Savvy Chat Chinese 20 Questions to Basic Fluency

20 Questions to Basic Fluency: Guide to Basic Conversational Mandarin by Matt Sikora First Edition, 2012 Editor: Seraph Ching

Contact Information: http://studymorechinese.com/profile/mtska https://plus.google.com/u/0/117895081310002069781/about http://www.linkedin.com/pub/matthew-sikora/a/473/a35

Savvy Chat Chinese: 20 Questions to Basic Fluency by Matt Sikora is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

Savvy Chat Chinese 20 Questions to Basic Fluency

How to use this book

Conversation is the heart of language learning. Talking with someone in another language develops your listening skills while giving you the speaking practice that you need. But conversing in another language can be hard to manage when you are first starting out. Savvy Chat Chinese 20 Questions to Basic Fluency is homebase for developing your Mandarin Chinese communication skills. It is not only a guide for you, but it is also a guide for your language partner. Conversation is all about improvising within the linguistic and cultural rules of the language. This book allows you improvise with a manageable number of high frequency questions and answer and it gives your language partner a guide as to how to help you so that you can both make the most of your time. Below are some suggestions on how to use Savvy Chat Chinese 20 Questions to Basic Fluency:

1. Read the book Read the book all the way through. It gives you a unique perspective on the grammar at work behind the patterns and characters used in the questions and answers.

2. Personalize the book Take some time to personalize the questions and answers in this book with your own information. If someone asks you one of these questions it is important for you to be able to come up with a response with your own information. Write out your answers (or your likely answers) to each of the 20 questions and keep that list handy.

3. Chat Whether you are face to face or texting - communicating with real people is still the best way to learn a language. You need to use the questions and answers in this book as often as you can. You dont need to be perfect. In fact, you absolutely have to make mistakes in order to learn languages. No one, native speaker or foreigner, young or old, has ever learned Mandarin without going through the same thing that you are going through right now. If you have a language partner, let the person know that you are focusing on these 20 questions and answers and give the person a copy of them so he or she can help you. You will be able to make the most of your time if both of you are using these questions and answers in your conversations.

Enriching your studies

The fastest way to learn Mandarin is to go live where Mandarin is spoken for a year or more. Be sure to only use Mandarin and stay away from anyone that speaks to you in any other language. If you are in a position in your life to do this, stop reading right now and get going. You wont regret it.

But chances are that your learning experience has been and will be a bit more fragmented than what was described above. This book is great for learning how to start communicating with people in Mandarin, but it is not enough. You need to immerse yourself in the language as much as you can and no book can ever take the place of living your life in the Chinese language and culture. There are two simple rules for learning languages that you should try to keep in mind:

1. There is no substitute for repetition. 2. Never let yourself get bored.

You cant possibly use the 20 questions and answers in this book too much. They make up the basis of daily conversation and even after you have mastered them you will still use them all the time. But if the only thing you do is use these 20 questions and answers youll probably become bored with it and lose your motivation before you master them. Be sure to seek out things that interest you and allow yourself to get distracted every so often. Follow your bliss and youll be a much happier Mandarin learner. Come back to the 20 Questions to Basic Fluency whenever you need them, but dont put on the blinders to what else is out there. Happy chatting!

Background Savvy Chat Chinese 20 Questions to Basic Fluency was developed and written as a communication guide for Mandarin language learners who are ready to put their language skills to use. The questions cover some of the most high frequency grammar patterns, vocabulary and

communication situations that you will need to know at the basic level. This book is designed to guide your communication skills to the Novice-High Proficiency Level on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (ACTFL American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages). The ACFTL Novice-High Proficiency Level roughly correlates to the A2 CEFR Proficiency Level (CEFR Common European Framework of Reference - for Languages). http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org/speaking In addition to the academic research has gone in to this book, the questions and answers have also been informally field tested in real communication situations and reviewed by native speakers. Thanks I would like recognize the Study More Chinese community of users for all their input and support on the 20 Questions to Basic Fluency blog. I would also like to thank my editor, Seraph Ching. Her insight and eye for detail made this book possible.

Q&A Index
Question 1. Name N jio shnme mngzi? N sh n gu rn? N zu shnme gngzu? ? N kngy shjin xhuan zu shnme? N ji yu j g rn? N zi zu shnme? N zutin zu le shnme? N mngtin yo zu shnme? Cso zi n'er? N xing zu shnme? N yu miyu chzi? Answer . W jio mt. N ne? . W sh migu rn. N ne? . W sh losh. N ne? W xhuan xu zhngwn. . W ji yu s g rn. W zi kn dinsh. W zutin chle zhnggu ci. W mngtin yo q bwgun. Zi nl. W xing chfn. Miyu.

2. Origin

3. Profession

4. Free time

5. Family

6. Present

7. Past

8. Future

9. Where

10. Plans

11. Have

12. How much

Dusho qin? 13. Time Ynch j din kish? N de shngr sh j yu j ho?

q kui ji mo ji fn qin Q din bn. W de shngr sh sh y yu rshq ho. Zh sh dufu. W hn ho. Xi xie. N ne? . T hn pioliang. . T hn yuho. . W jude hn yu ysi.

14. Date

15. This?

Zh sh shnme? N zujn znmeyng? T zhng shnme yng? T rn znmeyng? Zh b dinyng znmeyng?

16. Whats up?

17. Looks

18. Personality

19. Opinion

20. How to say

"Fortune cookie" . "Forture cookie" zhngwn znme shu? xngyn bnggn.

*Replace the underlined words with your information.

What is your name?

Question Answer

 
N jio shnme mngzi? What is your name?

. 
W jio mt. N ne? My name is Matt. And you?

Question #1 Name Question Definitions (n) (jio) (shnme) (mngzi) you call what name  (w) I (jio) call (mt) Matt (n ne) you (particle)  Answer De.initions

Fill-in: Fill your name in the blank.

The Chinese way of naming children is quite different from what we know in the West. First names are created rather than picked from a list or passed down. A typical first name is made up of two characters, which is pronounced as two syllables, and they tend to carry some meaning. This is kind of similar to a Native American way of naming children, for example: Sitting Bull. There are thousands of characters to chose from so first names tend to be unique and it isnt common to find someone with the same first name (same two characters) as some one else. So there is no real list of most common Chinese first names. Last names are a different story. The Chinese present themselves with their last names, or family names, first. There really arent all that many different last names in China about 100 or so are common. Here is a list of the top 10:

1. L 2. Wng 3. Zhng 4. Li 5. Chn 6. Yng 7. Zho 8. Hung 9. Zhu 10. W (For a list of the top 100 Chinese surnames check out http://www.sinosplice.com/learnchinese/chinese-vocabulary-lists/the-top-100-chinese-surnames) There are several ways to ask someones name in Chinese, but well be taking a look at most basic and most common. Lets check out at the question first. The word choice and word order in Chinese doesnt exactly match up with English. It starts out with (n) which means you. Chinese uses the verb (jio), to call, where English uses the verb is. Youll be happy to know that there is no verb conjugation in Chinese! So (jio) never gets changed because of person, number or even time reference (past, present future.) The question word (shnme) means what and comes after the verb. The word (mngzi) means name. So you end up with a literal translation of, You call what name? In general, its a bad idea to translate literally from English to Chinese. But translating from Chinese to English can be helpful to understand the Chinese way of thinking. So if thinking You call what name? helps you remember the Chinese, then use it. Now lets take a look at the answer. Notice the sentence structure in the answer hasnt change much from the question. You simply switch (n) for (w), which means I or my, and replace (shnme mngzi) with your name. We have one more piece of language to cover. The (N ne) is simply asking, And you? The (ne) has no real meaning in this sentence. Just think of it as a question mark that needs to be pronounced. (We do something similar in English when we put do in front of some questions, for example, Do you like studying Chinese? You could probably leave the do out when speaking as long as your voice goes up at the end of the sentence.)

You might be wondering how to translate your name into Chinese. One of the better lists out there is this one on the site http://www.chinese-tools.com/names Now youre ready to meet people. Remember that the structure of the question and answer are exactly the same and that will help you when you get into a conversation and conversation is what you want. You need to use this in order to remember it. The more you use it, the better youll get. Happy chatting!

Where are you from?

Question

Answer

 
N sh n gu rn? Where are you from

. 
W sh migu rn. N ne? I am American. And you?

Question #2 Origin Question Definitions (n) (sh) (n gu) (rn) you are which country person  (w) (sh) (migu) (n ne) I am American you (particle)  Answer De.initions

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. Jind) 2. Ynggu) 3. irln) 4. (Sgln) 5. odly) 6. Xnjip) 7. Mxg) 8. gntng) 9. Bx) 10. lus) Canada England Ireland Scotland Australia Singapore Mexico Argentina Brazil Russia

There are several ways to ask where someone is from in Chinese. This question is asking about nationality, or which country a person is from. This is a common question, the structure is simple to understand, and it gives you an opportunity to become familiar with nationalities. Lets take a look at the structure. Here we are literally asking, You are which country person? Although this literal translation sounds awkward in English, it is easy to see how the words match up. This question uses the verb (sh), which is the verb to be. Notice that the verb doesnt get conjugated, or changed. This is a sleek feature of Chinese verbs never change forms! The question word, (n), means, which. Check out how it comes in the middle of the sentence, after the subject and the verb. This is a different from English where we would start out the question with, Which or Where Fortunately there is no change in sentence structure from the question to the answer. You simply switch (n) for (w) and replace (n gu ) with your nationality. We have one more piece of language to cover. The (N ne) is simply asking, and you? The (ne) has no real meaning in this sentence. Just think of it as a question mark that needs to be pronounced. (We do something similar in English when we put do in front of some questions, for example, Do you like studying Chinese? You could probably leave the do out when speaking as long as your voice goes up at the end of the sentence.) Once again the question and the answer have the same structure and there is no cumbersome conjugation or flip-flopping word order to worry about. Its very logical and straightforward. If you ask this question in the West, you might be surprised to find that a lot of people who speak Chinese are not from China. There is a large population of Taiwanese abroad. Chinese is also spoken in Singapore. There are also many people in Malaysia and other East Asian countries who know at least some Mandarin. So be sure to practice your new conversation skills out in the wild whenever you get a chance. You need to use this in order to remember it. The more you use it, the better youll get. Happy chatting!

What do you do for a living?

Question

Answer

 
N zu shnme gngzu? What do you do for a living?

. 
W sh losh. N ne? I am a teacher. And you?

Question #3 Professions Question Definitions (n) (zu ) (shnme) (gngzu) you do what work/job  (w) I (sh) am (losh) teacher (n ne) you (particle)  Answer De.initions

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (shngrn) business person 2. (losh) teacher 3. (xushng) student 4. (jzh) reporter 5. (yshng) doctor 6. (xioshu) sales/marketing 7. kxuji) scientist 8. jsh rnyun) tech staff 9. gngchngsh) engineer 10. ynhngji) banker 11. tuxi) retired

There are several ways to ask what someone does in Chinese. This question is asking about a persons job. Lets take a look at the structure. Here we are literally asking, You do what work? Although the word order is a little different, this matches up pretty well with English. This question uses the verb (zu) which is the verb to do. Notice that the verb doesnt get conjugated, or changed. This is a sleek feature of Chinese verbs never change forms! The question word, (shnme), means, what. Check out how it comes in the middle of the sentence, after the subject and the verb. This is different from English. We would start out the question with What Unlike the previous questions and answers, the answer here uses a different verb from the question. Lets take a look at why this happens. The answer literally translates to I am teacher. Notice the answer doesnt say, a teacher. This is because Chinese doesnt use articles, (the, a, an). So with the exception of a the Chinese here mirrors the English exactly. The word (w) means I and the verb (sh) means is. This change from the verb (zu) in the question to the verb (sh) in the answer is exactly what happens in English, so it isnt too confusing for us. We have one more piece of language to cover. The (N ne) is simply asking, and you? The (ne) has no real meaning in this sentence. Just think of it as a question mark that needs to be pronounced. (We do something similar in English when we put do in front of some questions, for example, Do you like studying Chinese? You could probably leave the do out when speaking as long as your voice goes up at the end of the sentence.) Youve now made it through the three most basic ways to introduce yourself in Chinese. Be sure to use these questions as often as you can with lots of different people. The more you use them the better youll get at starting up a conversation. Sometimes just starting a conversation is the hardest part. Youll be surprised at how accommodating people are to help you with your language studies. But you need to make the first move! Happy chatting!

What do you like to do in your free time?

Question Answer

? 
N kngy shjin xhuan zu shnme? What do you like to do in your free time?

W xhuan xu zhngwn. I like to study Chinese.

Question De.initions (n) you (kngy) free (shjin) time (xhuan) like (zu) do (shnme) what

Question #4 Free Time

Answer De.initions (w) (xhuan) (xu) (zhngwn) I like study Chinese

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. chngg) singing 2. (tiow) dancing 3. (kn dinyng) watching movies 4. (kn dinsh) watching TV 5. (kn sh) reading books 6. (tng ynyu) listening to music 7. (shngwng) going online 8. (liotin) chatting 9. (pizho) photography 10. (lyu ) traveling

There are several ways to ask what someone likes to do in Chinese, but this question uses vocabulary and grammar patterns that will help you with other high frequency questions. Lets look at the question first. The word order in Chinese doesnt match up with English. The question word what, (shnme), is at the end of the question instead of at the beginning. You, (n), is at the beginning instead of in the middle. Free time (kngy shjin) is in the middle instead of at the end. Thankfully Like , (xhuan), and do (zu) are just about where we would put them in English. If you translated this question literally, youd come up with something like, You free time like do what? If you compare this to the English What do you like to do in your free time? youll notice some things are missing in the Chinese question. Can you find the differences? Here they are highlighted: What do you like to do in your free time? In Chinese, we dont need to use do when asking a question. Weve already covered that Chinese doesnt conjugate, or change the form of verbs but it also doesnt use infinitives, or to + verb. We also dont need to use the word in. Finally, Chinese doesnt change the form of a pronoun to make it possessive. There is a way to make possessive pronouns like, my and your but it isnt used in this question and it isnt necessary for you to know right now. This question is your first glimpse at how different Chinese can be from English. Luckily, the answer matches up a lot better for us. Lets take a look. Notice that the word order in the answer matches exactly with English: I like study Chinese. The only thing that is missing is the to from to study but as we mentioned before, Chinese verbs dont need to be added to, changed or conjugated. They work just fine as they are. At this point you may be wondering why like and Chinese have to be two characters while I and you only use one character. Sometimes this is easy to explain, as in the case of (zhngwn). Here (zhng) means China and (wn) means language. So it is easy for us to see that China language means Chinese. But sometimes the two character word isnt as easy to explain, as in (xhuan). Separately, both characters have similar meanings of happy and joyous. But together they mean to like. At this point it is best to try to remember the characters as a pair and not worry about what they mean separately. Trying to study the individual characters of words would be like trying to learn English by studying the Latin and Greek roots right off the bat. At this point, it will probably only slow you down in your studies. People love to talk about their hobbies. Most people can find at least one activity from the list above that they like to do, so this is an easy way to find something in common with someone else

and continue your conversation - and you need to continue talking! These questions are not something to read and think about in isolation. You need to use them. The more you practice the better youll get. Happy chatting!

How many people are in your family?

Question

Answer

 
N ji yu j g rn? How many people are in your family?

. 
W ji yu s g rn. My family has four people.

Question De.initions (n) you  (ji) home  (yu) has  (j) how many  (ge) (Mearure Word)  (rn) people 

Question #5 Family

Answer De.initions (w) I (my)  (ji) home  (yu) has  (s) four  (ge) (Measure Word)  (rn) people 

Top Fill-ins for: .

To tell how many people are in your family, simply replace with the appropriate number: (y, ling, sn, s, w, li, q, b, ji.) *Note: If you are counting (as in 1, 2, 3, 4) then the number two is (r). Talking about how many people are in your family is wonderfully easy in Chinese. Its slightly different than how we might ask it in English, but once again the question and answer follow the same pattern so there is no need for mental acrobatics when you hear the question. You simply need to fill in the blanks with your information. Lets get started with the question.

The question begins with the word (n) which, by now, you know means you. The next word, (ji) can mean home household or family. The word (yu) is the verb to have. Remember, there is no verb conjugation in Chinese so there is no need to change the verb from question to answer. The word (j) means how many but (j) is a little more flexible than its English equivalent. You may hear it used for asking about phone numbers and other kinds of numbered info. For now just know that (j) always asks about a number when used in a question. Next is the measure word (g). Measure words are used when you are pointing out an object (this pen, that pen) or when you are counting objects (1 pen, 2 pens, 3 pens). We have measure words in English too: a pair of pants, a flock of geese, a cup of coffee. But there are lots more in Chinese and they are used more often. In some places in China, typically the North, (g) is replaced by (ku) in this question, but the words are interchangeable in this context and do not change the meaning. The final word is (rn) which means people. We get a nice, clean literal translation of, Your family has how many people? Lets move on to the answer. The answer simply replaces the pronoun (n) with (w), which means I or my and replaces the (j) with a number of people. Our translation for the answer is, My family has four people. Many times in Chinese the answer follows the same pattern as the question, so it makes it relatively easy to just listen and parrot back the answer by substituting in your info. You may also want to talk about who exactly is in your family. Unfortunately, telling about your family members can be a little more complicated in Chinese than it is in other languages. This stems from Confucius philosophy and can be a little hard to grasp as a Westerner. Basically, every person that you are related to has a unique title that is relative to his or her relationship to you. Maternal and paternal relatives have different titles so there are two different titles for grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. These titles very often take the place of the persons name. So where we might say uncle Steve the Chinese would say something that would translate to dads older brother uncle and leave out the Steve altogether. It is the Confucius way of keeping order and letting every one know where his place is. It isnt very useful as a Westerner because you most likely wont need to use these title with your family members so we wont go into a full list of vocabulary here. Below are some common names for family members that should be enough for you to express yourself clearly. 1. (Zhngfu) 2. (Titai) 3. (Bba) husband wife father

4. (Mma) 5. (rzi) 6. (N'r) 7. (Gge) 8. (Ddi) 9. (Jijie) 10. (Mimei) 11. (Nn pngyu) 12. (N pngyu)

mother son daughter elder brother younger brother elder sister younger sister boyfriend girlfriend

Here are some other ways to answer if you are single or if you are in a relationship. (W jihnle.) Im married (W lhnle.) Im divorced. (W zi lin'i zhng.) Im in a relationship. (W sh dnshn.) Im single. Obviously we are getting a little more personal with this question. Although the Chinese wouldnt see this question as too much of an intrusion, it is also something that might not be appropriate right off the bat. It depends on the situation. For example, if you meet a mother at a park with her children, this question would be a great one to ask. But this probably wouldnt be all that appropriate when first meeting a potential client or business partner. That being said, you need to use this to get good at it and this gives you a great way to practice and listen for simple numbers, so try it out when the situation is right. Happy chatting!

What are you doing?

Question

Answer

 
N zi zu shnme? What are you doing?


W zi kn dinsh. I'm wathing TV. Question #6 What are you doing?

Question Definitions (n) you (zi) are (zu) doing (shnme) what 

Answer De.initions (w) I  (zi) am (kn) watching   (dinsh) TV  

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (gngzu) 2. (xux) 3. (xixi) 4. (shngwng) 5. (lshang) 6. (chfn) 7. (shngji) 8. (zhngl fngjin) 9. (zhnbi) 10. (dng n ) working studying resting online on the road/way eating shopping cleaning up a room/house getting ready waiting for you

Questions 6, 7 and 8 all have to do with asking about the present, past and future respectively. If you have had any experience with learning other foreign languages, especially European languages, this is where we would start talking about verb conjugation. Conjugation is also

when a lot of people decide that learning a Romance language isnt quite as romantic as they had envisioned - but not so with Mandarin. Words, or characters, dont ever get changed in Chinese. That means there is no verb conjugation, agreement, declensions, etc. There are ways to make verbs reflect the past, present and future, but you wont have to worry about all the linguistic acrobatics that are normally associated with verb conjugation. Mandarin is a very clean and compact language at this level so enjoy! Lets take a look at the question. Before we start the explanation, you should know that there are other ways to ask What are you doing? so dont let that surprise you. This question however, is especially useful because this pattern and these particular words are very high frequency so they will give you a lot of opportunities to make connections and reinforce your learning. First, the word order of this question is different from the English, but aside from the question word what coming at the end of the sentence, it isnt too tough. As always, we begin with the word (n) which means you. Then we move on to one of the most high frequency words in Chinese, (zi). This word is pretty flexible and it can also be combined with other characters to make up new words. If you look it up youll see it means to exist or to be or to be located but its probably best to just translate it for how it is used in a particular context. The word (zi) in this context tells you that you are in the present continuous tense, or in simpler terms, it acts as the -ing that we put on the end of our verbs in English. So in our examples above, (zi zu ) means doing or are doing. The (shnme) on the end simply means what. So altogether our literal translation is, You are doing what? This translation might sound a bit accusative to us, but the Chinese question has no edge to it. It is just an inquiry about what youre up to. Lets check out the answer. We replace (n) with (w) to say I and then (zi kn ) means am watching. The characters (dinsh) mean television. Its kind of interesting to look at these separately. The character (din) means electric or electricity and (sh) means to look at. Its funny to think of watching TV as looking at electricity but, indeed, its true. So our literal translation is I am watching TV. As you can see, there isnt too much to trip you up with this answer. You might be asking yourself what to do if you just want to dodge this question. Maybe you arent doing anything in particular or perhaps you just dont know what to say. Anyway, lets face it, if you ask someone What are you doing? in English, the most likely response youll hear is, nothing or not much. So if youd like to tell someone you have nothing to do, you can just say (Mi sh zu!)

Remember to get out and practice these questions with someone. The more you practice the better youll get. Happy chatting!

What did you do yesterday?

Question Answer

 
N zutin zu le shnme? What did you do yesterday?

 
W zutin chle zhnggu ci. Yesterday I ate Chinese food.


Question #7 What did you do yesterday? Question Definitions (n) you (zotin) yesterday (zu le) did (shnme) what   Answer De.initions (w) I (zotin) yesterday (ch le) ate   (zhng go) Chinese   (ci) food 

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (gngzu le) (xux le) (kihu le) (guw le) (xixi le) (shngwng le) (gungji le) (ch le) worked studied had a meeting went shopping rested was on line walked around ate went to (fndin) (shngdin) restaurant store (ynhng) bank (jib) bar (bwgan) museum

9. (q le) (shq) (gngyun) downtown park

10. (kn le) (dinsh) TV (dinyng) movie

watched/read/saw. (sh) book (bozh) newspaper (zzh) (ynch) magazine show (pngyou) friend

Talking about what you did in the past is simple. In fact, at times it can be too simple for English speakers. Chinese relies on context clues much more than English does when it comes to navigating verb tenses. Since verbs do not get conjugated to the past, present or future, it is sometimes hard for English speakers to know exactly when an action took place. Indeed, in some cases there is no difference at all and the sentence has to be heard in context to know when the action occurred. This is extremely flexible compared to English verb tense and it can make a person feel a wee bit uncomfortable when trying to get used to Chinese. But not to worry - the word (le) is a quick remedy to the seasickness that may accompany the fluid Chinese verb tenses. Lets check out the question.

This question starts out with (n) and moves on to the time marker (zutin) which means yesterday. This is the first context clue that we are talking about the past. Time markers like; yesterday today tomorrow are often the only thing that tell the listener when the action occurred. The next word is (zu) which means do. Now we have (le). The word (le) has no meaning by itself. It can be used with verbs as well as adjectives and it indicates change or completion. It isnt specific to the past tense though. Youll hear it referring to the future as well. But for now we are just using it with verbs and it will indicate that the action has been completed in the past. So we would translate (zu le) as did. The final part of the question has the question word (shnme) which means what. The literal translation of the question is, You yesterday did what? Lets move on to the answer.

The structure of the answer is the same as the question. We just need to replace a few parts of the question with our information. We start out by exchanging (n) for (w). Next, (zu) gets replaced with (ch) which means eat. Notice that the verb (ch) doesn't change, or get conjugated. Adding (le) behind the verb in this context signifies that the action is completed. So (chle) translates to "ate" in this sentence. As we mentioned above, the past tense can be flexible in Chinese, but for now, just follow this pattern:

SUBJECT + TIME MARKER + VERB + + OBJECT For example: I + yesterday + eat + + Chinese food. Now lets go back and check out numbers 9 and 10 from the vocabulary list above for a few moments. When you are first learning a language it is hard to express exactly what you want to say in the way you would like to say it. Sometimes you have to just simplify your thoughts to fit your ability level. So you might want to say something like, I took the train downtown and hung out with my friend for a few hours. But at this point thats a little too complex. What you really need to get across is, I went downtown and I saw my friend : (W q le shq.) (W kn le w de pngyu). So using the verb (q le) and (kn le) are two very easy, helpful and productive ways to tell people about what you did in the past. So whenever someone asks you about what you did in Chinese, immediately think, Where did I go? and What did I see? The (q) (kn) strategy is really useful for beginners in the past, present and future as well as when you are talking about making plans, or saying what you want to do. It is one of your first steps in training you mind to think in Chinese, so be sure to use it often.

More info In Chinese, the subject and the time marker can sometimes be switched, but the meaning stays the same. Here are some examples of both cases : W zutin knle sh. Yesterday I read a book. Zh zhum w qle gngyun. I went to the park this weekend. Jntin w hle sn bi kfi.

Today I drank three cups of coffee. There are some instances where (le) might show up in a different location in a sentence or it may not be used at all. But for now just include a time marker and put the (le) right after the verb in your sentence and you can be pretty sure that you are forming the past tense correctly. (It's also worth mentioning that (le) can sometimes refer to the future, so don't assume that (le) is always used to make something past tense.) Here are some past tense time markers that you can use in this pattern: (jntin) (zutin) (qintin) (d qintin) (yqin) (zh zhum) (shng zhum) (zhge xngq) (shng ge xngq ) shng shng ge xngq) (zh ge yu ) (shng ge yu) (shng shng ge yu) (jnnin) (qnin) (qinnin) (d qinnin) today yesterday the day before yesterday three days ago before this weekend last weekend this week last week week before last the month last month the month before last this year last year the year before last year three years ago

You are starting to accumulate a lot of vocabulary along with some high frequency grammar patterns. Now its time to get out and use the Chinese that you know. Communication is the only real way for you to know that this stuff is sticking. Be patient and allow yourself to make mistakes its the only way to learn. Happy chatting!

What are you doing tomorrow?

Question

Answer


N mngtin yo zu shnme? What do you want to do tomorrow?


W mngtin yo q bwgun. I want to go to the museum tomorrow.

Question Definitions (n) (mngtin) (yo) (zo) (shnme)

Question #8 What are you doing tomorrow? you tomorrow  want do what  Answer De.initions (w) I  (mngtin) tomorrow (yo) want   (q) go   (bwgun) museum  

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (bngngsh) 2. (gngyun) 3. (shchng) 4. (shngchng) 5. (kfi gun) 6. (choj shchng) 7. (kfi gun) 8. (mingun) 9. (chgun) 10. (tsh gun) the office the park the market the mall the cafe super market the caf noodle shop tea house library

Weve finally reached the future and youll be happy to know that it is bright. Forming the future tense in Chinese is just as easy as it was in the other tenses. As we mentioned before,

Chinese verbs can be very flexible when it comes to time reference, so dont be surprised to see or hear the future tense formed in different ways. Lets take a look at the question. We start out, as always, with (n) to say you. The word (mngtin) means tomorrow. This is a clever little word so lets take some time to get a little more detailed. The character (mng) is made up of two parts, or radicals. The one on the left is the character for sun and it kind of looks like an abstraction of the sun with the horizon line in the middle. The one on the right means moon and you can see the crescent in its curved line. Together these two parts, or radicals, mean bright. The character (tin) means day so the two characters together mean bright day a very optimistic way to look at tomorrow, dont you think? Now here comes the future! To form the future tense simply put (yo) in front of the verb. The verb (yo) by itself means want but in this context it functions as will or want to or going to. If youve been studying Chinese for a bit you may have also noticed that (hu) can be used to form the future in the same way. Either one is fine to use to form the future tense, but for now lets just use (yo) to keep things simple. The next word is (zu) which means to do and just like the past and present tense, (zu) doesnt need to be changed or conjugated. The last word, (shnme) means what. So the literal translation is You tomorrow will do what? Lets check out the answer. The answer, as always, exchanges (n) for (w) to say I. We keep the (mngtin) and the (yo). But then we steer you toward talking about a place you will go to by using the verb (q) which means to go. The reason for this is because its fairly easy for the brain to remember concrete things, like places. You can picture it in your mind and therefore words for places tend to be easy to recall. The way to think in Chinese is to make your thoughts match your ability level and this is a fast and practical way to do that. Finally, you fill in the (shnme) with a place, and it looks like were going to the museum, (bwgun). The literal translation for the answer is, I tomorrow will go museum. So you may be asking yourself, What if I dont want to go to the museum? What if I want to talk about what Im going to DO (or what I want to DO) tomorrow? If you want to talk about actions that you will do in the future, you can just replace (yo q bwgun) in the answer above with any action. So say you want to see a movie tomorrow, you would say:

W mngtin yo kn dinyng. If you want to GO see a movie tomorrow, you can say: W mngtin yo q kn dinyng. More Info Here are some future time expressions to fill in for the word tomorrow (mngtin): (jntin) (mngtin) (hutin) (d hutin) today tomorrow two days from now three days from now

(zh xngq) this week (xi xngq) next week (xi xi xngq) in two weeks (zhge yu) this month (xi ge yu) next month (xi xi ge yu) in two months (jnnin) (mngnin) (hu nin) (d hunin) this year next year two years from now three years from now

Youve made it through the past, present and future. As you can see, time travel isnt all that tough in Chinese. But there is no substitute for practice and repetition when it comes to learning a new language. At this point you have all the tools you need to make friends and sustain communication with someone in Chinese. If you dont have the opportunity to practice your Chinese with someone in person, then it is probably time to look for a language partner online. Even just using IM (Instant Message) with someone can greatly improve your language skills, and almost everyone has at least a few minutes every day to text. So if you havent done so

already, make a commitment to yourself to chat using these questions with someone. Youll be glad you did. Happy chatting!

Where is the bathroom?

Question

Answer

 
Csu zi n'er? Where is the bathroom?

 
Zi nl. It's there.

Question #9 Where is...? Question Definitions (csu) toilet (zi) is (n'er) where  Answer De.initions (zi) is (nl) there

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (lgun) hotel 2. (ynhng) bank 3. (yuj ) post office 4. (huch zhn) train station 5. (dti zhn) metro station 6. (tngch chng) parking lot 7. (zdng qkun j) the ATM 8. (jchng) the airport 9. (yodin) the pharmacy 10. (fndin) restaurant

Asking where a place it is Chinese is very simple so lets get right into it. All you need to do is start out your question with the place you want to know about - in this case, (csu). Notice that we use the Chinese word toilet instead of bathroom in this question. Although using the word toilet may seem a little inappropriate in this question in parts of the Englishspeaking world, it isnt at all inappropriate in Chinese. Next, the verb (zi) means is. (*Note: you may remember that (sh) also means is as in, (W sh migu rn) I am American. The verb (zi) is used to expressto be when you want to know where something is.) Finally, use (ner). Its backward from the English word order but still very easy to understand. The beauty of this pattern is that you use it for people, places, and things so its very high frequency and very flexible. The answer is even easier. Lets take a look. To respond you once again use the verb (zi). But here you can leave out the place that you asked about in the question. We do the same in English too. Once youve established that the bathroom is the topic in question, there is no need to repeat it in the answer. Can you say it again? Sure thing. Place (csu) in front of (zi) and youre good to go. The end of the sentence is where you find the information about where the place is. In our answer we have (nl) which means there. Obviously there could be a lot of information about directions to the place you are asking about so (nl) is just one of many options. Notice that the word order in the answer matches with the English exactly, Its there. More Info You may have noticed that (ner) in the question and (nl) in the answer have a similar pronunciation and that the characters almost look identical. The little radical in front of (ner) signifies that it is a question and it means which. If isnt in there, then it isnt a question and it means, that. Another important point is that (er) and (l) are interchangeable in this context. You can use either one with (n) and (n) and be perfectly correct. With this question we are starting to get a little more practical about our communication skills. If you dont have an opportunity to speak to anyone in person, asking Where is might seem to be difficult practice. But you can use this question with an online language partner too. You might ask the person, (N zi nl?), Where are you? This could mean, Hey, are you there? or you might also be wondering Are you at home? at the library? at a caf? There are lots of ways to work in some of the practical questions if you get creative. But most importantly, make sure you are using this with someone anyone! The only way to get good at it is to practice it. Happy chatting!

What do you want to do?

Question Answer

 
N xing zu shnme? What do you want to do?

 
W xing chfn. I want to eat.

Question #10 Making plans Question Definitions Answer De.initions (n) you (xing) want (zu) do   (shnme) what  (w) I (xing) want (chfn) eat

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. q shq) go downtown 2. gungguang) walk around, take a stroll 3. (guw) go shopping 4. kn dinyng) see a movie 5. kn ynch) see a show 6. K K g) sing karaoke 7. tiow) go dancing 8. q kfi gun) go to a cafe 9. q jib) go to a bar 10. xix) rest Making plans to do something in Chinese is pretty simple. The nice thing about the structure of this question is that it opens up the door to some other high frequency questions. Well check

those out later, but right now lets take a look at the question. The Chinese and the English match up nicely here except for the placement of the question word what. The English question puts what at the beginning of the sentence but the Chinese question places (shnme) at the end of the sentence. We start out with (n) which means you. The verb (xing) means want but here it carries a more polite connotation, so we could also translate it as would like. The word (zu) means do. The Chinese is actually a bit less complicated because it leaves out the do that English uses in this question: What do you want to do? As always, there is no verb changing, or conjugation, in any way. So word for word we end up with a literal translation of, "You want do what?" Pretty straight forward, so lets move on to the answer. As you can see, the answer is beautifully simple and matches up with the English meaning and word order exactly. The only tricky part of this is (chfn) which means "eat" because it is two characters. The character (ch) means "eat" and (fn) means rice. But in this context their combined meaning is simply "eat" or to have a meal. So the literal translation is, "I want eat." You should know that there are some variations of the question and answer. Lets move on to them below. More Info There are some other ways to ask, What do you want to do? in Chinese. Specifically, (xing) and (zu) can be replaced with other words. First, the verb (yo) can replace (xing). Whats the difference? In this context they both mean want but (xing) softens the question or request. It would be more like saying I would like instead of I want. In Chinese culture it is always better to be a bit too polite instead of being slightly too familiar or informal, so as a beginner it is better to use (xing). That being said, you will definitely hear (yo) replacing (xing) in this context and it will be completely appropriate and not rude at all. Just be aware of the difference and use (xing) when in doubt. Next, the verb (zu) can be replaced by (gn). Here there is no real difference. Either one gives you the same meaning in this context so feel free to use them interchangeably here. It should also be noted in this section that (xing) CANNOT be used to say you want something. You can only use (xing) to ask and say you want to DO something. In other words, when you use (xing) to mean want it has to be followed by a VERB. How do you say you want SOMETHING? You use (yo)! But in Chinese, you will be likely to find yourself in a situation where using (xing) + VERB will be very natural and you wont have to use (yo) + THING and chance sounding rude. Lets look at why this is so.

Below are some of common questions you might be asked using this pattern. Check out the answers and see if you can spot how the Chinese answer differs from the English Question N xing zu shnme? What do you want to do? N xing mi shnme? What do you want to buy? N xing h shnme? What do you want to drink? N xing ch shnme? What do you want to eat? Answer W xing chfn. I want to eat. W xing mi sh. I want (to buy) a book. W xing h shu. I want (to drink) water. W xing ch cho fn. I want (to eat) fried rice.

Did you see it? If someone asks you in English, What do you want to eat? you are likely to reply, I want fried rice or I want some friend rice. Saying, I want to EAT fried rice would sound pretty emphatic, like you havent eaten in days and must eat fried rice now! There arent too many situation in English where you would be inclined to say, "I want to drink water " but in Chinese repeating the verb that was asked in the question doesnt sound strange at all. And for that reason, as a beginner, you are still better off using (xing) instead of (yo) in this context. Below is another common question that uses the same pattern with a different verb and different question word. Question N xing q nl? Where do you want to go? Answer W xing q gngyun. I want to go to the park.

Maybe you want to be specific about asking when someone plans to do something. You may have already noticed the placement of time reference words in the other questions. You usually put the time reference word in the beginning of the sentence. Here are two options: (N zhum xing zu shnme?) (Zhum n xing zu shnme?) What do you want to do this weekend?

What do you want to do this weekend?

This question isnt just used to make plans with someone. You can also use it to ask what someone plans on doing, regardless of whether you are included in the plans or not. Its flexible too. You can change the time reference word to ask about (jntin)-today, (mngtin)tomorrow, etc. and you can change the verb (kn)-to see, or (q nl)-to go where. Check out the Past and Future tabs for more time reference words. But whatever you do, be sure to use it. Happy chatting!

Do you have a fork?

Question

Answer

 
N yu miyu chzi? Do you have a fork?

 
Miyu. No.

Question #11 Have not have Question Definitions (n) (yu) (miyu)  (chzi)  you have not have  fork Answer De.initions    (miyu) not have

Top Fill-ins for: ?

1. (do) 2. (shozi) 3. (kuizi) 4. (y png shu) 5. (y zh b) 6. (shuj) 7. (yn) 8. (qin) 9. (xnyngk) 10. (hzho) knife spoon chop sticks a bottle of water a pen cell phone cigarette money credit card passport

When you are learning a foreign language sometimes the differences between it and your native language can be stark. This is one of those times. But before we begin to take a look at this

question, you should know that there are two ways to ask it that are both very common in Chinese. The question above is pretty exotic to English speakers, but it is a basic structure that you absolutely have to know, even as a beginner. Well take a look at the other way to ask this question later on. The question above is called a yes/no question because when you ask it you can simply reply with yes or no. The word choice isnt so different from English but the structure makes it sound very blunt. The word (n) means you, (yu) means have, (miyu) means not have, and (chzi) means fork. We can structure the question like this in English too: Do you have a fork or not? or Do you or dont you have a fork? But this structure in English almost always implies that the person asking the question has just about had it with the other person and wants to know, once and for all, about the fork in question. But in Chinese this is perfectly normal and doesnt hold any implications about the persons emotional state. Notice that the Chinese question doesnt use Do at the beginning. We also dont have to use a before fork. Chinese is very streamlined in this way. There are no words for a and the in Chinese. There are ways to ask about this that these and those and you can also ask about numbers of things. But if you are just wondering if someone has something in general, like a fork, a pen or a phone, then you simply follow the pattern in the question above. Now lets look at the answer. Do you notice something strange about how this kind of question is answered? After seeing the question, the answer sure does look logical. And it is quite short. But the English equivalent, no, is even shorter. Hmmm Well, this is a yes/no question but notice that there is no no (or yes) in our answer. There is a negative word, (mi), but no doesnt show up as it would in English. For example, in English a complete answer would be No, I dont have a fork. But in Chinese there are no words for yes and no! You just repeat the verb in the question to form the affimative or put (mi) - or *(b) - in front of the verb to form the negative. So now you maybe wondering what the person would say if he did have a fork. In that case, the answer would be, (yu). Again, in Chinese you need to answer yes/no questions simply by repeating the verb in the question for yes or by putting a negative word in front of the verb for no. This happens often and it doesnt happen with just verbs. Adjectives can follow the same pattern - but thats getting a little ahead of ourselves. Lets look at this structure in some other common verb examples. *But before we do that, you need to know that (mi) is used to negate the verb (yu). But you also need to know that (mi) IS NOT used to negate most verbs. The word (b) gets

the job of putting a slash through your average verb. Both words are negative and both would translate to not in this context. Below are some other common yes/no questions. You can choose to add the pronoun at the beginning of the sentence or leave it out. Question T zi b zi? Is he here? N sh b sh migu rn? Are you American? N nng b nng po? Can you run or not? N hu b hu shu yngwn? Can you speak English? N yo b yo h ch? Do you want tea? N xing b xing chfn? Do you want to eat? * N x b xhuan shngwng? Do you like to go online? * W k b ky jnqu. No Yes

Can I go in? *Check out how the two character verbs (xhuan) and (ky) can be shortened to just the first character in front of (b) in this pattern. You dont have to shorten it, but it is very common and a lot less cumbersome to say. More info The verb (yu) in our question ? means have. But if we leave out the pronoun (n) we would translate this question a little differently. So if we leave out the (n), we get ? Here the verb (yu) might better be translated as there is as in, Is there a fork around here? or literally, There is, there is not a fork? This is a subtle change but important to know. For example, if you want know if someone is occupying a restroom in English you might ask at the door, Is there someone in there? but you would probably not say Are YOU in there? unless you were pretty certain of who was the occupant. Similarly, in Chinese asking (Yu miyu rn? Is there a person or not?) is more appropriate for the situation than including (n). So to sum up this point, means, Do you or dont you have and (Yu miyu?) means, Is there or isnt there? or Are there you arent there? Even more info The other way to ask our yes/no question, Do you have a fork? is: (N yu chzi ma?) The word order in this question matches up well with English, You have fork (question particle)? Here the (ma) just tells us that this is a question, similar to how Do signifies a question at the beginning of the English sentence. This is also a very common pattern and while adding (ma) is the easier way to go for English speakers, it is still just as important to be able to use the (and the Verb Verb) pattern. Its easy to work this grammar pattern into conversation. You can use it to ask if someone has any brothers, sisters, a car, a suggestion or even time to talk (shjin). The most important thing is to use it the more often the better. If you havent done so already, seek out a language partner to practice. In fact, seek out as many language partners as you can manage. The more

varied your experience is with Chinese, the more confidence youll gain and your language ability will blossom. So go out there and start using your Chinese. Happy Chatting!

How much?

Question

Answer

 
Dusho qin? How much?

 
q kui ji mo ji fn qin. $7.99

Question #12 How much? Question Definitions (Dusho) how much (qin) money Answer De.initions    (q) 7   (kui) dollars   (ji mo) 9/10   (ji fn) 9/100   (qin) money 

Money can be difficult to deal with in another language. Numbers have a way of resisting the minds attempts to switch from one language to another. If the language has a different way of expressing monetary units, like Chinese, then the job is even tougher. So in this lesson we wont look at everything you need to know about money, but rather just the absolute basics of what you should know about shopping in places where Chinese is spoken. Lets take a look at the question. The words for How much are (dusho). The character (du) means more or many. The character (sho) means few or less. The character (qin) means money. So (dusho qin) might seem to have a connotation of more or less money? That might be good way to remember the characters but it is not a very good translation. This question isnt asking for an estimate of how much something costs. It is simply asking the price of something. But it can be useful to keep a loose translation for (dusho) in your mind because it can

also be used to ask about numbers in general, not just to ask how much or how many. Well talk more about that later. Now lets look at the answer. In the US, we might say this price as, Seven dollars and ninety nine cents or we might just say, Seven ninety nine or if we want to round it up we might say, 8 bucks. This kind of thing happens in Chinese too. The base monetary unit in China is (yun) but most people will say (kui) instead in everyday speech. Its kind of the same as dollars and bucks in English. Then we have some words that dont have a translation in English. Chinese uses measure words to hold the 10s and 100s place when talking about money: (mo) is used for the 10s place and (fn) is used for the 100s place. The word (qin) on the end just means money. Just as in English, Chinese speakers may choose to leave out some of the pieces of information above, but not the numbers of course! As a beginner, it is best to get used to all the measure words above. Its a good habit (and good practice) to repeat the price after you hear it with all the information to make sure youve understood. And when in doubt, ask the person to write the number down. More Info The characters (dushao) can also be used to ask about a phone number. ? N de shuj hom sh dushao? What is your cell phone number? (Note: the shao in dushao has a light tone when it comes at the end of a sentence)

W de shuj hom sh b li q - w sn lng ji. My cell phone number is 867-5309. The important thing to remember about (dusho) is that it is used to ask about numbers. It is most often used to ask how much or how many but it can be a bit more flexible and be used outside of that context as well. Chinese Numbers

*It is important to note that Chinese uses numerals (1, 2, 3) just as English does. So you are likely to see prices, phone numbers, years, etc. expressed in numerals, not just Chinese characters. Y - 1 r - 2 Sn - 3 S - 4 W - 5 Li - 6 Q - 7 B - 8 Ji - 9 Sh - 10

Shy - 11 Sh'r -12 Shsn - 13 Shs - 14 Shw - 15 Shli - 16 Shq - 17 Shb - 18 Shji -19 rsh - 20 rshy - 21 (numbers to 99 follow the same pattern) Chinese numeration When dealing with larger numbers, Chinese is the same as English in most aspects. Chinese uses words for hundred, thousand and million. But unlike English, Chinese starts over after the thousands place and reuses the characters for tens, hundreds and thousands in combination with the word for the ten thousands place, (wn). In other words, the Chinese number system

uses the thousands place in the same way English uses the hundreds place. The easiest way to explain this is to see it illustrated. Check out the number below. 1 y 0 0, 0 , qinwn biwn, shwn 0 wn 0, 0 0 0 (1 billion) , qin, bi sh g

Asking the price of something is often associated with client-vendor relations, but you can work this into normal conversation without being too intrusive. If you are talking to someone online you can ask about the price of something kind of generic, like a cup of coffee, just as a matter of cultural curiosity: (Zi zhnggu ybi kfi dusho qin?). There is always a way to use the language you know. The most important thing you need to do is practice. The more you use it, the better youll get. Happy chatting!

What time does the show start?

Question Answer

 
Ynch j din kish? What time does the show start?

 
Q din bn. 7:30

Question #13 What time? Question Definitions (ynch) performance (j) how much (din) dots, points (kish) start  Answer De.initions    (q ) 7   (din) dots, points   (bn) half

Top Fill-ins for: (*See example sentences at bottom)

Telling time in Chinese is refreshingly easy and logical. But there are some minor differences from English that could lead to major difficulties, so we are going to keep it as simple as possible. We will focus on the most basic way to express time so that you can know what to listen for when you hear it and so that you can tell time easily. Lets look at the question. Notice that the word order is different from English. The event comes first in the sentence, in this case it is the show, (ynch). Next is the what time part of the sentence. It is important to know here that (j) doesnt mean what and (din) doesnt mean time. These characters are used to refer to how many points or dots are indicated by the hands on the clock. So imagine an old analogue clock with no hour numbers on it, just dots. The hour hand is somewhere over in the 7 oclock area, but its kind of hard to tell. So you start counting the dots. Sure enough you count seven dots. Now the question makes a little more sense: The show / how many dots / start? If it is helpful for you, you might even want to remember the translation of this question as, At what point does the show start? instead of What time does

the show start? The final piece is (kish) which means start. We put start at the end of the question in English too, which is convenient. Just as we can replace the show with other events, we can also replace start with other words: end, open, close, arrive, and leave. Well take a look at how to do that later. Now lets learn how to tell time. Begin by saying the hour. In our answer we have seven, (q). Next you need to say dots, (din). Sometimes youll hear or see (zhng) next, which means clock but lets just keep it simple and stick with (din). Now we are ready to talk about the minutes. In our time we have (bn) which means half. So the time in our answer is literally seven and a half dots. Using quarter hours is also very simple. For quarter after use (y k), which means, one quarter. For three quarters of an hour use (sn k). If you want to be specific about the minutes you can simply say the number of minutes as you would say any other number. So 7:17 would be (q din shq). But you need to know two things about expressing minutes. First, if you have minutes from :01 to :09, you usually say the preceding zero, or (ling) in Chinese. So 7:05 would be (q din ling w). Second, it is also common to put (fn) on the end of the sentence to say minutes. So 7:05 could also be expressed (q din ling w fn). But you never need to use (fn) with half hours and quarter hours. It is only used when you are naming the number of minutes. More Info Maybe you want to ask about when, but not necessarily about the hour. For example, you might want to ask, When are you going to China? In this case you are not expecting the person to answer with a time, but rather some future date. Here Chinese works a lot like English. The characters for when in Chinese are (shnme shhu) and they mean what and time respectively. But the (shhu) part of this means time in general and isnt specific to just clock time, therefore the meaning is closer to when than to what time. So you might be wondering if (shnme shhu) can replace (j din) in our question above. Well, yes it can. Ynch j din kish? Ynch shnme shhu kish? What time does the concert start?

When does the concert start?

And now you might be wondering why not just use (shnme shhu) all the time since it can do (j din)s job and more. The English translations above illustrate the answer pretty well. Its important to know how to construct this question with both what time and when in English. The same goes for Chinese. But since we are primarily concerned with time in this lesson, (j din) is the most logical option. Also, you need to use (din) to tell the time anyway. Plus, its easier to say than (shnme shhu) !

A wee bit more Many countries, including China, use the 24-hour clock for transportation time and other scheduled events. This is its own source of troubles for Americans who arent used to this system. We wont complicate things by looking at it here. Just know that it works the same way as the patterns above. But it might be helpful to know how to express AM and PM. These are the three times of day that will be used with telling time: zoshng morning xiw afternoon wnshng evening/night

Just add these expressions to the beginning of the sentence in front of the hour to specify the time of day. Zoshng q din bn. 7:30 am (in the morning)

*Here are some examples of how to ask questions about time and how to answer. Remember the basics that we covered in our first question and answer, but be aware of the other options that might pop up. Question Ynch j din kish? Answer Q din yk.

What time does the show begin? Ynch j din jish? What time does the show end? Shngdin j din kimn? What time does the store open? Shngdin j din gunmn? What time does the store close? Huch j din zu? What time does the train leave? Huch j din do? What time the train arrive? Xinzi j din? What time is it?

7:15 Q din bn. 7:30 Q din sn k. 7:45 Q din lng q. 7:07 Q din lng q fn. 7:07 Q din sshq fn. 7:47 Q din. 7:00

Time is an easy thing to work into normal conversation. You can simply ask someone what time it is or you can get a little more specific. If you are chatting online and it is late, you can always ask about bedtime as a matter of courtesy: (N j din yo shujio?) Or you can just ask about a persons general habits, like going to work: (N pngchng j din shngbn?) Make opportunities to use the language you know and it will stick. Happy chatting!

When is your birthday?

Question Answer

  
N de shngr sh j yu j ho? When is your birthday?  W de shngr sh sh y yu rshq ho. My birthday is November 27th.

Question #14 Birthday Question Definitions (n de) (shngr)  (sh)  (j yu)  (j ho)  your birthday is  what month what number   Answer De.initions (w de) my (shngr) birthday (sh) is (shy yu) 11th month   (rshq ha) 27th day 

This question is asking about the most important day of the year, your birthday! Its not only important on a personal level, but it also teaches you the pattern for expressing dates. And in Chinese, this pattern is very easy. Lets take a look at the question. You can see that the word order and word choice are different from English, but this is one of those cases where the differences dont seem to matter much. The sentence starts out with (n) which means you. The character (de) can have lots of meanings, but here it just changes the you into the possessive your. Next, the character (shng) means birth and the character (r) means day. We couldnt ask for a simpler translation. Next, the character (sh) means is. Now were on to the date. The character (j) means what. You might remember that (shnme) also means what. But the two are not interchangeable. When used in a question, (j) always asks for what number. The character (yu) means month. So (j yu) means, what number month. So you might be asking yourself why we need to use what number to talk about months. Chinese uses numbers from 1 to 12 for months rather than

names as in English. So January is literally month one (y yu). All the rest of the months follow this number + month pattern too. Now for the day; The character (ho) is really the most confusing part of all this. The (ho) means number. Why Chinese doesnt use the word day here is a mystery. But regardless, in this context, (j ho) means what day. The literal translation, Your birthday is what month what day? definitely sounds foreign and maybe even a bit robotic. But it is easy to understand and remember, and as we will see later, the pattern can be used to ask about any date. Now its time for the answer. The first part of the answer (W de shngr sh) just repeats the question. The only difference is that you need to replace your (n de) with my (w de). The next part of the answer is also a repetition of the question. All you need to do is replace (j) in both places with the number for the month of your birthday and the number for the date of your birthday. Look at the pattern below. j yu j ho? what month what day? . shy yu rshq ho. 11 month 27 day.

More Info Here are some cosmic connections to help you remember this pattern. First, (r) means day but it is also the character for sun and (yu) means month but it is also the character for moon. This makes a lot of sense since the movement of the sun defines a day and the movement of the moon defines a month. They even kind of look like stylized representations of the sun and the moon (especially the moon with its crescent stroke). Also, you might remember that (shnme shhu) means when. So why not use it in this question and avoid the (j yu j ho) altogether? You certainly could do that. The question would then look like this: N de shngr sh shnme shhu? When is your birthday? Another common way to ask this question is with the phrase (n ytin) replacing (j yu j ho). We didnt include these in our original question because you need to know the

(jyu j ho) pattern to be able to say the date anyway. But please know that (shnme shhu) and (n ytin) are both fine here too. Since the day and date are always wrapped up with one another, lets take quick look at the days of the week. There are a few ways to express the days of the week in Chinese, but we are going to take a look at the most common. To ask What day? you say, ?(Xngq j?). To answer, you just replace (j) in the question with a number. Just like Chinese months, Chinese days are expressed with numbers. Here are the days of the week: xngq y xngq r Monday Tuesday xngq sn xngq s xngq w xngq li Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday xngq tin Sunday

Notice that the Chinese week starts on Monday and that Sunday uses the character (tin) and not the number 7,(q). You cannot put (xngq) and (q) together to mean Sunday. And while were at it Asking someones age in China isnt as taboo as it can be in the West so it might come up. There are a few ways to ask how old a person is, but well just look at one here. This question also uses (j) to ask what number year? Question N jnnin j su? How old are you(this year)? Answer W jnnin ssh su. Im 40 years old (this year).

Personalizing your Q and A Here are some examples of how you can ask and answer questions about dates. Question Shngdn ji sh j yu j ho? When is Christmas? Answer Sh'r yu rshw ho. December 25th.

 Jhu sh j yu j ho? When is the meeting? * *N j yu j ho q zhnggu ? When are you going to China?

Sn yu shw ho. March 15th . B yu b ho. August 8th.

*Note: The placement of (j yu j ho ) is different here.

You should know that Chinese uses numerals the same way English does. You will often see Chinese dates and other numbered information written with numerals instead of Chinese characters. For example: Question Answer 3 15

Its great to be able to ask about someonens birthday. You can always be sure that it will lighten the conversation a bit and it also gives you a chance to practice listening for and saying numbers. Most importantly, it garauntees a smile. Happpy chatting!

What is this?
Question Answer

 
Zh sh shnme? What is this?

 
Zh sh dufu. This is tofu.

Question #15 What is this? Question Definitions (zh) this (sh) is (shnme) what  (zh) this (sh) is (dufu) tofu Answer De.initions

Despite some of the complexities that Chinese can throw at you, it can also be beautifully simple. This is one of those times. The question is a mirror image of the English and the answer matches up exactly with English. Lets look at the question first. The question is in the reverse order of the English sentence, but since there are only three words to deal with this isnt much of an obstacle. The first character is (zh) and it means this. The character (sh) means is. Finally, (shnme) means what. So the literal translation is This is what? Now lets look at the answer. The answer follows the same word order as the question. (Notice that in English we switch the word order from question to answer. We do this a lot and it makes learning English a bit complicated.) All we need to do in the Chinese answer is replace the question word, (shnme), with a thing and youre done. So the literal translation for the answer is, This is tofu. (Were likely to complicate things even a little more in English by replacing This in the question with the word It in answer: Its tofu.)

More Info Weve seen (shnme) before and weve had some other words that we can also translate as what. But (shnme) is the stock translation for what. You can say ?(shnme?) all by itself if you didnt hear someone to mean, What? Or, if you did hear the person, but you cant quite believe what the person said, then you can also say ?(shnme?). So as you can see, in this context (shnme) works the same as the word what in English. Getting more specific You might find yourself in a situation where saying, what is this? might sound a little too blunt. Lets say you are at someones home for dinner. Dinner is served and youd like to know what the name of the dish is. In this situation, saying, what is this? can sound rather rude. In other contexts, asking, what is this? can make you seem one chopstick shy of a pair. Imagine you are in a teahouse in Shanghai. A cup of tea is placed in front you. You want to ask what kind of tea it is. But if you ask, what is this? people are likely to smile at you sympathetically and say, tea. Luckily, asking about kinds of things uses the pattern that weve reviewed above. All you need to do is add the kind of thing you want to know about at the end of the question, _____?(Zh sh shnme_____?) Take a look at the examples below.

Zh sh shnme shw? What kind of food is this? Zh sh shnme ch? What kind of tea is this? Zh sh shnme ru? What kind of meat is this? Zh sh shnme shci? What kind of vegetable is this?

 Zh sh shnme shugu? What kind of fruit is this? Zh sh shnme ji? What kind of alcohol is this? Zh sh shnme pji? What kind of beer is this? Zh sh shnme dngxi? What kind of thing is this? *Note: If you need to say that instead of this you just replace (zh) with (n). N sh shnme? What is that? If you have been to Asia then you probably know that this question is essential just because there are so many things there that you cant find in the West. If you do most of your communicating online, then you can use this question to ask for the meaning of a word. For example: (W hn kn a.) This means, Im very sleepy. But maybe youve never seen the character (kn) and when you look it up sleepy isnt one top few definitions. So you could then ask: (Kn sh shnme?) or you can say:

(Kn sh shnme ysi?) This is a nice alternative to saying you dont understand because you can be specific about what exactly is giving you a problem. This is also a good way to practice your listening skills. You can listen and repeat what the person said and throw it back to him or her in the question. So be sure to give it a try. Remember, you need to use these questions to improve your fluency and the more you practice the better. Happy chatting!

How are you doing?

Question

Answer

 
N zujn znmeyng? How are you doing?

 
W hn ho. Xi xi. N ne? I'm good. Thanks. And you?

Question #16 How are you? Question Definitions (n) you (zujn) recently (znmeyng) how  (w) (hn) (ho)  (xi xi) (n ne) I very good thanks and you Answer De.initions

Top Fill-ins for:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. (B cu.) (Hi ho.) (Hi ky.) (W hn mng.) (B ti ho.) (B ho.) Great. (lit. not bad) Good. (lit. still good) Okay. Im very busy. Not too good. Not good.

Think of all the ways that you could greet someone in English: How are you? Whats up? How have you been? How are you doing? How is it going? How have you been lately? Whats new? Whats going on? They are all slightly different, but they all get the same point across. This happens in Chinese too. There are lots of ways to greet people. Which greeting you use might depend on your relationship with the person, the time of day or the kind of response you

are looking for. Today we will be looking at two ways to greet someone with the question, How are you doing. This question doesnt match up with English very well at all. The word order and word choice is very different from English. There is no verb in the sentence and to make things worse, the words dont translate very easily. So today well take a slightly more detailed look at what is going on with this question so you can get a handle on it. The first word, (N) is no stranger to us. It means you and it often comes at the beginning of a question, so no surprise here. The next word is (zujn) and it means recently. This is one of those times that taking a closer look might help you remember the characters and help you to make a connection when you see them in another context. The character (zu) is a superlative meaning most. You can put it in front of any adjective and it gives it the est treatment: like biggest, smallest, etc. For example, we can say (zu ho) to mean best. In our question (zu) is connected to (jn) which means close. The character (jn) can also be used to talk about distance between two places that are close. So (zujn) means most close in a metaphorical sense. You can take it to mean most close time or maybe most close to you. Its a slippery word and can take a bit to get used to. At any rate, the best translation we have for it is recently or lately. Finally we have (znmeyng). There are few phrases that are as versatile as (znmeyng) in Chinese. Its flexibility makes it a must-know phrase, but it also means that it can have a lot of definitions. In our question here, (znmeyng) just means how. But, of course, we have three characters, so lets take this phrase apart to understand it a little better. The character (zn) means how in this context, but it can also mean why or what. The character (me) has no meaning. All you really need to know is that it is just something that gets thrown in with a few of the question words: (shnme) (shnme shhu) and (znme). The character (yng) is kind of ambiguous. It can mean, kind way style or type. It isnt very helpful for us. A very rough literal translation of these three characters might be what way. Put the whole question together and you get, You most close what way? Thats a very sketchy translation to say the least, but it can help you to remember the characters and to make a connection when they come up in other contexts. Now, after all that, if you just remember (N zujn znmeyng?) as a chunk that means, How are you doing? youll be just fine! Again, please know that there are plenty of ways to greet people in Chinese. This is a way ask about how someone is doing that you havent talked to lately. The answer gives the information youd expect (a subject and an adjective to describe it) but Chinese is unique when it comes to adjectives. We start out with (w) which means I. The next word is (hn) which means very. But there are two things that are odd about this. First,

Chinese doesnt use a form of the word to be with adjectives. For example, in English you might say, I am good so you would expect the Chinese translation to be (W sh ho). THIS IS NOT CORRECT. Chinese doesnt use the verb (sh) with adjectives. The second odd thing is that the word (hn) in this context doesnt really carry much meaning with it. Yes, the word (hn) does mean very but if you really wanted to say very good in this context, you would probably replace (hn) with another word. Here (hn ho) will most often mean good not very good. You might be wondering if you can just skip the (hn) altogether. In this particular sentence structure you can, but with other adjectives, not with (ho). The general rule is that adjectives that are only one syllable will get (hn), or some other modifier, in front of them. The next sentence simply means thanks. The character (xi) means to thank and Chinese likes to keep things symmetrical, so the syllable is repeated. Weve seen the last sentence before. The character (n) means you and (ne) is a particle that just acts as a question mark that the speaker needs to say. So our literal translation is, I (very) good. Thanks. And you? More Info In English we can use the question, How are you doing? to mean something more like, How are you feeling? or Whats the matter? There are a few ways to hint at this in Mandarin as well. You can say, (N znme le?) or you can say (Shnme sh?). Below are some ways to respond: (W le.) Im hungry. (W k le.) Im thirsty. (W bng le.) Im sick. (W b shfu.) I dont feel well. (lit. I not comfortable.) (W hn li.) Im tired. (W hn kn.) Im sleepy. (W hn lng.) Im cold. (W hn r.) Im hot.

*Note: the adjectives () (k) and (bng) do not use (hn) as a modifier. Greetings are obviously a must in any language. Although greetings come and go quickly in a conversation, they shouldnt be underestimated. Greetings set the tone of a conversation. Different situations call for different kinds of greetings and it is important to start out the right way. If you are greeting someone who you arent too familiar with, who is older or who is in some kind of position of authority, you should use the formal you which is (nn). Answering and telling about your present state is pretty important, so get familiar with the list of conditions under More Info. And above all else, use the language. Happy chatting!

What does she look like?

Question Answer

 
T zhng shnme yng? What does she look like?

. 
T hn pioliang. She is very pretty.

Question #17 What does she look like? Question Definitions (t) (zhng) (shnme) (yng) she grows what way   (t) she (hn) very (pioliang) pretty   Answer De.initions

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (hokn) 2. nnkn) 3. (k'i ) 4. (shui) 5. lo) 6. ninqng) 7. go) 8. i) 9. png) 10. shu) good looking ugly (lit. hard look) cute handsome old young tall short fat thin

Asking what someone looks like in Chinese isnt too hard despite the fact that the question doesnt resemble the English at all. This is one of those cases where the Chinese makes more

sense than the English. The English question, What does she look like? is obscured a bit. If you were trying to learn English, you might expect to hear an answer comparing the person with a noun, not an adjective: Q: What does she look like? A: She looks like a model. In comparison, the Chinese question is a lot more logical. Lets take a look. The word (t) means she. (Note: the masculine he has the same pronunciation but uses a different character, ) The next word, (zhng) has a few meanings, but here it would literally mean grow. The characters (shnme) mean what and the word (yng) means way. The literal translation sounds foreign but winds up being perfectly logical and easy to remember: She grows what way? Now lets go on to the answer.

The answer gives the information youd expect (a subject and an adjective to describe it) but Chinese is unique when it comes to adjectives. We start out with (t) which means she. The next word is (hn) which means very. But what makes Chinese different is that it doesnt use a form of the word to be with adjectives. For example, in English you might say, She is pretty so you would expect the Chinese translation to be (T sh pioliang). THIS IS NOT CORRECT. Chinese doesnt use the verb (sh) with adjectives in this grammar pattern. The final word is (pioliang) which means, pretty. The definitions of the individual characters dont help out much here, so its best to just remember them together as pretty. So together we get, She very pretty. There are lots of situations in which you can use this question. You might be asking for clarification. Perhaps someone is talking to you about someone else, but youre not sure who. Or maybe you just need more information about someone you are talking about with a friend. This question is a way to keep the conversation going and maybe even a way to get the person to express his opinions about someone else. If you are chatting with IM online, you might even ask this to the person with whom youre chatting: (N zhng shnme yng?) Whatever the case, be sure to use it. Even if you dont have the opportunity to ask the question, you can always find a situation in which you can describe a person to someone else. Happy chatting!

What is she like?

Question

Answer

 
T rn znmeyng? What is she like?

. 
T hn yuho. She is very friendly.

Question #18 What is she like? Question Definitions (t de) her (rn) person (znmeyng) how   (t) she (hn) very (yuho) friendly   Answer De.initions

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (hq) 2. lns) 3. wixing) 4. hixi) 5. fng) 6. lndu) 7. qnfn) 8. cngmng) 9. bn) 10. suh) nice, kind mean outgoing shy crazy lazy hardworking smart, clever stupid easy going

We first saw the phrase (znmeyng) back in question #16, How are you doing? Its useful because it works in a lot of basic patterns. But perhaps more importantly, it gives your language ability some depth. You no longer have to spell out the details of your life in objects (nouns) and actions (verbs). Now you can use (znmeyng) to get to the details about the objects and actions. You can also express your thoughts and opinions. Thats deep stuff. This lesson gets you to that next level. Lets take a look. The character (t) means, she or her. Next is the word (rn) means person. This question is similar to the English question What is she like? in that there is no direct reference to personality. But in Chinese we need to add the (rn) because without it we would be asking How is she doing? Finally we come back to (znmeyng). We took a detailed look at (znmeyng) back in lesson #16 so you can go back and check it out if you are curious about the individual characters. But in this context it is easiest to just translate (znmeyng) as how. All together the literal translation is, Her person how? If you can think of the word (rn) as personality in this context, it might help the question make more sense to you . Lets go on to the answer. The answer gives the information youd expect (a subject and an adjective to describe it) but Chinese is unique when it comes to adjectives. We start out with (t) which means she or her. The next word is (hn) which means very. But what makes Chinese different is that it doesnt use a form of the word to be with adjectives. For example, in English you might say, She is friendly so you would expect the Chinese translation to be (T sh yuho). THIS IS NOT CORRECT. Chinese doesnt use the verb (sh) with adjectives in this grammar pattern. The final word is (yuho). The character (yu) means, friend or friendlyand the character (ho) means, good so it is easy to see how (yuho) matches up with friendly in English. This question is easy to work into conversation. You can substitute in a name or something like your friend (N de pngyu) for (t). Now that you can describe a persons physical traits and personality traits you will sound more fluent. You can give opinions and details about a person and in return that gives youre language ability a new personality as well. So be sure to use these questions and answers to enrich your conversations. Happy chatting!

How was the movie?

Question

Answer

 
Zh b dinyng znmeyng? How was the movie?

. 
W jude hn yu ysi. I thought it was very interesting.

Question #19 How was the movie? Question Definitions (zh b) this (dinyng) movie (znmeyng) how   (w)  (jude) (hn) (yu ysi)   I think very interesting Answer De.initions

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (y bn sh) 2. (y bn zzh) 3. (y g shpn) 4. (y chng yux) 5. (y g wnglu yux) 6. (y g yngyng chngx) 7. (y g dinsh jim) 8. (y chng ynyu hu) 9. (y chng ynch) 10. (y chng qisi) a book a magazine a video a game (general word for game) an online game an app a TV program a concert a performance (concert, show, play) a ball game

Top 10 Fill-ins for:

1. (hokn) 2. (bng) 3. (hown) 4. (hoxio) 5. (dijn er) 6. (homi) 7. (hi xng) 8. (b hown) 9. (miysi) 10. (wlio) good great fun funny exciting beautiful okay not fun not interesting boring

Weve come a long way in only19 question. When we started out we could only ask and tell our names, and now we are about to give our opinions on films. It feels very civilized, doesnt it? And youll be glad to know that (znmeyng) is back again so there is very little new stuff to learn in this lesson. Lets take a look. The character (zh) means, this. Chinese doesnt have a word for the so youll always need to use words like this and that in contexts where English might use the. The next word (b) is a measure word for movies. Measure words are used when you are pointing out an object (this pen, that pen) or when you are counting objects (1 pen, 2 pens, 3 pens). We have measure words in English too: a pair of pants, a flock of geese, a cup of coffee. But there are lots more in Chinese and they are used more often. (To be honest, this is kind of a pain when you are first learning the language. The best thing to do is just try to remember the measure words with their objects when they come up in context. Trying to memorize all the measure words and the categories of things they measure, or count, isnt really a good use of your time at this point.) The next word is (dinyng). This is a fantastic word. At this point you may not know that Chinese doesnt create new characters for new words. Instead they just recycle characters that already exist. So when new inventions pop up, Chinese has no choice but to dig through thousands of characters to match the symbols with the object. The character (din) means electric. The character (yng) means, shadow. So together we get electric shadow. Thats genuine poetry right there! Finally we come to (znmeyng) which means, how or what way. The rough literal translation is one thats likely to stick with you, This movie (electric shadow) how?

This answer starts out differently from the other answers that weve seen come from (znmeyng) questions. We are giving our opinion here so instead of starting out with a word for it we say (w) which means, I. The character (ju) means sense or feel. The character (d) is a particle that could translate as ability but it doesnt really add much meaning in this context. So you might want to think of (jude) as feel ability just for the purpose of remembering the two characters. We dont need to use a word for it in the answer. The next word is (hn) which means very. (Chinese does not use (sh) to describe objects with adjectives. Check out question #16 for details). Finally we have (yu ysi). The character (yu) means, to have. The character (y) means meaning and (s) means thinking or thought. So if something has meaning thought then its logical that it is interesting. The rough translation to get you thinking in this Chinese sentence pattern is I think very interesting. With this question youve taken your first step into the intermediate level. Giving your opinion about media, entertainment, politics, etc. is the function of a thinking person. Being able to tell your thoughts on a topic, even in a very basic way, invites others into a bit of your personal space. Once youve grasped talking about you opinions in Chinese youll start to feel more like yourself in the language and youll gain a lot of confidence. But you cant get there if you dont use it. So be sure to express your opinions and you will start to feel like yourself in Chinese. Happy chatting!

How do you say, fortune cookie in Chinese?

Question Answer

"Fortune cookie" 
"Forture cookie" zhngwn znme shu? How do you say "fortune cookie" in Chinese?

. 
xngyn bnggn. "xngyn bnggn.."

Question #20 How do you say...? Question Definitions (zhngwn) Chinese (znme) how (shu) say    Answer De.initions (xngyn) good fortune  (bnggn) cookie 

Weve finally come to the end of our 20 Questions to Basic Fluency and we are wrapping up with one of the most useful questions. This question not only helps you learn new words and saves you when youre in a jam, but it also gives you a productive pattern that allows you to ask how to do anything. Lets look at the question. Fortune cookie can obviously be replaced with anything you need to know about. If you dont know what the thing is or if the person youre speaking to doesnt know English you can just say, (zh ge) which means this or (n ge) which means that and continue with the rest of the question. The word (zhngwn) means Chinese. You could also replace this with (hny) or (ptnghu) both of which also mean Mandarin Chinese. Another option is to just drop the word for Chinese altogether since its probably pretty obvious which language you are inquiring about. The word (znme) means how and the word (shu)

means say. Its really just that easy. But now lets divide this question in half between (zhngwn) and (znme). Youll notice that when you look at the sentence this way, the order of the two halves is reversed from English. Now lets just look at (znme shu) half of the sentence. This is a great pattern to know because placing (znme) in front of a verb can ask how something is done. how to do something (znme zu) how to learn/study something (znme xu) how to get somewhere (znme zu) how to see or read something (znme kn) how to play guitar (znme tn jta) how to know something (znme zhdo) This works with most common verbs. You can also ask if someone knows how to do something or say that you know how to do something by using this pattern: Do you know how to dance? (N zhdao znme tiow?) I know how to play tennis. (W zhdo znme d wngqi)

More Info

The phrase (znme hu) falls into this pattern and is very productive in its own right. You can use it alone as a question to mean, How come? or How can that be? You can also add information to ask about how something could be possible: - How come they came? (Tmen znme hu la.) How come you didnt come? (N znme hu mi la.) How come hes walking so fast? (T znme hu zu de zhme kui?) How come there are so many cars? (Znme hu yu zhme du chzi?) How can it be raining? (Znme hu xiy le?) The phrase (znme bn) is also very useful. Used by itself it means, What can be done? or What can/should I do? You can add information in front of this phrase to ask, What should be done about? What should I do about the test? (Kosh znme bn?) I didnt bring my wallet, what should I do? (Qinbo mi di, znme bn?) Do you know what to do? (N zhdo znme bn?) I dont know what to do. (W b zhdo znme bn.)

Finally, you can use (znme zhme) plus an adjective to express, How could something be so? - How could it be so expensive! (znme zhme gu!) - How could it be so slow! (znme zhme mn!) - How could it be do difficult! (znme zhme nn!) And just to bring things full circle, lets reference Question #1, What is your name? If you dont know what something is or how to say something, you can also use this question to ask what something is called: What is this called? (Zh ge jio shnme?) Our answer is really just a blank to be filled in by the information you are looking for. You might hear (zh sh) in front of it to say, this is but this is really a case where answering in an incomplete sentence is okay. *Note: Fortune cookies are mostly a western phenomenon. You might have a tough time finding them in the China! That brings us to the end of the 20 Questions to Basic Fluency. We hope that the situations and patterns that weve covered will be useful to you. Now its time to go out there in the wild and just start talking. Its really that easy. Happy Chatting!

Resources
Below are some recommendations to your further learning. These are resources that I consult regularly and I think they are excellent for Mandarin students at the Novice and Intermediate levels.

Web Resources

Study More Chinese - http://studymorechinese.com/ - There are lots of sites out there for learning Mandarin, but Study More Chinese is unique. It is a social network for people who are learning Chinese. It is a free online resource where you can share, collaborate and improve your Chinese. It features videos, music, blogs and discussions in both English and Mandarin Chinese. The members range from beginners to Mandarin Chinese teachers, so whatever your present level is, you will be sure to find members and content that will help you with your studies.

ChinesePod - http://chinesepod.com/ - This site provides one of the best online environments for learning Mandarin Chinese. ChinesePod has many products and services, but its center piece is its huge library of authentic podcast conversations. There are dialogues at every level and on just about any topic that might interest you, so you can truly choose to learn about almost anything you want. ChinesePod has many subscription options so that you can choose the products and services that fit your needs. When learning Mandarin you really need to hear the language spoken as often as possible, and ChinesePod makes this both easy and enjoyable.

All Set Learning Chinese Grammar Wiki - http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/ - This is the most complete online reference site for Mandarin Chinese grammar. Grammar topics are divided into levels from Beginner to Upper Intermediate and every topic on the site is linked and cross referenced. The grammar explanations are clear and written in a hip style that makes it easy to read and understand. The site is also linked to other resources, such as books, websites and academic articles. The site is a hub for Mandarin Chinese grammar. When youve got a grammar question, this site is your best shot at finding a credible answer.

Books

Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar, Herzberg, Qin Xue and Larry, Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, CA, 2011 ISBN: 978-1-933330-89-1 http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Patterns-Chinese-Grammar-Structures/dp/1933330899 The Herzbergs have taught Mandarin Chinese for decades and they have an intimate knowledge of how the English speaking mind can mess up Mandarin. This is the perfect grammar book for those who already have some knowledge of the Mandarin and who just want some simple answers, once and for all! The grammar explanations are clear and concise. One of the great successes of this book is that the Herzbergs dont give you a dizzying amount of option. They tell you to just say it this way, and not that way period. This is very comforting to the Novice and Intermediate learner who is starting to feel that it would be easier to dig a hole to China than to learn the language. The book clocks in at just over 120 pages, so it is easy to carry. In fact, it is so short that after a fair amount of use you can practically commit it to memory. And if all this werent enough to convince you, it is also cheap. If you are starting to get serious about learning Mandarin, this book is for you.

Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, Garnaut, Anthony, Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, Victoria, Australia, 7th Edition, 2010 ISBN: 9781742200880 http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-MandarinPhrasebook/dp/1742200885/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338945628&sr=1-1 Sometimes you just want to know how to say stuff lots of stuff. Dictionaries can be a drag. But phrasebooks are fun because they have lots of related vocabulary all on one page. Phrasebooks dont tend to be great to learn from but they are good reference tools. They are more cohesive than a dictionary and therefore you are more likely to remember the phrases and the related chunks of words. Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebooks is my personal favorite because the grammar patterns (the phrases) are very flexible and it offers lots of useful, authentic vocabulary. It also has cultural notes tucked in to the sections so that the language it presents has some context. The book is listed at under $10 so it affordable as well.

Mobile

Pleco Dictionary - http://www.pleco.com/ There is not much to discuss about which dictionary app you should get. Pleco is the one you want. There are lots of paid add-ons. The Web Reader and Pasteboard Reader are two of my favorites because you can click through a Chinese webpage and see the definitions of the words pop up in English. As far as Chinese dictionaries are concerned, this is the one that the pros go to first.

trainchinese Chinese Writer - http://www.trainchinese.com/v1/a_all/writer.php There arent too many apps out there that can really help you practice writing Chinese characters. Many try but most fail. The trainchinese Chinese Writer is successful for a few reasons. First, the app has you trace the character instead of writing it freehand. This is helpful because you are always practicing it correctly, plus it also looks nice. Second, you can make you own character packs so you can practice whatever is most important to you. Third, this app has a practice mode as well as a game mode. In the game mode characters fall from the top of the screen and you have to trace them before they hit the bottom. As you play the rate at which the characters fall increases. Once you let a few characters hit the bottom of the screen the game is over and you get a score. Its very simple and surprisingly addictive. There is audio so you can hear each character pronounced as well. One of the most difficult things about learning Chinese characters is finding the time to practice. The trainchinese Chinese Writer gives you the flexibilty to practice any time you have a few extra moments. The app cant take the place of pen and paper, but what it can do is provide you with the muscle memory to recall the characters and a convenient way to practice. If you really want to learn how to write Chinese characters but dont have an hour or so each day to sit down and practice, get this app and be sure to take the plunge and buy all the characters packs. It will cost you $10 but is well worth it. (Note: at the time of publication, Skritter came out with a mobile app. I havent tried it so I cant recommend it at this point, but it looks to be one of the best, if not the best, mobile app for Chinese Character training.)