Chinese Phrase A Day Practice Volume 1: Audio Recordings Included

By Sam Brier and Xia Lu

A Chinese Phrase A Day is a fun, less-intimidating way to learn Chinese! Part of Tuttle's best-selling page-a-day line, this new edition teaches useful everyday phrases and words.

Although more people are studying the Chinese language than ever before, others are still wary of starting because they believe, "it's too difficult." But A Chinese Phrase A Day will show absolute beginners that Chinese is in many ways much easier than other languages and it will help intermediate Chinese learners review and improve upon their past studies and practice Chinese everyday. With almost no grammar or tense, no verb conjugation and a consistency that English, Spanish, French and Japanese learners can only wish for, Chinese enables you to start conversing relatively quickly. After a few weeks of gradual progress your ability to read Chinese, write Chinese and speak Chinese will grow tremendously.

This calendar like desk companion is divided into monthly topics and builds upon itself, one day at a time. Chinese phrases are kept short, simple and functional. Each of the 365 pages include these four components:

1. The simplified Chinese characters.
2. The romanized Chinese (hanyu pinyin).
3. The English phrase.
4. Traditional Chinese characters
5. A related cultural note to put the phrase into context.

Audio for all of the A Chinese Phrase A Day entries is available online. Listening and repeating after the native speakers in the audio files will help you to practice Chinese regularly and polish your spoken Mandarin Chinese and Mandarin listening comprehension. To get started, turn to Day One and begin studying the phrase, its meaning, pronunciation and cultural context. Then tear off the sheet and practice writing it a few times. In a matter of days you'll be on your way to reading and writing Chinese!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Release date: Nov 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781462915521

Book preview

SMALL TALK

Days 1–31

新年快乐!

Xīnnián kuàilè!

Happy New Year!

（新年快樂！）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

In order to read a newspaper, a person needs to know about 5,000 Chinese characters; 3,000 will do for functional literacy—that is, to be able to read signs, buy food and the like.

你好!

Nǐ hǎo!

Hello / Hi!

（你好！）

再见!

Zàijiàn!

Goodbye!

（再見！）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

An estimated 1.3–1.6 billion people live in China; note that the questionable difference of 300 million people is equivalent to a lost United States.

你好吗?

Nǐ hǎo ma?

How are you?

（你好嗎？）

很好。你呢?

Hěn hǎo. Nǐ ne?

Very good. And you?

（很好。你呢？）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

A dish of carrot made hastily may contain dirt.

—Chinese proverb

谢谢。

Xìexie.

Thank you.

（謝謝。）

不用谢。

Bú yòng xie.

You’re welcome.

（不用謝。）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

China has over 100 cities with more than one million people. Beijing and Shanghai each have a population of around 12 to 15 million.

你叫什么名字?

Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

What’s your name?

（你叫什麼名字？）

我叫__________。

Wǒ jiào __________.

My name is __________.

（我叫__________。）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

Arabic script (or Uiger) is one of the 4 scripts used on Chinese currency. The others are Chinese, English and Tibetan.

你是哪国人?

Nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?

What nationality are you?

（你是哪國人？）

我是美国人。你呢?

Wǒ shì Měiguó rén. Nǐ ne?

I’m American. And you?

（我是美國人。你呢？）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

There are five time zones in China, but only Beijing time is used across the entire country.

你是美国人吗?

Nǐ shì Měiguó rén ma?

Are you American?

（你是美國人嗎？）

是的, 我是美国人。

Shì de, wǒ shì Měiguó rén.

Yes, I’m American.

（是的，我是美國人。）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

Drinking with a dear friend, a thousand shots are too few; talking with a disagreeable person, half a sentence is too many.

—Chinese proverb

你老家哪儿的?

Nǐ lǎojiā nǎr de?

What’s your hometown?

（你老家哪兒的？）

我老家在纽约。

Wǒ lǎojiā zài Niǔyuē.

My hometown is New York.

（我老家在紐約。）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

There are about 50 Starbucks in Beijing and Shanghai—each. There are more than 1,000 KFCs in China and McDonald’s is not far behind. Nor is 7-11, the convenience store.

你结婚了吗?

Nǐ jiéhūn le ma?

Are you married?

（你結婚了嗎？）

是的, 我结婚了。/还没有。

Shì de, wǒ jiéhūn le. / Hái méiyǒu.

Yes, I’m already married. / Not yet.

（是的，我結婚了。/ 還沒有。）

————————— CULTURAL NOTE —————————

A Russo-Chinese border treaty signed at Nerchinsk in 1689 was the first treaty concluded between China and 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