Some useful Language Note
b?¡ì? k?¡ì?¡ìq?¡ì? ??????
- K?¡ì?¡ìq?¡ì? means 'polite'. B?¡ì? k?¡ì?¡ìq?¡ì? literally 'do not be polite', is the response to xi?¡ì?¡ìxie, thank you.
ch?¡ì? ??
- In Chinese, anything with wheels is called ch?¡ì?. For example, q?¡ì?ch?¡ì?, vehicle, g?¡ì?ngg?¡ì??ng q?¡ì?ch?¡ì?, public bus, ch?¡ì??z?¡ì??ch?¡ì?, taxi, z?¡ì?x?¡ì?ngch?¡ì?, bicycle, hu?¡ì?ch?¡ì?, train. All the above words can be shortened to ch?¡ì?. Therefore, depending on the context, ch?¡ì? can mean a car, bus, taxi, bike, or train.
Du?¡ì? sh?¡ì?o qi?¡ì?n? ?¡§¡è?????
- Literally, it means 'how much money?' If you want to be specific, for example, to find out how much y?¡ì? j?¡ì?n p?¡ì?tao, half a kilo of grapes, costs, you can put the phrase for 'half a kilo of grapes' either at the beginning or at the end of the questions: Y?¡ì? j?¡ì?n p?¡ì?tao du?¡ì? sh?¡ì?o qi?¡ì?n? or Du?¡ì? sh?¡ì?o qi?¡ì?n y?¡ì? j?¡ì?n p?¡ì?tao?, lit. how much is it for half a kilo of grapes?
?¡ì?¡ìr/li?¡ì?ng ??/??
- ?¡ì?¡ìr and li?¡ì?ng both mean 'two'. ?¡ì?¡ìr is used for counting, while li?¡ì?ng is used to quantify things such as li?¡ì?ng g?¡ì?¡ì m?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?, two mangos.
hu?¡ì? ch?¡ì? ??¡ì?¡§¡§
- Literally, hu?¡ì? ch?¡ì? means 'flower tea'. Because Jasmine tea is the most famous flower-scented tea, many people use the term hu?¡ì? ch?¡ì? to refer to Jasmine tea.
zh?¡ì?ng ??
- zh?¡ì?ng is a word for measurements that applies to paper and tickets. It is used together with a number, eg. y?¡ì? zh?¡ì?ng pi?¡ì?¨¨o, one ticket, li?¡ì?ng zh?¡ì?ng pi?¡ì?¨¨o, two tickets.
n?¡ì?/w?¡ì? ??/??
- n?¡ì? means 'you' in its singular form and w?¡ì? can mean 'I' or 'me'.
sh?¡ì?nme ????
- Question words such as 'what' and 'where' don't have to begin the sentence. Eg N?¡ì?ji?¡ì?¨¨o sh?¡ì?nme? What is your name? (lit. you are called what?) or N?¡ì?x?¡ì?ng sh?¡ì?nme? What's your surname? (lit. you are surnamed what?)
ma ??
- This word indicates a question. By adding ma to the end of a sentence, you turn it into a question, eg. N?¡ì? ji?¡ì?h?¡ì??n le ma?, are you married? Ma is a neutral tone. It means that it does not carry a tone.
Pinyin ????
- Chinese characters give no indication of how they are pronounced. A Romanization system called Pinyin was therefore devised in 1958 in China, and has since been adopted as a standard form to represent Chinese sounds.
Q?¡ì?ng l?¡ì?i ... ????....
- A way of ordering in a tea house or restaurant is by saying Q?¡ì?ng l?¡ì?i ..., Please bring. Please note that the word q?¡ì?ng, please, is not used as frequently as in English. It never comes at the end of a sentence.
q?¡ì?ng w?¡ì?¡ìn ????
- Literally it means 'please ask', but really it's a polite way of asking a question. It's equivalent to 'Excuse me' or 'May I ask ... ?'
g?¡ì?¡ì ??
- This is the most commonly used word when giving measurements. It goes between a number and a noun. For example, s?¡ì?n g?¡ì?¡ì m?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?, three mangos.
b?¡ì? ??
- This is a very important negative word which you can place in front of the word (usually a verb). For example, w?¡ì? b?¡ì? ch?¡ì? y?¡ì? means 'I don't eat fish'. W?¡ì? b?¡ì? shu?¡ì? Zh?¡ì?ngw?¡ì?n means 'I don't speak Chinese'.
hu?¡ì? ?¡§?
- Hu?¡ì? means 'can' and goes in front of a verb. If you want to ask 'Can you speak English?', say N?¡ì? hu?¡ì? shu?¡ì? Y?¡ì?ngw?¡ì?n ma? If someone asks you N?¡ì? hu?¡ì? shu?¡ì? Zh?¡ì?ngw?¡ì?n ma?, Do you speak Chinese?, and you want to say 'Yes', simply say hu?¡ì?, 'can'. Please note that the Chinese phrases for 'yes', sh?¡ì? de, and 'no', b?¡ì? sh?¡ì?, are not frequently used when answering questions.
le ??
- To indicate that something has already happened you can add le after the verb or at the end of the sentence. For example, w?¡ì? ji?¡ì?h?¡ì??n le, I'm already married.
m?¡ì?i ??
- This is a negation word and means 'have not, did not'. It goes before the verb it's making negative, eg. w?¡ì? m?¡ì?i ji?¡ì?h?¡ì??n, I 'have not' been married.
sh?¡ì? ??
- This verb means 'to be'. Chinese verbs do not change their forms whether it is after w?¡ì?, I, n?¡ì?, you or t?¡ì?, he/she. For example: W?¡ì? sh?¡ì? Zh?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?r?¡ì?n, I am Chinese, n?¡ì? sh?¡ì? Zh?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?r?¡ì?n, you are Chinese, and t?¡ì? sh?¡ì? Zh?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?r?¡ì?n, he/she is Chinese.
z?¡ì?¨¨i ??
- Z?¡ì?¨¨i means 'at/in' and goes before the noun. So the sentence W?¡ì? z?¡ì?¨¨i g?¡ì?ngs?¡ì? g?¡ì?ngzu?¡ì?? literally means 'I in a company work'.
Putonghua ????¡ì???
- P?¡ì?t?¡ì?nghu?¡ì?¨¨, literally 'common speech', is the standard form of the Chinese language and is known as Mandarin Chinese. It is based on the Northern dialect. Putonghua is taught in schools and spoken by TV and radio presenters in China. The Northern dialect has many sub-divisions which are spoken by the majority of the population. The differences between northern sub-divisions are not huge, but the differences between southern dialects are enormous. The major southern dialects are Cantonese, Shanghai dialect, Fujian dialect and Zhejiang dialect. All these dialects share the same script.
r?¡ì?n ??
- R?¡ì?n means 'person' or 'people'. If you add r?¡ì?n to the name of a country or city, you form the word for the citizen of that country or the resident of that city. For example, add r?¡ì?n to Y?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?, Britain, Zh?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?, China and B?¡ì?¨¬ij?¡ì?ng, Beijing, and you get Y?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?r?¡ì?n, British, and Zh?¡ì?nggu?¡ì?r?¡ì?n, Chinese and B?¡ì?¨¬ij?¡ì?ngr?¡ì?n, Beijinger.
w?¡ì?ng y?¡ì??u gu?¡ì?i ?¡§?????
- Literally it means 'toward right turn', turn right. When someone is giving you directions, watch out of the word w?¡ì?ng, toward. The next word is important. For example, you may hear w?¡ì?ng d?¡ì?ng gu?¡ì?i, turn east or w?¡ì?ng y?¡ì??u gu?¡ì?i, turn right.
Y?¡ì?u ... ma? ??....???
- When you want to ask 'Do you have ... ?' or 'Is there ... ?' simply use the construction y?¡ì?u ... ma? To ask for rooms in a hotel say Y?¡ì?u f?¡ì?ngji?¡ì?n ma? The answer could be y?¡ì?u, we have, or m?¡ì?i y?¡ì?u, we haven't. Please note that the Chinese phrases for 'yes', sh?¡ì? de, and 'no', b?¡ì? sh?¡ì?, are not frequently used when answering questions.
zh?¡ì?¡ì, n?¡ì?¨¨ ??,??
- When you're shopping in China and you're a little unsure of the language you can always use the common trick of pointing and saying 'this' or 'that'. The word for 'this' can be pronounced zh?¡ì?¡ì or zh?¡ì?¡ìi. The word for 'that' can be pronounced n?¡ì?¨¨ or n?¡ì?¡ìi. Both are commonly used.
w?¡ì?/w?¡ì?de ??/????
- By adding de to w?¡ì?, I/me, and n?¡ì?, you, you get words such as w?¡ì?de, my, and n?¡ì?de, your. If the word following w?¡ì?de is a person, not an object, de can be dropped. For example, you can say w?¡ì? n?¡ì?¡è'?¡ì?r, my daughter, but not w?¡ì? sh?¡ì??, my book. It has to be w?¡ì?de sh?¡ì??.
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