Mandarin Chinese for Beginners. Yi Ren
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Tā shì wǒ de xiān shēng.
This is my husband.
Hěn gāo xìng jiàn dào nǐ. Nǐ jiào shén me míng zi?
Nice to meet you. What’s your name?
In Chapter 1, you learned how Jack and Lily greet each other in Chinese. Now, let’s see how Lily introduces her family to Jack in Chinese. Once you know how to introduce and be introduced, you’re on your way to meeting lots of new people.
It’s time to turn on the audio, this time to Chapter 2’s New Words 1. Listen to the complete list first, and then follow me to read and repeat each word. After you get familiar with these new words, you can move on to Dialog 1. Listen, and then repeat; practice each sentence until you can say it smoothly
Lily:Jack, these are my dad and mom.
Jié kè, tā men shì wǒ de bà ba hé mā ma.
杰克, 他 们 是 我 的爸爸和 妈 妈。
Jack:How do you do!
Nín men hǎo!
您 们 好！
Lily:This is my friend.
Tā shì wǒ de péng yǒu.
他 是 我 的 朋 友。
Lily’s dad (to Jack):
What’s your name?
Nǐ jiào shén me míng zì?
你 叫 什 么 名 字？
Jack:My name is Jack Lee.
Wǒ jiào Lǐ Jié kè.
我 叫 李杰克。
Lily’s dad:Welcome!
Huān yíng nǐ!
欢 迎 你!
| 介绍 jiè shào | introduction |
| 他们 tā men | they |
| 是 shì | is/are/am |
| 我的 wǒ de | my |
| 爸爸 bà ba | dad |
| 和 hé | and |
| 妈妈 mā ma | mom |
| 您 nín | you |
| 您们 nín men | you (plural) |
| 他 tā | he |
| 朋友 péng yǒu | friend |
| 叫 jiào | to be called |
| 什么 shén me | what |
| 名字 míng zì | name |
| 李 Lǐ | Lee (name) |
| 欢迎 huān yíng | welcome |
Notes 注 释
➊ You may have noticed that both 你好 nǐ hǎo and 您好 nín hǎo are equivalent to “Hello” in English. What is the difference between 你好 nǐ hǎo and 您好 nín hǎo? How do you use them? 您好 Nín hǎo is a respectful form which is used to greet elderly people and people you meet for the first time, or to show respect and politeness in formal occasions. 你好 Nǐ hǎo is like “Hi” in English. People use this form in a casual manner.
➋ Similar to English, there are words for “these” and “this” in Chinese. However, the way of using them in Chinese is slightly different from the way it’s done in English. For example, in English you can say either “This is my friend” or “He is my friend”; but in Chinese, you usually use a personal pronoun “tā” rather than “this”—you say “Tā shì wǒ de péng yǒu.” Remember: people use a personal pronoun 他 tā/她 tā instead of “this” and 他们 tā men/她们 tā men instead of “these” to introduce others in Chinese.
Once again, the dialog has some key sentences which are especially worth memorizing.
Tā shì wǒ de péng yǒu.
他是我的 朋 友。(This is my friend.)
Tā men shì wǒ de bà ba, mā ma.
他 们 是我的爸爸、妈妈。(These are my dad and mom.)
Nǐ jiào shén me míng zì?
你叫 什 么 名 字？(What’s your name?)
This table lists the singular and plural personal pronouns. When you read through it, you will find that it’s pretty easy to memorize them. To form plural pronouns, you simply need to add one word, “men,” after the singular pronoun.
| Singularpersonalpronouns | nǐ你you | nín您you (respectful) | wǒ我I | tā他he | tā她she | tā它it |
| Pluralpersonalpronouns | nǐ men你们you | nín men您们you (respectful) | wǒ men我们we | tā men他们they | tā men她们they | tā men它们they |
You have learned how to introduce your parents and friend(s) in Dialog 1. Now you will learn how to introduce your husband or wife and your child(ren) in Dialog 2. A very important topic, as they’ll be happy to remind you!
To start, listen to New Words 2 on the audio. Next read along, and repeat each word during the pauses provided. You also need to pay careful attention to the tone of each word. When you finish New Words 2, you will hear how Lily introduces her husband and daughter to Jack: listen to their conversation in Dialog 2, and then follow along to practice speaking these sentences yourself.
Lily:Please