Tones
_ 1
/ 2
V 3
\ 4
Basic Conversation
Nǐ Hǎo Hello
Zǎoshang hǎo Good Morning
Dàjiā Hǎo Hello Everyone
Maizong Hao Hello General Manager
Ni jiao shenme mingzi what is your name
Zhe she wo de mingpian this is my business card
Haojiu bujian long time no see
Xie xie ni thank you
Feichang gan xie thank you very much
Bu yong xie don’t mention
Dui bu qi excuse me or sorry
Mei guanxi it is nothing
Mei shir it does not matter
Gan bei cheers
Zhu ni shengri kuale happy birthday
Ni da dianhua haoma what is your tel #
Shi duo shao
Wo Shi LEO I am LEO
Zhe Shi BOB This is BOB
Wo Shi gang cheng shi I am an engineer
Hen gao xing ren shi ni very good to know you
Ye hen gao xing ren shi ni Also good to know you
Maizong zhe shi lili GM/CEO, this is lili
Lili zhe shi maizong lili this is GM/CEO
Maizong nin hao Hello GM/CEO
Wang jiashou ni hao hello prof. wang
Ni e ma Are you hungry?
Wo bu e I am not hungry
Qing Zuo Please be seated
Ni mang ma are you busy
Wo bu mang, ni ne I am not busy, and you?
Wo hen mang I am very busy
Li xiao jie ni he kafei ma miss Li, do you like coffee
Xie xie wo bu he kafei thanks, I don’t want coffee
Ni he kele ma do you like Cola
Hao de xie xie OK thanks
Bu xie you are welcome
Ni ke ma are you thirsty
Wo bu ke I am not thirsty
Zhidao to know
Wo bu zhidao I don’t know
Words & Phrases
Shu Mouse
Niu Ox
Hu Tiger
Tu Rabbit
Long Dragon
She Snake
Ma Horse
Yang Sheep
Hou Monkey
Ji Rooster
Gou Dog
Zhu Pig
She to be
Hen very
Gaoxing glad
Renshi to know
Ye also, too
Zhe this
Ziji self
Wo ziji myself
Ni ziji yourself
Mang busy
Bu not, no
Ke thirsty
Lei tired
E hungry
He to drink
Kafei coffee
Yinliao beverage
Jiu alcohol
Kele cola
Cha tea
Shui water
Nimen you (may be plural)
Women we, us
Xie xie thanks
Hao de OK
Zai jian bye-bye
Jingli Manager
Fu jingli deputy manager
Baba Dad
Mama Mom
Didi Younger Brother
Gege big brother
Currency
Meiyuan US$
Yingbang English pound
Ouyuan euro
Renminbi RMB
Addressing family members
Zhao Wei
Lao Zhang
Xiao Wang
Zhang Jie
Liu ge
Addressing strangers
Xiansheng Mr.
Nushi Ms.
Shifu taxi driver
Fuwuyuan
Daye
Dama auntie
Dage older brother
Dajie older sister
Addressing professionals
Wang laoshi teacher wang
Li chuzhang director Li
Zhang jiashou professor zhang
Hu zongjingli general manger hu
Li siji driver li
Fu Buzhang
Fu Tingzhang
Fu Juzhang
Fu Chuzhang
Fu Kezhang
Mishu Secretary
La Spicy
Numbers
0 ling
1 yi
2 er
3 san
4 si
5 wu
6 liu
7 qi
8 ba
9 jiu
10 shi
11 shi yi
12 shi er
15 shi wu
17 shi qi
20 er shi
21 er shi yi
22 er shi er
23 er shi san
30 san shi
40 si shi
Interpersonal relationship
Zhong yong golden mean(no extremes)
Mian zi face
Ziji ren insider
Wai ren outsider
Han xu implicit communication
Ke qi politeness
Shen ren stranger-raw person
Shu ren acquaintance+ - cooked person
Pengyou friend
Xiong di like brothers
Qin ren relative
Jia ren family
Understanding Mandarin Chinese Tones
While residents across China use the same written character
system, the way the words are pronounced differs from region to
region. Standard Chinese is Mandarin, or Putonghua, and it
consists of five pronunciation tones.
In 1958, the Chinese government rolled out its Romanized version
of Mandarin. Prior to that, there were several different methods to
sound out Chinese characters using English letters. Over the years,
pinyin has become the standard around the world for those wishing
to learn to properly pronounce Mandarin Chinese. This is how
Peking became Beijing (which a more accurate pronunciation) in
pinyin.
Using characters, people simply know that that character is
pronounced with a certain tone. In Romanized pinyin, many words
suddenly had the same spelling, and it became necessary to
designate tones within the word to differentiate them.
Tones are of vital importance in Chinese. Depending on the choice
of tone, you could be calling for your mother (mā) or your horse
(mă). Here's a brief introduction on the five vowel tones in the
Mandarin language using the many words that are spelled "ma".
First Tone: ¯
This tone is designated by a straight line over the vowel (mā) and
is pronounced flat and high like the "ma" in Obama.
Second Tone: ´
This tone's symbol is an upward slant from right to left over the
vowel (má) and begins in the mid-tone, then rises to a high tone, as
if asking a question.
Third Tone: ˇ
This tone has a V-shape over the vowel (mă) and starts low then
goes even lower before it rises to a high tone. This is also known
as falling rising tone.
It's as if your voice is tracing a check mark, starting at the middle,
then lower then high.
Fourth Tone: `
This tone is represented by a downward slant from right to left
over the vowel (mà) and begins in a high tone but falls sharply
with a strong guttural tone at the end like you are mad.
Fifth Tone:
This tone is also known as the neutral tone. Has no symbol over
the vowel (ma) or is sometimes preceded with a dot (‧ma) and is
pronounced flatly without any intonation. Sometimes it's just
slightly softer than first tone.
There is another tone as well, used only for certain words and is
designated by an umlaut or ¨ or two dots over the vowel (lü). The
standard way of
explaining how to pronounce this is to purse your lips and say "ee"
then end in an "oo" sound. It's one of the hardest Chinese tones to
master so it may
help to find a Chinese-speaking friend and ask them to pronounce
the word for green, and listen closely!
