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” |
| 喝 |
hē |
drink (as in “about”) |
| 不 |
bù |
no / not (as in “shoe“ |
Asking Questions with 吗 (ma)
Any sentence can be changed into a question by adding 吗 (ma, question word) to the end.
Statement
Question
| 她去吗？ |
Tā qù ma? |
Is she going? |
Statement
| 你喝茶。 |
Nǐ hē chá. |
You drink tea. |
Question
| 你喝茶吗？ |
Nǐ hē chá ma? |
Do you drink tea? |
们 (men) for Plural
Add 们 (men) to words like I, you, him to make them plural*.
| singular* marker |
plural* marker (们 men) |
| 我，wǒ，I / me |
我们，wǒmen，we / us |
| 你，nǐ，you |
你们，nǐmen，you all |
| 他，tā，he / him |
他们，tāmen，they / them |
| 她，tā，she / her |
她们，tāmen，they / them |
Examples
| 我不认识他们。 |
wǒ bù rènshí tāmen. |
I don’t know them. |
| 我们很高兴。 |
wǒmen hěn gāoxìng. |
We are happy. |
Tones
While 不 (bù，no / not) is usually pronounced with a 4th tone (like 骂 (mà，to scold)), it becomes a 2nd tone (like 麻 (má，hemp)) before another 4th tone.
不 + 4th tone
| 我不认识他们。 |
wǒ bù rènshí tāmen. |
I don’t know them. |
| 他们不是医生。 |
tāmen bù shì yīshēng. |
they are not doctors. |
不 + other tones
| 她不喝咖啡。 |
tā bù hē kāfēi. |
she doesn’t drink coffee. |
