Chinese (Mandarin)
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Lesson 1: 你好！

It is appropriate to start off the introduction to Chinese with the common greeting: 你好。 Below is a dialogue between two people meeting each other for the first time. Edit

Dialogues

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Dialogue 1

Simplified Characters	Traditional Characters
金妮:	你好。	金妮:	你好。
欧文:	你好。	歐文:	妳好。
金妮:	我叫金妮。你叫什么名字？	金妮:	我叫金妮。你叫什麽名字？
欧文:	我叫欧文。	歐文:	我叫歐文。

Pīnyīn	English
Jīnní:	Nǐ hǎo.	Ginny:	Hello.
Ōuwén:	Nǐ hǎo.	Owen:	Hello.
Jīnní:	Wǒ jiào Jīnní. Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?	Ginny:	I'm Ginny. What's your name?
Ōuwén:	Wǒ jiào Ōuwén.	Owen:	I'm Owen.

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Dialogue 2

Simplified Characters	444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444	Traditional Characters
金妮:	他们是谁？	金妮:	他們是誰？
欧文:	她是艾美，她是中国人。他是东尼，他是美国人。	歐文:	她是艾美，她是中國人。他是東尼，他是美國人。
金妮:	你也是美国人吗？	金妮:	你也是美國人嗎？
欧文:	不是，我是英国人。你呢？你是哪国人？	歐文:	不是，我是英國人。妳呢？妳是哪國人？
金妮:	我是法国人。	金妮:	我是法國人。

Pīnyīn	English
Jīnní:	Tāmen shì shéi?	Ginny:	Who are they?
Ōuwén:	Tā shì Àiměi, tā shì Zhōngguórén. Tā shì Dōngní, tā shì Měiguórén.	Owen:	She is Amy. She's Chinese. He's Tony, an American.
Jīnní:	Nĭ yě shì Měiguórén ma?	Ginny:	Are you also American?
Ōuwén:	Bú shì. Wǒ shì Yīngguórén. Nǐ ne? Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?	Owen:	No, I'm British. How about you? Which nationality are you?
Jīnní:	Wǒ shì Fǎguórén.	Ginny:	I'm French.

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Vocabulary

Simplified (traditional in parentheses if different)	Pīnyīn	Part of speech	English
1. 你 (m.=你, f.=妳)	nǐ	(pro)	you (singular)
2.好	hǎo	(adj)	good
3.们 (們)	men	(n suffix)	(pluralizing suffix for pronouns)
4.你们 (m.=你們 f.=妳們)	nǐmen	(pro)	you all(plural)
5.我	wǒ	(pro)	I, me
6.我们 (我們)	wǒmen	(pro)	we, us
7.他	tā	(pro)	he, him
8.她	tā	(pro)	she, her
9.他们 (他們)	tāmen	(pro)	they, them (masc.)
10.她们 (她們)	tāmen	(pro)	they, them (fem.)
11.叫	jiào	(v)	to be named
12.什么 (什麽)	shénme	(pro)	what
13.名字	míngzi	(n)	name
14.是	shì	(v)	to be (am/is/are)
15.谁 (誰)	shéi OR shuí	(pro)	who, whom
16.国 (國)	guó	(n)	country
17.人	rén	(n)	person 个 (個) gè
18.也	yě	(adv)	also
19.吗 (嗎)	ma	(part)	(question particle)
20.呢	ne	(part)	(question particle for known context)
21.哪	nǎ OR něi	(pro)	what, which
22.不	bù	(adv)	(negates verbs)

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Proper Nouns

Simplified (traditional in parentheses)	Pīnyīn	English
1.金妮	Jīnní	Ginny
2.欧文 (歐文)	Ōuwén	Owen
3.艾美	Àiměi	Amy
4.东尼 (東尼)	Dōngní	Tony
5.中国 (中國)	Zhōngguó	China
6. 美国 (美國)	Měiguó	America
7.英国 (英國)	Yīngguó	Britain
8.法国 (法國)	Fǎguó	France

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Grammar

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Basic Sentences

The sentence structure of Chinese is very similar to that of English in that they both follow the pattern of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). Unlike many languages, verbs in Chinese are not conjugated and noun and adjective endings do not change. They are never affected by things such as time or person.

S + V + O

1. 我叫艾美。

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Sentences using shì 是

Shì, the equational verb to be, can be used as the English is or equals. Shì can only be used to equate combinations of nouns, noun phrases, and pronouns. In Chinese, shì, the "to be" verb, is not used with adjectives, as it is in English, as in, "He is cold."

S + 是 + O

1. 我是中国人。 2. 她是金妮。 3. 她们是英国人。

Shì is negated when preceded by bù 不. Bù is normally 4th tone, but changes to a 2nd tone when it precedes another 4th tone.

S + 不 + 是 + O

1. 他不是东尼。
2. 我不是美国人。

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The question particle ma 吗

Adding the modal particle ma 吗 to the end of a sentence makes a statement into a question. There is no change in word order as in English.

The declarative example sentence in #1 is transformed into an interrogative in #2.

1. 她是金妮。
2. 她是金妮吗？

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The question particle ne 呢

Using the ending modal particle ne 呢 makes a question when the context is already known, similar to saying "How about...?" in English. A common circumstance is when you wish to repeat a question that was just asked for another subject. Simply add ne to the end of the noun or pronoun to ask "How about this".

1. 我叫东尼, 你呢？ 2. 艾美是中国人, 他呢？

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Question words

Like particles, question words make statements into questions without changing the order of the sentence. To make one, simply substitute the question word in for the place the subject would be in the answer.

1. 他们是哪国人？
2. 谁是美国人？
3. 她是谁？