nǐ
There is just one word in Chinese for all of the variations of the verb “to be”—shì (pronounced shr) 是, which expresses “be, am, is, are” and “were.” Similarly, the word qù (chwee) 去 incorporates “go, goes, went” and “gone.”
Here are some of the other “rules” of Chinese:
1) The subject of sentences (I, he, she, they, it) is generally not expressed when it is obvious from the context.
2) The past tense is formed by adding the term le (ler) 了 after the verb.
3) The future tense is formed by adding the term jiāng (jeeahng) 将 before the verb.
4) To make a sentence negative all you do is add the term bù (boo) 不 in front of the verb.
5) Questions are formed by the use of interrogative terms and tone of voice as well as by adding the special interrogative term ma (mah) 吗 at the end of sentences.
6) Sentences are made possessive by using the word de (der) 的 in between the pronoun and noun.
7) Likewise, you qualify adjectives by putting either bǐjiào (bee-jee-ow) 比较 or zuì (zway) 最 in front of them. Bǐjiào incorporates the meaning of “relatively,” and zuì “most”—in the sense of “better” and “best, bigger” and “biggest, cheaper, cheapest,” etc.
8) Special “measure words” are used between numbers and nouns when referring to a number or quantity of things and people. There are different “measure words” for different types of things (flat, round), for people, animals, etc. There is, however, one “measure word,” gè (guh) 个 that is more or less universal and may be used for virtually anything if you don’t know the correct one.
9) “Yes” and “no” are generally not used by themselves. The custom is to use the negative or the positive of the appropriate verb or adjective to express these meanings. In other words, the usual response to “Are you going?” is not “no.” It is the negative form of “going”—that is, “not going,” with the subject [I] understood—i.e. qù? (chwee?) 去 / “Are you going?” Bú qù (boo chwee) 不去 / “I’m not going.”
There are other “rules” for using Chinese, but rather than trying to remember them individually, it is best to simply use them as they appear in the basic sentences in this book.
The Chinese “Alphabet”
The 405 syllables that make up the Chinese language are in effect the Chinese “alphabet.” These syllables are divided into five sets, each of which is based on three or more of the five vowel sounds, a (ah), i (ee), u (uu), e (eh) and o (oh), combined with consonants.
The initial or first letter in Chinese syllables is always a consonant. The “final” or ending portion of the syllables always begins with a vowel. Example: sànbù (sahn-boo) 散步, which means “walk” or “stroll.” Individual words consist of one or more syllables. And as in English, there are many compound words.
One example of a compound word is qìchë (chee-cher) 汽车, literally “steam vehicle”; and figuratively, car or automobile. Another commonly seen and used compound word is xièxie (she-eh-she-eh) 谢谢, or “thank you.” [When pronounced at normal speed it sounds like “shay-shay.”]
With only a few exceptions (as shown above) pronunciation of the initial letters of Chinese syllables is the same as or similar to the English pronunciation. Pronunciation of the so-called “final” portions of the syllables varies slightly. [See the pronunciation guidelines on pages 14 to 23.]
Running Words Together
In written Chinese, characters representing the words of the language are not separated by spaces (as individual words are in English).
However, the custom of not separating words with spaces is frequently carried over into pinyin (the Roman letter version of Chinese), so that what looks like one word may be two or three words, with Tiananmen, Beijing’s famous central square, being an outstanding example. This is actually three words, written in Chinese with three characters, Tiān Ān Mén (Tee-an Ahn Mern), which literally means “Heaven Peace Gate,” and is usually translated as “Gate of Heavenly Peace.”
In some cases in this book, I have chosen to separate the pinyin spellings of some words to make it easier to identify and pronounce them.
Pronouncing Chinese “in English”
The English phonetics used in the following pronunciation guides are designed to approximate the correct Chinese pronunciation as closely as possible. In some cases, the Chinese syllables are pronounced exactly like—or almost exactly like—common English words, and I have chosen to use these English words in an effort to make recognizing and pronouncing syllables and words as simple as possible. The Chinese syllable bai, for example, sounds like “by,” and bao sounds like “bow” (as in “bowing down”). Gai sounds like “guy,” and so on.
Pronunciation Guide No. 1
[Pronounce the phonetic spellings as English. Note that the a (ah) vowel sound is repeated in all of the syllables in this group.]
| A ah | AI aye | AN in/ahn | ANG ahng | AO ow (as in “ouch”) |
| BA bah | BAI by | BAN bahn | BANG bahng | BAO bow (as in “bow down”) |
| CA tsah | CAI tsigh | CAN tsahn | CANG tsahng | CAO tsow |
| CHA chah | CHAI chigh | CHAN chahn | CHANG chahng | CHAO chow |
| DA dah | DAI die | DAN dahn | DANG dahng | DAO dow |
| FA fah | FAN fahn | FANG fahng | ||
| GA gah | GAI guy | GAN gahn | GANG gahng | GAO gow |
| HA hah | HAI hi | HAN hahn | HANG hahng | HAO how |
| KA kah | KAI kigh | KAN kahn | KANG kahng | KAO kow (as in “cow”) |
| LA lah | LAI lie | LAN lahn | LANG lahng | LAO lao (as in “Laos”) |
| MA mah | MAI my | MAN mahn | MANG mahng | MAO mao |
| NA nah | NAI nigh | NAN nahn | NANG nahng | NAO now |
| PA pah | PAI pie | PAN pahn | PANG pahng | PAO pow |
| RAN rahn | RANG rahng | RAO rao | ||
| SA sah | SAI sigh | SAN sahn | SANG sahng | SAO sao |
| SHA shah | SHAI shy | SHAN shahn | SHANG shahng | SHAO shou |
| TA tah | TAI tie | TAN tahn | TANG tahng | TAO tao |
| WA wah | WAI wigh | WAN wahn | WANG wahng | |
| YA yah | YAN yahn | YANG yahng | YAO yee-ow | |
| ZA zah | ZAI zigh | ZAN zahn | ZANG zahng | ZAO zow |
| ZHA jah | ZHAI jigh | ZHAN jahn | ZHANG jahng | ZHAO jow |
Pronunciation Guide No. 2
[Note
