Mr Wang (王) and Ms Zhang (张) have been working all morning for a neighborhood cleanup project.
Dialog
Pinyin
Chinese
English
张
Ní hǎo!
你好!
Hello!
王
Ní hǎo!
你好!
Hello!
张
Nín guì xìng?
您贵姓？
What is your family name?
王
Wǒ xìng Wáng，nǐ ne?
我姓王，你呢？
My family name is Wang, and you?
张
A, ní hǎo Wáng xiānsheng ，wǒ xìng Zhāng.
阿，你好，王先生。我姓张。
Oh, hello Mr. Wang, I am named Zhang.
王
Ní hǎo Zhāng xiáojiě. Nǐ lèi ma?
你好，张小姐。你累吗？
Hello Ms. Zhang, are you tired?
张
Wǒ bú lèi ，nǐ ne?
我不累，你呢？
I am not tired, how about you?
王
Wó yě bú lèi.
我也不累。
I am also not tired.
张
Qǐng wèn, tā jiào shénme míngzi?
请问，她叫什么名字？
May I ask, what is her name?
王
Tā? Tā jiào Lǐ Měiměi.
她？她叫李美美。
Her? She is called Li Meimei.
张
Zàijiàn.
再见。
Bye.
王
Zàijiàn.
再见。
Bye.
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Chinese names
A Chinese name starts with family name, followed by given names. This is the opposite of English, so the terms “first name” and “last name” are not helpful when talking about Chinese people. Using the terms “family name” and “given name” will avoid confusion. Names with a title also follow a pattern that differs from English: the title follows the name.
Family name
Given name
Lǐ
Měiměi
Wáng
Mǎkè
Zhāng
Mǐn
Family name
Title
Lǐ
xiáojiě
Wáng
xiānsheng
Zhāng
lǎoshī
Pinyin
English
Notes
他，她
tā
him/her/she/he/it
Pronoun, third person singular
累
lèi
tired
Adjective, “to be tired”
先生
xiānsheng
Mr.
Polite title for a man. Like all titles, it comes after the name.
小姐
xiáojiě
Ms.
Polite title for a woman.
姓
xìng
family name
Verb meaning to have a particular family name
贵姓
guì xìng
honorable family name
Only used when asking someones name
叫
jiào
called
Verb, meaning “to be called” or “to be named”
什么
shénme
what
Question word, equivalent to “what”
名字
míngzì
name
Noun, could mean full name, family name or given name
问
wèn
ask
Verb, meaning “to ask”
请问
qǐng wèn
May I ask ..
Expression used to preface a question
王
Wáng
Wong
Family name
李
Lǐ
Lee
Family name
Pinyin and Pronunciation
initials: finals:
a
o
e
i
u
ü
English approx
Tongue position
Pronunciation Group
a
wo
e
yi
wu
yu
z
za
ze
zi
zu
clods
Dental (z,c,s)
c
ca
ce
ci
cu
cats
s
sa
se
si
su
sip
zh
zha
zhe
zhi
zhu
germ
Retroflex (zh,ch,sh,r)
ch
cha
che
chi
chu
churn
sh
sha
she
shi
shu
sure
r
re
ri
ru
car
j
jia
jie
ji
ju
jeep
Palatal (j,q,x)
q
qia
qie
qi
qu
cheap
x
xia
xie
xi
xu
sheep
Audio
Notes:
Yu, ju, qu, xu are all pronounced with the ü sound, but the dots are omitted for convenience.
Pinyin sounds with the same final generally rhyme, but “i” is a notable exception.
For zi, ci, si the “i” is a lightly voiced “i” as in “hit”.
For zhi, chi, shi and ri the “i” is pronounced like “rrr”
Fort ji, qi, and xi the “i” is pronounced like “eee”
Listening Exercises
Listen and add the correct tone marks
1
nin gui xing, xiao jie, xian sheng
2
qing wen, ming zi, jiao shen me
3
Zhang, Wang, Shang, Li
Listen and circle the one you hear
1
ji – zhi, chi – qi, chu – qu, xu – shu,
2
ce – ci, shi – si, zhu – ju, shi – she,
3
zhi – chi, re – ri, zhe – zhi, qia – cha
Grammar Patterns
Asking Questions
When initiating a conversation with a question, the phrase “Qǐng wèn” is very helpful. The meaning of this phrase is “may I ask ..”. It lets the listener know that you are going to ask a question in Mandarin, which may be unexpected.
Qǐng means something similar to “please” and used to invite someone to do something
wèn is the verb “to ask”. For example “nǐ wèn tā” means “you ask him”.
Asking someone’s name
Not all sentences follow a grammatical pattern. “Nín guì xìng?” is one example. Grammatically speaking, this is not really a question. But it is the appropriate way to inquire about someone’s family name. Literally it means “Your honorable family name”.
A somewhat less polite, but more grammatical, way of asking is “nǐ xìng shénme”. The meaning is “What is your family name”.
nǐ – you
xìng – family name (used as a verb)
shénme – what
Another common way to inquire about someone’s name is to ask “nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?”.
jiào – is called
shénme – what
míngzi – name
The meaning is: “what do you prefer to be called”. This question can be answered with a family name or a given name or both depending on the preference of the one being asked. Chinese use given names only with close friends, so in a work situation the answer to this question might be “Lǐ Měiměi” or just “Lǐ”, but it is not likely to be “Měiměi”.
Use ma for confirmation
You may have noticed that some questions end with ma and others do not. There are two types of questions: confirmation and specific request. Never use ma for a specific request. Always use ma for confirmation. Examples:
Confirmation: “Tā xìng Lǐ ma?”
Specific request: “Tā xìng shénme?”
Some sentences have no verbs
Unlike English, Mandarin has some sentences with no verbs. If the sentence describes a condition and contains only a subject and adjective there will be no “to be” verb connecting them. The examples below illustrates this pattern.
