A final* is a sound (or sounds) that ends a Chinese syllable*. All finals contain at least one vowel* (for example, a, ao, ing). Let’s look at some of the simplest finals first. 八 bā eight (as in “father” 我 wǒ I (as in “or”) 喝 hē drink (as in “about”) 你 nǐ you (as in …
Initial sounds Pinyin* letters g, k, h, and s are pronounced similarly to sounds in English. 国 guó country (as in “skin”) 客 kè guest (as in “kangaroo”) 好 hǎo good (as in “hall”) 三 sān three (as in “sand”) 也 (yě, also) You already know that 也, (yě) which means also or too, always …
Learn to Read Chinese: Initial sounds (Food), 也 (yě, also), 不 (bù, not) Read More »
Pinyin* letters d, t, n, and l represent four more sounds pronounced similarly to sounds in English. 电 diàn electricity (as in “stay”) 她 tā she / her (as in “tag”) 你 nǐ you (as in “need”) 李 lǐ Li (last name) (as in “clear”) Tones The trick to remembering the 2nd and 4th tone* …
Learn to Read Chinese: Pinyin Initial Sounds (greetings) Read More »
Chinese syllables* usually contain three parts: an initial* (like, g, k, or h), a final* that contains at least one vowel* (for example, a, ao, or ing), and a tone* marking. Initial Sounds Pinyin* letters b, p, m, f are pronounced similarly to sounds in English. 八 bā eight (as in “spaghetti”) 破 pò broken …
Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over a billion people worldwide. Learning Chinese Chinese is not as difficult as you think. While the sounds and characters may be intimidating at first, Chinese grammar is actually easier than many other languages. What is pinyin? Chinese doesn’t have an alphabet like English. Instead of using letters to represent …
Chinese Pinyin Translation 零 líng 0 一 yī 1 二 èr 2 三 sān 3 四 sì 4 五 wǔ 5 六 liù 6 七 qī 7 八 bā 8 九 jiǔ 9 十 shí 10 百 bǎi 100 千 qiān 1,000 万 wàn 10,000 亿 yì 100,000,000
What does 的, 地, 得 “de” mean in Chinese? If you are learning Chinese, you will see that the three particles (de) are used quite often. What is the difference between – 的 ， 得 ， 地? There is no simple English translation for these grammatical particles, so we will need to go through them step …
How to Use the Particle (de) 的, 地, And 得 in Chinese Read More »
的 [de] 1. 的 [de] – a possessive particle, placed after pronouns, not used to denote family and close relationships. Examples: Chinese Pinyin English 我妈妈 wǒ māma my mother 我家 Wǒjiā my home 我国 wǒ guó my country 2. 的 [de] – is placed between the description and the subject. Examples: Chinese Pinyin English 好喝的茶 …
Why do I need Chinese: arguments FOR Chinese is considered the most widely spoken language in the world. It is spoken by 1.5 billion people, which is about 20% of the world’s population. But, of course, this is not the answer to the question of why you need Chinese. On the other hand, more often …
Learn Chinese Free Online for a quick overview of the best materials. They are perfect for you if you have just started learning or are about to do so. First, ask yourself just one single question. Why, in fact, do you want to learn Chinese? What are your intermediate and final goals in this process? …
