Learn Mandarin Chinese Online
Chinese Learn Online is the most effective way to learn Mandarin Chinese fast! Our progressive immersion system only teaches a few new words in each lesson. As the lessons progress, we replace English with Chinese words that have been taught previously, resulting in constant review!
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June 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
There’s something wrong with the first sentence builder. I can’t get it right, but can get it to say everything is right but one word, which doesn’t make sense.
I was thinking it should maybe be: Jùzi tōngcháng huì yǒu yīge míngcí gēn yīge dòngcí.
This however doesn’t come up correct, though I can’t seem to get any combination to work.
Thanks.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Hi Anthony - you’re right - I’ve fixed it, so it should be working now. You may also notice a new exercise - Fill in the Blanks - featured every few lessons to help in your learning. Keep the comments coming!
December 28th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
An unrelated grammar question.. . When asking questions in Chinese we end the first question with 吗 and can end all the following questions with 呢 as long as they are pertaining to the same subject??
And so if I decide to change subjects and ask about something else I should revert back to 吗？ If this is right. . does it apply to both written and spoken Chinese?
December 29th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Hi Daniel,
In general yes. So a sample conversation might look like this:
A: 你最近好吗？
B: 很好，谢谢。
A: 那你的太太呢？
B: 她也很好。
A: 你知道明天的天气怎么样吗？
B: 应该会下雨吧。
A: 那星期五呢？
B: 星期五我不知道。
December 30th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
OK thanks for clearing that up Adam.
January 5th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
I have a small grammar question about 量詞。 Can the measure word be more than one character? For instance, when I go to the coffee shop and order should I say “我要一大杯咖啡” or “我要一杯咖啡，大杯的”?
January 5th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Hi Matthew,
These are the two sentences that could be said:
1. 我要一杯大杯的咖啡
2. 我要一杯咖啡，大杯的 (same as yours)
Additionally, the second measure word could also be omitted to give:
我要一杯大(杯)的咖啡
January 6th, 2010 at 10:02 am
Okay, thanks Adam! That makes sense to me.
April 4th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Adam, grammar ?
>when is it necessary and what does it do to the meaning of a verb when adding ‘dao’
>meaning of passive verb?
>what is direct translation of ‘dei’ ? when is it use and what it’s place in an sentence structure.
cannot see easy examples in word bank for me to understand usage of ‘dao’ and ‘dei’
can you 1 or 2 e.g. thanks
April 6th, 2010 at 2:27 am
Hi Ruide,
dào signifies the completion of an action. It is often paired with a “le” to signify this change in situation. Compare the following:
zhǎo - to look for
zhǎodào le - to have found.
xiǎng - to think
xiǎngdào le - to have found an answer
zuò - to do
zuòdào le - to have finished doing
etc.
děi - simply means “to have to do” something. Eg.
Wǒ děi zǒu le. - I have to go.
Tā děi dàoqiàn. - He needs to apologize.
Hope that helps!
April 6th, 2010 at 7:17 am
being only an occasional learner and not being able to write “hanzi” my grammar questions can sometimes be ambiguous but i keep coming back to your site where i’m most comfortable. thanks for your reply Adam.
if i want to say - i have finish my exercises - zuodao le wode jianshen
it’s a completed action but adding ‘dao’ can also change the meaning of the verb - correct?
sorry, i meant ‘bei’ 4th tone in 2nd above question. my mistake.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Adam,
> what about ‘bei’ 4th tone can you help me understand it’s meaning and how it’s used in a few sentences.
> is my use of ‘zuodao’ in above sentence correct?
thanks
April 8th, 2010 at 2:40 am
Hi Ruide,
For “I have finished my exercises” it would be better to use zuowan.
“Wode jianshen yundong, dou zuo wan le”.
Zuodao would be used to define how much of a task has been completed. Eg.
“Zhege gongzuo, zhi zuodao yiban, haimei zuo wan.” (I’ve only done half the work, haven’t finished it yet”.
April 8th, 2010 at 2:48 am
Ruide,
Bei is used to describe the passive voice. I think it is pretty simple to figure out. Compare the following sentences:
Wo da ta le. (I hit him)
Wo bei ta da le. (I was hit by him)
Wo ma ta le. (I scolded him)
Wo bei ta ma le. (I was scolded by him).
Let me know if that helps.