MANDARIN

Lesson III: Introduction to Chinese grammar

Common Expressions (From www.livemocha.com)

你好。 Nǐ hǎo. Hello!

早上好。 Zǎoshàng hǎo. Good Morning
下午好。 Xiàwǔ hǎo. Good Afternoon
晚上好。 Wǎnshàng hǎo. Good Evening
晚安。 Wǎn ān. Good Night
您好吗? Nín hǎo ma? How are you?
我很好。 Wǒ hěn hǎo. I am good
我不太好。 Wǒ bù tài hǎo. I am not so good
我非常好。 Wǒ fēicháng hǎo! I am great!
我很好。谢谢。你呢？ Wǒ hěn hǎo. Xiè xie. I am good. Thank you.
Nǐ ne? And you?
您叫什么名字? Nín jiào shénme míngzi? What is your name?
(Lit., You [are] called by what name-character?)
我的名字是... Wǒ de míngzi shì… My name is …
很高兴见到您。 Hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nín. Nice to meet you.
(Lit., [I am] Very glad to meet you.)
我也很高兴见到您。 Wǒ yě hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nín.
Nice to meet you too.
(Lit., I [am] also very glad to meet you.)
您从哪里来? Nín cóng náli lái? Where are you from?
(Lit, You come where from?)
我是从…来。 Wǒ shì cóng … lái. I am from …
(Lit. I am from … come)
你在哪里工作? Nín zài náli gōngzuò? What do you do?
(Lit., You in where work?)
我是学生。 Wǒ shì xuésheng. I am a student.
我是老师。 Wǒ shì lǎoshī. I am a teacher.
你住在哪里？ Nǐ zhù zài náli? Where do you live?
(Lit., You live in where?)
…在哪里? … zài náli? Where is …?
您多大了? Nín duō dà le? How old are you?
我 … 岁。 Wǒ … suì. I am ... years old
您说英语吗? Nín shuō Yīngyǔ ma? Do you speak English?
我只说一点英文。 Wǒ zhǐ shuō yīdiǎn Yīngyǔ.
I only speak a little English
我不懂。 Wǒ bù dǒng. I don't understand.
 (Lit. I not understand)
你能再说一遍吗? Nǐ néng zài shuō yībiàn ma? Can you repeat that?
(Lit. You can say that once more?)
你能不能说得慢一点？ Nǐ néng bù néng shuō de màn yīdiǎn?
Can you speak more slowly?
(Lit. You can or cannot speak a little more slowly?)
你能帮助我吗? Nǐ néng bāngzhù wǒ ma? Can you help me?
是。 Shì. Yes. (Lit. “To be”)
不是。 Bù shì. No. (Lit. “Not to be”)
请。 Qǐng Please (Requesting)
谢谢。 Xiè xie. Thank you.
不客气。 Bù kè qì. You are welcome!
(Lit. Don’t be so polite!)
不好意思。 Bù hǎo yìsi. Excuse me.
(Lit. Not good meaning)
对不起。 Duì bù qĭ. I am sorry. (Said when one does
something wrong.)
回头见。 Huítóu jiàn. See you soon.
明天见。 Míng tiān jiàn. See you tomorrow.
(Lit. Tomorrow see)
再见。 Zài jiàn. Good bye.
(Lit. Again see = ‘See you again’)
祝你有一个愉快的一天 Zhù nǐ yoǔ yī gè yúkuài de yītiān. Have a nice day
(Lit. [I] hope you have a nice day)

Notes on Chinese and English grammar.

1. Word order in Chinese is similar to English. For simple Chinese sentences,

the word order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).

Subject Verb Object

我 Wǒ 愛 ài 你 nǐ
I love you
 我 Wǒ 学习 xuéxi 中语 Zhōngwén
I study Chinese language

However, for more complex Chinese sentences, the adverbs are inserted
between the subject and the verb.

2. There is no conjugation of verbs in Chinese. There is no need to master

tenses of verbs. (However, Chinese has aspects of the verb.)

Past Present Future

Mandarin 学习
Xuéxí
Studied Studies Will/shall study
English
Study

3. There is no need to distinguish singular and plural in subject-verb

agreement.

Singular Plural
He is writing Chinese They are writing Chinese
English
characters. characters.
Mandarin 他写汉字。 他们写汉字。
Tā xiě Hànzi. Tāmen xiě Hànzi.

4. There are no cases of pronouns (nominative, objective, possessive)

Nominative Objective Possesive

Sing. Plural Sing. Plural Sing. Plural
1st I we me us my our
person
English
2nd you you you you your your
person
3rd he, they him, her, them his, her, their
person she, it it its

1st 我 我们 我 我们
person wǒ wǒmen wǒ wǒmen
2nd 你 你们 你 你们 Just add the
Mandarin person nǐ nǐmen nǐ nǐmen possessive
3rd 他/ 他们/ 他/她/ 他们/ particle 的 de
person 她/ 她们 它 tā 她们
它 tā tāmen tāmen
5. Verbs that describe “states of being” are called “Stative verbs” (verbs that
describe states of being) are NOT preceded by a “linking verb” such as forms
of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) in English.
你好。Nǐ hǎo. ‘You [are] good’= ‘Hello’.

The only time the linking verb 是 shì (itself a special stative verb) could
precede a stative verb is to make a strong emphasis.
她是很高! Tā shì hěn gāo!
‘She is very tall!’ (…And I didn’t believe you until I saw her!)

6. The word 不 bù is placed before a stative verb to mean ‘not’.

我不太好。Wǒ bù tài hǎo. ‘I am not so good’
我不懂。 Wǒ bù dǒng. ‘I do not understand.’

7. Verbs may be modified by placing “intensifiers” (adverbs in English) before

the noun. A common (in fact, default) modifier is 很 hěn ‘very’.
我很好。 Wǒ hěn hǎo. ‘I am very good.’
我很高兴见到您。Wǒ hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nín.
‘I am very glad to meet you.’

8. The word 能 néng, ‘can, could, able to’ (physical ability), a stative verb in
Chinese but is a modal (a special class of auxiliaries) in English, is placed
before the verb.
你能帮助我吗? Nǐ néng bāngzhù wǒ ma? ‘Can you help me?’
9. The structure VERB-NOT-VERB gives the person being asked a choice of
doing or not doing the action. The ‘question particle’ 吗 ma is no longer used
at the end of the sentence.
你能帮助我吗? Nǐ néng bù néng bāngzhù wǒ?
‘You can or cannot help me?’

Note: The word 能 néng may be a modal in English but it is considered a

verb in Mandarin.

10. There is no “yes” or “no” in Mandarin. Questions in Mandarin are answered

by repeating the verb of the question.
Nǐ shì xuésheng ma? ~(Wǒ) Shì/Bù shì.
‘Are you a student?’ ~‘(I) am/am not’
Nǐ shuō Yīngyǔ ma? ~(Wǒ) Shuō/Bù shuō.
‘Do you speak English?’ ~‘(I) speak/do not speak

11. While there is no tense in Mandarin (see number 2 above), it indicates the
time of the action by the following means:
a. By using time signal words like 昨天 zuótiān ‘yesterday’, 今天 jīntiān
‘today’ and 明天 míngtiān ‘tomorrow’.
b. By using modal particles like 了 le ‘perfect aspect particle’ (often
inaccurately described as the “past tense” in many Chinese grammar
books). The “perfective aspect” means that 1) the action has begun or
completed in the past (hence, has been “perfected”); and 2) the action
has just begun in the present or is still continuing in the present.

Nǐ dǒng le ma? ‘Do you understand?’ (Have you understood this?)

Can be answered by either…

~(Wǒ) Dǒng le. ‘I understand’ (I understood then and I understand now.)

or

~(Wǒ) Bù dǒng. ‘I don’t understand’ (I did not understand before and I

still don’t understand now.) (The action has not been yet “perfected”,
thus the perfect aspect particle 了 le is NOT used; as in *Bù dǒng le.
You never understood it in the first place!)

N.B. Asterisk (*) here means ‘unacceptable’ or ‘ungrammatical’.