Some basic Chinese sentences

I have already talked about different ways of saying Hello in Chinese language. Now let’s go a step further and learn some basic Chinese sentences. Here are some of the first questions you will learn in any language:

你叫什么名字？(Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?): What is your name?

你多大？(Nǐ duōdà?): How old are you?

你是哪国人？(Nǐ shì nǎ guórén?): Which country are you from?

And this is how you respond

我叫马思文 (Wǒ jiào Mǎ Sī Wén): My name is Ma Si Wen

我四十岁 (Wǒ sì shí suì): I am forty years old

A little tongue twister for you, I am not really forty years old.

我是巴西人 (Wǒ shì bāxī rén): I am Brazilian

And just trying to be cool here, not from Brazil either.

Textbook learning however doesn't always help. Once a stranger in China asked me where I was from:

你是从哪里来的？(Nǐ shì cóng nǎlǐ lái de?): Where are you from?

I had no clue what she was talking about because I only understood “Nǐ shì nǎ guórén?”