# Chinese Lesson 1 Course target: Absolute beginners Language used for explanation: English ## 1. Introduction to Chinese Modern standard Chinese (Mandarin) uses **Chinese characters** for writing and Pinyin for pronunciation. Pinyin is a spelling system based on the Latin alphabet, which helps foreigners learn to read Chinese. Chinese is a **tonal language**. The same syllable with different tones means completely different words. ## 2. Pinyin basic knowledge (Part 1: 4 main tones) Mark rules example: mā má mǎ mà 1st tone (ˉ): flat and steady mā 2nd tone (ˊ): rising upwards má 3rd tone (ˇ): fall then rise mǎ 4th tone (ˋ): short and falling sharply mà Example to understand tones: mā 妈 mother má 麻 hemp mǎ 马 horse mà 骂 scold ## 3. Core simple characters & vocabulary |Chinese|Pinyin|English meaning| | ---- | ---- | ---- | |我|wǒ|I, me| |你|nǐ|you| |他|tā|he| |她|tā|she| |好|hǎo|good, fine| |是|shì|am / is / are| ## 4. Basic sentence patterns Pattern 1: 你好！ nǐ hǎo! Hello / Hi. Usage: Standard greeting for all people. Pattern 2: 我是 + Name. wǒ shì ____. I am ____. Example: 我是杰克。 wǒ shì Jiékè. I am Jack. Pattern 3: 你好吗？ nǐ hǎo ma? How are you? Answer: 我很好。 wǒ hěn hǎo. I am fine. ## 5. Important grammar notes 1. Chinese verbs do NOT change form. No “am / is / are” changes like English. ✅ 我是老师。 你是学生。（“是” stays the same） 2. No plural marks for nouns. 我 = I; 我们 = we 你 = you; 你们 = you (plural) ## 6. Practice exercise Translate into Chinese and write Pinyin: 1. Hello! 2. I am Lisa. 3. How are you?