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Dialogue 1

Xìngmíng, guójí hé niánlíng - Name, Nationality, Age

huì

can/to be able to

shuō

to speak/to say

Zhōngwén

Chinese (language)

yìdiăn

a little bit

tài hăo le

wonderful

xiăo

to be young, young/small/little

shénme

what

Ying guó

Britain

nă

which

guó

country

rén

person/people

cāi

to guess

zhīdao

to know/to be aware of

Měiguórén

American

náli

where/whereabouts

Běijīngrén

Beijingese

nail

not really/not at all (lit “whereabouts”)

 

 

Notes to Dialogue 1

Use of huì

The word huì, known as an ‘auxiliary verb’ in grammatical terms, preceded other verbs to indicate whether a person has the ability to do something.  To ask questions such as ‘Can you speak Chinese?’, simply add ma at the end of the statement.  For example:

    Statement                                      Yes/no question

    Susan huì shuō Zhōngwén.      Susan huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?

    Susan can speak Chinese.            Can Susan speak Chinese?

 

To answer a question which involves the word huì, you say huì for ‘yes’  and bú huì for ‘no’.  For example:

    Q:  Amy huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?

          Can Amy speak Chinese?

    A:  Huì

          Yes, she can.

    A:  Bú huì.

          No, she can’t.

 

Difference between yìdiăn and yŏu yìdiăn

In the exercises we’ve had the expression yŏu yìdiăn (a little bit).  There is no difference in meaning between yìdiăn and yŏu yìdiăn: however, yìdiăn is usually used after a verb and yŏu yìdiăn is used before a verb-adjective.  For example:

    Tā huì shuō yìdiăn Yīngwén. 

    She can speak a little bit of English (after verb)

    Wó yŏu yìdiăn lèi. 

    I a little bit be tired. (before verb-adjective)

 

Question word shénme

When shénme (what) is used in a question, it occurs at the same place in the sentence as where the information required should appear in the reply. For example:

    Q:  Nĭ jiào shénme?           

          You called what? (What’s your name?)

    A:  Wŏ jiào Lín Hóng. 

          I called Lin Hong.

This rule applies to all other question words.

 

Nĭ jiào shénme?

When you ask a Chinese person Nĭ jiào shénme? you are usually given the full name (surname + first name). If you simply want to find out someone’s surname, you ask Nĭ xìng shénme? (lit: you are surnamed what?).  If you want to be really formal, you ask Nín guì xìng? (lit: you honourable surname?).  The personal pronoun nín is a polite form of nĭ.

 

Question word nă

Whenever the question word nă precedes nouns, such as guó, it means ‘which’.  For example:

    Nĭ shì nă guó rén?

    You be which country person?

     

Question word náli

The question word náli (where/whereabouts) is used if you already know someone’s nationality, but want to find out whereabouts this person originally comes from.  For example:

    Q:  Nĭ shì Zhōngguó náli rén?

          You be China whereabouts person?)

    A:  Shànghăirén 

          Shanghai person)

     

Names of Countries

Names of countries are translated into Chinese arbitrarily.  Some of them are based on the pronunciation, but others are not. Some have the word guó (country) in them and some do not.  Adding rén to the name of a country/city name refers to people who live there.  For example:

    Făguó             France

    Déguó            Germany

    Aòdàlìyà         Australia

    Xīnxīlán           New Zealand

    Rìběn              Japan

    Xīnjiāpō          Singapore

    Táiwān            Taiwan

    Xiānggăng     Hong Kong

    Yìdàlì                Italy

    Lúndūn           London

     

Ways of referring to different languages

To refer to the language spoken in a particular country, in most cases, you can add either wén or yŭ (language) to the first syllable of the country’s name, or add huà (speech/talk) to the whole name of a country.  For example:

 Country            Language

Yīngguó            Yīngwén/Yīngyŭ/ Yīngguóhuà            English

Făguó                Făwén/Fáyŭ/ Făguóhuà                        French

Déguó               Déwén/Déyŭ/ Déguóhuà                      German

Rìběn                 Rìwén/Rìyŭ/ Rìběnhuà                         Japanese

This rule does not apply to countries such as Italy or Spain (Xībānyá) where wén,yŭ or huà is added to the entire country name.  As a rule, simply add huà to any country’s name. ( Yìdàlìhuà or Xībānyáhuà)

 

Use of zhīdao

The verb zhīdao (to know/to be aware of) is mostly used to talk about things you know or people you know of but not personally.  It can be followed by a noun, phrase or a sentence.  For example:

    Nĭ zhīdao tā jiào shénme ma?

    You know he called what?

    Do you know what he is called?

 

    Wŏ bù zhīdao nĭ shì nă guó rén.

    I not know you be which country person.

    I don’t know which country you come from.

If you compare the sentence order of tā jiào shénme and nĭ shì nă guó rén after the verb zhīdao to that of the questions Nĭ jiào shénme? and Nĭ shì nă guó rén? noted before you will see that the structures are exactly the same.

 

Polite talk náli, náli

It is part of Chinese culture to be over-modest.  When a person is complimented, he/she is supposed to deny the compliment.  One of the expressions used on such an occasion is náli, meaning ‘not at all’ or ‘not really’ and it is usually repeated. Another way of responding to a compliment is to deny it.  For example:

    Nĭde Zhōngwén hén hăo.

    Your Chinese is very good

    Bù hăo, bù hăo.

    Not good, not good

     

 

Dialogue 2

Nĭ duō dà le?  How old are you?

jīn nián

this year

duō

how

dà

to be old/to be large/to be big/large/big

le

grammer word (makes past tense)

suì

years old

zhēn de

really?

kànshangqu

to appear/to seem/to look

zhíyŏu

only

zuŏyòu

about/approximately (lit “left right”)

guòjiăng

to be flattered (lit “over praising”)

zhēn

really

niánqīng

to be young/young

zhème shuō

in that case (lit “so speak”)

yīnggāi

should/ought

duì

to be correct/correct

bú duì

to be incorrect/incorrect

rènshi

to know [somebody]/to get to know [somebody]

wó yě shì

me too/same here (lit “I also am”)

zàijiàn

goodbye (lit “again meet”)

 

 

 

Notes to Dialogue 2

Nĭ duō dà le?

This question is used to ask about an adult’s age.  Generally, Chinese people (including women) are not offended by the question Nĭ duō dà le? (how old are you).  When the verb-adjective dà (to be big/old) is used in this context, it refers to someone’s age, not their size.  The word lăo (to be old) is not appropriate he because Nĭ duō lăo le? implies that the person being asked does look very, very old.

 

Apostrophes in numbers

An apostrophe is used in a number whenever there is an ambiguity in pronunciation.  Therefore we have shí’èr (twelve) instead of shíèr.

 

Grammar word le

The grammar word le, (also called the ‘past particle’) in this context suggests a change in state.  For instance, when someone says Wŏ èrshíyī suì le (I’m 21 years old) the speaker means that he/she has already become 21.

Note that (a) le must be used in the question Nĭ duō dà le?; and (b) in telling one’s age the verb shì is not used.

 

Use of kàngshanqu

The use of the verb kàngshanqu is very similar to the English verbs ‘to look’, ‘to appear’ or ‘to seem’ when they are used in affirmative sentences.  For example:

    Xiăo Fāng kàngshanqu hěn niánqīng

    Xiao Fang looks very young

 

    Nĭ kàngshanqu yŏu yìdiăn lèi.

    You look a little tired.

To negate the above two sentences, put the negation word bù after the verb kàngshanqu and before the adjective.  For example:

    Xiăo Fāng kàngshanqu bú tài gāoxìng

    Xiao Fang looks not too happy

     

Use of zuŏyòu

When zuŏyòu is used after numbers it means ‘about’ or ‘approximately’.  For example:

    Zhāng jīnglĭ sìshí zuŏyòu.

    Zhang manager 40 about.

    Manager Zhang is about 40.

     

Polite talk guójiăng

The expression guójiăng (to be flattered), which is often repeated (guójiăng, guójiăng), is used on similar occasions as the phrase náli, náli (not really).  It is another way to respond to a compliment.  For example:

    Nĭ kàngshanqu hěn jīngshen. 

    You look very smart

    Guójiăng, guójiăng

 

Use of rènshi

Earlier we saw the verb zhīdào (to know).  Rènshi is another verb meaning ‘to know’, except that in this case it is ‘to know someone personally’.  Let’s compare the two verbs:

    Nĭ rènshi Wáng Lán ma?    

    Do you know Wang Lin?

    Wŏ bù zhīdào tā rènshi Amy.  

    I didn’t know she knows Amy.

Note (a) between zhīdào and tā rènshiAmy there is no link word equivalent to the English ‘that’; and (b) you can say Wŏ zhīdào Zhāng Yŏudé , which means that you have heard of this person but you don’t know him personally.

 

Topic Structure

It is very common, but not essential, in Chinese to put the topic of the sentence first.  For example:

    Rènshi nĭ wó hěn gāoxìng

    To know you I very pleased.

 

    Lái Zhōngguó wó hěn gāoxìng

    To come China I very pleased.

           

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