Personal Pronouns

Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. I you he, she, it we you (plural) they o lei k o dei lei dei k dei

Basic Nouns
Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. See also Household Items. book chair car home moon person plant something star sun table telephone TV tree water s (MW: bun ) d n tse (MW: ga ) Uk kei yt ; full moon mun yt y n (MW: go ) dzIk m t (MW: po ) ye sIng tai yng toi din wa din si s (MW: po ) s (MW: glass bui )

Verbs
Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. verb negation completed -ing dUng tsi m + (verb) (verb) + dzo (verb) + g n (verb) + dz

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will, would be

wui + (verb) h i (locative) h i (with adjective) hou Lit. very m h i ; (in questions) m i not be y u have mou not have h go come l i ho yi can, may yiu want, need want to, would like to sng dzIng do, make dzou sIk eat y m drink dzUng yi like m n ask mai buy have enough g u dzi dou know sIk know how to hok learn dz u leave ten listen dz h i live, reside w n look for oi love fan return, back, recome back fan l i go back fan h gon say, speak t i see fan yIk translate mIng bat understand (language) sIk ten wait for d n

Adjectives
One-syllable adjectives go directly in front of the noun. With adjectives of two syllables or more, use ge between the adjective and the noun.

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See also Feelings, Personality Traits, Physical Traits, Comparisons and Similes and Colours. Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. be you are beautiful beautiful big cheap cold crazy cute difficult easy expensive fast few, a good happy hot little more, -er new sad small so so ugly tired too, excessively not too ugly very warm (used with adjective) hou Lit. very lei hou len len dai pen dUng tsi sin d t yi lan s m yUng yi gw i fai gei + (MW) hou hoi s m yit siu s i di s n m hoi s m siu s i g m g m w t d t (with tone change) gui ... tai (adjective) la m h i tai (adjective) w t d t hou ln

Adverbs
The word d@k1 is used to introduce adverbs of manner that reflect personal impressions, e.g. You speak very well! Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. a bit
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y t di

a lot again enough maybe

do dzoi g u hou l n wat dze quite, rather gei y t ts i together too, as well (noun) + dou too, excessively ... tai (adjective) la not too m h i tai (adjective)

Numbers
Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. See also Quantity. three four five six seven eight nine ten 11 12 20 30 100 1,000 10,000 -th half zero one two lIng y t yi lng (used when a noun follows) sam sei m lUk ts t bat g u s p ; (short form) a s p y t Lit. ten and one s p yi Lit. ten and two yi s p Lit. two tens ya or ye (short form) sam s p ; sa1 a6 (short form) y t bat y t tsin y t man d i + (number) bun

Numbers from 10 to 99 are formed by multiplying tens, e.g. 52 = 5 10 + 2. 52 m s p yi

Short forms

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 (20) is commonly pronounced ya (or ye ) instead of yi s p , provided it is followed by another number, a measure word, or a noun. (10) s p can be shortened to a in numbers from 31 to 99, when it is followed by another number, a measure word, or a noun. 41 sei s p y t , or sei a y t Similarly, you can say sa for sam , when it is followed by another number, a measure word, or a noun. 38 sam s p bat , or sa a bat

People
See also Family, Occupations and Famous People. person boy fool friend girl king man Miss Mr. name student Westerner woman y n (MW: go ) lam dz i (MW: go ) so lou p n y u l dz i (MW: go ) won lam y n siu dze sin san hok san s i y n , (slang for white man) gw i lou l y n

Family
brother (older) go go (younger) s i lou daughter l (MW:go ) father ba ba ; (vocative) a ba grandmother (maternal) ma ma husband dzng fu mother ma mi ; (vocative) a ma

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relative sister son wife

ts n tsIk (older) dze dze (younger) s i mui dz i (MW: go ) tai tai

Occupations
what do you do for a living? lei5 dzou sIng hon a ? ; lei dzou bin (y t ) hon a ? where do you work? lei h i bin dou fat tsoi a ? occupation dzIk yip actor yin yn businessperson sng y n chef dai ts civil servant gUng mou yn dentist a yi (s n ) doctor yi s n1 engineer gUng tsIng si farmer lUng fu fisherman y fu homemaker dz fu journalist gei dze king won lawyer lt si looking for a job w n g n gUng manager gIng lei nurse wu si office worker dzIk yn pharmacist police officer politician dzIng dzi ga prostitute g i chicken receptionist dzip doi yn salesperson s u fo yn ; mai fo yn speech-language pathologist, yin y dzi liu si speech therapist student hok san surgeon teacher gau si translator fan yIk waiter si yIng waitress l si yIng

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writer

dzok ga

Time
when? now sometimes never yesterday today tomorrow afternoon gei si yi ga y u si tsUng loi mou k m y t g m y t tIng y t an dz u f n (no MW) dzi (MW: go ) gw t (MW: go ) bun dzUng y t l i bai ; sIng kei (MW: go ) yt (MW: go ) lin gei dim dzUng a gei dim a dim (dzUng ) g u dim bun m dim lIng sam f n lUk dim sei s p m f n

Units
minute 5 minutes quarter half hour day week month year

Clock
at what time? what time is it? o'clock 9:30 5:03 4:10 6:45

Days of the Week

Use the numbers 1 to 6 with sing1 kei4 to form the days from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is an exception. You may also use l@i5 bai3 instead of sing1 kei4. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday weekend
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sIng sIng sIng sIng sIng sIng sIng dz u

kei y t (weekday 1) kei yi kei sam kei sei kei m kei lUk (weekday 6) kei y t mut (MW: go )
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Months
Put the numbers 1 to 12 before the word for month yuet6. January February March April May June ... November December y t yt (1st month) yi yt sam yt sei yt m yt lUk yt s p y t yt s p yi yt (12th month)

Present
now today this morning this afternoon tonight this month this year yi ga g m y t g m dziu (dzou ) ; li go dziu dzou li go an dz u g m man ; g m man g m go yt g m lin

Past
just now yesterday day before yesterday last night last month last year ...ago k m y t tsin y t k m man sng go yt sng lin

Future
later soon tomorrow day after tomorrow tomorrow night next month next year in... tsi di y t dz n tIng y t h u y t tIng man ; tIng man ha go yt ha lin

Date
Wednesday, May 8, 2002

Seasons
spring tsn gw i summer ha gw i
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autumn ts u gw i winter dUng gw i

Decades
60s 70s 80s 90s lUk ts t bat g u s p s p s p s p lin lin lin lin doi doi doi doi

Centuries
20th century ya s i gei 21st century ya yi s i gei

Adverbs
again dzoi no longer dzoi m [verb] la

Physical Traits
See also Parts of the Body. bald beautiful curvy cute dark fat fit hairy handsome lean muscular old pale pregnant sexy short skinny slim strong stout tall thin leng3 kUk sin mei d t yi fei mou yUng yUng yIng dzn gei yUk lou

wai (dzo ) y n sIng g m i pei bau gw t Lit. skin-wrapped bone miu tiu kng dzon gou s u

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ugly young

w t d t ts u yng hou san

I'm... years old ... o (number) s

Personality Traits
Click on any Chinese word with a beige background to hear an audio sample. See also Feelings. absent-minded s m b t dzoi yin ts n chit affectionate y u ye s m ambitious dzi dai Lit. self big arrogant blunt dzIk brave yUng catty lan dam cold dzi dai Lit. self big conceited dzi sn Lit. self-believing confident bou s u conservative controlling tsi sin crazy din tsan y n cruel hou kei Lit. fond of strange curious deceitful easy-going y u hok sIk educated emotional energetic enthusiastic oi hng Lit. out-facing extraverted y u sin friendly gau siu funny dai fon generous tam s m greedy hard-working k n lIk sIng s t honest ignorant mou loi sIng impatient

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10

impolite intelligent

mou l i (mau ) tsUng mIng sIng lek loi hng sin lng lan tsou dzin gat s him h bat gwa Lit. in-facing

intense introverted kind lazy logical loud mean modest nosy obnoxious obsessed odd open-minded patient polite psycho reliable resourceful responsible selfish sensitive sensual shy silly smart

gwai mou pin gin y u loi sIng y u l i (mau ) kau d t dz y u dzat y m g m dzi si m n g m Lit. swift-feeling pa ts u so tsUng mIng sIng lek

spiteful straightforward strange stubborn stupid superstitious unreliable vain weird wise witty

dzIk gwai gu dz p a Japanese guy stuck in goo and doesn't want to get out: a stubborn goo Jap tsn m i sn kau m dz dzi dai Lit. self big gwai tsUng mIng

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