Chinese Language Cheatsheet

Foreign Languages / Chinese

March 03, 2025 00:30

chinese

grammar

language learning

mandarin

pinyin

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Pinyin & Pronunciation

b	pronounced like 'b' in 'boy'
p	pronounced like 'p' in 'pot' (aspirated)
m	pronounced like 'm' in 'mom'
f	pronounced like 'f' in 'fun'
d	pronounced like 'd' in 'dog'
t	pronounced like 't' in 'top' (aspirated)
n	pronounced like 'n' in 'no'
l	pronounced like 'l' in 'low'

a	pronounced like 'ah' in 'father'
o	pronounced like 'o' in 'more'
e	pronounced like 'uh' in 'her'
i	pronounced like 'ee' in 'see'
u	pronounced like 'oo' in 'moon'
ü (or v on some keyboards)	pronounced like 'u' in French 'tu' or German 'über'

First Tone (ā)	High and level. Example: mā (妈 - mother)
Second Tone (á)	Rising. Example: má (麻 - hemp)
Third Tone (ǎ)	Falling then rising. Example: mǎ (马 - horse)
Fourth Tone (à)	Falling. Example: mà (骂 - to scold)
Neutral Tone (a)	Short and light. Example: ma (吗 - question particle)

Chinese follows Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order, similar to English.

Example:
我 (wǒ - I) 吃 (chī - eat) 苹果 (píngguǒ - apple).
I eat apple. (I eat an apple.)

Measure words (or classifiers) are used when counting nouns. They come between the number and the noun.

Example:
一个人 (yī gè rén) - one person (个 is a common measure word)
三本书 (sān běn shū) - three books (本 is the measure word for books)

Subject + Verb	我走 (wǒ zǒu) - I walk
Subject + Verb + Object	我吃饭 (wǒ chī fàn) - I eat rice
Subject + Adverb + Verb	我很快走 (wǒ hěn kuài zǒu) - I walk very fast
Subject + Verb + Object + Modifier	我昨天吃饭 (wǒ zuótiān chī fàn) - I ate rice yesterday

是 (shì) is used to link a subject with its description or identity.

Example:
我是学生 (wǒ shì xuésheng) - I am a student.