Beginning to Read Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation tips for the Chinese Romanized alphabet (hanyu pin yin) Simple Vowels a like the “a” in father or ah ha! e like the “e” in the (the American English “schwa” not “ee” as before a vowel) i like the “ee” in see (except after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, or r when it’s like the “i” in “shirt”) u like the “oo” in tooth (except after j, q, and x and when “u” is pronounced like the French “u” or the German “ü”) o like the “o” in toe Double and Triple Vowel Pronunciation Tips ai like the “i” in tie – or like Taiwan ao like the “ou” in ouch – or like Taos ei like the “ay” in pay or the “ei” in eight ou like the “ow” in show or the “ou” in dough ua like the “wa” in wall or water uo like the “wo” in wore or the “wa” in war ian like the “ye” in yen uai like the “wi” in wife or twice Consonants Different from English c like the “ts” in bats q like the “ch” in inch (tongue is r between the “s” in measure and the “dr” in drum x like the “sh” in shell (tongue closer to teeth than in English) z like the “ds” in lids zh like the “j” in jeans Copyright 2010. San Diego County Office of Education. All rights reserved. The Four Tones Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. Every Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone. However, there are more than 50,000 Chinese characters, but only 430 different sounds. Therefore, a lot of characters share the same sounds. There are 4 basic tones in Mandarin Chinese. Each one is indicated by a tone mark, and the tone marks are placed over the vowels. ― wēn (warm) The first tone is high, flat, song-like, “la” ˊ wén (language) The second tone is rising, questioning, like a surprised “What?” ˇ wĕn (kiss) The third tone is low and drawling, first falling then rising, like an indecisive “Well…” ˋ wèn (ask) The fourth tone is sharp and falling, like the command “No!” If the tone is wrong, the meaning will be totally different. For example, “Wŏ yào wèn nĭ” means “I want to ask you.” “Wŏ yào wĕn nĭ” means “I want to kiss you.” Beginning Chinese Useful Phrases nǐ hǎo hello nín hǎo hello (with respect) nǐ hǎo ma? How are you? bù hǎo not good mǎ mǎ hǔ hu so so hǎo good hěn hǎo very good fēi cháng hǎo extremely good xiè xie thanks bú xiè you’re welcome duì dù qǐ I’m sorry méi guān xi that’s alright duì correct bú duì incorrect qǐng wèn, zěn me qù...? May I please ask you how to go to…? nǐ jiào shén me míng zi? What’s your name? wǒ jiào... My name is… zhè shì shén me? What’s this? zhè ge duō shǎo qián? How much does this cost? tài guì le! It’s too expensive! wǒ tīng bù dǒng I don’t understand. wǒ bù zhī dào I don’t know. wǒ bú huì shuō zhōng wén I don’t speak Chinese. wǒ huì shuō yì diǎn zhōng wén I speak a little Chinese. qǐng màn màn shuō Please speak slowly. zài jiàn! goodbye Copyright 2010. San Diego County Office of Education. All rights reserved. Words Used in Questions and Answers … ma? yes/no question 吗？ shì/shì de yes 是/是的 bú shì no 不是 shéi? who? 谁？ shén me? what? 什么？ (zài) nǎr/(zài) nǎ li? where? （在）那儿/（在）哪里？ wèi shén me? why? 为什么？ yīn wèi… because… 因为… shén me shí hòu? when? 什么时候？ zĕn me? how? 怎么？ jĭ/duō shǎo? how many/how much? 几/多少？ jĭ diǎn? what time? 几点？ Duō shǎo qián? How much does it cost? 多少钱？ … kuài qián …dollars … 块钱 nǎ? which? 哪？ Numbers in Chinese líng 0 零 yī 1 一 èr 2 二 sān 3 三 sì 4 四 wŭ 5 五 liù 6 六 qī 7 七 bā 8 八 jiŭ 9 九 shí 10 十 shí yī 11 十一 shí èr 12 十二 shí sān 13 十三 shí sì 14 十四 shí wŭ 15 十五 shí liù 16 十六 shí qī 17 十七 shí bā 18 十八 shí jiŭ 19 十九 èr shí 20 二十 Copyright 2010. San Diego County Office of Education. All rights reserved. èr shí yī 21 二十一 èr shí èr 22 二十二 sān shí 30 三十 sì shí 40 四十 wŭ shí 50 五十 liù shí 60 六十 qī shí 70 七十 bā shí 80 八十 jiŭ shí 90 九十 yì bǎi 100 一百 yì bǎi ling yī 101 一百零一 yì qiān 1,000 一千 yí wàn 10,000 一万 Beginning Chinese Useful Phrases zǎo shàng hǎo xiè xiè 早 上 好 谢谢 Good morning. Thanks. xià wǔ hǎo nǐ ne 下午好 你呢? Good afternoon. And you? wǎn shàng hǎo nǐ qù nǎ r nǐ qù nǎ lǐ 晚 上 好 你去哪儿?/你去哪? Good evening. Where going? wǒ qù nǐ hǎo 我去 你好 … Hello. I’m going to… qǐng wèn zěn me qù nín hǎo 请 问 怎么去 您好 , …? Hello (with respect) May I please ask how to go to…? nǐ jiào shén me míng zi nǐ hǎo ma 你好吗? 你叫 什 么 名 字? How are you? What’s your name? wǒ jiào wǒ hěn hǎo 我叫 我很好 … I’m fine. My name is… zhè shì shén me mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔ 这是 什 么 马马虎虎 ? So so. What is this? Copyright 2010. San Diego County Office of Education. All rights reserved. bù kè qì zhè gè duō shǎo qián 不客气 这个多 少 钱 ? You’re welcome. How much is this? zài jiàn tài guì le 再见 太贵了 Goodbye. It’s too expensive. duì wǒ tīng bù dǒng 对 我听不 懂 correct I don’t understand. bú duì wǒ bù zhī dào 不对 我不知道 incorrect I don’t know. qǐng màn màn shuō duì bù qǐ 请 慢 慢 说 对不起 Please speak slowly. I’m sorry. wǒ bú huì shuō zhōng wén 我不会 说 中 文 méi guān xì I don’t speak Chinese. 没 关 系 It’s okay. wǒ huì shuō yì diǎn diǎn zhōng wén 我会 说 一点 点 中 文 xiè xiè nǐ I speak little bit Chinese. 谢谢你 Thank you . Online resources to get started: http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/pinyin1.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/ http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/ http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese Copyright 2010. San Diego County Office of Education. All rights reserved. .