Mandarin Chinese Lessons (Standard Pinyin)
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Mandarin Chinese Lessons (Standard Pinyin)Main Menu | Cantonese Lessons | Chinese Tutoring | Bookmark & Share | Link to Us |
These Mandarin Chinese lessons have been designed to provide practical travel vocabulary and a foundation for basic conversational skills. You may also download a complete audio transcript for listening in your car. |
| SECTION: A LOT / TOO MUCH |
| English: | A lot | |
| Pinyin: | hěn duō | |
| Literally: | very much |
| English: | I ate a lot | |
| Pinyin: | wǒ chī le hěn duō | |
| Literally: | I ate very much |
| The word luh after a verb indicates past tense, but is also used in other places, such as when indicating excessiveness. |
| English: | Too (excessive) | |
| Pinyin: | tài |
| English: | Too much | |
| Pinyin: | tài duō | |
| Literally: | (same) |
| English: | I ate too much | |
| Pinyin: | wǒ chī le tài duō le | |
| Literally: | (same) |
| The first luh is to indicate past tense, and the second luh is for too / excessively. You'll get a lot more practive with this. |
| SECTION: TO BUY |
| English: | To buy | |
| Pinyin: | mǎi |
| English: | I need to buy | |
| Pinyin: | wǒ yào mǎi | |
| Literally: | (same) |
| English: | I would like to buy | |
| Pinyin: | wǒ xiǎng mǎi | |
| Literally: | (same) |
| English: | What would you like to buy? | |
| Pinyin: | nǐ xiǎng mǎi shén-me | |
| Literally: | you would like to buy what |
| English: | I would not like to buy it | |
| Pinyin: | wǒ bù xiǎng mǎi | |
| Literally: | I not would like to buy |
| Notice the difference between the tones for to sell and to buy |
| English: | To sell | |
| Pinyin: | mài |
| English: | To buy | |
| Pinyin: | mǎi |