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
• 你是中国人。- nǐ shì zhōngguó rén
• 美国 - měiguó
• 我是美国人。- wǒ shì měiguó rén
• 他 - tā
• 他是美国人。- tā shì měiguó rén
• 他不是中国人。- tā bù shì zhōngguó rén

•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
• 他不是美国人。- tā bù shì měiguó rén
• 你不是美国人。- nǐ bù shì měiguó rén
• 他不是中国人。- tā bù shì zhōngguó rén

• 你是美国人吗？- nǐ shì měiguó rén ma

•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

• 英语 - yīngyǔ
• 汉语 - hànyǔ
• 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
• 他们说汉语。- tā men shuō hànyǔ
• 他们说英语。- tā men shuō yīngyǔ
• 他们说汉语吗？- tā men shuō hànyǔ ma
• 你们说英语吗？- nǐ men shuō yīngyǔ ma
• 我们说英语。- wǒ men shuō yīngyǔ

• 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
• 我们都是美国人。- wǒ men dōu shì měiguó rén
• 我们都学汉语。- wǒ men dōu xué hànyǔ

•学 - xué : to learn; to study

• 他们都学英语。- tā men dōu xué yīngyǔ
• 你们都学汉语。- nǐ men dōu xué hànyǔ
• 你们都学汉语吗？- nǐ men dōu xué hànyǔ ma

• 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
• 我吃苹果。- wǒ chī píngguǒ

•吃 - chī : to eat

• 西瓜 - xīguā
• 她吃苹果和西瓜。- tā chī píngguǒ hé xīguā

•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
• 芒果 - mángguǒ
• 菠萝 - bōluó
• 芒果和菠萝 - mángguǒ hé bōluó
• 他们吃西瓜和芒果。- tā men chī xīguā hé mángguǒ
• 菠萝和苹果 - bōluó hé píngguǒ
• 我们吃西瓜和芒果。 - wǒ men chī xīguā hé mángguǒ.
• 她吃苹果和菠萝。- tā chī píngguǒ hé bōluó
• 我不吃芒果和西瓜。- wǒ bù chī mángguǒ hé xīguā
• 你吃西瓜和芒果吗？ - nǐ chī xīguā hé mángguǒ ma?

• 面包 - miànbāo
• 鸡蛋 - jīdàn
• 我吃面包和鸡蛋。- wǒ chī miànbāo hé jīdàn
• 饼干 - bǐnggān
• 水果 - shuǐguǒ
• 我喜欢饼干。- wǒ xǐhuan bǐnggān

•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
• 我不喜欢面包。- wǒ bù xǐhuan miànbāo
• 喜 - xǐ
• 他喜欢吃水果。- tā xǐhuan chī shuǐguǒ
• 我不喜欢吃饼干。- wǒ bù xǐhuan chī bǐnggān
• 她不喜欢吃鸡蛋。- tā bù xǐhuan chī jīdàn
• 你喜欢吃饼干吗？- nǐ xǐhuan chī bǐnggān ma
• 我不喜欢吃饼干。- wǒ bù xǐhuan chī bǐnggān
• 我喜欢吃面包和饼干。- wǒ xǐhuan chī miànbāo hé bǐnggān

• 咖啡 - kāfēi
• 茶 - chá
• 我喝茶。- wǒ hē chá

•喝 - hē : to drink

• 果汁 - guǒzhī
• 水 - shuǐ
• 我喝咖啡和茶。- wǒ hē kāfēi hé chá
• 你喝水吗？- nǐ hē shuǐ ma?
• 我喝水。- wǒ hē shuǐ
• 你喜欢喝果汁吗？- nǐ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī ma?
• 我喜欢喝果汁。- wǒ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī
• 我喜欢喝果汁和咖啡。- wǒ xǐhuan hē guǒzhī hé kāfēi
• 你喜欢喝咖啡吗？- nǐ xǐhuan hē kāfēi ma?