Ms Wáng (王) and Ms Lǐ (李) are arranging a lunch meeting over the phone.
| Pinyin | Chinese | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 李 | Níhǎo，nǐ máng ma? | 你好，你忙吗？ | Hi, are you busy? |
| 王 | Bù máng, nǐ ne? | 不忙，你呢？ | Not at all. And you? |
| 李 | Wó yě bù máng. Wǒmen qù chī fàn ba. | 我也不忙，我们去吃饭吧。 | I’m also not busy. Let’s go eat. |
| 王 | Hǎo. Qù nálǐ? | 好，去哪里? | Okay. Where to? |
| 李 | Wǒ zài bàngōngshì. Nǐ kéyǐ lái zhèlǐ ma? | 我在办公室，你可以来这里吗？ | I am at the office. Can you come here? |
| 王 | Wǒ zài xuéxiào. Qù shāngdiàn jiàn, hǎo bù hǎo? | 我在学校，去商店见,好不好？ | I am at school. Can we meet at the store? |
| 李 | Hǎo. | 好. | Okay. |
| 张 | Zàijiàn! | 再见！ | Bye! |
Vocabulary
| Pinyin | Chinese | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nálǐ | 哪里 | where | Interrogative pronoun used to ask about location. |
| nàlǐ | 那里 | there | Pronoun, located away from the speaker. Compare to zhèlǐ (here) |
| qù | 去 | go | Verb indicating motion in the direction away from the speaker. |
| lái | 来 | come | Verb indicating motion in the direction towards the speaker. |
| zài | 在 | at | Verb, meaning “located at” |
| ba | 吧 | Particle, turns the sentence into a suggestion. | |
| xuéxiào | 学校 | school | Noun, any type school |
| bàngōngshì | 办公室 | office | Noun, any type office |
| shāngdiàn | 商店 | store | Noun, any type of store |
| fàndiàn | 饭店 | restaurant | Noun, any type of restaurant |
| duì | 对 | correct | Adjective, indicating the state or condtion of being correct. |
| jiàn | 见 | meet | Verb, to meet someone casually |
| kéyǐ | 可以 | can | Modal verb, indicates permission or ability |
Pinyin and Pronunciation
| initials: finals: | b | p | m | d | t | n | l | j | q | x | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | yi | bi | pi | mi | di | ti | ni | li | ji | qi | xi | |
| ia | ya | lia | jia | qia | xia | |||||||
| ie | ye | bie | pie | mie | die | tie | nie | lie | jie | qie | xie | |
| iao | yao | biao | piao | miao | diao | tiao | niao | liao | jiao | qiao | xiao | |
| iou | you | miu | diu | niu | liu | jiu | qiu | xiu |
This group is a subset of the “i” medials (the ones with the “i” sound in the middle). Except for the first column and the first row, each word from this set consists of three parts. For example “bie” is composed of:
- initial: “b”
- medial: “i”
- final: “e”
These words almost sound like they have two syllables “bie” = bee-eh, but the two syllables merge into a single sound.
Please note the last row. The combination of “iou” is an example of an inconsistency in the pinyin “spelling” system.
- In the first column, “you”, the “y” simply replaces the “i” in “iou”. But in the others, the “o” has been dropped, leaving “iu”.
- Unfortunately, by dropping the “o”, an important visual clue for pronunciation is lost.
- Due to regional dialects, “iu” is pronounced differently in different parts of China. In particular, “liu” is sometimes pronounce lee-ew, even though the standard pronunciation is lee-oh.
Listening Practice
| Circle the one you hear | Add the correct tone marks | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | bie – bei, die – dei, yi – ye, yao – you, | xuexiao, bangongshi, shangdian, | |
| 2 | yi – ya, ji – jia, bi – bie, qi – qia, | nali, zheli, nali, | |
| 3 | niao – niu, liao – liu, jiao – jiu, jiao – qiao, | bi, mian tiao, pi jiu | |
| 4 | xia – xie, qi – qie, qia – qiao, tie – tiao, | qu, lai, zai, dui, keyi, qing wen |
Grammar patterns
Verb-not-verb pattern
The verb-not-verb pattern is used to ask a question. If a verb-not-verb pattern appears in a sentence, there will be no “ma” at the end of the sentence. There are a number of variations on this pattern, involving adjectives, modal verbs and action verbs.
| verb type | subject | verb-not-verb | object | alternate verbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| adjective | tāmen | máng bù máng | lèi bú lèi, hǎo bù hǎo | |
| action verb | lǎoshī | qù bú qù | xuéxiào | lái bù lái, zài bú zài |
| modal verb | Wáng xiānsheng | yào bú yào | hē jiǔ | xiǎng bù xiǎng |
Note that when using the verb-not-verb pattern with yǒu, you must use méi.
- nǐ yǒu méi yǒu dìdi?
It is also used with duì and hǎo when seeking confirmation on a statement
| statement | verb-not-verb |
|---|---|
| shū zài zhèli | duì bú duì |
| wǒmen qù shāngdiàn | hǎo bù hǎo |
Multi-verb Sentences
A Chinese sentence may have more than one verb phrase and no connecting word is required. However, any verb phrase indicating time, manner or location should come before an action phrase. Here are some examples.
| Subject | Modal verb | Location phrase | Action phrase | (Question) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nǐmen | xiǎng | lái wǒ jiā | jiàn péngyou | ma? |
| Wǒmen | yào | qù fàndiàn | chī fàn | hǎo bù hǎo? |
| Tāmen | bù kéyǐ | zài bàngōngshì | hē píjiǔ. |
Practice
Multi-verb sentences have the form: [subject][modal verb][action phrase]
- [subject] can be a pronoun, type of person, or name
- [modal verb] can be xiǎng, yào, or kěyǐ
- can use qù, lái, or zài
- [action phrase] can use jiàn, chī, or hē
Using vocabulary from this lesson, write 3 mult-verb sentences using “ba” to indicate a suggestion, 3 in the form of a question using “ma” and, finally, 3 in the form of a question using verb-not-verb. Please bring your sentences to the next class and share.
Homework
Check this link for Sentence Practice
Audio
Click on the player to hear the dialog.
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