Thursday, April 21, 2011

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?”

4 comments:

  1. I was going to say-- since when did you turn 40?

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  2. This is really useful! Wow! Thanks!

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    Replies
    1. Glad you found it useful. Let me know if you want me to write about anything else.

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