The blog aims to make Chinese language learning experience easier. Since, most of the learning material available in market is in English, by American or English authors; it becomes difficult for us, sub-continental Asians, to find educational material giving grammar examples and explanations in a language which we can relate to. This blog is my humble attempt. I am open to suggestions and queries.
Exercise
(1) Translate the following into colloquial English:
Answer keys:
(1) Translate the following into colloquial English:
(3) Translate the following paragraph:
1. Mr. Cheng invited Mr. Wang to drink beer. Mr. Wang is happy. He is a great drinker. What about his wife Dejin Zhou? His wife does not drink alcohol. She drinks fruit juice. She also does not like Mr.Wang drinking beer.
2. We only have two girls. I have a lot of friends. I invited two of my friends to have dinner at my home tomorrow evening. My wife is not too happy because she does not know them.
- Zhao xiaojie qing wo he Yindu cha
- Lao Wei hen bu xihuan Lao Wang
- Xiao Mi ye(also) bu xihuan Xiao Zi
- Ni bu xiexie wo, name wo bu xiexie ni
- Cheng taitai renshi Zhang xiansheng bu gaoxing.
(2) Translate the following into Chinese:
- How do you do Mr. Zhang? Please sit down
- I don't drink beer.
- In that case, milk will do?
- Please have Indian tea
- I don't like this thing. (thing: dongxi)
(3) Translate the following paragraph:
- Cheng xiansheng qing Wang xiansheng he jiu. Wang xiansheng hen gaoxing. Ta hen hui he jiu. Ta airen Zhou Dejin ne? Ta airen bu hui he jiu. Ta he guozhi(fruit juice). Ta ye hen bu xihuan Wang xiansheng he jiu.
- Women zhi you liang ge nvhai. Wo de pengyou hen duo. Wo qing wo de liang ge pengyou mingtian wangshang lai(come) wo jia chi fan. Wo airen bu tai(too) gaoxing yinwei (because) ta bu renshi tamen.
(1) Translate the following into colloquial English:
- Zhao xiaojie qing wo he Yindu cha. Miss Zhao has invited me to drink Indian tea
- Lao Wei hen bu xihuan Lao Wang. Lao Wei does not like Lao Wang.
- Xiao Mi ye(also) bu xihuan Xiao Zi. Xiao Mi also does not like Xiao zi.
- Ni bu xiexie wo, name wo bu xiexie ni. You did not thank me, so I don't thank you either.
- Cheng taitai renshi Zhang xiansheng bu gaoxing. Mrs. Cheng is not happy to meet Mr.Zhang.
(2) Translate the following into Chinese:
- How do you do Mr. Zhang? Please sit down. Zhang xiansheng, ni hao ma? Qing zuo.
- I don't drink beer. Wo bu he hui jiu.
- In that case, milk will do? Name , niunai xing ma?
- Please have Indian tea. Qing he Yindu cha.
- I don't like this thing. (thing: dongxi). wo bu xihuan zhe ge dongxi
(3) Translate the following paragraph:
1. Mr. Cheng invited Mr. Wang to drink beer. Mr. Wang is happy. He is a great drinker. What about his wife Dejin Zhou? His wife does not drink alcohol. She drinks fruit juice. She also does not like Mr.Wang drinking beer.
2. We only have two girls. I have a lot of friends. I invited two of my friends to have dinner at my home tomorrow evening. My wife is not too happy because she does not know them.
Score 成绩 chengji
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/chieasy/
Zhang | 23 | 30 | 21st | 28th |
Niral | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Mrunal | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Tushar | 五 | 五 | 0 | 0 |
Ronak | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Pujit | 五 | 0 | 五 | 0 |
Yash | 五 | 五 | 五 | |
Mili | 五 | 五 | 五 | |
Bhumi | 五 | 0 | 0 | |
Hiloni | 五 | 0 | 五 | |
Kaushal | 0 | 0 | 五 | 0 |
Wang |
||||
Vrushali | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Utsav | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Hiral | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Monil | 五 | 0 | 五 | 0 |
Hirvita | 五 | 五 | 五 | |
Atul | 五 | 0 | 五 | |
Charmi | 五 | 五 | 五 | |
Nilesh | 0 | 0 | 五 | |
Cheng | ||||
Premji | 0 | 五 | 0 | 五 |
Sagar (1.30) | 五 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vaishali | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Kashimira | 五 | 五 | 五 | 五 |
Yash | 五 | 0 | 五 | |
Mehul | 0 | 五 | 五 | |
Tanmay | 五 | 五 | 五 | |
Jigesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Zhao | ||||
Yesha | 0 | 0 | 五 | 五 |
Jinal | 五 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rajal | 0 | 0 | 五 | 0 |
Jenil | 0 | 五 | 0 | 五 |
Mansukh | 五 | 0 | 五 | |
Brijesh | 五 | 0 | 0 | |
Sagar | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Bhavik | 0 | 五 | 五 |
* Team score is counted on per student bases. Like the per capital income.
Basic Grammar Rules 3
Measure Words
Two with a measure word
When the following case appears:
Two + Measure + Noun,
Then in such cases.
Ø
Two is “Liang3”
Ø
Two is not “er”
Ø
If the “two” refers to a personal pronoun like
we or you(as in both of you), then one may write lia3 instead of liang 3ge
Question words
Ø
Question word is always placed in a sentence
where the answers to the question is expected to be
Ø
“ne” is often used with sentences having
question words. It gives the sentence a softening effect and helps the sentence
to feel more balanced
Ø
“ma” particle is not added to sentences with
question words
Le (-verbal suffix)
Ø
it is put after the verb to indicate that the
action of the verb has been completed
i.e verb + le = the action of the
verb in done
eg: Wang fei chi le fan/Wang fei has eaten.
Zhang wenfei jie hun le ma?/ Is
zhang weifei married(already)?
Ø
Positive complete action is verb + le
Eg: Ni kan le ma?/You saw?
Ø
Negative answer is made by removing the “le” and
adding mei you before the verb
Mei you / mei + verb / mei you +
verb
eg: wo mei kan /I haven’t seen (it)
Ø
“le” is almost every time to be found with
adverb “tai/too”
eg: na tai hao le/that’s too good
Verb Object Construction
Certain verbs in Chinese always occur with an object
attached to them.
They never appear independently.
These verbs are always written as verb+object.
Eg: chi1 means to eat. Chi can not occur on its own.
One has to always write chi fan(lit. eat rice)
There “wo chi” is a wrong way to say “I eat”
Correct way is “wo chi fan”/I eat.
But if you eat baozi/bun, then the fill in object “fan” is
replaced by baozi.
Eg: wo chi fan baozi is wrong
Wo chi baozi
Adverb jiu
Ø
Jiu never preceeds noun or pronoun
Ø
It is used to join two clauses
Marker de
Marker de is used to join two nouns, where the preceding
noun is subordinate to the following noun.
Ø
Main idea is what the one about whom the
information is to be given.
Subordinate noun is simply additional information about the
main idea
Ø
Syntax: Subordinate noun + de + main idea.
Eg: gege de duixiang/ girl friend of brother
Zhuozi de
pangbian/ (the one) adjacent to the table
Pengyou de nvhai/
daughter of friend
Here duixiang, pangbian and nvhai are the main idea.
Ø
de must not be confused as a possessive marker
eg: zhuozi de pangbian does not mean that the table belongs
to the adjacent. There is ownership on part of mr.Pangbian on the table!
Ø
In close relations de is not used to show the
relationship
Eg: wo baba/my father instead of
wo de baba
Wo jiejie instead/my eldersister of wo
de jiejie
Adverbial phrases of
time:
Adverbial phrase of time (appears first) > Verb (appears
later in the sentence)
The adverbial phrase of time precedes the verb in a
sentence.
Reverse of the English usage.
Similar to the Hindi usage.
Eg: Wo mingtian qu kan
ta. I will go tomorrow to see him.
Basic Grammar Rules 2
“To give/gei3” verb
The basic meaning of gei3 is “to give”
The sentence format for gei is “subject + gei + object”.
Eg: Wo gei ni wo de shu/ I give you my book.
Ta gei wo da dianhua / He gave me a call.
"hui"/to be able to
Hui roughly translates to "can" in English.
But hui is used only in case of acquired abilty. Acquired ability is something that you have learned or practiced.
Wo hui shuo Yingwen. I can speak English. English is something thing you have learned.
Zai zher hui mai piao ma? Can I buy tickets here? Here hui is wrong.
"hui"/to be able to
Hui roughly translates to "can" in English.
But hui is used only in case of acquired abilty. Acquired ability is something that you have learned or practiced.
Wo hui shuo Yingwen. I can speak English. English is something thing you have learned.
Zai zher hui mai piao ma? Can I buy tickets here? Here hui is wrong.
“to be/shi4” verb
The verb "shi4/to be" is seldom used in Chinese.
In most cases the shi4 is assumed to be there.
Eg: Ta hen shuai. He (is) very handsome.
The shi4 not used. But it is assumed to be there.
So, Ta shi hen shuai is wrong.
Shi4 is used:
1. To
emphasis a fact.
Eg: zhe shi wo de shu/ This IS my book
(and no other)
2. (not
a compulsory rule, a possible rule) where A=B & B=A is also possible.
Particles:
Particles are those words with do not have a meaning in
themselves. But when used in a sentence or with another word, give a new value
or meaning to the sentence/word.
ma
Eg: Particle ma is a interrogative particle. When added to
the end of the sentence, it turns the sentence into a question.
Ta shi ni pengyou/ He is your friend.
Ta shi ni pengyou ma?/ Is he your friend?
Ni hao/You to be good.
Ni hao ma? /Are you good/fine?
ba
ba is a suggest particle. It is used at the end of the
sentence or verb to show suggestion or ask confirmation.
Eg: xing ba? / is it fine then?
women xuexi ba / lets us study
ne
When a question is said on an ongoing topic, a ne is used to
avoid the entire question.
eg: Wo yijing kan
le zhe bu dianying. Ni ne?/ I already saw this movies. What about you?
Here “ni ne?” is used instead of “ni ye kan le zhe bu dianying ma?”
Measure Words
Measure word is unique feature of Chinese.
To put in simple words a when a number and noun occur
together, a MW is interested between them.
i.e. Number +Measure Word + Noun
Therefore ,
Yi gequ is wrong
yi shou gequ/lit. one MW song i.e a poem
For different types, class of nouns, different measure words
are used.
Eg: ge is for people san ge ren/three people
Zhang for rectangular flat objects
Yi zhang zhouzi/a table
Si zhang piao/four tickets
liang tao shouji/two mobile phones
Bad news: You have to literally by heart all the Measure words for each class of noun. Sometimes even Chinese people them wrong.
Good news: Where you are not sure of the MW, you can simple use "ge". It is sort of a universal measure word
liang tao shouji/two mobile phones
Bad news: You have to literally by heart all the Measure words for each class of noun. Sometimes even Chinese people them wrong.
Good news: Where you are not sure of the MW, you can simple use "ge". It is sort of a universal measure word
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