Grammar / Notes

Question 1

On which letter do you write the tone?

Answer 1

On the first letter
-> yáo
If there are 2 vowels, on the first letter of the second vowel
-> jiáo

Question 2

What happens to the “i” when there is a tone?

Answer 2

The dot disappears

-> zhì

Question 3

If two characters have a third tone, how do you pronounce them?

Answer 3

The first character will take the second tone and the next one will keep the third tone
-> nǐ hǎo -> “ní hǎo”

Question 4

What happens to vowels in the “i” column not preceded by consonants?

Answer 4

If a word starts with an “i”, the “i” will be replaced by a “y”
yi ya ye yao you Yan yin yang yang yong

Question 5

What happens to vowels in the “u” column not preceded by consonants?

Answer 5

If a word starts with an “u”, the “u” will be replaced by a “w”
wu wa wo war wie wan wen wang weng

Question 6

What happens to vowels in the “ü” column when preceded by j, q, x?

Answer 6

The dots are omitted

ju qu xu

Question 7

What happens to vowels in the “ü” column not preceded by consonants?

Answer 7

The dots are omitted

yu yue yuan yun

Question 8

What happens to iou, uei, uen when preceded by consonants ?

Answer 8

The first letter of the second syllable is omitted:
iou -> iu (liù)
uei -> ui (gui)
uen -> un (lun)

Question 9

Vowels

Answer 9

i a ai an er
u o ei en
ü e ai ang
ê ou eng

Question 10

Consonants

Answer 10

b d g j zh z
p t k q ch c
m n h x sh s
f l r

Question 11

If three characters have a third tone, how do you pronounce them?

Answer 11

You can change the first two characters tone to second tone, or chang only the second character to second tone:
我有狗
wǒ yǒu gǒu
"wó yóu gǒu"
"wǒ yóu gǒu"

Question 12

In which cases do you NOT use “de” 的

modification marker

Answer 12

When talking about close people AND the subject is Wo, Ni, Ta 
=> wo baba, ni jiejie
=> Lin de baba
When used with duō
=> ...

Question 13

How to use “de” 的 (modification marker) with an adjective?

Answer 13

Adjective + de + subject

paioliang de xiaojie

Question 14

What happens when you’re talking about only one unit of something?

Answer 14

You don’t necessarily need to specify “one” (yi)

=> zhè (yī) zhāng zhào piàn

Question 15

How would you say “These two people”?

Answer 15

這兩個人 zhè liǎng gè rén

Question 16

What to do with the measure word when mentioning “a lot”?

Answer 16

You can use the measure word or skip it.
=> 我有很多照片 Wǒ yǒu hěnduō zhàopiàn
=> 我有很多張照片 Wǒ yǒu hěnduō zhāng zhàopiàn

Question 17

How to say “He is doing exercise”

Answer 17

她在做运动
Tā zài zuò yùndòng

or

她在运动
Tā zài yùndòng

You can say it with or without “zuò”

Question 18

How to use “or” in a question?

Answer 18

還是 háishì is already a question particle; therefore it should never be used with 嗎 ma or with the format A not A.

Question 19

How to say “and”?

Answer 19

hàn with noun and noun

hái yoǔ with verb and verb

Question 20

How to say “They also all take pictures very often”?

Answer 20

Tā men yě dōu hěn cháng zhàoxiàng.

=> Yě comes before dōu, and cháng at the end

Question 21

How to ask “What kind of tea do you like?”

Answer 21

Nǐ xǐhuān hē shénme chá?

verb + what + obj

Question 22

How to ask “What is does he want to do this evening?”

Answer 22

Tā jīntiān xiàwǔ yào zuò shénme? (best way)

Jīntiān xiàwǔ tā yào zuò shénme? (Correct but not the most common)

You need to use the subject and time at the beginning of the sentence.

Question 23

How to say “a movie in mandarin”

Answer 23

zhōng guó diàn yīng

zhōng wén diàn yīng

Question 24

How to say “study” and “study mandarin”?

Answer 24

study: niàn shū

study mandarin: niàn zhōng wén

Question 25

How to say “Do you often eat Vietnamese food?”

Answer 25

Nǐ cháng qù chī yuènán cài ma?

Nǐ cháng chī yuènán cài ma?

Question 26

How to use the suggestion particle “ba”?

Answer 26

Since “ba” is a particle used for suggestions, it is never used with “yào” (Yào implies that you something is for sure)