Vocabulary

Dialogue

Structure Drills

Sentence Pyramids

The Sentence Pyramids illustrate the use of each new vocabulary item and structure introduced in the lesson. Use them to help you to learn how to form phrases and sentences in Mandarin. Supply the English translation for the last line where indicated.

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

rén

person/people

Yīngguó rén

British

shì Yīngguó rén

be British

Wǒ shì Yīngguó rén.

I am British.

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Yīngguó rén

British

shì Yīngguó rén

be British

shì Yīngguó rén ma?

be British?

Nǐmen shì Yīngguó rén ma?

Are you (plural) British?

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

shì xuésheng

be student(s)

shì xuésheng ma?

be student(s)?

nǐmen shì xuésheng ma?

Are you students?

Qǐng wèn, nǐmen shì xuésheng ma?

May I ask, are you students?

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

rén

person

Měiguó rén

American person

shì Měiguó rén

be American

nǐmen shì Měiguó rén ma?

Are you Americans?

Qǐng wèn, nǐmen shì Měiguó rén ma?

________________________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Měiguó rén

American person

shì Měiguó rén

be American

Wǒmen shì Měiguó rén

We are Americans.

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

ne

particle for follow-up questions

nǐ ne?

and you?

Wǒmen shì Měiguó rén, nǐ ne?

We are Americans, and you?

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Zhōngguó rén

Chinese person

shì Zhōngguó rén

be Chinese

Wǒmen shì Zhōngguó rén

We are Chinese.

Wǒmen shì Zhōngguó rén, nǐ ne?

__________________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

lǎoshī

teacher

shì lǎoshī

be teacher

Tāmen shì lǎoshī.

They are teachers.

Tāmen shì lǎoshī ma?

_______________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Tāmen ne?

What about them?

Wǒmen shì Měiguó rén, tāmen ne?

We are Americans. What about them?

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

 rén

person

nǎguó rén

a person of which country

shì nǎguó rén

be a person of which country

Tā shì nǎguó rén?

What country is he from?

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

duì

correct

duì ma?

Correct?

shì Fǎguó rén, duì ma?

be French, correct?

yě shì Fǎguó rén, duì ma?

also be French, correct?

Tāmen yě shì Fǎguó rén, duì ma?

____________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

duì

correct

Bù duì

Not correct. (Wrong.)

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Déguó

Germany

Déguó rén

German person (German)

shì Déguó rén

be German

Tāmen shì Déguó rén.

_______________________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Déguó rén

German person

shì Déguó rén

be German person

dōu shì Déguó rén

all are German

Tāmen dōu shì Déguó rén.

They are all German.

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

lǎoshī

teacher

shì lǎoshī

be teacher

dōu shì lǎoshī

all be teachers

Tāmen dōu shì lǎoshī.

_______________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Zhōngguó rén

Chinese person

shì Zhōngguó rén

be Chinese

Lǎoshī shì Zhōngguó rén.

________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Duì ma?

correct

Shì Zhōngguó rén, duì ma?

be Chinese, correct?

Lǎoshī shì Zhōngguó rén, duì ma?

____________________

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Shì.

be

Dāngrán shì.

Of course he(she) is.

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Zhōngguó rén

Chinese person

shì Zhōngguó rén

be Chinese

dāngrán shì Zhōngguó rén

of course be Chinese

Lǎoshī dāngrán shì Zhōngguó rén.

Of course the teacher is Chinese

Audio file

Vocabulary

Translation

Duì.

correct

Dāngrán duì.

of course (it is) correct.

Lǎoshī dāngrán duì.

Of course the teacher is correct.

Mandarin Pronunciation

Pronunciation and Pinyin

1. More about the Mandarin Syllable

Tones

Neutral Tone

When a syllable does not have a contour tone, it is said to have neutral tone. When contour tones are marked with the tone marks ˉˊˇˋ, syllables that occur in neutral tone are not written with a tone mark: wǒmen we/us. When numbers are used to indicate tone, neutral tone is indicated with the number 5 or the number 0: wo3men5 or wo3men0.
Syllables in neutral tone are short and unstressed. The pitch of a syllable in neutral tone depends upon the tone of the preceding syllable. This is illustrated in the following diagrams. The symbol * is used to mark the pitch of the syllable with neutral tone.

First Tone + Neutral Tone: tāmen
If the preceding syllable has first tone, the pitch of the neutral tone is slightly lower than the pitch of the preceding syllable.

First tone

Second Tone + Neutral Tone: xuésheng
If the preceding syllable has second tone, the pitch of the neutral tone is slightly lower than the ending pitch of the preceding syllable.

need image from authors

Third Tone + Neutral Tone: nǐmen
If the preceding syllable has third done, the pitch of the neutral tone is higher than the ending pitch of the preceding syllable.

Third tone

Fourth Tone + Neutral Tone: shì de
If the preceding syllable has fourth tone, the pitch of the neutral tone is generally lower than the ending pitch of the preceding syllable.

Fourth tone

Particles (words like 吗 ma and 呢 ne) always have neutral tone, though 吗 ma is often spoken in high pitch regardless of the tone of the preceding syllable. The second syllable of certain words such as 学生 xuésheng student, 我们 wǒmen we/us, 你们 nǐmen you (plural), and 他们 tāmen they/them always occurs in neutral tone. Speakers of Mandarin in different regions of China vary in the extent to which they use neutral tone. This book presents the use of neutral tone in standard Mandarin as spoken in Beijing. In Taiwan, all syllables except for final grammatical particles are pronounced with a contour tone.

Changes in the third tone

In lesson 1 we learned that the basic contour of the third tone is a falling-rising contour. However, it is only pronounced with falling-rising contour when it is followed by a word in neutral tone, or when it occurs at the end of the sentence or before a pause (indicated here as #).

wǒmen

wǒmen wǒ

#

The third tone has two other contours, depending upon the tone of the following syllable.

  • When a syllable in third tone occurs before another syllable in third tone, the first syllable changes its tone to second tone.

    3 + 3

    2 + 3

    nǐ hǎo

    ní hǎo

    ní hǎo ní hǎo ní hǎo ní hǎo
  • When a syllable in third tone occurs before a syllable in first, second, or fourth tone, it becomes a low, level tone.

    3 + 1

    low + 3 (lǎoshī)

    lǎoshī lǎoshī lǎoshī lǎoshī

    3 + 2

    low + 2 (nǎguó)

    nǎguó nǎguó nǎguó nǎguó

    3 + 4

    low + 4 (nǐ shì)

    nǐ shì nǐ shì nǐ shì nǐ shì

Finals

Here are the finals of Mandarin as they are spelled in Pinyin. The finals introduced in lessons 1 and 2 are highlighted.

Finals that begin with:

and end with a vowel:

and end with n:

and end with ng:

and end with r:

a

a, ai, ao

an

ang

 

e

e, ei

en

eng

er

o

(o), ou

 

ong

 

i

i, ia, iao, ie, iu/iou

ian, in

iang, ing, iong,

 

ü

ü, üe

üan, ün

 

 

u

u, ua, uai, ui/uei, uo

uan, uen/un,

uang, ueng

 

Here are the rules that are relevant in spelling and pronouncing the finals introduced in lesson 2.

  • Finals spelled ui rhyme with finals that are spelled ei. Examples: duì correct, Měiguó America. When ei is directly preceded by a consonant or if it begins a word, it is written in pinyin as ei: děi, měi, shéi. When ei is preceded by a consonant + u, pinyin abbreviates uei to ui: duì (abbreviated from duei), huì (abbreviated from huei), guì (abbreviated from guei). When ei is preceded only by u and no consonant, it is spelled as wei.
  • wo and uo: As we learned in lesson 1, when the final uo is not preceded by a consonant, it is spelled wo. If it is preceded by b, p, m, or f it is spelled o. Otherwise, it is spelled uo. Examples: , Zhōngguó
  • When the final uen is not preceded by a consonant it is spelled wen. Example: (qǐng) wèn may I ask. When preceded by an initial consonant, it is spelled un. Examples: shùn, dūn.

Pronunciation Challenges

Lesson 2 Pronunciation Challenges: Tongue Twisters

Listen and repeat these tongue twisters until you can say them quickly three times in a row without making any errors.

A

Tongue twister

Translation

Audio files

Mèimei ài měi.
妹妹爱美。

Younger sister loves getting herself all dolled up.

B

The Old Man, the Soup, and the Tower
老头儿端汤上塔

Tongue twister

Translation

Audio files

Lǎotóu duān tāng shàng tǎ.

An old man, holding (a bowl of) soup, climbed a tower.

Tāng tàng,
汤烫

The soup was hot.

Tǎ huá,
塔滑

The tower (steps) slippery;

Tāng sǎ,
汤撒

The soup got spilt

Tāng tàng tǎ.
汤烫塔。

The soup scalded the tower (steps).

Quizzes

Listening and Speaking: Listening for Information

Listen and Identify

Reading and Writing: Focus on Chinese Characters

Focus on Structure

Communicating through Reading and Writing