If you’re reading this article on how to learn Chinese Pinyin, chances are you’ve just started learning Chinese. And chances are that Pinyin makes your brain hurt. We list some essential Chinese Pinyin tips here — for you’re still there thinking about the position of the tongue that the teacher told you, aspirated or not […]
Many Chinese verbs don’t have an end result. We say ‘看’ to look, ‘吃’ to eat, ‘听’ to listen, etcetera. But how do we express the results of the verbs in Mandarin Chinese? Let’s have a look at verb complements in Chinese. Resulting Complements With resulting compliments we mean the resulting of a performance, an […]
‘To be’ (是 shì) is an essential Mandarin word, but because the word ‘to be’ in English is so versatile it causes some problems for foreigners when they learn and speak Chinese. Here we show you some examples of how not and How to use ‘to be’ (是 shi) in Chinese. Don’t use ‘是 shì’ […]
In the Mandarin Chinese language, we use 和 (hé) to connect two or more elements, indicating a parallel relationship. Let us show you how to use the grammar for this Chinese word that means ‘and’, which is a common mistake for beginning Chinese learners. Example of us 和 hé (and) 我喜欢苹果和西瓜。 Wǒ xǐhuan píngguǒ hé […]
When Chinese language students first learn 就 (jiù), they’re told that it means “just”. But *just* like the word *just* in English, the word “just” in Mandarin Chinese has many meanings and ways to use it. Here are some examples of how to use ‘就 jiù’ in the Chinese language levels HSK 2 and 3. […]
The Chinese language level of HSK2 is generally simple. Nevertheless, there are several Mandarin language points that learners often get wrong. A common of them is the similarities and differences between ‘有点儿’ (yǒudiǎnr) versus ‘一点儿’ (yìdiǎnr) Subtle difference: Let’s look at this example: 你今天怎么样? Nǐ jīntiān zěnme yàng? How are you doing today? And you […]
A question we often get from Mandarin students is how to use use ‘了 (le)’ in Chinese. Because we know that the tenses in English are very complex. But Chinese is very loosely structured around tense. Let us take Past Tense as an example, the easiest way to indicate tense is to use a time […]
‘Méi 没’ and ‘bù 不’ are both negation words in Mandarin Chinese, but we use them in different ways. To use them correctly is notoriously difficult for many Chinese language learners. Click here if you’re wondering how to say No in Chinese. Using ‘bù 不’ First, to indicate that an action does not happen now […]
Before we talk all about Chinese grammar, we’d better reach an agreement: learning Chinese grammar is crucial to learning the Mandarin language. Even though this sounds obvious, many Chinese learners approach learning Chinese as learning vocabulary only. This is not the right approach to fluency. Let’s also make clear what ‘grammar’ really means, so let’s […]