好 ( hao3 )

好 ( hao3 ), a word that  is widely used in Chinese language. Generally, 好 ( hao3 ) means “Good, Fine”  in English, which express positive emotion or condition.

For instances:

他是好人。(ta shi4 hao3 ren2) = He is a good man.

好吃！(hao3 chi) = Good taste!

做得好！(zuo4 de hao3) = Good job!

However, when 好 ( hao3 ) is added before a noun, it gives a different meaning to the sentence. Now, its role is to emphasize the noun, playing the role as “Very” in English.
For example:

Greeting (Basic)

When learning Mandarin Chinese, you definitely do not want to miss to learn how to greet people.

It is always good and polite to start a conversation with some greeting, it doesn’t matter which language we are using and what people we are dealing with. To be able to build a good relationship with Chinese, “Greeting” must not be ignored. In fact, it is never difficult to learn Greeting in Chinese Language.

早 (zao3) = early, morning

午 (wu3) = noon

晚 (wan3) = late, night

安 (an1) = good, peace

When 安 is added with 早, 午, or 晚 , giving the meaning of greeting that used for different time.

When 吗 (ma) is added to a sentence, it turns a sentence to a question.

Title

Another important part you need to know to learn to speak Mandarin Chinese is the title you should use when communicate with Chinese speaking people. Since it is polite to call someone with his/her title, therefore we cannot ignore this no matter which language we are learning. Like most other languages in the world, Chinese Language has its own way of calling title too. Sometimes, it is consider rude if calling someone without his/her title in Chinese culture. So, let’s study this class together.





Example :

Mr. Lim = 林先生  (lin2 xian1 sheng1)

Ms. Anna = 安娜小姐 (an1 na4 xiao2 jie3)

Mrs. Kwan = 关太太 (guan1 tai4 tai)

Mr. Tony = 东尼先生 (dong1 ni2 xian1 sheng1)

Ms. Siew Ling = 秀玲小姐 (xiu4 ling2 xiao2 jie3)

5W 1H

It is important to study the most useful words 5W 1H when you are learning Chinese Language. By knowing these 6 Chinese characters, you are able to ask simple question and start simple conversation in Chinese Language.

Enter here to go to next lesson – Chinese Language Course – Title

To Be (am is are)

In Chinese Language, the “To Be” is used after pronoun to complete the sentence, this is same as in English Language. However, unlike English, there is only 1 Chinese Character to represent all the To Be in English. Or in other word, “am, is and are” are replaced with “Shi4”

Take note that there is no past, past participate “To Be” in Chinese Language, there is only present “To Be” found in Chinese. With this, means “was and were” are also replaced by “Shi4”:

Click here to go to next lesson -  Chinese Language Course – 5W1H

Pronoun

It is important to study “Pronoun” in the first place if you want to learn any languages, including Chinese Language. Without knowing

Pronoun in Chinese is quite similar to English, in fact, it is a little bit easier compare to English, as its pronunciation for “He, She, It” are the same, called “ ta1”:

For pronouns like “ We, They, You(plural), It(plural), Them”, a Chinese character “ Men2” is added:

Continue learning by clicking here to Chinese Language Course – To Be

Greeting (Basic)

It is always good and polite to start a conversation with greeting, it doesn’t matter which language we are using and what people that we are dealing with. To be able to build a good relationship with Chinese, “Greeting” must not be ignored. In fact, it is never difficult to learn Greeting in Chinese Language.

Punctuation and Spacing

Unlike English, Chinese sentences have no spaces and punctuation marks. Basically, there is no space between subjects, objects and verbs, all are join together:

Exp :

It is wrong to write Chinese sentences with spaces in between:

Basic Sentence Structure

Like English, Chinese sentence structure is always started with Subject, follow by Verb and end with Object:

Exp:

Click Here to go to Next Lesson – Pronoun

Consonants

There are total 23 consonants in Chinese Language. These consonants are not able to stand alone to form a Chinese character, instead they must combine with a main vowel, or a compound vowel, or a nasal vowel to build a Chinese character.

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Consonant  + Main Vowel :

b  +  a  = ba                          f  +  a  = fa

p  +  o  = po                         d  +  i  = di

m  + e  = me                        t  +  u  = tu

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Consonant  +  Nasal Vowel :

b  +  ai  = bai                         f  +  ou  = fou

p  +  ao  = pao                      d  +  iao = diao

m  + ei  = mei                        t  +  ie  = tie

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Consonant  +  Compound Vowel :

b  +  an  = ban                           f  +  ang  = fang

p  +  ian  = pian                        d  +  uan = duan

m  + eng  = meng                     t  +  ong  = tong

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Take Note:

The following consonants sound similar to other consonant:

b  & p

d  & t

g  & k

z  & zh

c  &  ch

s  &  sh

Click Here to go to Chinese For Beginners – Punctuation and Spacing

Vowel

In Chinese language, vowels cannot be written individually. This is the Yin-Yang notion seen in the written language. Therefore, a vowel must be accompany with a consonant and vice versa. There are 6 vowels that been widely used in Chinese Pinyin, called main vowels.

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a  =   a  in  aquarium

o =    o in orange

e  =  ea in earth

i  =   i  in it

u =  oo in wood  < u >

ü = yu in yuan  < ju’ >

While compound vowels are vowels created by the combination of main vowels. Generally, there are total 13 compound vowels in Chinese Pinyin.

a  +  i  = ai    < I as I am >

a  +  o  = ao   < ou  as outage >

Other than that, Nasal Vowels also play important role in Chinese Pinyin. Nasal vowels are main vowels combine with nasal sounds, namely n, ng

a   +   n   =   an   < un  as unhealthy >

e  +   n   =   en  < earn >

i  + ong  = iong  < yong >

i  + ng  =  ing  < ying as playing >

Click Here to go to Beginners Chinese – Consonants