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Learn how to say a certain date/day in mandarin Chinese - MeetMandarin Chinese Video Lesson

http://www.meetmandarin.com/

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For Beginners: Learn Common expressions in Chinese

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Pinyin Chart with audios - Click on any pinyin sound and listen to the audio in all four tones.

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The usage of”的”

Chinese character “的” has 4 tones totally, different tones have different meanings, they respectively are: de dì dí dī.

1、de

When “的” is pronounced “de”, it indicates possession，like my house, her hair in English. “de” is often followed by a noun

eg:  wǒ de hái zi

      我 的 孩  子    

      My child

eg:   ā  yí de yī fu

        阿 姨 的 衣 服  

        Aunt’s clothes

 “de” can also follow a modifier,to modified a noun after “de”

eg: piào liɑnɡ de yī fu

     漂   亮    的 衣 服  

     beautiful clothes

eg: kě ài de hái zi

     可 爱 的 孩  子  

     lovely child

 “de” can also follow a reduplicated single-syllable adjective to add a degree of emphasis or vividness. The structure is O+reduplicated single-syllable adjective+的

eg: zhè liànɡ chē jiù jiù de 。

     这  辆    车  旧  旧  的。

    This car is old.

eg: xiónɡ māo pànɡ pànɡ de ， hěn kě ài 。

     熊    猫        胖   胖      的 ， 很 可 爱。

    The panda is fat, so adorable.

“de” has a function of stress when used with “shì”, the sutructure is “是shì…的 de” simply place “shì” at the beginning of the words to be stressed and “de” at the end of the sentence. This pattern is mainly used when the action  in the past.

eg:  wǒ shì zuò fēi jī lái zhōnɡ ɡuó de 。

        我 是  坐  飞  机 来  中    国  的 。

        I came to China by plane.

eg: wǒ shì zuó tiān lái zhōnɡ ɡuó de

      我 是  昨  天   来  中    国  的  

     I came to China yesterday

eg:wǒ dào zhōnɡ ɡuó shì lái ɡōnɡ zuò de。

      我 到  中    国  是  来  工   作  的。

      I came to China to work.

2、dì

When “ 的” is  pronounced “dì”, it means “target”, it’s a noun,we can say:

mù dì

目 的  target，goal，purpose

eg. wǒ de mù dì shì zài zhōnɡ ɡuó ɡōnɡ zuò。

      我 的 目 的 是  在  中    国  工   作 。 

      My target is work in China.

3、dí

when”的” is pronounced “dí ”, that means “really, sure” it is an adjective, we can say:

dí què

的 确  

eg.  tā dí què hěn mánɡ。

      他 的 确  很  忙。

      He is really very busy.

4、dī

when “的” is pronounced “dī”, that means “taxi”, it’s a noun, we often say:

dī shì （taxi）                   dī dī(call a taxi)

的 士 （taxi）                    打 的(call a taxi)

eg: běi jīnɡ yǒu hěn duō  dī  shì

       北  京   有  很  多  的 士  

     There are a lot of taxies in Beijing.

eg: zài běi jīnɡ dǎ dī hěn ɡuì

     在  北  京   打  的 很  贵  

     It is so expensive to call a taxi in Beijing.

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Pick up useful instruction words in Chinese classes. If you are a new Chinese learner, this video will help you understand a lot.

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In what situation can you call a person "乌鸦嘴 (The Crow's Mouth)"? Check out its meaning in this episode of video lesson from MeetMandarin!

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When you want to describe someone good at kissing up, say 拍马屁 (pāi mǎ pì) in Chinese. 

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In this episode of “Bite the word”, we are going to learn a new word which is related to an animal 牛 - 吹牛。“吹”，the first tone, blow； “牛”，the second tone, cattle. “Blow a cow”? Check out its real meaning in this video.

Video provided by http://www.meetmandarin.com/

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In this episode of “Bite The word”, we are going to learn a new word--电灯泡. “电灯泡” means “Light bulb”, but in Chinese, it has another meaning: the third wheel.

From: http://www.meetmandarin.com

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Transportation - Chinese Vocab List

交通工具 (jiāo tōnɡ ɡōnɡ jù)

Vehicles

 As an off-class support for those who learn Chinese online via skype, a themed Chinese vocabulary list can be extremely powerful because your understanding of words is strengthened through their connection to other words in the list.

 Vehicles play a very important role in our daily life. In order to travel freely in China, learning Chinese words for different types of transportation is necessary.

 ɡōnɡ ɡònɡ qì chē

公共汽车

Bus

 qì chē

汽车

Car

 huǒ chē

火车

Train

 zì xínɡ chē

自行车

Bicycle

 mó tuō chē

摩托车

Motorbike

 chū zū chē

出租车

Taxi

 dì tiě

地铁

metro    

 miàn bāo chē

面包车

van

 kè chē

客车

coach    

 ɡāo tiě

高铁

high-speed rail    

 fēi jī

飞机

plane      

 If you want to learn more names of common vehicles and modes of transportation in Mandarin Chinese, you can visit the original page:

http://www.meetmandarin.com/resources/vocabulary-list/vehicles.html

Each entry has a sound clip for pronunciation and listening practice.

 Do you want to learn a certain category of Chinese vocabularies that are not included in our themed Chinese vocabulary list? If so, please let us know in the comment. Our academic team will make an episode just for you!

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Chinese Vocabularies about Clothes

服装 Fu Zhuang

lián yī qún

连衣裙

dress      

 E.g.

Wǒ mǎile yìtiáo báisè de liányīqún.

我买了一条白色的连衣裙。

I bought a white dress.

 chèn yī

衬衣

shirt      

 E.g.

Zhèjiàn chènyī hěn shìhé nǐ.

这件衬衣很适合你。

This shirt is very suitable for you.

kù zi

裤子

pants      

 E.g.

Wǒde kùzi zānɡle.

我的裤子脏了。

My trousers are dirty.

 xié

鞋

shoes    

 E.g.

Zhèshuānɡ xié tài ɡuì le.

这双鞋太贵了。

These shoes are too expensive.

 niú zǎi kù

牛仔裤

jeans      

 T xù

T恤

T-shirt    

 jiá kè

夹克

jacket    

 xī zhuānɡ

西装

suit

 yǔ rónɡ fú

羽绒服

down jacket

 bèi xīn

背心

vest

 pí yī

皮衣

leather  

 yùn dònɡ fú

运动服

sports wear  

 duǎn kù

短裤

short pants    

 nèi yī

内衣

underwear    

 yǒnɡ yī

泳衣

swimmingsuit      

 dà yī

大衣

overcoat      

 máo yī

毛衣

sweater  

 duǎn qún

短裙

skirt      

 xuē zi

靴子

boots    

 yùn dònɡ xié

运动鞋

sneakers

 wà zi

袜子

socks    

 pí xié

皮鞋

leather shoes

 tuō xié

拖鞋

slippers  

 liánɡ xié

凉鞋

sandal    

 Originally published at MeetMandarin Library – Chinese Vocabulary List: 服装 (fú zhuānɡ) - Clothes

 You can also join our live skype mandarin lessons and start learning Chinese 1 on 1 with a native Chinese teacher. Customize your own classes with the help of virtual classrooms and learn Chinese online without constrains of time and place.

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Chinese Vocabulary List for Fruits

If one is taking Chinese lessons via skype, vocabulary is as important (or even more important) as Chinese pronunciation. It’s the foundation on which all other Chinese language skills are built. It doesn’t matter how good you are at distinguishing tones, sentence structure and character writing, if you don’t know the words, you won’t be able to communicate in Chinese.

 How do you build on Chinese vocabulary, in a fast and organized way? One of the many methods, learning Chinese vocabularies lists is highly recommended. When you have come across and learned a new word such as 苹果 (apple), it’s better that you do a research and find out many other words about fruits. This way, you not only take more words at one time, but remember them in an organized way.

水果 (shuǐ ɡuǒ)

Fruits

 píng guǒ

苹果

apple      

 xiāng jiāo

香蕉

banana  

 bō luó

菠萝

pineapple      

 cǎo méi

草莓

Strawberry

 xī guā

西瓜

watermelon  

 táo

桃

peach    

 lí

梨

pear      

 yē zi

椰子

Coconut      

 yīng tao

樱桃

cherry    

 máng guǒ

芒果

mango  

 pú tao

葡萄

grape    

 jú zi

桔子

Orange

mí hóu táo

猕猴桃

kiwi      

 yòu zi

柚子

Grape fruit

níng méng

柠檬

lemon    

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How to Speak Chinese Fluently

Every Chinese language learner wants to speak Chinese fluently. But it is probably one of the hardest parts of Chinese to master and many students struggle with it even long after leaving the beginner stage of learning. In this article, I have summarized some of the best tips on how to improve your Chinese speaking ability.

1.     Fine-tune Your Pronunciation.

One of the first steps in learning Mandarin Chinese is becoming accustomed to Mandarin pronunciation. Learning how to pronounce Mandarin helps with speaking and listening skills. Chinese pronunciation is known as pinyin, which is composed of initials, finals and tones. They can be combined together to create more than 400 mono-syllabic sounds. Similar to English, you should learn to hear the differences and work on learning how to pronounce Mandarin sound. Practice pinyin sound with four tones as much as you can - they will provide the foundation learning how to pronounce Mandarin.

 2.     Study Like a Chinese

As a language learner, you should have a sense of how culture and the way people think and interact influence the language. We all know that there are many phrases in a language that you can’t translate word for word. Sometimes, language just goes beyond literal translations. The Chinese language also reflects its culture and what is socially acceptable. One of the most effective way is to improve your speaking is to try changing your entire train of thought into Chinese. You can do this more explicitly in several ways, such as counting in Chinese, describing what you’re currently doing in Chinese or weighting pros and cons of certain choices in Chinese.

 3.     Take Online Lessons

If possible, find a language exchange partner as soon as you can. Ideally this is someone you can meet in person twice or three times a week. If finding a partner in person is not allowed, you can consider hiring an online tutor, who can guide you in speaking. You can carry on a casual talk with your language partners. For a long term, professional 1 on 1 online Chinese lessons skype are recommended. You might consider MeetMandarin. The teachers give you a free assessment of your studies and organize best plan to fits your levels and needs. The course rates are more fair and reasonable compared with other online institutions.

 4.     Practice Every Day

You should speak for half an hour to an hour every day. A good practice is to just force yourself to translate everything you are currently thinking into Chinese. Speaking will build up your vocabulary skills and make sure to keep adding words to your vocabulary list. On a regular basis, you should review your list of errors to find any patterns and then discover what you need to fix in order to address those patterns. The next step is to routinely practice the corrected pronunciation.

 5.     Enhance Your Listening

You will find it helpful to listen to a variety of audio in Chinese; podcasts, movies, TV shows, and the radio are good options for this. Additionally, you can listen to the range of native speakers’ accents and voices to learn how the Chinese language is consistent from one person to another. Think of it as training your ears to the music of Chinese, just like a musician! Listening to Chinese every day should be a fun and easy task to accomplish. Look for movie and TV shows in genres you already enjoy watching.

 Speaking Chinese fluently isn’t as impossible to achieve as you might think. However, it requires a lot of work. You will need to master listening, speaking, and all the fun, complex grammar that goes along with developing those skills. Hope anyone who’s motivated enough can reach conversational fluency reasonably fast!