Lesson 01 - Phonetics, Hello

INITIALS A syllable in Chinese is composed of an initial, which is a consonant that begins the syllable, and a final, which covers the rest of the syllable.

b d g j z zh

p t k q c ch

m n h x s sh

f l

FINALS In modern Chinese, there are 38 finals besides the above-represented 21 initials.

i a o e er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong iao iou (iu) ian in iang ieng iong ie ia

u ua uo

uai uei (ui)

uan uen (un) uang ueng

an en

TONES Mandarin Chinese has four pitched tones and a "toneless" tone.

Tone 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Neutra l

Mark d d d d da

Description High and level Starts medium in tone, then rises to the top Starts low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top Starts at the top, then falls sharp and strong to the bottom Flat, with no emphasis

TONES CHANGES A 3rd tone, when immediatlely followed by another 3rd tone, should pe pronounced in the 2nd tone. N ho = N ho

CONVERSATION - N ho!

! !

- Zi jin!

ho nho!
n

(pro) (adj)

You good, well Hello, How are you?

CALLIGRAPHY EXERCISES 4 first chinese characters :

zi jin zijin!

(adv) (v)

again see Goodbye!

et . Learn the stroke order.

Lesson 02 - Phonetics, Thank You

RULES OF PHONETIC SPELLING 1 zi ci si 2 zhi chi shi 3 ju jue juan jun

= zcs = zh ch sh = j je jan jn = q qe qan qn = x xe xan xn = e an n = ia ie iao iou = ian in ing iang = iong

qu que quan qun xu xue xuan xun

4 yu yue yuan yun 5 ya ye yao you

yan yin ying yang yong

6 wu wa wo wai

= u ua uo uai wei wan wen wang = uei uan uen uang weng = ueng

SOUND DISCRIMINATIONM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

bo po de te ge ke ji qi zi ci zhi chi yin ying

ba pa da ta ge ka jia qia za ca zha cha lin ling gan gang

bi pi di ti gu ku jiu qiu ze ce zhe che jin jing kan kang fen feng

8 yan yang

9 gen geng men meng

TONE DRILLS b b b b k k k k xi xi xi xi gun gun gun gun du du du du tin tin tin tin hu hu hu hu NEUTRAL TONE

b b b b q q q q mi mi mi mi x x x x mng mng mng mng y y y y xi xi xi xi

In Chinese there are a number of syllabes which are unstressed and take a feeble tone. This is known as the neutral tone which is shown by the absence of tone-graph.

mma

: mum

iren wife hizi

: husband, : child, children

bba

: dad

gge

: elder brother : elder sister : younger

gunxi

: relation

ddi

: younger brother

xixie

: thank you

jijie

kqi

: polite : have a rest

mimei sister

xixi

RETROFLEX FINAL The final "er" is sometimes attached to another final to form a retroflex final and when thus used, it is no longer an independent syllable. A retroflex final is represented by the letter "r" added to the final.

hu + er -> hur din + er -> dinr n + er -> nr

yhur

: a moment : a little

ydinr

nar

: where : there
Du b q mi gunxi Mi gunxi!
(adv) (n)

zh + er -> zhr

zhr

CONVERSATION - Du b q

I'm sorry! not relation That's all right

- Mi gunxi

- Xixie

Xixie b kqi B kqi !

(adv) (adj)

Thank you ! not polite You're welcome !

- B kqi

- Mngtin jin

mngtin jin Mngtin jin!

(adv) (v)

tomorrow see See you tomorrow!

- xi xi y hur

- ho ba

xixi yhur xixi yhur! ho ho ba

(v) (n)

have a rest a moment Have a rest!

(adj)

good All right!

CALLIGRAPHY EXERCISES 20 new characters.

Lesson 03 - Numerals
Easy and straightforward The Chinese counting system is fairly easy and straightforward. There are not as many number words as in English (where the numbers zero up to twenty require twenty-one different words, plus more words for the tens, e.g. 'forty').

BASIC NUMBERS : FROM 1 TO 10 Chinese 1 Pinyin y

sn

li

ji

10

sh

lng

FROM 11 TO 99 Chinese 11 12 Pinyin shy sh'r Note 10+1 10+2

13 19 20 21 22 30 40 90 99

shsn shji rsh rshy rsh'r snsh ssh jish jishji

10+3 10+9 2x10 2x10+1 2x10+2 3x10 4x10 9x10 9x10+9

FROM 100 TO 999 Chinese 100 Pinyin ybi

101

ybilngy

110

ybiy(sh)

111

ybiyshy

120

ybi'rsh

200

rbi

999

jibijishji

1000 AND AFTER Chinese 1 000 Pinyin yqin

1 001

yqinlngy

1 010

yqinlngsh

1 100

yqinybi

9 999

jiqinjibijishji

10 000

ywn

1 000 000

ybiwn

100 000 000

yy

EXAMPLES

100,004 =

or

10,050,026 =

20 new characters.

Lesson 04 - Surname, First Name

CONVERSATION 1 : WHAT'S YOUR FAMILY NAME? ( ) - Nn gu xng?

- W xng Zhng.

nn gu xng

(pro) (adj) (n) (v)

you (respectful) honour surname be surnamed I, me (a surname) you call what name (a first name) he (a surname)

- N jio shnme mngzi?

w Zhng n jio shnme mngzi

(pro) (n) (pro) (v) (pro) (n)

- W jio Zhng Jngshng.

- T xng shnme?

- T xng Wng.

Jngshng (pro) t Wng

(pro) (n)

Translation

- What's your (family) name? - My family name is Zhang. - What's your first name? - My first name is Jingsheng. - What's his family name? - His family name is Wang.

CONVERSATION 2 : WHO IS HE? ( )

- T sh shi?

- T sh wde losh.

- N rnshi t ma?

- Rnshi, t sh Zhng losh de xusheng.

sh shi de wde losh rnshi ma

(v) (pro) (part) (pro) (n) (v) (part)

be who (possessive particle) my teacher know (question particle) student

xusheng (n)

Translation

- Who is it (he)? - He is my teacher. - Do you know him? - Yes, he is a student of teacher Zhang.

CONVERSATION 3 : WHAT'S YOUR FRIEND'S NAME? ( ) - Nde pngyou jio shnme mngzi?

- T xng L, jio L Dhi.

- L sh tde xng, hi sh Shnghi de hi.

nde pngyou L Dhi tde hi

(pro) (n) (n) (n) (pro) (n)

your friend (a surname) (a first name) his sea Shanghai

Shnghi (n)

Translation

- What is your friend's name? - His family name is Li, his first name is Dahai. - Li is his family name, "hai" is the same "hai" than in Shanghai.

GRAMMAR
Question with an interrogative pronoun

A question with an interrogative pronoun has the same word order as that of a declarative sentence. Example: -

Who is he? He is my student.

The interrogative particle

When the interrogative particle (ma) is added at the end of a declarative sentence, it becomes a question. Example: -

You know him. Do you know him? He is a teacher.

Is he a teacher?
The possesive particle

When used attributively to show possession, a noun usually takes the structural particle (de) after it. Example: -

my teacher teacher's student

CALLIGRAPHY EXERCISES 29 new characters.

Lesson 05 - Country, Nationality
CONVERSATION 1 : WHICH COUNTRY ARE YOU GOING TO? - Xinshengnn q n g guji?

- W q Zhnggu.

- Nn sh Zhnggurn ma?

- Shde, w sh Zhnggurn.

xinsheng q n g guji Zhnggu rn

(n) (v) (pro) (m) (n) (n) (n)

Mr. go which (a measure word) country China person Chinese person yes, all right

Zhnggurn (n) shde

Translation

- Mister, which country are you going to? - I go to China. - Are you Chinese? - Yes, I'm Chinese.

CONVERSATION 2 : WHICH COUNTRY ARE YOU FROM? - Xioji, n sh n gu rn?

Tmen du sh Ynggurn

- W sh Migurn.

- Tmen y sh Migurn ma?

- B tmen b sh Migurn.

xioji gu

(n) (v)

Miss country U.S.A (plural suffix)

Migu (n)

tmen y b, b du

(pro) (adv) (adv) (adv)

they also, too no, not all Britain

Ynggu (n)

Translation

- Miss, which country are you from? - I'm American. - Are they American too? - No, they are not american, they are all English.

CONVERSATION 3 : HAVE YOU BEEN TO CHINA? - N q guo Zhnggu ma?

- W mi q guo Zhnggu.

guo mi xing hn

(part) (adv) (v) (adv)

past particle no, not want to, think very

- N xing q Zhnggu ma?

- W hn xing q Zhnggu.

Translation

- Have you been to China? - I haven't been to China. - Do you want to go to China? - I really want to go to China.

GRAMMAR
The verbal particles and

The verbal particle which occurs immediately after a verb denotes that some actions took place in the past. It is often used to emphasize an experience. The negative form of "verb + " is " + verb + ". Example: - - I have been to the USA. - - I have'nt been to the USA.
Phrase structure

The adverbs are placed before the verb. Example: - - I am Chinese too. - - We are all Chinese. - - I am not Chinese.
The verb

is an optative verb. The optative verb is placed before the verb. Example: - - Do you want to go to China? - - I really want to go to China.

EXERCISES : SUBSTITUTION DRILLS

Exercise 1

- Nn

Fgu Dgu Jind Ydl Rbn

(n) (n) (n) (n) (n)

France Germany Canada Italy Japan

guji?

- W

Zhnggu.

Exercise 2

- Nn

Fgurn (n) Dgurn (n) Jindrn (n) Ydlrn Rbnrn

(n) (n)

French (people) German Canadian Italian Japanese

sh

Zhnggurn

ma?

- W

( b )

sh

Zhnggurn.

Exercise 3

- N

n w

(pro) (pro)

you I, me

sh

nmen wmen t t tmen

(pro) (pro) (pro) (pro) (pro)

you (plural) we he she they

gu

rn?

- W

sh

Migurn.

20 new characters.