Chinese Phrase A Day Practice Volume 1. Sam Brier
a European power. It fixed the Sino-Russian border to the north of the Amur river, and also permitted Russian trading caravans to go to Beijing.
你有孩子吗?
Nǐ yǒu háizi ma?
Do you have any children?
（你有孩子嗎？）
有。/没有。
Yǒu. / Méiyǒu.
Yes. [lit. “I have.”] / No. [lit. “I don’t have.”]
（有/沒有。）
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
Ma is a question article that is added to sentences to form a question. If the sentence above was “Nǐ yǒu háizi,” that would mean “You have a child.” Note, however, that ma is not used in question sentences that have a question word, for example what, where, why.
你有(男)(女)朋友了吗?
Nǐ yǒu (nán)(nǚ) péngyou le ma?
Do you have a (boy)(girl) friend?
（你有(男)(女)朋友了嗎？）
有。/没有。
Yǒu. / Méiyǒu.
Yes. [lit. “I have.”] / No. [lit. “I don’t have.”]
（有。/沒有。）
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
Yǒu means “have” and méiyǒu means “no have.” Since the subject is understood to be “I,” it is left out. Sometimes you will hear people answer Hái méiyǒu: I don’t have one, yet.
他/她 叫什么名字?
Tā jiào shénme míngzi?
What is his / her name?
（他/她 叫什麼名字？）
他/她 叫______________。 Tā jiào ______________.
His / Her name is ______________.
（他/她 叫______________。）
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
Notice that tā means both “he” and “she.” It is just the written character that differs; the spoken word is the same.
Jiào means “call,” so literally the question is: “He/She (is) called what name?” In this case, míngzi means your first name or your first and last name. In China, people usually go by their last name first, but many people also have English names which they might tell you.
他/她 在哪儿？
Tā zài nǎr?
Where is he / she?
（他/她 在哪兒？）
他/她 在北京。
Tā zài Běijīng.
He / She is in Beijing.
（他/她 在北京。）
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
Zài means “in” or “at,” so the question is “He/She (is) at where?”
Remember, in Chinese, if a question word is used in the sentence (in this case, “where”) then the question article “ma” is not used.
你喜欢北京吗?
Nǐ xǐhuan Běijīng ma?
Do you like Beijing?
（你喜歡北京嗎？）
我非常喜欢北京。
Wǒ fēicháng xǐhuan Běijīng.
I like Beijing very much.
（我非常喜歡北京。）
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
Běi means “North”, and Jīng means “capital.” Together, Běijīng means the Northern Capital. Likewise, Nán means South, so the city of Nánjīng means Southern Capital, which it was for a long time.
你去过上海吗?
Nǐ qù guo Shànghǎi ma?
Have you been to Shanghai?
（你去過上海嗎？）
是的, 去过。/没去过。
Shì de, qù guo. / Méi qù guo.
Yes, I have been. / I haven’t been.
（是的，去過。/沒去過。）
————————— LANGUAGE NOTE —————————
Nǐ means “you.” Nín (您) is a polite form. If you add men to these words, such as Nǐmen or Nínmen, the “you” becomes plural, as in “You all.”
你是 美国/加拿大 人吗?
Nǐ shì Měiguó / Jiānádà rén ma?
Are you American / Canadian?
（你是 美國/加拿大 人嗎？）
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
The spoken languages of the People’s Republic of China belong to at least seven main groups (and the dialects run in the hundreds if not thousands). Since the early 20th century the Standard Mandarin dialect has been promoted as the official language of China.
我朋友也是上海人。
Wǒ péngyou yě shì Shànghǎi rén.
My friend is also from Shanghai.
（我朋友也是上海人。）
————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————
If the lips are gone, the teeth will grow cold.
—Chinese proverb
你有兄弟姐妹吗?
Nǐ yǒu xiōngdìjiěmèi ma?
Do you have any siblings?
（你有兄弟姐妹嗎？）
没有。
Méiyǒu.
No.
（沒有。）
我有一个 哥哥/弟弟/姐姐/妹妹。
Wǒ yǒu yíge...gēge / dìdi / jiějie / mèimei.
I have an ... older brother / younger brother / older sister / younger sister.
（我有一個 哥哥/弟弟/姐姐/妹妹。）
你会说英语吗?
Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?
Do