我们学普通话吧 (Let's study Mandarin Chinese!)
By Hausdog 5 Comments
The literal translation for that, in case you're wondering, is [1st-person pronoun][plural marker] study universal communicate speech [polite suggestion]
Anyway, the following thread:
http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic/31/if-you-could-be-fluent-at-2-foreign-languages/234737
reminded me that I fell off the Chinese-studying wagon. So I decided that I would blog about my Chinese-learning exploits. The book I'm using, titled Chinese the Easy Way has 17 chapters of actual language learning (the first two are a primer to the tones and sounds of the language), covers multiple grammatical points in each chapter, and will eventually teach me over 600 words and phrases. I am going to be starting from chapter 3 and covering roughly one chapter per day, which means I'll have the book finished in 17 days. What the book does NOT teach is the writing system. They throw in a little token gesture in the last chapter, but the book is really geared toward the student of the spoken language. Fair enough, let's go.
Vocab list:
English |Pinyin |Hanzi
----------------------------
mouse |lǎoshǔ |老鼠
good |hǎo |好
I, me |wǒ |我
no, not |bù |不
to be |shì |是
teacher |lǎoshī |老师
sorry |duìbuqǐ |对不起
you |nǐ |你
hello |nǐ hǎo |你好
mom |māma |妈妈
your mom |nǐ māma |你妈妈
s/he |tā |他(male), 她(female)
very |hĕn |很
dad |bàba |爸爸
how about...|phrase+ne|呢
also |yĕ |也
busy |máng |忙
question wd |ma |吗
you(formal) |nín |您
bye |zàijiàn |再见
Grammar notes:
Chinese's is Subject-Adverb-Verb-Object.
You use 是 (be) with nouns only.
subject |adverb|verb|object
你 妈妈 | |是 |老师
nǐ māma | |shì |lǎoshī
your mom| |is |teacher
In Chinese, adjectives qualify as verbs and MUST be preceded by an adverb. The dummy adverb, if an adjective needs no modification, is hĕn. For instance, you'd say
subject |adverb|verb|object
你 妈妈 |很 |忙 |
nǐ māma |hĕn |máng|
your mom|very |busy|
but not
subject |adverb|verb|object
你 妈妈 |是 |忙 |
nǐ māma |shì |máng|
your mom|is |busy|
because "is" is a verb, not an adverb.
When "hĕn" is spoken before an adjective and it doesn't mean "very," it loses its tone. So "Your mom is busy" actually SOUNDS like nǐ māma hen máng
So far, we've only dealt with simple, positive, declarative sentence structures. We still have negation, "also," and questions to deal with.
Just like in English, "not" and "also" are considered adverbs and therefore fill the adverb slot in sentences.
Let's cover negation first.
subject |adverb|verb|object
你 妈妈 |不 |忙 |
nǐ māma |bù |máng|
your mom|not |busy|
In front of falling-tone words (such as shì), bù becomes bú as in
subject |adverb|verb|object
你 妈妈 |不 |是 |老师
nǐ māma |bú |shì |lǎoshī
your mom|not |is |teacher
Let's cover yĕ!
yĕ means "also"
subject |adverb |verb|object
你 妈妈 |也 |是 |老师
nǐ māma |yĕ |shì |lǎoshī
your mom|also |is |teacher
It can also mean "either" as in "Your mom is not a teacher either." It stacks with bù like so:
subject |adverb |verb|object
你 妈妈 |也 不 |是 |老师
nǐ māma |yĕ bú |shì |lǎoshī
your mom|also not|is |teacher
If you're gonna use it with an adjective, you have to stack it with hĕn. For instance, you have to say
subject |adverb |verb|objectFinally ma turns any statement into a yes/no question if added onto the end ("Ni mama shi laoshi ma" means "Is your mom a teacher") and "phrase+ne" means "and how about phrase" ("Wo shi laoshi. Ni ne" means "I am a teacher. And how about you")
你 妈妈 |也很 |忙 |
nǐ māma |yĕ hĕn |máng|
your mom|also very|busy|
That about covers it. Feel free to ask questions, after all the times I've studies this exact material I've pretty much got it down pat. Also, tell me if you like this at all, or if you'll be back. I don't want to be talking to myself after all. And if any native speakers want to lend their talents to proofreading or practice, that'd be great too. Thanks everyone!