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.

Mandarin Pronunciation

Pronunciation and Pinyin

1. Tone change for一yī one

When一 yī one occurs at the end of a phrase or sentence it is pronounced in first tone: yī.
When it occurs before a syllable with first, second, or third tone, it is often pronounced with fourth tone: yì.

yī + 1, 2, 3		yì + 1, 2, 3
yī zhāng		yì zhāng
yī píng		yì píng
yī běn		yì běn

When yī occurs before a syllable in fourth tone, it often changes to second tone:

yī + 4		yī + 4
yīgòng		yígòng

一 yī one is pronounced in second tone before the classifier gè whether it occurs with falling tone (gè) or neutral tone (ge): yī ge, yī gè g yí ge , yí gè.

2. The final er and finals that begin with o, i, ü,and u

Here is the table of Mandarin finals. In this lesson, we focus on the final er and on finals that begin with o, i, ü,and u.

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	uang, ueng

2.1. The final er

The final er occurs in a small number of words in Mandarin. It always occurs without an initial. er is pronounced similar to the English word are when said with a strong r. Example: èr two.

2.2. Finals that begin with o

o

(o), ou

ong

Pronunciation:

• When the letter o begins a final (ou, ong) it is pronounced like the English sound o as in the words homeor phone. Words with the final ou are close in pronunciation to the vowel in the English words go and no.
• When the letter o occurs in the final uo or follows b, p, m, or f as a simple final (bo, po, mo, fo), it is pronounced like aw in the English words awful and saw.

Restrictions:

• Finals that begin with o cannot occur after the initials j, q, and x.

2.3. Finals that begin with u

u

u, ua, uai, ui/uei, uo

uan, uen

uang, ueng

Pronunciation.

• Finals that begin with u are pronounced with rounded lips and the tongue relatively high and back in the mouth. The sound of uis very similar to the vowel sound in the English word tool. In Mandarin, the lips do not move during the pronunciation of the u sound.

Spelling.

• If a syllable that begins with u does not have an initial, the syllable is spelled wu. Example: wǔ five.

Restrictions

• Finals that begin with u cannot occur after the initials j, q, and x.

2.4. Finals that begin with i

i

i, ia, iao, ie, iu/iou

ian, in

iang, ing, iong

Pronunciation

There are three pronunciations of the Pinyin letter i:

• When the Pinyin letter i follows zh, ch, sh,or r it is pronounced as a strong r similar to the sound of the English syllable er when pronounced with a strong r.
• When the Pinyin letter i follows z, c, or s, it is pronounced with the blade of the tongue high and flat near the roof of the mouth. English does not use this vowel sound. Listen to the recordings that accompany this book to practice the pronunciation.
• In all other instances, the Pinyin letter i is pronounced like the sound ee as in the English wordssleepand week.

Spelling:

• When the finals i, in, or ing are not preceded by an initial they are written as yi. Examples: yī, yín, yìng. 
• When the final iu is not preceded by an initial it is written as you. Example: yǒu have.
• When i begins any other final and is not preceded by an initial, i is written as y. Examples: yā, yào, yě, yán, yáng, yòng.

Restrictions

• Most finals that begin with i followed by at least one other vowel or consonant can follow j, q, or x and also n and l. The final iong cannot follow n or l.
• The finals iao, ie, ian, in, and ing follow b, p, m (but not f), as well as the initials d, t, n, and l, and j, q, and x.
• The finals ia, iu, and iang can follow n and l as well as j, q, and x.

2.5. Finals that begin with ü

ü

ü, üe

üan, ün

Pronunciation

• ü is pronounced with the tongue high and flat in the mouth as when saying the sound ee as in the English word sleep, but with the lips rounded.

Spelling

• ü following j, q, or x is written as u. ü following n or l is written as ü. When finals that begin with ü occur without an initial they are written as yu.

Restrictions

Finals that begin with ü can only follow j, q, x, n, and l.

Pronunciation Challenges

1. Challenging expressions

Listen to each phrase and repeat it until you can say it quickly and accurately.

A
Tongue twister		Translation	Audio file
Xiǎo Sì hé Xiǎo Shí Xiǎo Sì yuē Xiǎo Shí xué xiě zì, Xiǎo Shí yuē Xiǎo Sì bèi shēngcí. Xiǎo Sì bù bèi shēngcí zhǐ xué xiě zì, Xiǎo Shí bù xué xiě zì zhǐ bèi shēngcí.	小四约小石学写字, 小石约小四背生词。 小四不背生词只学写字, 小石不学写字只背生词	Little Four and Little Stone Little Four told Little Stone to study character writing. Little Stone told Little Four to memorize new vocabulary words. Little Four didn’t memorize vocabulary but only studied character writing. Little Stone did not study character writing but only memorized vocabulary.

2. Tongue twisters

Learn these tongue twisters one line at a time. Don’t give up until you can say each one without making any errors.

B
Tongue twister		Translation	Audio file
Sān Shān hé Sì Shuǐ Sān shān chēng sì shuǐ, Sì shuǐ rào sān shān, Sān shān sì shuǐ chūn cháng zài, Sì shuǐ sān shān sìshí chūn.	三山撑四水, 四水绕三山, 三山四水春常在, 四水三山四时春。	Three Mountains and Four Seas Three mountains support the four seas, The four seas are wrapped around the three mountains, It is always spring by the three mountains and four seas. By the four seas and the three mountains it is spring all year long.

Quizzes

• Listening and Speaking: Listening for Information
• Pronunciation And Pinyin: Listen And Identify
• Reading and Writing: Focus on Chinese Characters
• Focus on Structure
• Communicating through Reading and Writing