Making Out in Chinese. Ray Daniels

(said with a slight pull)uiwait

      The more challenging combinations are as follows:

CHINESE	ENGLISH
ci	its
qi	chip
si	swing
zi	bits

      The “i” in ci, si and zi is silent.

      In the subsequent sections of the book, the Hanyu Pinyin system of romanization is presented on the right with phonetic transcriptions given below it. Phonetic transcriptions are included to cue you in on the English equivalent of a speech sound in the Hanyu Pinyin system.

      TENSES

      Tenses are expressed simply in Chinese. If you want to express that you already did something, you can add the word le 了 at the end of the sentence. If you wish to express that you will do something, you can use the words jiāng huì 将会. For example, “I will go” is Wǒ jiāng huì qù 我将会去. A sentence can also be made past or future by the use of time words such as míng tiān 明天 (tomorrow) or zuó tiān 昨天 (yesterday). Time is usually mentioned at the beginning of a sentence. For example, “I will go tomorrow” is Wǒ míng tiān qù 我明天去; “I went yesterday” is Wǒ zúo tiān qù le 我昨天去了.

      1 Basic Phrases

      Who?

      Shéí?

      Sháy?

      谁？

      What?

      Shén me?

      Shém-můh?

      什么？

      Where?

      Nǎ lǐ?

      Nár-lǐ?

      哪里？

      When?

      Shén me shí hòu?

      Shém-můh shér-hò?

      什么时候？

      Why?

      Wèi shén me?

      Wày shém-můh?

      为什么？

      How?

      Zěn me yàng?

      Dzěm můh yàng?

      怎么样？

      Whose?

      Shuí de?

      Sháy důh?

      谁的？

      This

      Zhè ge.

      Jùh-gůh.

      这个。

      That

      Nà ge.

      Nàh-gůh.

      那个。

      Here

      Zhè lǐ.

      Jùh-lǐ.

      这里。

      There

      Nà lǐ.

      Nàh-lǐ.

      那里。

      If

      Rú guǒ.

      Rú-guǒ.

      如果。

      But

      Dàn shì.

      Dèn-shèr.

      但是。

      However

      Kě shì.

      Kǔh shèr.

      可是。

      Nevertheless

      Bú guò.

      Bú-guò.

      不过。

      Because

      Yīn wéi.

      Īng-wáy.

      因为。

      Thus

      Nà me.

      Nàh-můh.

      那么。

      So, therefore

      Suó yǐ.

      Suó-ǐ.

      所以。

      Yes

      Shì de.

      Shèr důh.

      是的。

      The verb “to be”

      Shì.

      Shèr.

      是。

      No

      Bù.

      Bù.

      不。

      Bú shì de.

      Bú shèr důh.

      不是的。

      Maybe

      Kě néng.

      Kǔh núng.

      可能。

      Maybe not

      Kě néng bú shì.

      Kǔh-núng bú shèr.

      可能不是。

      I

      Wǒ

      Wǒ

      我

      Alternatively, use 俺 (ǎn) for “I.” This will sound goofy (since people who use it are those who live in the back country) and is sure to break some ice.

      You

      Nǐ

      Nǐ

      你

      He/She/It

      Tā

      Tā

      他／她／它

      We

      Wǒ men

      Wǒ-m

n

      我们

      You (plural)

      Nǐ men

      Nǐ-m

n

      你们

      They

      Tā men

      Tā-m

n

      他们／她们／它们

      Don’t ...

      Bú yào…

      Bú yòw…

      不要…

      I would like to ... .

      Wǒ xiǎng… .

      Wǒ shiǎng… .

      我想…。