Learning Objective
Chinese Grammar
The Chinese grammar section explains the main grammatical structures you need to know in order to make your own sentences. There are example sentences to show how the language is used.
Watch our videos to help you understand grammar and listen our audios to help you pronounce the language in an interactive, clear and simple way.
In this unit, learn to:
Use "V1 着 (O1) + V2 (O2)" to indicate that two actions occur simultaneously
To indicate two actions happening simultaneously, we use the grammatical structure of “V1 着 (O1) + V2 (O2)”, V1 is an accompanying state of V2.
Examples:
他听着音乐看杂志。
He is listening to music while reading a magazine.
他喝着酒聊天儿。
He drinks while chatting
Use “半”, “刻”or “差”to express time.
Use “半”, “刻”or “差”to express time. In English, “半” is half-past, “刻” is quarter hour and “差” is used to indicate how many minutes it will be till the next full hour.
Use “半” to express “half-past”. The grammatical structure is “Number in Hour + 点 + 半”.
Examples
二 点 半 = 2:30 Half-past Two
七 点 半 = 7:30 Half-past Seven
Use “刻” to express "quarter hour”. The quarter hours are expressed on the first quarter x:15 and the third quarter x:45. The grammatical structure is “Number in Hour + 点 + first/third + 刻”.
Examples:
六 点 一 刻 = 6:15 Six fifteen
十 点 三 刻 = 10:45 Fifteen to Eleven
Use “差” to express how many minutes it will be till the next full hour, we put 差 in front of the time expression. The grammatical structure is “差 + Number in Minutes + 分 + Number in Hour + 点” or “Number in Hour + 点 + 差 + Number in Minutes + 分”
Examples
差 三 分 五 点 = 4:57 Three minutes to Six
五 点 差 三 分 = 4:57 Three minutes to Six
Chinese Vocabulary and Writing
The Chinese vocabulary and writing section introduces new Chinese vocabulary you need to know in order to understand the language. For each new vocabulary, you learn what it means, how to pronounce and write it.
Having a good vocabulary will help you improve your language level and become a more confident speaker of Mandarin. Practising Chinese writing is often one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary.
Chinese character copybooks available online or in printed format enable you to practise your Chinese writing in a stroke by stroke manner.
In this unit, learn how to pronounce and write new vocabulary below:
半 [ bàn ] (num) half
包 [ bāo ] (n) bag; sack
冰箱 [ bīnɡ xiānɡ ] (n) refrigerator
差 [ chà ] (v) to fall short of
担心 [ dān xīn ] (v) to worry
还是[ hái shì ] (conj) or
或者 [ huò zhě ] (conj) or
见面 [ jiàn miàn ] (v) to meet
接 [ jiē ] (v) to meet(sb); to pick up(sb)
刻 [ kè ] (m) quarter
空调 [ kōnɡ tiáo ] (n) air conditioner
啤酒 [ pí jiǔ ] (n) beer
数学 [ shù xué ] (n) maths
舒服 [ shū fu ] (adj) comfortable
夏天 [ xià tiān ] (n) summer
鲜花 [ xiān huā ] (n) fresh flowers
一定 [ yí dìnɡ ] (adv) definitely; certainly
饮料 [ yǐn liào ] (n) drink; beverage
早 [ zǎo ] (adj) early
怎么办 [ zěn me bàn ] (used to ask for a solution) what to do
只 [ zhǐ ] (adv) only; solely