Numbers from 6 to 10 and the Surname Lín
New Characters and Words
Study the six characters below and the common words written with them, paying careful attention to each character’s pronunciation, meaning, and structure, as well as similar-looking characters. After you’ve studied a character, turn to the Practice Book volume and practice writing it on the practice sheet, making sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction as you pronounce it out loud and think of its meaning.
| 7 | 六 | liù | six |
| Radical is 八 bā “eight” (9), see below. | |||
| 六 | liù | six [NU] | |
| 8 | 七 | qī | seven |
| Radical is 一 yī (1). | |||
| 七 | qī | seven [NU] | |
| 9 | 八 | bā | eight |
| 八 is itself a radical. | |||
| 八 | bā | eight [NU] | |
| 10 | 九 | jiŭ | nine |
| Radical is 乙 yĭ “second of the ten Celestial Stems.” 九 can itself serve as a phonetic, e.g, 究 jiū as in 研究 yánjiū “research” or 鸠 ( 鳩 ) jiū as in 斑鸠 ( 斑鳩 ) bānjiū “turtle dove.” | |||
| 九 | jiŭ | nine [NU] | |
| 11 | 十 | shí | ten |
| 十 is itself a radical. This character was originally a picture of two hands pressed palm to palm, i.e., “ten” fingers. Contrast 十 and 七 qī (8). | |||
| 十 | shí | ten [NU] | |
| 12 | 林 | lín | grove, small forest |
| Radical is the pictograph 木 mù “tree” [BF]. This radical is referred to colloquially as 木字旁 mùzìpáng “side made up of the character 木.” Note that when 木 is written at the left of a character as a radical, its last stroke is shortened so that it doesn’t collide with the component to its right. “Two” “trees” standing next to each other form a “grove.” 林 can itself serve as a phonetic, e.g., 淋 lín as in 淋湿 ( 淋濕 ) línshī “soaked, drenched.” | |||
| 林 | Lín | Lin, Lam, Lum, Lim (also Lim, Im, or Rim, a common Korean surname) [SN] |
Reading Exercises (Simplified and Traditional Characters)
Now practice reading the new characters and words for this lesson in context. Be sure to refer to the Notes at the end of this lesson, and make use of the accompanying audio disc to hear and practice correct pronunciation, phrasing, and intonation.
A. SINGLE DIGITS
Read out loud each of the following numbers.
Automobile license plate from Taipei
1. 十
2. 七
3. 六
4. 九
5. 八
6. 六
7. 七
8. 十
9. 九
10. 八
B. TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Read out loud each of the following telephone numbers.
一、三 九 五 九 四 一 三 九
二、八 六 一 二 四
三、七 一 九 二 六 八 七 九
四、五 七 八 九 二 六
五、九 六 八 四 一 八 七 三
六、二 二 八 五 六 七 八 五
C. MISCELLANEOUS NUMBERS
Read out loud each of the following series of numbers. Some of them have special meanings and usages, for which you can consult the Notes at the end of this lesson.
一、一 三 五
二、二 四 六
三、一 二 三 四 五
四、五 四 三 二 一
五、六 七 八 九 十
六、十 九 八 七 六
七、一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
八、十 九 八 七 六 五 四 三 二 一
九、二 四 六 八 十
十、一 三 五 七 九
D. SURNAMES
Read out loud each of the following common Chinese surnames.
一、林
二、王
Notes
B1. CHINESE PUNCTUATION. While Chinese, like Latin, was originally written without any punctuation marks, and later in its history only with a kind of period (。) that served as an all-purpose punctuation mark, it has over the last 150 years adopted the punctuation system of Western languages, even though there exist a few differences in usage. Indeed, China has gone the West one better by creating several additional punctuation marks that do not exist in Western languages. One of these is a kind of inverted comma called the 顿号 ( 頓號 ) dùnhào that looks like this: 、 One use of the dùnhào is after numbers, for example: 一、二、三、
C1. 一三五 could either represent the numbers 1 3 5 or stand for the first, third, and fifth days of the week, much like the English abbreviation “MWF.”
C2. 二四六 could either represent the numbers 2 4 6 or stand for the second, fourth, and sixth days of the week, like English “T Th Sat.”
The characters at the top are in written Cantonese, which is quite different from written Mandarin
PART 3
Some Common Personal Names and Place Names
New Characters and Words
Study the six characters below and the common words written with them, paying careful attention to each character’s pronunciation, meaning, and structure, as well as similar-looking characters. After you’ve studied a character, turn to the Practice Book volume and practice writing it on the practice sheet, making sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction as you pronounce it out loud