Mandarin Chinese for Beginners

1. What you are learning, and what ten lessons can do

Learning goal: Name the language this course teaches, the writing and spelling systems it uses, and what a ten-lesson beginner course can and cannot give you.

This course teaches Standard Chinese, the modern standardised form of Mandarin, largely based on the Beijing dialect. In mainland China it is most commonly called Putonghua; in Taiwan it is most commonly called Guoyu (S3). It is one variety of Chinese, not all of them. Other varieties, such as Cantonese, are a different study and are not covered here.

You will meet three layers. Sound: Mandarin uses tones, and the pitch of a syllable helps tell words apart (S2). Spelling of sound: Hanyu Pinyin, the official romanization system in China, with tone marks (S1). Writing: Chinese characters, called hanzi. This course uses simplified characters, the forms in the PRC Ministry of Education's standard set (S6). Pinyin is also used by input methods on computers (S1).

Honest scope. Ten short lessons give you a foundation: you can read and say pinyin with tone marks, meet about 95 different characters (lesson 6 drills twelve of them), and build simple statements and questions. They do not make you conversational. For scale, the Ministry of Education's Chinese proficiency standard for international learners lists 1,110 syllables, 3,000 characters, 11,092 words and 572 grammar points across nine levels (S13). This course uses 38 multi-character words and phrases, plus single characters. It also has no audio: you must hear real speakers from a teacher or a recording, and this site cannot check your pronunciation.

Worked example

A friend says, 'I will learn pinyin, so I will be able to read Chinese newspapers.' Is that right?

1. Pinyin is a spelling of sounds (S1).
2. Newspapers and most texts are written in characters (S7).
3. So pinyin helps you say and type words, but reading texts also needs characters. The claim is not correct as stated.

Mental model: Standard Chinese has tones, is spelled in pinyin and written in characters. Ten lessons give a start, not fluency.

Common trap: Treating pinyin as if it were the writing system, or expecting an online course to teach pronunciation without audio.

2. Pinyin: initials, finals and the odd letters

Learning goal: Split a pinyin syllable into initial and final, and apply the spelling rules for y, w and ü.

Every syllable in Standard Chinese can be described as one optional initial plus one final, apart from the special syllable er (S1). Add one of four tones and you have a full syllable. Counted without tones there are only about 400 different syllables, and about 1,300 with tones (S2). The average word has almost exactly two syllables (S2).

Pinyin has 21 initials: b p m f, d t n l, g k h, j q x, zh ch sh r, z c s. (We grouped them for learning and counted them from the syllable list in S10.) Treat each letter as a code and do not assume English sound values for letters such as q, x, c and z. S1 gives the sound of every initial in the International Phonetic Alphabet, and you still need audio.

y and w. A syllable with no initial is often written with y or w: 衣 (yī), 围 (wéi) (S1, S2). ü. The letter ü is written after l and n when needed, so 炉 (lú) and 驴 (lǘ) are different words (S1). After j, q, x and y the umlaut is dropped: 鱼 (yú), not yǘ (S1). On phones and keyboards you may see v typed for ü; that is an input shortcut (S1).

Worked example

Break 'xué' (学, to study) into its parts.

1. The tone mark is on the e, so the tone is the second tone.
2. Remove the tone: xue.
3. x is the initial. ue is the final.
4. After x the sound of ü is written as u (S1), so there is no umlaut in this spelling.

Mental model: A syllable is initial plus final plus tone. Treat letters as codes, and remember y, w and the ü rule.

Common trap: Reading pinyin letters as if they had English sound values.

3. The four tones and the neutral tone

Learning goal: Name each tone, write its mark, and tell the four 'ma' words apart.

Pitch is part of the word. The standard demonstration is one syllable with four tones: 妈 (mā), 麻 (má), 马 (mǎ), 骂 (mà). Marks sit above the vowel: flat bar for tone 1, rising accent for tone 2, a small v shape for tone 3, falling accent for tone 4. Tone 5, the neutral tone, has no mark, as in 吗 (ma) (S1).

S2 describes the contours. Tone 1 is a high level tone. Tone 2 rises, from mid to high. Tone 3 is low and is often called dipping. Tone 4 falls sharply. Learners often find tone 2 hard and mix it up with tone 3 (S2). When a third-tone syllable is inside a sentence, the final rise is normally heard only at the end of a sentence or before a pause (S2).

Syllables with the neutral tone are weak and usually shorter. About 15 to 20 percent of syllables in written texts are unstressed, including particles and some suffixes (S2). Statistically, tones are as important as vowels in Standard Chinese (S2). Typed text often uses a number after the syllable instead, so mǎ is written ma3 (S1).

The meanings above are dictionary meanings (S10). A tone chart cannot teach you to hear the difference. Use a recording and say it aloud.

Worked example

You read 'ma3' in a plain-text message. Which word is 'horse' and how do you write its pinyin?

1. The number 3 means the third tone, the v-shaped mark (S1).
2. Put it on the vowel: mǎ.
3. Check the dictionary: 马 mǎ means horse (S10).

Mental model: Four marked tones and one unmarked neutral tone. Tone is part of the word.

Common trap: Dropping tone marks when you write pinyin and then not knowing which word you meant.

4. Where tone marks go, and three tone changes

Learning goal: Put the tone mark on the right vowel, and say 3-3, bu and yi correctly.

Placement. If the syllable has an a or an e, the mark goes there. In ou, it goes on the o. Otherwise it goes on the second vowel (S1). So 好 (hǎo), 学 (xué), 九 (jiǔ), 对 (duì), 国 (guó). The i loses its dot when it takes a mark, as in yī (S1).

Third tone sandhi. When two third tones come together, the first is pronounced as the second tone (S2). 你好 (nǐ hǎo) is pronounced like ní hǎo. 水果 (shuǐguǒ) sounds like shuíguǒ. Pinyin spelling does not ordinarily show the change (S1), and this course writes the dictionary tones.

不 (bù, not). It is pronounced with the second tone before a fourth-tone syllable: 不是 (bù shì) is said bú shì. In other cases it keeps the fourth tone (S2). 一 (yī, one). Before a fourth-tone syllable it is said with the second tone (一定 (yīdìng) as yí dìng). Before a first, second or third tone it is said with the fourth tone (一天 (yītiān), 一年 (yīnián), 一起 (yīqǐ) as yì tiān, yì nián, yì qǐ). Alone or at the end of a word it keeps the first tone (S2). Longer chains of third tones are more complicated and are not covered here (S2).

Worked example

Say 不是 (bù shì) correctly and explain the tone of 不.

1. 不 is bù in the dictionary.
2. The next syllable, 是 shì, is fourth tone.
3. Before a fourth tone, 不 is pronounced with the second tone (S2).
4. So the spoken form is bú shì.

Mental model: Mark goes on a or e, then o in ou, else the second vowel. Say 3-3 as 2-3 and watch 不 and 一.

Common trap: Writing the changed tone in pinyin for 3-3 and then looking the word up under the wrong spelling.

5. Greetings and polite phrases

Learning goal: Use a set of ten fixed greetings and polite phrases in the right order of a short exchange.

Chinese almost entirely lacks inflection (S4), so fixed phrases are a good way in. Learn them whole.

您 (nín) is the polite form of 你 (nǐ, you) (S10). S10 writes the second syllable of 谢谢 with the neutral tone. In 不客气 the 不 is said bú because 客 is a fourth-tone syllable (S2). Politeness conventions vary with the setting, so this course teaches only phrases it could check against a dictionary (S10). Ask a teacher about when to use each.

A short exchange: 你好 (nǐ hǎo), 你好 (nǐ hǎo). 谢谢 (xièxie), 不客气 (bù kèqi). 对不起 (duìbuqǐ), 没关系 (méi guānxi). 再见 (zàijiàn).

Worked example

Someone thanks you. Pick a reply from this lesson and say its tones.

1. They say 谢谢 (xièxie).
2. A reply is 不客气 (bù kèqi in the dictionary).
3. The 不 is followed by 客, fourth tone, so say bú kèqi (S2).

Mental model: Learn greetings as whole phrases and watch the tone change in 不客气.

Common trap: Translating word by word instead of learning the phrase.

6. Characters: strokes, order and meaning

Learning goal: Write twelve characters in the right stroke order and tell how many strokes each has.

Chinese characters grew from pictures. Some of the oldest are pictographs: 日 (rì) (sun), 月 (yuè) (moon), 木 (mù) (tree) (S7). The character 大 (dà) (big) was originally a picture of a large person (S7). Over time the forms were simplified, so modern readers generally cannot deduce what many of them depict (S7). Learn each meaning; do not guess it from the shape.

Order. Strokes go from top to bottom and left to right. 三 is written with its top stroke first. When a character has left and right parts, the left side is usually written before the right: the left 木 of 校 before 交. With upper and lower parts, the upper part comes first, as in 品 and 星 (S6).

Variants. Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong prescribe slightly different stroke orders for some characters (S6). This course gives counts and the general rules, not every stroke. For a character you write often, check a stroke-order reference for your own standard. Simplified. The PRC introduced simplified characters in 1956 as part of its standard character set (S6). Traditional forms are not taught here.

Worked example

How many strokes does 木 have, and in which direction do you write a horizontal stroke?

1. Look up 木 (mù, tree): 4 strokes (S11).
2. Horizontal strokes go left to right (S6).
3. Strokes in general go top to bottom and left to right (S6).

Mental model: Characters are learned by shape, meaning and sound together. Write top to bottom, left to right.

Common trap: Guessing meaning from the shape of a character and getting a wrong word.

7. Basic sentences: I, you, is, is not, question particle

Learning goal: Build and answer simple 'X is Y' sentences with the pronouns, 是, 不 and 吗.

The basic word order is subject, verb, object, as in English (S4). Chinese almost entirely lacks inflection, so there is one form of each word, and tense is often shown by time words instead of verb endings (S4).

The pronouns are 我, 你 and 他/她, with men (们) added for plurals (S4). Both 他 and 她 are said tā. 是 links two nouns: 我是学生。 (Wǒ shì xuésheng.). 不 goes before the verb: 我不是老师。 (Wǒ bù shì lǎoshī.) (S4). 吗 at the end of a statement makes a yes-no question and the word order does not change: 你是老师吗？ (Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma?) (S4). A possessive uses 的: 他是我的朋友。 (Tā shì wǒ de péngyou.) (S4).

Worked example

Say 'He is not my teacher.'

1. Subject: 他. Negative: 不. Verb: 是.
2. Add the possessive 的 after 我: 我的.
3. Noun: 老师.
4. Put it together: 他不是我的老师。 (Tā bú shì wǒ de lǎoshī.)

Mental model: Subject, verb, object. 不 before the verb, 吗 at the end for a yes-no question.

Common trap: Reordering the words to ask a question the way English does.

8. Numbers and the measure word 个

Learning goal: Count to 99 and say how many of something with a number plus 个.

The characters for 0 to 10 are 零, 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十 (S8). Larger numbers are built by saying the digits: 十一 (shíyī) is ten and one, 二十 (èrshí) is two tens, 二十一 (èrshíyī) is two tens and one, and 九十九 (jiǔshíjiǔ) is nine tens and nine.

Measure words. A number before a noun usually needs a classifier between them. The general classifier is 个 (gè) (S5). It is used for people, some abstract things and nouns with no specific classifier (S5). So 三个人 (Sān gè rén, three people). Colloquially 个 is acceptable for most nouns, with exceptions (S4). Many nouns have their own classifiers, which are outside this course (S5).

Asking a number. 几 (jǐ) asks how many and takes a classifier (S4): 几个人？ (Jǐ gè rén?). 多少 (duōshao) also asks how many or how much. Two. The word for 2 is 二 when counting. In numbers of 200 and above, 两 (liǎng) is often used instead for the '2' (S8). Other uses of 两 are outside this course. The number 一 follows the tone rules from lesson 4.

Worked example

Say '83 students' in Chinese.

1. 83 is 8 tens and 3: 八十三 (bā shí sān).
2. Add the measure word 个.
3. Add the noun 学生.
4. 八十三个学生 (bāshísān gè xuésheng).

Mental model: Numbers are built from ten digits and 十. Put 个 between a number and a noun.

Common trap: Leaving out the measure word between a number and a noun.

9. Question words and introducing yourself

Learning goal: Ask and answer name and nationality questions with 什么, 谁, 哪 and 几.

Question words do not move to the front, as they do in English. They stay where the answer would go (S4). 'What did you say?' becomes you say what: 什么 (shénme) for what, 谁 (shéi) for who (谁 can also be said shuí, S10), 哪 (nǎ) for which.

To ask a name: 你叫什么名字？ (Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?). To answer: 我叫 plus your name. A Chinese name has a family name first, then the given name (S9). For nationality, 你是哪国人？ (Nǐ shì nǎ guórén?). Answer: 我是美国人。 (Wǒ shì Měiguórén.). To return a question, add 呢: 你呢？ (Nǐ ne?). To close an introduction: 认识你，很高兴。 (Rènshi nǐ, hěn gāoxìng.).

Worked example

Ask someone which country they are from, then answer for yourself if you are American.

1. Question: 你是哪国人？ The word 哪国人 sits where the answer would be.
2. Answer: 我是美国人。 Replace 哪国人 with 美国人.
3. Return the question: 你呢？

Mental model: Question words stay in the answer's place. Learn 我叫 and 我是...人 for introductions.

Common trap: Moving the question word to the front as in English.

10. A first conversation, and what to do next

Learning goal: Read a short model conversation, check yourself against a can-do list, and plan your next study steps.

Here is a model conversation using only words from this course. The names are invented examples.

A: 你好！ (Nǐ hǎo!) B: 你好！ A: 你叫什么名字？ (Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?) B: 我叫王明。 你呢？ A: 我叫李华。 你是哪国人？ B: 我是中国人。 (Wǒ shì Zhōngguórén.) A: 认识你，很高兴。 B: 再见！ (Zàijiàn!)

You can now read and write simple pinyin with tone marks, say the four tones and the main tone changes, recognise a small set of the 95 characters you met, form simple statements, negatives and questions, count to 99, and introduce yourself. You cannot yet follow native-speed speech, read ordinary texts, write characters fluently, or judge your own pronunciation. The Ministry of Education's Standard counts 3,000 characters and 11,092 words across nine levels (S13). Its stated purpose includes serving as a basis for standardised Chinese tests (S12). This course does not claim to match any level of it.

Next. Add a source of real audio, a tutor or a class. Use a free dictionary such as CC-CEDICT (S10) for look-ups. Review in short sessions and use this site's spaced review. Then study classifiers beyond 个, 了 and other particles, and more characters.

Worked example

List one skill from this course you can now do and one you cannot.

1. Can do: ask 你叫什么名字？ and answer 我叫...
2. Cannot yet: judge whether your own tones sound right without audio.
3. The next step for the second one is a recording or a teacher.

Mental model: You have a foundation in pinyin, tones, a few characters and simple sentences. Add audio and practice.

Common trap: Thinking ten lessons are enough for conversation without listening practice.