EaseintoChinese

A beginner'sMandarin course

for adults

Basic Spoken Chinese

Simpli�ed Characters

Tailored for English Speakers

Self-Study Friendly

By Victor Petersen

Free AudioDownload

63 Chinese Characters60 Useful Expressions329 Everyday Vocabulary

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................. 3

Chapter 1 Hello .............................................................................................. 9

Chapter 2 I like ............................................................................................. 35

Chapter 3 Numbers ...................................................................................... 61

Chapter 4 Shopping ...................................................................................... 85

Chapter 5 Travel ......................................................................................... 107

Chapter 6 Food ........................................................................................... 139

Chapter 7 Learning Chinese ........................................................................................169

Chapter 8 Time ........................................................................................... 195

Chapter 9 Hotels ......................................................................................... 225

Chapter 10 Work ......................................................................................... 251

Chapter 11 Family ...................................................................................... 277

Chapter 12 Daily life .................................................................................. 303

Appendices:

Appendix 1 Pronunciation guide ................................................................. 335

Appendix 2 Answers to the exercises .......................................................... 340

Appendix 3 Character index ........................................................................ 355

Appendix 4 Vocabulary index ...................................................................... 358

Introduction

Pinyin 拼音

Two sets of pronunciation are used in this book: pinyin and an

Chinese is written when put in alphabetical form. It is used throughout

China for place names, street signs, people’s names and in Mandarin text

books. You need to learn pinyin.

how to pronounce pinyin. It is written in square brackets [ ] following the

pinyin. There is no need to memorise how words are written using the

Consonants and vowels 声母和韵母

Most pinyin consonants are similar to English with the exception of:

Letter Sounds like

C ‘ts’ in ‘its’

Q ‘ch’ in ‘church’

X ‘sh’ in ‘shop’

Z ‘dz’ in ‘ads’

Zh ‘j’ in ‘jam’

letters in the western alphabet (‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’ and ‘u’) represent more than

one sound each. Appendix 1 lists the different ways in which vowels are

pronounced.

Introduction .5

6. Ease into Chinese

Tones 声調

Tones are the pattern of pitch with which a syllable is pronounced.

English doesn’t have tones (changes in pitch in a single syllable to show

meaning), but has intonation (changes in pitch as we speak to show mood

etc).

Tone As inGraphic

representation

Description, explanation in musical terms,

closest English equivalent

First

tone

Tone starts high and remains high.

A single high note.

Sounds like computer talk – flat and

monotonal.

Second

toneXuéxí

Tone starts reasonably high and rises

slightly.

A rise of half a note.

Sounds like a question in English: ‘what?’

Third

tone

When third tone is followed by syllable

other than a third tone:

A fall of half a note.

Tone starts low and falls slightly.

Third

tone

When third tone is at the end of phrase

(slight pause following).

A fall of half a note and a rise of half a

note.

Tone starts low, falls slightly then rises

slightly.

Third

tone

When there are two third tones together,

Fourth

toneZàijiàn

Tone starts high and falls quickly.

A fall of one note.

Sounds like an exclamation in English: ‘no

way!’

High

Low

→

High

Low

High

Low

High

Low

High

Low

High

Low

The main cartoon characters in the book 主要卡通人物介紹

[Jaow Laow-shr]

Zhao Laoshi

Beijing

[Mee Nee]

Minnie Pickles

UK

[Joo Lee-yah]

Julia Kada

Singapore

[Zoo Fay-loong]

Philippe Zizu

France

[Bai Baow]

Ernst Weissbrot

Germany

[Lee Lee-lee]

Lily Lee

Dalian

Introduction .7

8. Ease into Chinese

[Mai Ker]

Mài Kè

Mike Burbock

Australia

[Chen Laow-bahn]

Qian Laoban

Shanghai

[Wahng Wahng]

Wáng Wàng

Wendy Wang

USA

[Mah Lah]

Má Là

Ma La

Chengdu

[Ding Ding-dahng]

DD

Nanchang

[Shwai Ger]

Panda Shuai

Tianjin

Chapter 1

Hello

Learning objectives

① The expressions ‘hello’, ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’;② How to tell people your name and where you come

from and ask other people these things;

③ How to make ‘yes/no’ questions;④ How to make questions using ‘ne’.

Chapter 1 Hello .11

1.1 Hello, thank you and goodbye!

In this cartoon Bai Bao thanks Ma La for her help and Ma La answers

’ ‘hello’,

‘xièxie’ ‘ ’ ‘thank you’ and ‘zàijiàn’ ‘ ’ ‘goodbye’, three of the most

useful words in Chinese.

’

’,

literally ‘hello Bai Bao’.

1.1

12. Ease into Chinese

Name Expression

[Bai baow nee-haow]

Bai Bao hello

Hello Bai Bao.

or

When saying ‘thank you’, it is possible to say ‘xièxie’ ‘ ’ or ‘xièxie

’, both mean ‘thank you’. Again, you can put the person’s name

in front or after ‘thank you’.

or

or

[Mah Lah sheh-sheh nee]

Thank you Ma La

Thank you Ma La.

‘Bùyòng xiè’ ‘ ’ ‘you are welcome’ means literally ‘do not need

to thank’. The ‘xiè’ ‘ ’ in ‘bùyòng xiè’ is the same ‘xiè’ as in ‘xièxie’.

[Sheh-sheh nee Mah Lah]

Thank you Ma La

Thank you Ma La.

[Sheh-sheh Mah Lah]

Xièxie Má Là

Thank you Ma La

Thank you Ma La.

[Mah Lah sheh-sheh]

Má Là xièxie

Ma La thank you

Thank you Ma La.

Expression Name

[Nee-haow Bai baow]

Hello Bai Bao

Hello Bai Bao.

Chapter 1 Hello .13

Hello

Goodbye

You are welcome

Thank you

Bye-bye

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Zàijiàn

Xièxie

Bàibai

Bùyòng xiè

Exercise 1.1 Greetings

Match the Chinese expression in the left hand column with its English

translation in the right.

Zàijiàn and Bàibai‘Zàijiàn’ ‘ ’ is the traditional way of saying farewell in China. It

literally means ‘see again’. ‘Bàibai’ ‘ ’ comes from the English word

‘bye-bye’ and is a relatively newcomer to the Chinese language, but when

written, the word looks very traditional.

The term ‘bài’ ‘ ’ is used in words that relate to offering polite

respects. The character comes from a pictogram of two hands being held

up in greeting and has become stylised to the current . Even today in

written, the word ‘bàibai’ looks like it means ‘offer respects’.

‘Zàijiàn’ is a more accepted way of saying ‘goodbye’ and best used in

formal situations.

‘Bàibai’ is more likely to be used by the young, the fashionable and

the westernised in less formal situations.

‘Bàibai’ ‘ ’ should correctly be pronounced with a fourth tone and

no tone, but you may also hear it said with two second tones or a fourth

and a second tone – the ‘wrong’ tones give the word a more trendy and

westernised feel.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

14. Ease into Chinese

1.2 Are you Chinese?

1.2

Chapter 1 Hello .15

[Woh shr]

I am…

In this cartoon, Shuai Ge and Wang Wang introduce themselves to each

other. They say their names and then Shuai Ge asks Wang Wang if she’s from

When they introduce themselves, both Shuai Ge and Wang Wang use

‘ ’ ‘I am Wang Wang’.

’ ‘I am American’.

’ ‘American’ is made up of two parts:

’ meaning ‘America’ or the ‘US’. The second

part is the word ‘rén’ ‘

‘US person’; in other words an ‘American’.

+ =

[ren]

rén

person

Name of country or cityPerson of that

country or city

[Joong-gwoh ren] [Joong-gwoh-ren]

China person Chinese(person)

+ =

16. Ease into Chinese

[Woh

I

shr

am

Joong-gwoh-ren]

Chinese

I am Chinese.

The word ‘ ’ ‘ ’ can be translated variously as ‘am’, ‘are’ or ‘is’

depending upon circumstance. ‘I am’, ‘you are’ and ‘he/she is’ all use the

The three basic personal pronouns in Chinese are ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘I’ or ‘me’,

‘n ’ ‘ ’, ‘ ’ or ‘ ’ meaning ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’. To make

them plural, we add ‘men’ ‘ ’: ‘ men’ ‘ ’ ‘we’ or ‘us’, ‘n men’ ‘ ’

’, ‘ ’ or ‘ ’ ‘they’

or ‘them’. To make them possessive, we add ‘de’ ‘ ’: ‘ de’ ‘ ’ ‘my’

or ‘mine’, ‘n de’ ‘ ’, ‘ ’ or ‘ ’ ‘his’,

‘hers’ or ‘its’.

First person Second person Third person

Singular

Possessive

Plural

Possessive

Exercise 1.2 Introduce yourself 自我介紹

name and nationality. At the bottom of this exercise is a list of countries.

Chapter 1 Hello .17

characters. Say their name and nationality (or city that they come from).

’ ‘you are…’ to talk about them.

Some countries of the world

[Joong-gwoh] China

[May-gwoh] America, USA

[Ing-gwoh] Britain

[Aow-dah-lee-ya] Australia

[Jah-nah-dah] Canada

[Nahn-fay] South Africa

[Shin-shee-lahn] New Zealand

[Bah-shee] Brazil

[Der-gwoh] Germany

[Fah-gwoh] France

[Ee-dah-lee] Italy

[Ray-deeyen] Sweden

[Shee-bahn-yah] Spain

[Rr-ben] Japan

18. Ease into Chinese

[Hahn-gwoh] Korea

[Shin-jah-por] Singapore

[Fay-lew-bin] Philippines

[In-doo] India

Asking questions 問問題

’ ‘am

not’, ‘are not’ or ‘is not’. In the cartoon Wang Wang uses the expression

‘I am not Chinese’.

[Woh

I

boo

bù

not

shr

am

Joong-gwoh-ren]

Chinese

I am not Chinese.

’.

’ ‘are you Chinese’ or literally ‘you are/are not Chinese’.

[Nee

You

shr

are

boo-shr

are not

Joong-gwoh-ren]

Chinese

Are you Chinese?

A beginner'sMandarin coursefor adults

Ease into Chinese is a short course of 12 chapters for

adult beginners who want to learn basic spoken Chinese

for business, travel and everyday life in China.

Readers can work through the book on their own or use it

with a teacher in a classroom situation.

The course designed is clear and simple with detailed

explanations. New words are minimal and the cartoons

make it fun to read.

Other features include the use of a pronunciation guide

throughout the book, characters so Chinese people can

follow along, exercises with answers, optional writing

practice and free audio �les available for downloading.

上架建議：語言學習 Language LearningHK$138.00