advise the reader not to worry about the tones but to focus on the phonetic transcriptions which have been written so that English speakers can pronounce them easily. Just as English is spoken with different accents, so is Chinese; learners of Chinese must therefore develop an ear for the language.
CONSONANTS
The following offers a guide to the pronunciation of the standard Hanyu Pinyin system of romanization, which is used almost all over the world.
Most consonants are pronounced as in English.
| CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| c | its |
| q | cheat (said with a puff of air) |
| r | urn |
| x | sea |
| z | bits |
| ch | church (said with one’s tongue rolled back and with a puff of air) |
| sh | shit (said with one’s tongue rolled back) |
| zh | jerk (said with one’s tongue rolled back) |
VOWELS
| CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| a | father |
| e | hen |
| i | pin (A simple “i” is pronounced as “e” in he) |
| o | go |
| u | July |
| ū | feud (said with rounded lips) |
| ao | how |
| ei | hay |
| ou | no (said with a slight pull) |
| ui | wait |
The more challenging combinations are as follows:
| CHINESE | ENGLISH |
| ci | its |
| qi | chip |
| si | swing |
| zi | bits |
The “i” in ci, si and zi is silent.
In the subsequent sections of the book, the Hanyu Pinyin system of romanization is presented on the right with phonetic transcriptions given below it. Phonetic transcriptions are included to cue you in on the English equivalent of a speech sound in the Hanyu Pinyin system.
TENSES
Tenses are expressed simply in Chinese. If you want to express that you already did something, you can add the word le 了 at the end of the sentence. If you wish to express that you will do something, you can use the words jiāng huì 将会. For example, “I will go” is Wǒ jiāng huì qù 我将会去. A sentence can also be made past or future by the use of time words such as míng tiān 明天 (tomorrow) or zuó tiān 昨天 (yesterday). Time is usually mentioned at the beginning of a sentence. For example, “I will go tomorrow” is Wǒ míng tiān qù 我明天去; “I went yesterday” is Wǒ zúo tiān qù le 我昨天去了.
1 Basic Phrases
Who?
Shéí?
Sháy?
谁？
What?
Shén me?
Shém-můh?
什么？
Where?
Nǎ lǐ?
Nár-lǐ?
哪里？
When?
Shén me shí hòu?
Shém-můh shér-hò?
什么时候？
Why?
Wèi shén me?
Wày shém-můh?
为什么？
How?
Zěn me yàng?
Dzěm můh yàng?
怎么样？
Whose?
Shuí de?
Sháy důh?
谁的？
This
Zhè ge.
Jùh-gůh.
这个。
That
Nà ge.
Nàh-gůh.
那个。
Here
Zhè lǐ.
Jùh-lǐ.
这里。
There
Nà lǐ.
Nàh-lǐ.
那里。
If
Rú guǒ.
Rú-guǒ.
如果。
But
Dàn shì.
Dèn-shèr.
但是。
However
Kě shì.
Kǔh shèr.
可是。
Nevertheless
Bú guò.
Bú-guò.
不过。
Because
Yīn wéi.
Īng-wáy.
因为。
Thus
Nà me.
Nàh-můh.
那么。
So, therefore
Suó yǐ.
Suó-ǐ.
所以。
Yes
Shì de.
Shèr
