How to LearnBasic Chinese

1. Learn the Chinese Tones & Tone MarkingsChinese has 4 tones:• 1st Tone = Flat. This is pitched slightly higher than your normal tone,

and the tone remains constant. E.g. mā = mother.• 2nd Tone = Rising. This tone begins at your normal pitch, and then

rises. E.g. má = numb.• 3rd Tone = Falling then Rising. Just like it says, this tone first falls, then

rises. E.g. mǎ = horse.• 4th Tone = Falling. This begins at your normal pitch then falls. It is how

we naturally speak a word in English. E.g. mà = scold.

2. Learn the Most Useful Phrases

3. Learn the Pronouns

Pronouns in Chinese are very simple:• I wo• You (sg.) ni• He / she ta

• We women• You (pl.) nimen• They tamen

4. Learn Some Verbs

• Verbs in Chinese do not change their form, so they are easy to learn.

Some common verbs include:• Yao = want, shi = be, qu = go (to)• Add any pronoun before the verb, e.g. Wo Yao = I want, Ta shi =

He/she is, Nimen qu = You (pl.) go.• Add the word ‘bu’ if it is a negative, e.g. Tamen bu yao = They don’t

want, Ni bu qu = You (sg.) don’t go.

5. Learn Some Nouns

• Nouns have no articles or plurals in Chinese, so they are very easy to use. Just add them into the sentence in the same place you would in English.

Some common nouns include:• Jichang = airport, Mi fan = rice, Ke le = cola, Bing = ice.• E.g. Ta qu jichang = he’s going to the airport. Wo yao ke le – wo bu yao

bing = I want cola – I don’t want ice.

6. Learn Numbers 1-10

• 1 Yi• 2 Er• 3 San• 4 Si• 5 Wu• 6 Liu• 7 Qi• 8 Ba• 9 Jiu• 10 Shi

7. Higher Numbers are Easy

• 11 “ten-one” shi yi• 12 “ten-two” shi er• 20 “two-ten” er shi• 25 “two-ten five” er shi wu• 30 “three-ten” san shi• 33 “three-ten three” san shi san• 58 “five-ten eight” wu shi ba• 85 “eight-ten five” ba shi wu

8. Learn More In-Depth

• This has been effectively an excerpt from “The Most Basic Chinese – All You Need to Know to Get By”, available on Amazon for just 2.99 and covering all the language you need to get by in China.• I was an ex-pat in Beijing for 2 years and picked up just the language

needed to survive, and then put it all into a short book.• I hope you have found this mini-course interesting and useful in itself,

because this is how easy it is to learn the basics of Chinese. My aim is to “demystify” the language to bring it to a wider audience, to show that you too can begin speaking Chinese quite easily if you wish to.