Basic Written Chinese. Cornelius C. Kubler
(See last page for English translations.)
UNIT 1
Greetings and Useful Phrases
COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES
Once you’ve mastered this unit, you’ll be able to use Chinese to read and write:
1. Common greetings and useful phrases such as “How are you?”, “Thank you,” “Please sit down,” and “I’ll be on my way.”
2. Questions about how people are, who is or is not going where, relative heights of people from different parts of China, the difficulty of Chinese, and changes that have taken place.
3. Common Chinese surnames: “He,” “Gao,” “Li,” “Lin,” “Wang,” “Xie.”
4. Common Chinese titles: “Mr.,” “Mrs.,” “Miss,” “Ms.,” “Old Wang,” “Little Li.”
5. Chinese personal pronouns: “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” “we,” “they.”
6. Some Chinese punctuation marks that are different from English.
PART 1
“Where Are You Going?”
Study the six characters below and the common words written with them, paying careful attention to each character’s pronunciation, meaning, and structure, as well as similar-looking characters. After you’ve studied a character, turn to the Practice Essentials volume and practice writing it on the practice sheet, making sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction as you pronounce it out loud and think of its meaning.
49 你 nĭ you
Radical is 人 rén “person,” which is written 亻 when occurring at the left side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component to the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” The other component of 你 is 尔 ĕr, which in Classical Chinese means “you.”
你 nĭ you [PR]
50 好 hăo good
Radical is 女 nǚ “woman” [BF]. This radical is referred to colloquially as 女字旁 nǚzìpáng “side made up of the character 女.” Note that when 女 is written at the left of a character as a radical, its last stroke is shortened so that it doesn’t collide with the component to its right. The other component of 好 is 子 zĭ “son” [BF]. The traditional explanation is that for a “woman” to be together with her “son” is “good.”
你好 nĭ hăo “how are you?,” “hi” [IE]
51 我 wŏ I
In this character, note that the radical, 戈 gē “dagger-axe” [BF], is on the right side. The whole character 我 consists of the verb 找 zhăo “look for” plus a small hat (the stroke 丿) at the very top of the character that represents “I” or “me.” The verb 找 in turn is composed of 扌 shŏu “hand” and 戈 gē “dagger-axe.” So the etymology of the whole character can be explained as using one’s “hand” to hold a “dagger-axe” to “look for” things (e.g., food or enemies) so as to ensure the survival of “me.”
我 wŏ I, me [PR]
52 也 yĕ also
Radical is 乙 yĭ “second of the ten Celestial Stems.” This character originated as a picture of an ancient drinking horn and was later borrowed to represent the pronunciation of the Chinese adverb that means “also.” Contrast 也 and 七 qī (8).
也 yĕ also, too [A]
53 去 qù go
The radical, at the bottom, is 厶 sī “private” [BF]. On top is the character 土 tŭ “earth.” Notice that the top horizontal line in 土 and 去 is shorter than the bottom horizontal line.
去 qù go, go to [V]
54 呢 ne and what about
Radical is 口 kŏu “mouth.” This radical is referred to colloquially as 口字旁 kŏuzìpáng “side made up of the character 口.” The addition of the radical 口 to a character indicates it has something to do with the mouth. Here, it indicates this is a particle used in speech. The other component of this character, 尼 ní, is the phonetic; by itself, it means “Buddhist nun” [BF].
呢 ne and what about, and how about [P]
我去﹐你呢？ Wŏ qù, nĭ ne? I’m going, and what about you?
| 王 | Wáng | Wang [SN] |
Now practice reading the new characters and words for this lesson in context in sentences, conversations, and narratives. Be sure to refer to the Notes at the end of this lesson, and make use of the accompanying audio disc to hear and practice correct pronunciation, phrasing, and intonation.
A. SENTENCES
Read out loud each of the following sentences, which include all the new characters of this lesson. The first time you read a sentence, focus special attention on the characters and words that are new to you, reminding yourself of their pronunciation and meaning. The second time, aim to comprehend the overall meaning of the sentence.
一、何大山，你好！文中生，你好！
二、我去山东，你去山西。
三、李小山去河北，王大文去河南。
四、你去南京，我也去南京，李大明也去南京。
五、去，去，去，去北京！
六、何台生去台北，王大明呢？
七、王京生去台山，林台生也去台山。
八、你去广东，我也去广东。
九、何大海，你去香港，我也去。
十、我去北京，王大海也去北京。
B. CONVERSATIONS
Read out loud the following conversations, including the name or role of the person speaking. If possible, find a partner or partners and each of you play a role. Then switch roles, so you get practice reading all of the lines.