiǎng mǎi niunǎi hé kělè, I want to buy milk and cola
• 我想买可乐和啤酒。- wǒ xiǎng mǎi kělè hé píjiǔ, I want to buy cola and beer