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Home , Jian, Ke (surname), Mei (surname), Ni (surname), Qu (surname 屈), Qu (surname 曲)

Grammar summary

Below will find a brief summary of the main grammar points covered in this course.

WORD Link verbs are not needed with adjectives as they are in English. For ECONOMY example, Wo hen mango I am very busy. Personal pronouns are often left out if it is obvious from the context to whom the question or statement refers. For example, Shenti hi'io rna? (rather than shenti hilo rna?) How is your health?

VERBS Verbs do not conjugate: wo , ta yao, tamen yao I (s ), they want

PERSONAL wo I wo de my PRONOUNS ni/nin you ni/nin de your ta he/she/it ta de his/her/its women we women de our nimen you (plural) nimen de your (plural) tamen they tamen de their

QUESTIONS The easiest way to form a question is to add rna to the end of a AND statement. For example, ANSWERS Ni Qingdao. You have been to Qingdao. Ni qu guo Qingdao rna? Have you ever been to Qingdao? Another simple way of forming a question is to put together the positive and negative forms of the verb, that is to repeat the verb and insert bu: Neng bu neng? Can you or can't you? In response to questions where there is no question word, easy way to answer 'yes' is to repeat the verb/adjective, or if answering 'no', to say bu plus the verb/adjective ('yes' and 'no' do not translate directly into Mandarin). For example, Ni chi rna? Are you eating? Chi. I am eating. Bu chi. I am not eating. The exception is when the verb is you 'to have'. You is negated with , not bu. For example, Ni you nU'er rna? Do you have a daughter? You. Yes. Meiyou. No. When a question contains a question word, the answer can follow the structure of the question: wei? wei. How many people? Six people.

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 207 Sentences containing the following question words do not require rna, since these words themselves imply a question is being asked: shenme? what? ji? how many? zenmeyang? how? nar? where? For example, Nijiao shenme? What are you called? Ni zenmeyang? How are you?

'MEASURE There must be a word separating a number and a noun for a sentence WORDS'! to make grammatical sense. For example, CLASSIFIERS bei pijiu a glass of beer yi fiipiao a receipt san kou three people (members of the family) yi mian'ao a jacket yi tiao qunzi a skirt (It is not correct to say yi pijiu, yi fapiao, etc.)

DE De after a verb and before a noun, makes the verb function as an adjective. For example, ni de fangjian your 'booked' room ni de canting your 'asked about' Similarly, de links a noun with a preceding phrase that describes it: Shangwii dian yi de feiji? The flight at 7.15 a.m.? WO jio xingqi er de (feiji). I'll just take the Tuesday flight. yi zhang HangzhOu de huoche piao a rail ticket to Hangzhou

LE Le is used: (i) to indicate a change of situation: yao Ie. I don't want it any more (I did before)'. (ii) in exclamations: Tai Ie! Very good. (iii) to form the past tense (see below)

WORD 'Who', 'when', 'where', 'what' ORDER A sentence generally follows the following structure: subject + time when + place where + verb + object Tamen jintian zai chi fan. (lit. They today at home eat.) Women mingtian zai 'anmen Guangchang ni. (lit. We tomorrow at Tian'anmen Square wait for you.)

Emphasis For emphasis, the object may be stated before the comment or question relating to it. Yao [wo] zenme chi? (lit. Medicine how eat?)

208 BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE Similarly, phrases containing the main information may come at the start for emphasis: Fa chminzhen, [nI] keyl qu shangwiI zhongxin. (lit. Send a fax, can go business centre.)

Directions / 'towards' comes first, then the word indicating the direction, then the verb: Wang dong . (lit. Towards the east go.)

Li '( distance) away from' comes at the beginning: Li zher bU yuanjiu you. (lit. away from here not far there is [one].)

Li, Li 'inside' and shang 'on' always go immediately after the word to which they refer. This is the reverse of English: NI yao zai kafei Ii jia nai rna? (lit. You want coffee inside add milk?) Qlng ni zai zhipiao shang yixia mingzi. (lit. Please you cheque on sign briefly name.)

Gii, gen Gei 'for' and gen 'with' go immediately after the subject: Na [nI] gei wo hii yi bei bliilandi ba. (lit. In that case for me bring a brandy.) WO gei nin cha. (lit. I for you check.) Qlng [nI] gen wo dao zhe bianr . Please come with me to this side

Qing/qing wen Qlng 'please' and qlng wen 'may I ask' always come at the beginning: Qlng wen, nin yao shenme ylnliao? (lit. May I ask, you want what drinks?) Qlng deng. (lit. Please a moment wait.)

Dates Dates are always written in the order 'year', 'month', then 'date'. Yi jill ba san nian, Wll . (lit. 1983, May 5th) WO de shengri shi san yue shi qi Mo. My birthday is March 17th.

Question words These go before the words to which they relate: Women ji dian chi fan? (lit. We what time eat?) Ta wei shenme qu Zhongguo? (lit. He why goes ?)

VERB The words and dao can modify the meaning of a verb. Wan 'COMPLEMENTS' following a verb adds the sense of completion of the action: kiin wan Gugong (lit. finish seeing Gugong) Tian'anmen zhuan wan Ie having finished wandering around Tian'anmen When a verb is followed by dao attainment of the action is suggested: Kan dao get to see kiin dao Ie Beijing shi de quanmao having got to see the panoramic view of Beijing city

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 209 FUTURE (i) When talking about something you are going to do, use yao: wo yao qu Zhonguo. I am going to go to China. (I want to go to China.) (ii) Words such as mingtian 'tomorrow',jintian wan shang 'tonight', mingnian 'next year' and 'in May', denoting exactly when the action will take place, indicate the future. Wo wU yue qu . I am going to Shanghai in May. (iii) ZhUnbei 'intend'/'prepare', dasuan 'plan', jihua 'plan' and yi bu 'next move' also all set the scene as in the future: WO zhlmbei qu Guangzhou. I intend to go to Guangzhou. WO xia yi bu xiang ziji zuo shengyi. For my next move, I would like to do some business on my own. Ni dasuan chi xican rna? Are you planning to eat Western food? Women jihua qu Meiguo. We are planning to go to America. xiang/yiio (iv) WO xiang means 'I would like.' Yao is more definite than xiang: WO xiang zhe jian sichou mian'ao. I would like to buy this padded silk jacket. WO yao mai zhe jian sichou mian'ao. I want to buy this padded silk jacket. The first sentence expresses a wish, and the second a firm intention. When a question uses yao, if the response is negative, it uses xiang. For example: Ni yao chi xican rna? Are you going to eat Western food? Wi) bu xiang chi. I would not like to. (vi) Putting yao before the verb and Ie at the end of the sentence indicates something is about to happen. WO yao jiehfm Ie. I am about to get married.

PAST • Words which indicate when something happened are important: Women kiln dianshi. We watch TV. Women zuotian kan dianshi Ie. Yesterday we watched TV. Le • If an accomplished fact or completed action is described, Ie is used. Le goes directly after the verb when: (i) a number, or words indicating an amount, describe the noun: Tamen chi Ie hen duo fan. They ate lots of food. (ii) an adjective precedes the noun: Ta chi Ie feichang hao de dongxi. S/he ate some extremely nice things. (iii) a specific item is referred to: Mama gei ni mai Ie sMnme IiwiI? Mum for you bought what presents? (iv) events are listed or a sequence of actions described: Women mai Ie dongxi, chi Ie fan, kan Ie dianshi, ranhOujiu shuijiao Ie. We bought things, ate, watched TV, then went to bed. Note: In the final phrase of a list, Ie goes at the end, as above.

210 BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE • When none of the above conditions apply, Ie goes at the end: Women kin dianshi Ie. We watched TV. mii / miiyou • To make a sentence about something which happened in the past negative, use mei you (shortened to mei) before the verb, and drop Ie: Ta mei qi chuang. He didn't get up. Tamen zuotian mei zou. They didn't leave yesterday. Wei shenme mei shang ? Why haven't you gone to school? To ask whether or not, Nimen kin dianshi Ie mei you? or, Nimen kin mei kin dianshi? Did you watch TV or not? • Where verbs are duplicated, Ie goes between the two: Women kin Ie kin dianshi. We watched a bit of Tv.

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 211 Vocabulary airen spouse da majiang to play fan meal, rice ba indicates suggestion mahjong fandian restaurant, hotel ba eight da pai to play cards to put ba shi eighty da pingpangqiu to play fang jia to have a holiday / ba yue August table tennis day off baicai Chinese leaves da piike to play cards fangjian room b3i1andi brandy huiqu to take back fapiao receipt b8n half dai ta qu... to take him / Fayu French bang to help her to ... feichilng extremely steamed stuffed dair bag fen minute buns danrenfang single room fen unit of currency bei glass, cup danshi but feng wind bei north dao to arrive, to reach, to fengjing scenery beifang northern part, in go to fenming distinct the north darao to disturb fenzhong minute (length beng ke not at all dasuan to plan, planes) of time) bici each other dayue approximately qian to pay bOcai spinach Deguo Germany fujin nearby, vicinity bowiIguan museum dei to have to, must fumuqin parents bu not deng to wait fuqin father bu ... le not. .. any more Deyu German fiiren wife bu cuo not bad dian o'clock fuyin to photocopy bu jian bu san until we dian to order to do meet dianhua telephone ganbU cadre bu keqi not at all dianr some ganmao to catch a cold bu xie not at all dianshi TV ganshao dry roasted buren / bu part, section diany ing film ganzao dry buguo however didi younger brother high (temperature) vegetable, dish difang place gaoshou? How old are canting restaurant ding to book, reserve you? (to an old person) cha to check diqii region gaosu to tell chil tea dong east measure word chil yi ke quarter to dong to understand gege older brother chaguan teahouse dongtian winter gei for, to Chilngcheng the Great dou all gei wo lai bring me Wall doufu tofu, beancurd gen with chaye tea leaves douya bean sprouts gongzuo to work train, vehicle duibuqi sorry, excuse me guahilo registered mail chenyi shirt duihuan to exchange guai turn chi eat (money) gui expensive chuan to wear duo more guixing What is your Chuancai Sichuan cuisine duochang how (sur)name? (polite) chuanzhen fax duoda how old (people guo ever Chiinjie Spring Festival over 10) guo to cross, to pass chiintian spring duoshao how much guoba rice crust chiizii qiche taxi duoshao qian? how much guoji nationality d time, 'measure word' (money)? hili in addition, still, also ciqi porcelain ware er two hai ba (lit. still OK) cong spring onion, scallion er shi twenty all right cong from er yue February haishi or (questions) da big erqie moreover haizi child( ren) da guoji changtu to make erzi son hangban scheduled flight an international call fa chuanzhen to send a hilngcheng journey (flight da lanqiu to play fax / boat) basketball Faguo France hangkong xin air mail

212 BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE Mnleng freezing cold jintian today Liieai cuisine (climate) jisi shredded chicken lueheng journey Hanyii jiii alcohol Iii eha green tea hao good, fine, well jiii nine liishi lawyer hao date JIU just IOxing to travel hao size jiu dao Ie it's just there IOxing zhipiao traveller's haoxiang it seems jiii shi ninety cheque he drink jiii yue September Ifiy6u to tour, tourism he and jiu zhe ba so be it rna question indicator he box, packet juede to feel rna numb, hot hen very juyou Zhonggu6 tese with mai to buy heshi to fit Chinese characteristics mai to sell hOng eM black tea juzi orange m3Iu road hongliideng traffic lights kafei coffee mang busy houeheshi waiting-room kan to look after unit of currency hOulai later on kan to see map6 doufu a famous hot eM Jasmine tea kan dao to get to see beancurd (tofu) dish Huaiyangeai Jiiingsii kiln wan to finish seeing mashang immediately cuisine kao roast mei (used with you) not huaju (theatrical) play ke quarter mei guanxi it doesn't huan to change Kete cola matter, not at all (se) yellow keyi can (permission) mei shenme shi don't have huanggua cucumber empty something on hui jia to return home kou entrance / exit mei shir it doesn't matter, huluobo carrot kou mouth, measure word not at all huocMi matches kuair chunk Meigu6 America, the USA huoehe piao rail ticket kuaizi chopsticks meimei younger sister huozhe or (statement) kiizao dull MCiyuan US dollar hushi nurse kuzi trousers Ie lost huzhao passport la spicy mian'ao padded jacket ji chicken lai to come mianbao bread ji? how many? Ian blue mifan cooked rice ji dian Ie? What time is it? lao old mingnian next year ji xin to send, mail lao nian ren old people mingtian tomorrow jia to add laolao grandmother (on mingxinpianr (yi zhiing) a jia family, home mother's side) postcard jian measure word for laoye grandfather (on muqm mother clothing (upper body) mother's side) na to carry (for example, jian mian to meet, to get leng cold luggage) together Ii distance away from na ... ba in that case jian piao to check a ticket Ii pear na zou to take away jiang to speak Ii in nai milk call, to be called Ii tablet nainai grandmother (on jiaoyou outing two father's side) jidan chicken egg liang eai cold dishes nan south jie yixia zhang to pay the Iianxi shiifa to practise nanfang southern part, in bill calligraphy the south jiehiin Ie married Iiao tianr to chat nanMir boy jiejie older sister Iiaoli jiawiI to do nar? where? jieri festival housework nar there jihua plan(s), to plan zero ne question indicator enter Iiu six neng can (to be able) jingeha policeman Iiu shi sixty ni(men) you (plural) Jingju Beijing (Peking) Iiu yue June ni/nin hao hello Opera IiwiI presents nian year Jingtailan cloisonne 16u floor nianji da de ren old enamel 16ushang upstairs people Jlmanpin souvenir 16uxia downstairs nianqing ren young jinnian this year lu road, route people

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 213 ni6rou beef shang che to board the suanlatang hot-and-sour nuanhuo warm train or bus soup nO'er daughter shang xue to go to school siIcai vegetable dishes nOh3ir girl shangdian shop sui year (of age) paigu spare ribs shangwil morning bamboo shoots pao bU to jog shangwiI zhi'ingxin ta he, she, it pengyou( men) friend( s) business centre tai measure word pianr slice shangye dasha shopping tai to carry (for example pianyi cheap centre furniture) piao (yi zhang) ticket shao a bit (moment) tai too, extremely piaoliang beautiful province tamen they pijiu beer Shengdanjie Christmas tang soup ping bottle shengjiang fresh ginger tangciI sweet-and-sour ping xin ordinary mail shengri birthday peach pingguo apple shengyi business tao set (crockery) pingshi usually shenme? what? tese characteristics p6tao grapes shenme shihou? when? at li z6qi6 to play football p6taojiu wine what time? tian day, heaven qi seven shenti health, body tian fill in qi chuang to get up shi ten tianqi weather qi shi seventy shi matter, thing tianqi yiIbilo weather qi yue July shi to be (is, are) forecast qian to sign shi to try tiiio choose qian money shi ba eighteen tiao measure word for qifiH take off shi er twelve clothing (lower body) qihou climate shi er yue December tiao stick qing please shi jiu nineteen tieliI railway qingcai green vegetable shi liiI sixteen ling to listen qingjiao green pepper shi rna? really? ting rather, very qinren relatives shi qi seventeen ling dao to have heard qita other shi san thirteen ling dong Ie to have qiiitian autumn shi fourteen understood qiwen temperature shi wiI fifteen can qii district shi yi eleven tou headache qiI go shi yi yue November tudou potato quanmao panoramic view shi yue October tuichi to postpone qiInian last year shi zhongxin city centre tuixiii [Ie] retire[ d] q6nzi skirt shijian time waibin foreign guests ranhou then shijie the world waihui duihuanchiI re hot shiriIn humid bureau de change re cai hot dishes shouhuishan hand painted wand ian to be delayed ren person T-shirt wanjiI toys renao lively shouriI income wan shang evening Renminbi RMB 'People's to be born in wei measure word currency' (horoscope year) wei shenme? why? renshi to know (person) shuangrenfang double wei teng stomach ache ri date, sun room weizhi seat rizi date shui jiao to sleep wen to ask rou meat, usually pork shui wiljiao to have a wennuan warm (climate) roudao judo lunchtime nap wo I,me ruanwo soft sleeper shuizhu boiled women we ruanzuo soft seat shuo to speak, to say wu five san three shiixi to comb and wash wu shi fifty san shi thirty si four wilyue May san yue March si shi forty wilfan lunch sanbiI to have a stroll si yue April Wuyijie May Day sangzi teng sore throat sich6u silk xi west sanmingzhi sandwich SIJI driver xi yao Western medicine shang up siji four seasons xia che to get off the bus

214 BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE xia weiqi to play go father's side) zaoshang hao good xia xue to snow / it's yi one morning snowing yi one hundred zenme? how? xia yi bu next step, next yi ge ... , Hng yi ge the zenmeyang? how? / How move one ... , the other are you? xia to rain yi kaishi in the beginning zhang measure word xi an first yi nhin zhi during zhangda (zai ... zhangda de) xiang / wang towards the year to grow up (to grow up xiang qi to think, to come yi tian every day, one day in ... ) to mind, to occur to yi yue January zhantai platform (someone) yidianr a little (nouns) to call for xiangchang sausage yigong altogether zhe this xiangjiao banana yihou afterwards zhengbao exactly xiansheng sir, mister yihulr a while, in a while zher here xianzai now yij ing already zhi only small Yingbang pound sterling zhl to treat xiaochi yinggai ought, should zhidao to know xiaojie miss Yingguo the UK zhihou after xiaoshi hour ylngwo hard sleeper zhijie directly xiatian summer Yingyu English zhiye profession xiawU afternoon ylngzuo hard seat zhong middle xie shoes yinJiao drinks zhOng type xiexie thank you yinwei because zhong / xi canting xigua water melon yiqi together Chinese / Western xiguan habit ylsi interest, fun restaurant xihOngshl tomato yixia briefly zhong nian ren middle• xihuan to like yixie some, somewhat aged people xin new yiyang the same zhong yao Chinese xln mail yong to use medicine xing name (surname) you to have, there is / are Zhongguo China xingJi luggage you right Zhongguo Rlbao China xingqi week you feng windy Daily xingqi er Tuesday you shl to be busy (lit. to ZhOngwen Chinese xingqi Jiu Saturday have something) language xingqi san Wednesday you ylsi interesting zhongwu midday xingqi sl Thursday youcai rape zhoumo weekend xingqi tian Sunday youdianr a little (verbs pig xingqi wu Friday and adjectives) zhu to stay, to live xingqi yi Monday youming famous zhuan wander xingzheng bumen youpiao (yi zhang) a zhuhe ni congratulations, administration stamp congratulate you department youqu fascinating, zhunbei to prepare, xinwen jlzhe journalist in teresting intend, plan xlnyongka credit card youshi sometimes zhuyao mainly xiyiji (yi tai) washing youyU squid zhuyl idea machine yu fish zlji oneself Xuebl Sprite unit of currency zou to go, to walk, to xuyao need yuan far leave cigarettes yue to arrange zuljln recently yangcong onion yue month, moon zuo left yanse colour Yuecai cuisine zuo do yao medicine zai in, on, at zuo sit yao want zanshi for the time being zuo 22 lu to take the yao ... le to be about to ... zaochen morning number 22 (bus) yeye grandfather (on zaofan breakfast zuotian yesterday

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 215 Index acupuncture 95 language 25,39,53 ailments 99 Ie 208 and 31 length of time 76 antiques 111 Wing two 71 astrology 80 map of China 157 ba 28,34,43 markets 111 birth control 67 'measure words' 37,208 book list 164 medicine 95 brand names 163 money 34,38 months 77 characters 25 'classifiers' 37, 208 na ... ba 32 colours 112 names 11 comparison 64, 150 negatives 4, 22, 211 compass points 66 numbers 19, 34 'complements', verb 162,209 consumer language 190 or 61 consumerism 191 ordinal numbers 122 counting / hand signals 94 countries 88 passive 197 cuisine 151 people 67 currency 34, 38 personal pronouns 23, 206 phrases, building/breaking down daily routine 199 122 dates 78 39 days of the week 73, 77 plural 194 de 43,45,76,101,208 price, asking the 93 dou 85 qing 29 ethnicity 67 question indicators 22 exclamation 51 question words 209 questions and answers 22, 93, family relations 178 122,207 festivals 144 first. .. , then 59 religions 179 food and harmony 139 repetition of verb ('have a ... ') Foreign Exchange Certificates 101, 104 (FEC) 103 seasons 155 Great Wall 104 sentence patterns 177 greetings 2-4, 5-6 shi ... de 43 grow up 183 shopping 111 guo 5 signs 52 sports 146-7 haishi / huozhe 61 Spring Festival 81 health 95 superlatives 150 history, key dates 205 hotels Unit 4 table manners 138 how / how come 182 tai ... le 51 how much? 90,93 tense,future 189,210 tense, past 203,210-11 jobs 168 the one ... , the other... 173 time and tense 9 lai 'bring' 32, 90, 128 time telling 70, 78

216 BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE tones 53 word order 8, 51, 64, 108, train travel 125 208-9 understand 185 yidianr I youdianr 9 yin and yang 139 verbs 206 yixiit 34 weights and measures 110 ziti 'at' 51 when 158 zan men 'we' 128 where 46 -zhe '-ing', 177 Which one? The one... 79 zhidao I rtmshi 'know' 154 word economy 207 zou I qu 64

BREAKTHROUGH CHINESE 217 OTHER TITLES 1'1 THE BRE,\KTHROl'GH

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