Contents

The following Help Topics are available:

Overview of Chinese

Nouns

Pronouns

Adjectives

Adverbs

Verbs

Conjunctions

Questions

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Overview of
Overview of Chinese

Today, about 50,000 Chinese characters exist, of which about 5,000 are commonly used.  In 1958, the National People's Assembly approved the transliteration of Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet.  This system of transliteration is called pinyin.  Mandarin, which is one of many dialects spoken in China, is introduced in this program. Mandarin is China's official language and is used broadly.  Mandarin is spoken and taught in China, Hong Kong and many other places.

Pronunciation

Vowels

a	like a in far (but with no r-sound)
e	like e in mercury (but with no r-sound)
i	(1) like ee in cheese
	(2) after c, s, z, ch, sh, zh, r, like e in mercury (with no r-sound)
o	like aw in paw
u	like oo in tool
u	round your lips and try to say ee

Consonants

c	like ts in cats, followed by a strong puff of breath
ch	like ch in check, but with the tip of the tongue turned up and back to touch the roof of the mouth
g	as in give
h	like ch in the Scottish loch
j	like j in jeep
q	similar to ch in cheek
r	like r in rung with the tip of the tongue curled back
s	like s in sip
sh	like sh in shirt
x	like sh in sheep with lips widely spread
y	like y in yard
z	like ds in kids
zh	like j in judge


Nouns

Nouns do not change for number or case.  Therefore, nouns remain the same whether they are singular or plural, and whether they are the subject or the object of a verb.

There are no definite articles.  Definite or indefinite reference is usually determined by the positioning of the noun.  When a noun comes before the verb, the noun has a definite reference, and when a noun comes after the verb, the noun has an indefinite reference.

Chinese nouns function essentially as subjects, objects or modifiers of other nouns.  Basically, there are three groups.

1. Individual nouns

2. Collective nouns

3. Abstract nouns

mandarin

(mandarin)

yì si

(What do you mean?)


Pronouns

Personal pronouns have the same form whether used as a subject or an object.

The following is a list of the Chinese personal pronouns.

The following is a list of the possessive forms of Chinese personal pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns indicate that the sentence in which it occurs is a question. Pronouns such as

Demonstrative pronouns


Adjectives

Adjectives are placed before the nouns that they qualify.


Adverbs

These adverbs are followed by verbs:


Verbs

Chinese verbs have no differences between the singular and plural forms at all.

In Chinese, verbs can be divided into three groups: shi (to be), you (to have), and other general verbs.

Shi describes or defines the subject.

The suffix -guo after a verb indicates the indefinite past. That is, whether something has or has not happened but without a specific notion or point in time.


Conjunctions

Nouns can be joined together by the conjunctions he (and) or huo (or).


Questions

shei(or shui)   who or whom