The Chinese is totally different with English grammer, pronunciation, and characters. To better start to read, speak, and write Chinese, the 4 basic knowledges below, including pinyin, tones, characters and grammers, will help beginners walk into the world of Chinese quickly.
What is Pinyin?
Pinyin is the Chinese alphabats that refer to the pronunciation of a Chinese character. However, pinyin is not often shown along with a Chinese character only when it is for school age children to learn. For beginners, it's quite important to know Pinyin, which helps you pronumce a character quickly.
There are 21 initial consonants and 24 simple or compound vowels of a Chinese syllable in Chinese. Some of them looks just like an English letter but with totally different pronumciation.
21 initial consonants of a Chinese syllable
| b |
p |
m |
f |
d |
t |
| n |
l |
g |
k |
h |
j |
| q |
x |
zh |
ch |
sh |
r |
| z |
c |
24 vowels of a Chinese syllable
| a |
o |
e |
i |
u |
ü |
| ai |
ei |
ui |
ao |
ou |
iu |
| ie |
üe |
er |
an |
en |
in |
| un |
ün |
ang |
eng |
ing |
ong |
What Is the Four Tones?
The four tones system is used to differentiate the characters that with the same syllable. With different tones, a character or a word can refer to different meanings.
The first tone sounds even, just like monetone. It uses a horizontal line to put on a vowel. Check some examples and pronuncations here.
The second tone uses a diagonal line to represent. Check some examples and pronuncations here.
The third tone maybe a little bit difficult to pronunce for non-Chinese speakers. Its tone falls firstly and then rises. Check some examples and pronuncations here.
When pronunce the fourth tone, it sounds like an angry expression. Check some examples and pronuncations here.
Basic Chinese Words That Are Used in Daily Life
The Chinese characters are called "Hanzi" in mandarin. Different with English, speakers are not able to pronunce a Chinese character by its strokes. Usually Pinyin is not shown with the character, only when it is designed for school age children to learn. Thus, you will have to memorize at least 1000 characters to support you read and write in Chinese.
Hanzi is a kind of hieroglyphic, which was created by a subject's appearance, meaning, or even sound. Here are some words that are frequently used in daily life.
| Words |
Meaning |
Pinyin |
| 你好 |
Hello |
nǐ hǎo |
| 谢谢 |
Thank you |
xiè xie |
| 再见 |
Goodbye |
zài jiàn |
| 对不起 |
Sorry |
dùi bù qǐ |
| 没关系 |
It's OK. Never mind. |
mei guan xi |
| 早上好 |
Good morning |
zǎo shàng hǎo |
| 下午好 |
Good afternoon |
xià wǔ hǎo |
| 晚安 |
Good night |
wǎn ān |
| 今天 |
Today |
jīn tiān |
| 明天 |
Tomorrow |
míng tiān |
| 洗手间 |
Bathroom |
xǐ shǒu jiān |
| 餐厅 |
Restaurant |
cān tīng |
| 酒店 |
Hotel |
jiǔ diàn |
| 地铁 |
Subway |
dì tiě |
| 超市 |
Supermarket |
chāo shì |
| 可乐 |
Coke cola |
kě lè |
| 咖啡 |
Coffe |
kā fēi |
| 矿泉水 |
Water |
kuàng quán shuǐ |
| 饮料 |
Drinks |
yǐn liào |
| 食物 |
Food |
shí wù |
Basic Chinese Grammers That Helps You Make Sentences
Though the grammer is totally different between Chinese and English, you will have no problem with any kind of sentence pattern once you get the rules below.
"I have" Pattern
| Subject |
Has/Have |
Quantifier+Nouns |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
have / 有 |
a dog / 一只狗 |
我有一只狗。 |
wǒ yǒu yì zhī gǒu |
| You / 你 |
have / 有 |
a book / 一本书 |
你有一本书。 |
nǐ yǒu yì běn shū |
| He / 他; She/ 她 |
has / 有 |
a sister / 一个姐姐 |
他/她有一个姐姐。 |
tā yǒu yí gè jiě jie |
"I am" Pattern
| Subject |
Is/Are |
Quantifier+Nouns |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
am / 是 |
a teacher / 一名老师 |
我是一名老师。 |
wǒ shì yì míng lǎo shī |
| You / 你 |
are / 是 |
a student / 一个学生 |
你是一个学生。 |
nǐ shì yí gè xué shēng |
| He / 他 |
is / 是 |
my brother / 我的弟弟 |
他是我的弟弟。 |
tā shì wǒ de dì di |
"I am doing" Pattern
| Subject |
Am/Are |
Doing |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
am/ 在 |
reading / 看书 |
我在看书。 |
wǒ zài kàn shū |
| You / 你 |
are / 在 |
dancing / 跳舞 |
你在跳舞。 |
nǐ zài tiào wǔ |
| He / 他; She/ 她 |
is / 在 |
drawing / 画画 |
他/她在画画。 |
tā zài huà huà |
"I did" Pattern
| Subject |
Did+过 |
Something |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
went to / 去过 |
Beijing / 北京 |
我去过北京。 |
wǒ qù guò běi jīng |
| You / 你 |
watched / 看过 |
this film / 这部电影 |
你看过这部电影。 |
nǐ kàn guò zhè bù diàn yǐng |
| He / 他; She/ 她 |
took / 坐过 |
a flight / 飞机 |
他/她坐过飞机。 |
tā zuò guò fēi jī |
Subject + Verb + Nouns Pattern
| Subject |
Verbs |
Nouns |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
give up / 放弃 |
the competition / 比赛 |
我放弃比赛。 |
wǒ fàng qì bǐ sài |
| He/ 他; she/ 她 |
eats / 吃 |
an apple / 苹果 |
他/她吃苹果。 |
tā chī píng guǒ |
How to Ask A Question with "吗？"
| Subject |
Verbs / Nouns |
吗？ |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| Do you / 你 |
like running / 喜欢跑步 |
? / 吗？ |
你喜欢跑步吗？ |
nǐ xǐ huān pǎo bù ma |
| Is he / 他是; she/ 她是 |
a docter / 医生 |
? / 吗？ |
她/他是医生吗？ |
tā shì yī shēng ma |
Negative Sentence Pattern
| Subject |
Negative word |
Nouns |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I / 我 |
am not / 不是 |
the player / 选手 |
我不是选手。 |
wǒ bú shì xuǎn shǒu |
| He/ 他; she/ 她 |
does not like / 不喜欢 |
exercising / 运动 |
他/她不喜欢运动。 |
tā bù xǐ huān yùn dòng |
| It / 它 |
has no / 没有 |
home / 家 |
它没有家。 |
tā méi yǒu jiā |
Future Tense
| Subject |
Time |
Verbs |
Hanzi |
Pinyin |
| I will/ 我 |
tomorrow / 明天 |
set off / 出发 |
我明天出发。 |
wǒ míng tiān chū fā |
| He will / 他; she will/ 她 |
3 days later / 三天后 |
come back / 回来 |
他/她三天后回来。 |
tā sān tiān hòu huí lái |
Further reading:
Bullet Train from Beijing to Shanghai: Timetable, Tickets, Prices
China Entry and Travel Restrictions in 2021
Baggage Rules of China Rail
July 20th, 2021 Published by: Jolie Chow
