Lesson 01 - Greetings
Lesson 01 - Greetings
你好
pinyin: ní hǎo
你 = you, 好 = good
你好 = Hello!
● Pinyin is the phonetic representation of Mandarin
● Each syllable in Mandarin is one Chinese character
● Mandarin words seldom have more than 2 syllables
● There are only 409 syllables in the Mandarin language
● In contrast English has over 5000 distinct syllables
Mandarin Tones
Tone Mark Pitch Meaning 汉字
Māma mà mǎ ma?
妈妈 骂 马 吗?
(Is mother scolding the horse?)
Dictionary Tone Spoken Tone Tone-Change
1. nǐ hǎo → ní hǎo
○ 3rd tone followed by 3rd tone becomes 2nd tone
1. bù shì → bú shì
○ 不 (bù/"not") followed by 4th tone becomes 2nd
1. yī xià → yí xià
○ 一 (yī/"one") followed by 4th tone becomes 2nd
● Our courseware uses spoken tone
○ This allows you pronounce correctly
○ Other textbooks expect you to remember the rules
○ Tone change is indicated by graying the letter.
Ní hǎo ma?
nǐ = you wǒ = I, me
hǎo = good hěn = very
ní hǎo = hello hén hǎo = good
the trailing "ma" asks for confirmation
Note: the "e" in "hěn" sounds like the "e" in "the" (also known as shwa ə)
Máng (busy)
Nǐ máng ma? Máng.
(you busy, yes or no?) (busy)
Hěn máng.
Wó hěn máng!
Bù (not)
Nǐ máng ma?
(Are you busy?)
Wǒ bù máng.
(I not busy)
Nǐ máng ma?
Nǐ ne? (how about you?)
● "Ne" means something like "how about … ?"
○ Nǐ ne? = "how about you"
○ Wǒ ne? = "how about me"
○ X ne? = "how about X"
Nǐ máng ma?
Wǒ bù máng.
Nǐ ne?
Wó hěn máng.
Yě (also)
● Yě means "also"
○ Wó yě hén hǎo = I am also good
○ Wó yě máng = I am also busy
Wǒ bù máng. Nǐ ne?
<I not busy. You?>
Wó yě bù máng.
<I also not busy>
Use yě when you
have something in common
Wǒ bù máng, nǐ ne?
Wó hěn máng.
Wó yě bù máng.
Zǎoshang hǎo
(Good Morning)
Wǎnshang hǎo
(Good Evening)
Zài jiàn
(Goodbye)
Note: the "z" in pinyin sounds like dz in English (try saying "kidz")
Pinyin Quiz
a a ba pa ma fa da ta na la ga ha ka fa
uo wo bo po mo fo duo Sounds
tuo nuolike: bwo,
luo pwo,
guomwo,huo kuo quo
fwo
e e me de te ne le ge he ke the
i yi bi pi mi di ti ni li bee
u wu bu pu mu fu du tu nu lu gu hu ku boo
ü yü nü lü few
"y" and "w" are not pronounced! ü pronounced like "ee" with fish lips
Ní hǎo ma?
Ní hǎo ma? (How are you?)