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!
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| 张 | Nín guì xìng? | 您贵姓？ | What is your family name?
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| 王 | Wǒ xìng Wáng，nǐ ne? | 我姓王，你呢？ | My family name is Wang, and you?
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| 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.
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| 王 | Ní hǎo Zhāng xiáojiě. Nǐ lèi ma? | 你好，张小姐。你累吗？ | Hello Ms. Zhang, are you tired?
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| 张 | Wǒ bú lèi ，nǐ ne? | 我不累，你呢？ | I am not tired, how about you?
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| 王 | Wó yě bú lèi. | 我也不累。 | I am also not tired.
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| 张 | Qǐng wèn, tā jiào shénme míngzi? | 请问，她叫什么名字？ | May I ask, what is her name?
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| 王 | Tā? Tā jiào Lǐ Měiměi. | 她？她叫李美美。 | Her? She is called Li Meimei.
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| 张 | Zàijiàn. | 再见。 | Bye.
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| 王 | Zàijiàn. | 再见。 | Bye. |
Improve your pronunciation! After listening to the audio, try recording your own voice.
Click here to repeat the last audio playedChinese 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
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| 累 | lèi | tired | Adjective, “to be tired”
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| 先生 | xiānsheng | Mr. | Polite title for a man. Like all titles, it comes after the name.
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| 小姐 | xiáojiě | Ms. | Polite title for a woman.
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| 姓 | xìng | family name | Verb meaning to have a particular family name
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| 贵姓 | guì xìng | honorable family name | Only used when asking someones name
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| 叫 | jiào | called | Verb, meaning “to be called” or “to be named”
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| 什么 | shénme | what | Question word, equivalent to “what”
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| 名字 | míngzì | name | Noun, could mean full name, family name or given name
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| 问 | wèn | ask | Verb, meaning “to ask”
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| 请问 | qǐng wèn | May I ask .. | Expression used to preface a question
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| 王 | Wáng | Wong | Family name
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| 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 |
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Notes:
- Yu, ju, qu, xu are all pronounced with the ü sound, but the dots are omitted for convenience.
- To learn more about pronouncing these initials see pronunciation tips
- 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.
| Subject |
Adverb |
Adjective |
| Wǒ |
bù |
lèi |
| Nǐ |
hěn |
máng |
