in that generation 叔叔／阿姨 (shū shu/ā yí) “uncle/auntie”, as if they were your own relatives. Addressing the older generations by their names is considered very rude in Chinese culture.
“你” or “您”？ Although both are translated as “you” in English, 您 is used to show respect when addressing, for example, your parents, grandparents, or boss. On the other hand, 你 is used to address friends and peers.
2) Measure words
Measure words are unique to Chinese, and are mandatory when using a noun with a numeral, for example, “one car” is 一辆车 (yī liàng chē) and “three bedrooms” is 三间卧室 (sān jiān wò shì). In these cases, the measure words are 辆 (liàng) and 间 (jiān) respectively. There are many different measure words in Chinese, and they are used for different types of objects. The most common measure word is 个 (gè) and this can be treated as a “default option” when you don’t know the exact measure word to use.
3) Tones for 一 and 不
To maintain consistency, we use yī (first tone) as the Pinyin for the character 一 and bù (fourth tone) for the character 不. This is in line with the authoritative Contemporary Chinese Dictionary. However, the pronunciations for these two characters may vary according to the tones of the characters that proceed or follow them, as shown below:
| 一 | TONE | EXAMPLES |
| When it’s the last character of a phrase or sentence | First tone | 第一 (dì yī) first统一 (tǒng yī) unity |
| When followed by characters of the first, second, and third tones | Fourth tone | 一天 (yì tiān) one day一起 (yì qǐ) together |
| When followed by characters of the fourth tone | Second tone | 一夜 (yí yè) one night一切 (yí qiè) all |
| 不 | TONE | EXAMPLES |
| When it’s the last character of a phrase or sentence | Fourth tone | 绝不 (jué bù) never也不 (yě bù) nor |
| When followed by characters of the first, second, and third tones | Fourth tone | 不行 (bù xíng) no不好 (bù hǎo) bad |
| When followed by characters of the fourth tone | Second tone | 不错 (bú cuò) good不去 (bú qù) not going to |
FREE AUDIO
We have created a free audio resource to help you learn and practise the Chinese words for all of the images shown in this dictionary. The Chinese words in each chapter are spoken by native speakers, giving you the opportunity to listen to each word twice and repeat it yourself. Download the audio from the website below to learn all of the vocabulary you need for communicating in Chinese.
www.collinsdictionary.com/resources
Whether you’re going to be visiting China, or even staying there for a while, you’ll want to be able to chat with people and get to know them better. Being able to communicate effectively with acquaintances, friends, family, and colleagues is key to becoming more confident in Mandarin Chinese in a variety of everyday situations.
umbrella
伞
sǎn
1. green
绿色的
lǜ sè de
2. blue
蓝色的
lán sè de
3. red
红色的
hóng sè de
4. yellow
黄色的
huáng sè de
5. white
白色的
bái sè de
6. black
黑色的
hēi sè de
THE BASICS | 基础句型和词汇
Hello.
你好。
nǐ hǎo
Hi!
嗨！
hēi
Good morning/evening.
早／晚上好。
zǎo/wǎn shàng hǎo
Good afternoon.
下午好。
xià wǔ hǎo
Good night.
晚安。
wǎn ān
See you soon.
回头见。
huí tóu jiàn
See you tomorrow.
明天见。
míng tiān jiàn
Bye!
再见。
zài jiàn
Have a good day!
今天过得愉快！
jīn tiān guò de yú kuài
