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Lesson 01 - Greetings

This document provides an introduction to Mandarin Chinese pinyin, tones, and basic phrases. It explains that pinyin is the phonetic representation of Mandarin, with each syllable being one character. There are only 409 syllables in Mandarin compared to over 5000 in English. The document demonstrates the four tones in Mandarin and how they change meaning. It then presents common greetings and questions using pinyin and introduces particles like "ma" for questions and "ye" for also.

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87 views14 pages

Lesson 01 - Greetings

This document provides an introduction to Mandarin Chinese pinyin, tones, and basic phrases. It explains that pinyin is the phonetic representation of Mandarin, with each syllable being one character. There are only 409 syllables in Mandarin compared to over 5000 in English. The document demonstrates the four tones in Mandarin and how they change meaning. It then presents common greetings and questions using pinyin and introduces particles like "ma" for questions and "ye" for also.

Uploaded by

Unique Officials
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson 1: Mandarin & Pinyin

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

1st mā High, level Mother 妈


2nd má rising Numbing 麻
3rd mǎ falling - rising Horse 马
4th mà falling Scold 骂
Neutral ma unstressed Confirm 吗

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

Ní hǎo ma? (How are you?)

Wǒ hén hǎo! (I'm Good)

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)

Ní hǎo ma? Bù hǎo.


(not good)
(How are you?)
"Ma" is used for Confirmation
● Questions come in two varieties:
○ Confirmation (yes/no)
○ Information (who,what, where, when …)
● Mandarin confirmation is not like English
○ Different structure: <statement> ma?
○ Nothing quite like "yes" and "no"
Máng. ○ To answer: echo the adjective or verb
Bù máng.

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

jiji –– zhi, chi –


zhi, chi – qi, chu–– qu,
qi, chu xu––shu
qu, xu shu
cece –– ci,
ci, shi – si, zhu –– ju,
si, zhu shi –– she
ju, shi she
zhi – chi, re – ri, zhe – zhi,
zhi qia –– cha
zhi, qia cha
Finals Initials
Pinyin Chart Final vowels
sound like:
b p m f d t n l g h k

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?)

Wǒ hén hǎo! (I'm Good)

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