Do you speak Chinese?
Nǐ yào qù Běijīng ma?
You want go Beijing (question marker)
= Do you want to go to Beijing?
Nǐ kěyí gěi wǒ yí bēi lěng kāi shuǐ ma?
You can give me one glass cold water (question marker)
= Can you give me a glass of cold (drinking) water?
2 Nouns
Mandarin nouns often consist of two characters or syllables joined together. For example, Hànyǔ “the Chinese language”, lǎoshī “teacher” or kāfēi “coffee”. No distinction is made between the singular and plural forms. When it is necessary to indicate a plural, this is done by adding a number and a measure word to indicate the number of items involved (see page 10).
3 Pronouns
Chinese pronouns are used just as we use English pronouns. The same word can have two meanings, for example, wǒ 我 can refer to both “I” and “me”. The other pronouns in Chinese are nǐ 你 “you”, tā 他 “he/him”, tā 她 “she/her” and tā 它 “it” (the last three all share the same pronunciation but are written with different characters).
To indicate plural forms, you add the suffix -men 们 so the plural forms are wǒmen 我们 “we/us”, nǐmen 你们 “you” (plural), tāmen 他们 “they/them” (either all male or mixed genders) and tāmen 她们 “they/them” (all female). The pronoun for animals or insects is tāmen 它们 “they/them” (same pronunciation but different characters).
4 “This” and “That”
In addition to the personal pronouns, there are demonstrative pronouns zhè 这 “this” and nà 那 “that”. The plural forms are: zhè xiē 这些 “these” and nà xiē 那些 “those”.
5 Possessives
To indicate possession, simply add the particle de 的 between the words. Thus,
Wǒ de shu
I/me (possessive particle) book
= “my book”
Nǐ de shǒujī
You (possessive particle) mobile phone
= “your mobile phone”
Jīntiān de tiānqì zěnmeyàng?
Today (possessive particle) weather what’s like
= What’s the weather going to be like today?
Wǒ shuō de huà
I speak (possessive particle) words
= “the words I’m saying”
Nǐmen de diànnǎo
you (plural form) (possessive particle) laptop (or computer)
= “your laptop”
6 Measure Words
Just as we would say “two cups of coffee” in English, in Chinese, the number comes first, followed by a measure word like zhāng 张 “sheet” and běn 本 “measure word for books” and finally, the object zhǐ 纸 “paper” or shū 书 “books”.
yī zhāng zhǐ
one sheet paper
= “one sheet of paper”
liǎng bēi kāfēi
two cups coffee
= “two cups of coffee”
sān běn shū
three (measure word for books) books
= “three books”
Take note that when counting objects, the word for èr 二 “two” becomes liǎng 两 “a couple of”. Here are some common measure words.
| Measure words | Used for | Examples |
| zhāng 张 | flat, wide objects | yì zhāng zhǐ “one sheet of paper” |
| yì zhāng zhuōzi “one table” | ||
| běn 本 | bound books | sān běn shū “three books” |
| zhī 只 | one out of a pair | yì zhī shǒu “one hand” |
| zhī 支 | stick-like objects | liǎng zhī bǐ “two pens” |
| liàng 辆 | vehicles with wheels | sān liàng chē “three cars“ |
| shuāng 双 | a pair | yì shuāng xié “a pair of shoes” |
| tiáo 条 | long pieces of clothing or fabric and roads | liǎng tiáo kùzi “two (pairs of) pants” |
| bēi 杯 | cups or glasses | liǎng bēi kāfēi “two cups of coffee” |
If you can’t remember all these, there is an all-purpose measure word ge 个 which can be used instead of the above measure words yī ge shū ”one book“ or sì ge xíngli “four suitcases”.
The word ge 个 means “piece” and is also used in phrases like zhè ge 这个 “this one”, nà ge 那个 “that one”, nǎ ge 哪个 “which one” or jǐ ge 几个 “how many (items)?”
7 Verbs
Chinese verbs are never conjugated, and have only one simple form regardless of subject or tense. Thus the verb chī “to eat” is the same whether the subject is I, you, he/she or they, and whether the action took place in the past, present or future. For example,
Wǒ chī jiǎozi.
I eat dumplings = “I eat dumplings.”
This sentence can mean “I ate dumplings” or “I am eating dumplings”.
Wǒ qù Běijīng.
I go Beijing = “I am going to Beijing.”
Similarly, this could mean “I went to Beijing”, “I am going to Beijing” or “I will go to Beijing”.
8 Past and future tense
To indicate time in Chinese, you add in time words like “yesterday”, “today”, “tomorrow”, “already” and “will”. For example:
Wǒ zuótiān chī jiǎozi.
I yesterday eat dumplings
= “Yesterday I ate dumplings.”
Wǒ jīntiān chī jiǎozi.
I today eat dumplings
= “Today I am eating dumplings.”
Wǒ
