Basic Mandarin Chinese | Lesson 3 | Learn other useful greetings!

To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Mandarin

Nǐ hǎo
Lesson 3 on Basic Mandarin!

Revision - Tones


Revision-Vocabulary
English

Mandarin

Mother

Mā

Hemp

Má

Horse

Mǎ

Scold

Mà

You (informal)

Nǐ

You (formal)

Nín

Good

Hǎo


Revision

English

Hello (informal)
Hello (formal)

Mandarin

Nǐ hǎo
Nín hǎo

Tone
falling rising,
falling rising
mid rising,
falling rising


Lesson objectives

1

Basic greetings


What's in store today?

Alright! So you now know how to say
'hello' in Mandarin!
Let's move on and look at some
other greetings


Vocabulary

English

Mandarin

Type

Nǐ

Pronoun

Good

Hǎo

Adj

Question particle

Ma

Yes/no questions

You (singular,
informal)


Greetings and pleasantries
How are you?
'How are you?' is literally translated as
'you good?' in Mandarin
We saw that Nǐ hǎo = You good
We just need to convert it to a question now...


Greetings and pleasantries

You good = Nǐ hǎo
To convert this into a question (you good?),
we only need to add a question particle; ‹ma›


Tonal tip
As a question particle, 'ma' is pronounced using a
neutral tone which carries a soft falling sound, as
if the sound is fading away
Let’s try and say 'ma'
Great! Now let's try it in a question!


Greetings : How are you?

How are you?

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Literally : you good?


Grammar tip

Ma is a question particle
Adding the particle ‹ma› to the end of a sentence
makes a statement into a question


Grammar tip

Ma is usually used for questions which can be
answered by a yes/no
Eg: Nǐ hǎo ma? = you good?
Can be answered by saying 'yes/no'


So remember!

'Ma' is pronounced using a neutral tone which
carries a soft falling sound, as if the sound
is fading away


Tonal tip

Let's try saying Nǐ hǎo ma?
It is said using a mid rising tone for Nǐ, a
rising falling tone for 'Hǎo'and a neutral tone
for the question particle 'ma'


Let's see if you remember…


Pick the right option

How do we say, 'How are you?'

1

2

3

Nǐ hāo ma?

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Nǐ háo ma?


Solution

How do we say, 'How are you?'

1

2

3

Nǐ hāo ma?

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Nǐ háo ma?


Responding to : how are you?
Let's see how to answer the question
How are you? / you good? = 'Nǐ hǎo ma?'
You will say 'I am very good' or
'I am very well'
Let’s learn the vocabulary for this!


Vocabulary

English

Mandarin

Type

I, Me

Wǒ

Pronoun

Very

Hěn

Adv.

Good

Hǎo

Adj.

Also / too

Yě

Adv.

Shì

Verb

'To-be' verb (is,
am, are)


Pronunciation tip

Before moving on, lets take a look
at the pronunciations for the new
words we've just learnt!


Tonal tip

I, Me = Wǒ
It is pronounced using a
'falling rising' tone (3rd)


Tonal tip

Let's try and say Wǒ
It is said with a 'falling rising' tone - also
known as the third tone, Wǒ


Tonal tip

Very = Hěn
It is also pronounced using a


Tonal tip

Let's try and say Hěn
known as the third tone, Hěn


Tonal tip

Good = Hǎo
It is also pronounced using a


Tonal tip

Let's try and say Hǎo
known as the third tone, Hǎo


Tonal tip

'To-be' verb = Shì
( 'To-be' verbs include : is, am, are, etc...)
'falling' tone (4th)


Tonal tip

Let's try and say Shì
It is said with a 'falling' tone - also known as
the fourth tone, Shì


Moving on...

Great! Now that we know
how to pronounce these words,
let's use them in a sentence!



I

am

very

good

↓

↓

↓

↓

Wǒ

shì

hěn

hǎo

In Chinese, 'am', 'is', 'are' etc.
are not used with adjectives

Grammar tip
We noticed that we did not translate 'am' in
the last sentence
Unlike English, in Chinese, the 'to-be' verb
(shì = am, is, are) is not used with
adjectives (good, bad etc.)
I am very good = Wǒ hěn hǎo = I very good



I am very good / I am very well

Wǒ hěn hǎo

'am' is not translated


So do you remember?

Very good = Hěn hǎo
I am very good = Wǒ hěn hǎo



'How are you?' translates as?

1

2

3

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Nǐ hǎo

Wǒ hěn hǎo


Solution

'How are you?' translates as?

1

2

3

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Nǐ hǎo

Wǒ hěn hǎo



'I am very good' translates as?

1

2

3

Nǐ hǎo

Wǒ shì
hěn hǎo

Wǒ hěn
hǎo


Solution

'I am very good' translates as?

1

2

3

Nǐ hǎo

Wǒ shì
hěn hǎo

Wǒ hěn
hǎo


Moving on…

While responding to 'how are you?' you
would often say :
'I am very good, and you?'
Let's see how we say this in Mandarin…



Now you know
I am very good = Wǒ hěn hǎo
To additionally ask 'and you?' we need to
learn one new question particle, 'ne'


Tonal tip

'Ne' is spoken in a neutral tone
It is pronounced using a soft falling sound,
as if the sound is fading away
Let’s try and pronounce 'Ne'


Grammar tip
Ne is also a particle used to convert
statements to questions
Ending with 'ne' makes a question when the
context is already known
nǐ ne? = and you?
A common circumstance is when you wish to
repeat a question that was just asked



I

am

very

good,

and

you?

↓

↓

↓

↓

Wǒ

hěn

hǎo,

nǐ ne?

Remember! In Mandarin, 'am',
'is', 'are' etc. are not
used with adjectives


nǐ ne? = and you?
We used 'ne' here as we were answering to
'how are you?' by saying 'I am good, and you? '
hence we were repeating the question



I am very good, and you?

Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?

'am' is not translated


Responding to : I am good, and you?

You can also reply to 'I am good, and you?'
by saying 'I am also very good'
For this we will need to
learn how to say 'also'


Tonal tip

Also = Yě


Tonal tip

Let's try and say Yě
known as the third tone, Yě


Responding to : I am good, and you?

I

am

also

very

good

↓

↓

↓

↓

Wǒ

yě

hěn

hǎo

Remember!In Mandarin, 'am',
'is', 'are' etc. are not
used with adjectives

Grammar tip

We can just say 'also very good'
instead of saying
'I am also very good'



Also very good

Yě hěn hǎo

Literally : also very good



How do we say 'I am also very good'
in Mandarin?

1

2

3

Nǐ
hěn hǎo
ma

Nǐ
yě hěn
hǎo

Wǒ
yě hěn
hǎo


Solution

How do we say 'I am also very good'
in Mandarin?

1

2

3

Nǐ
hěn hǎo
ma

Nǐ
yě hěn
hǎo

Wǒ
yě hěn
hǎo



What tone does 'yě' carry?

1

2

3

High
level

Falling
rising

Mid
rising


Solution

What tone does 'yě' carry?

1

2

3

High
level

Falling
rising

Mid
rising



What tone does 'ne' carry?

1

2

3

Neutral

Falling

High level


Solution

What tone does 'ne' carry?

1

2

3

Neutral

Falling

High level


Vocabulary for today
English

Mandarin

Type

I, Me

Wǒ

Pronoun

Nǐ

Pronoun

Very

Hěn

Adv

Good

Hǎo

Adj

Also / too

Yě

Adv

Ne

Question particle

You (singular,
informal)

Ma

Question particle
(yes/no questions)


Let's practice

English

Mandarin

Lisa

Hello!

Nǐ hǎo

Mark

Hello!

Nǐ hǎo

Lisa

How are you?

Nǐ hǎo ma?

Mark

I am very good, and you?

Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ne?

Lisa

I am also very good

Yě hěn hǎo


Culture Leaf


Culture leaf : Yin and yang

The concept of yin and yang (Pinyin:
yīnyáng)originates in ancient Chinese philosophy,
which describes two opposing but complementary
forces found in all things in the universe
Literally meaning 'shadow and light'


Culture leaf : Yin and yang
Many natural dualities — e.g., dark and
light,female and
male, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire,
earth and air — are thought of as manifestations
of
yin and yang (respectively)

Everything has both Yin and Yang aspects - E.g.
We could
not have appreciated 'Light' had there been no
'Darkness'
and 'Shadow (a form of darkness)' could not have
existed
without there being 'Light'!

What's next?

In the next lesson, we will learn more
greetings and pleasantries and common
phrases like 'thank you'!


Credits
Content
Team Culture Alley, Sunny Dang
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

Images
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Guanhua.png
User: Raghith
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pinyin_Tone_Char
User : Wereon


See you at the Alley!

Basic Mandarin Chinese | Lesson 3 | Learn other useful greetings!

More Related Content

Basic Mandarin Chinese | Lesson 3 | Learn other useful greetings!