Chinese Lesson

Pronouns
There is generally only one form of pronouns, so that, for example, “wo” is I, me, and my, although a “de” can be annexed to a pronoun to denote possession, for example, “wo laopo” and “wode laopo” both mean “my wife”.
我	Wo	I
你	Ni	You
他	Ta	He, she, it
我们	Wo men	We
你们	Ni men	You (plural)
他们	Ta men	They

Numbers
Numbers are, in the deeper context, quite elaborate, as there are many endings for numbering different itemns. For example, the “ge” in “yi ge pengyou” (one friend) is used for one type of thing, while “zhang” in “yi zhang piao” (one ticket) is used for another, and there are more. The ending, in general has to do with the shape of the item, for example,
一	yi	one
二	er	two
三	san	three
四	si	four
五	wu	five
六	liu	six
七	qi	seven
八	ba	eight
九	jiu	nine
十	shi	ten
二十	Er shi	twenty
一百	Yi bai	100
一千	Yi qian	1,000
一万	Yi wan	10,000
元	Yuan	Unit of Chinese money

Geography
美国	Mei guo	America
中国	Zhong guo	China
法国	Fa guo	France
俄罗斯	E luo si	Russia
加拿大	Jia na da	Canada
南美洲	Nan mei zhou	South America
西班牙	Xi ban ya	Spain
英国	Ying guo	England
以色列	Yi se lie	Israel
中东	Zhong dong	Middle East
印度	Yin du	India
日本	Ri bei	Japan
奥大利亚	Ao da li ya	Australia
马来西亚	Ma lai xi ya	Malaysia
人	Ren	Person, people. Plus you can annex it to a country name to get nationality, e.g., mei gou ren is American.

Basic words
谁	Shei	Who
什么	Shenme	What
什么时候	Shenme shi hou	When
怎么样	Zen me yang	How
哪里	Nali (nar)	Where
为什么	Wei shenme	Why
今天	Jin tian	Today
明天	Ming tian	Tomorrow
昨天	Zuo tian	Yesterday
现在	Xianzai	Now
这个	zhe ge	This
那个	Na ge	That
这里	Zhe li	Here
那里	Na li	There
或许	Huo xu	Maybe
一定	Yi ding	Certainly
真的	Zhen de	Really
真的	Zhen de	Real
假的	Jia de	Fake
差不多	Cha bu duo	Almost
人	Ren	Peron
朋友	Peng you	Friend
漂亮	Piao liang	Beautiful
班级	Ban ji	Glass
袋子	Dai zi	Bag

Getting around
车	che	Car
摩托车	Mo tuo che	Motorcycle
公共汽车	Gong gong qi che	Public bus
火车	Huo che	Train
飞机	Fei ji	Airplane
车站	Che zhan	Station
自行车	Zi xing che	bicycle
船	Chuan	Boat
街道	Jie dao	Street
路	Lu	Road
镇	Zhen	Town
河	he	River
湖	hu	Lake
海	hai	Sea
沙滩	Sha tan	Beach
花园	Hua yuan	Garden
广场	guang chang	Square
大厦	Da sha	Building

Business Words
公司	Gong si	Company
製造商	Zhi zao shang	Manufacturer
出口	Chu kou	Export
进口	Jin kou	Import
资产	Zi chan	Asset
存货	Cunhuo	Inventory
房地产	Fangdichan	Real estate
名牌	Ming pai	Name brand
贸易	Mao yi	Trade
客户	Ke hu	Client
企业家	Qiyejia	Entrepreneur
母公司	Mugongsi	Parent company
会计事务所	Kuaiji shiwusuo	Accounting firm
审计	Shenji	Audit
做假帐	Zuojia zhang	Cook the books
行贿	Xinghui	Bribery
专利	Zhuanli	Patent
版权	Ban quan	Copyright
知识产权	Zhishichanquan	Intellectual property
专利与商标局	Zhuanli Shangbiao Ju	Patent & Trademark Office
成本	Cheng ben	Cost
打折	Da zhe	Discount
并购	Bing gou	Merger
宏观经济	Hong guan jingji	Macroeconomics
通货膨胀	Tong huo peng zhang	Inflation
通货紧缩	Tonghuojinsuo	Deflation
保值	Baozhi	Store of value
投资	Touzi	Investment
经纪人	Jing ji ren	Broker
储蓄帐户	Chuxu zhanghu	Savings account
外贸	Wai hui	Foreign exchange
汇率	Hui lü	Exchange rate
期货	Qihuo	Commodity
证交所	Zheng jiao suo	(Stock) Exchange
股市	Gu shi	Equity market
上市公司	Shang shi gongsi	Traded company
摘牌	Zhai pai	delist
股票	Gu piao	Share (of stock)
政府债券	Zheng fu zhaiquan	Government bond
投资组合	Tou zi Zu he	Investment portfolio
多元化	duo yuan hua	diversification
共同基金	Gong tong ji jin	Mutual fund
对冲式共同基金	Dui chong shi gong tong ji jin	Hedge fund
养老基金	Yang lao ji jin	Pension fund
股价	Gujia	Valuation
市场经济基本规则	Shishangjinji jibenguize	Market fundamentalist
股东	Gu dong	Shareholder
保险商	Baoxianshang	Underwriter
有效市场	Youxiao shichang	Efficient market
监管体系	Jian guan tixi	Regulatory system
期权	Qiquan	Option
看涨期权	Kanzhang qiquan	Call option
看跌期权	Kandie qiquan	Put option
套利	Taoli	Arbitrage
风险资本	Fengxianziben	Venture capital



At restaurants and hotels
饭	Fan	Food (rice)
面	Mian	Noodles
猪肉	Zhu rou	Pork
牛肉	Niu rou	Beef
牛排	Niu pai	Beef steak
鸭子	Ya zi	Duck
鸭胸	Ya xiong pu	Duck breast
虾	Xia	Shrimp
龙虾	Long xia	Lobster
牲耗	Sheng hao	Oyster
海鲜	Hai xian	Seafood
鸡蛋	Ji dan	Egg
油	you	Oil
牛油	Niu you	Butter
盐	yan	Salt
蔬菜	shu cai	Vegetables
波菜	Bo cai	Spinach
萝卜	Luo bu	Carrots
大蒜	Da suan	Garlic
水	shui	Water
咖啡	Ka fei	Coffee
茶	cha	Tea
可了	Ke le	Cola
啤酒	Pi jiu	Beer
酒	Jiu	Liquor
红酒	Hong jiu	Red wine
牛奶	Niu nai	Milk
餐子	Can zhi	Napkin
勺子	shao zi	Fork
叉子	Cha zi	Spoon
刀子	Dao zi	Knife
饭店	Fan dian	Restaurant
酒吧	Jiu ba	Bar
菜单	Cai dan	Menu
酒店	Jiu dian	Hotel
酒店房间	Jiu dian fang jian	Hotel room


Verbs
Unlike, European languages, there is no verb declension. Thus, “shi”, for example, denotes to be, is, am, are, was, etc. The only modifiers hui in front of another verb can, sometimes, be used to denote future tense and le after a verb can be used to denote past tense. To denote not, bu is usually used before the verb, although mei is used for some, like mei yo, or, sometimes, for emphatic no, like mei shi.
是	Shi	To be
要	Yao	Want
有	Yo	Have
买	Mai	Buy
卖	Mai	Sell
喜欢	Xi huan	Like
会	Hui	Can
说	Shuo	Speak (say)
告诉	Gao su	Tell
需要	Xu yao	Need
哭	Ku	Cry
打	Da	Hit
散步	San bu	Walk
跑步	Pao bu	Run
去	Qu	Go
来	Lai	Come
回来	Hui lai	Return
到	Dao	Arrive
去睡觉	Qu shui jiao	Go to bed
站起来	Zhan qi lai	Stand up
坐下	Zuo xia	Sit down
进去	Jin qu	Enter
应该	Ying gai	Should

Pleasantries
你好	Ni hao	Traditional greeting meaning, literally, meaning “you good”.
你好吗	Ni hao ma	How are you? (This is only used with people that you know well.)
早上好	Zhao shang hao	Good morning.
下午好	Xiawu hao	Good afternoon.
晚上好	Wan shang hao	Good evening
晚安	Wan’an	Good night (night, safe).
对不起	Dui bu qi	Excuse me.
谢谢	Xie xie	Thanks.
不用谢不客气	Bu yong xie; Bu ke qi	You’re welcome (no need thank; No courtesy
没问题	Mei wen ti	No problem
没关系	Mei guan xi	Never mind.

Important questions
请问	Qing wen …	Can you tell me, please, (please, tell) … ?
多少钱	Duo shao qian	How much (money)?
在哪里	... zai nali	Where is ... ?
你叫什么名字	Nin jiao shenme mingze	What is your name?

Useful phrases
听不懂	Ting, bu dong	I don’t understand (hear, not understand)
我不会说中文	Wo bu hui shuo zhongwen	I can’t speak Chinese
我说英文	Wo shuo yingwen	I speak English
现在几点	Xianzai ji dian	What time is it? (now, what time)
我爱你	Wo ai ni	I love you
打我电话	Da wo dianhua (telephone; "shouji": cell phone)	Call me.
我打你电话	Wo da ni dianhua.	I'll call you.

Pinyin Pronunciation Guide
a	Mostly pronounced as “e” in end, but, sometimes, as “ah” arm. Yuan is pronounced “you en”, while wanshan is pronounced wahn shahn
i	Pronounced as “ee” in "sheen ".
o	Pronounced as “aw” in "crawl ".
e	Pronounced as mostl like the "uh" in "good" but sometimes like “e” in "wet". If it is ending the word, like he, to drink, or e, to eat. it gets a second "beat"
u	Usually, pronounced as "oo" in pool; must be preceded by w, if beginning; if after i, as in "liu", it is pronounced more like "o" in "oh".
c	As in cai, pronounced “ts” as in "tse tse fly".
ch	Pronounced as ch in chunk.
h	Is pronounced with a slight ligual-uvular fricative sound, like similar phonemes in German, Russian, and /hebrew.
j	Always followed by "i", and is pronounced as "g" in "gee".
k	Pronounced as it usually is as in k in "klan".
n	Is pronounced as the usual n sound, except when it ends a sylable, it is a more nasal, partially-deleted sound, like the n in French.
ng	Pronounced as ng in sing, except when in a word, like xing, ok, it is given its own syllabic sound, more like eng: for example, xing is pronounced shee eng.
nr	You might see this combination in pinying translations of Chinese. What it refers to is that often an "n" at the end of a word is replaced by an "r" sound when comparing spoken Chinese in the south and the north of Cina, respectively. For example, play is pronounced as wan, in the south, and as war, in the north.
r	r is a difficult sound, In Chinese. It is somewhere between r in wren and the zh in pleasure; the tongue is placed between the two.
q	Also is a "ch" sound, but it is more tight-mouthed than ch
sh	Pronounced as "sh" as in "shop".
x	pronounced like sh in shee, but with a tighter mouth than plain sh. Following vowels are pronounced separately and longer than with the sh sound, above. For example, xue is pronounced shoe -e, while shui is pronounced shway.
z	Pronounced dz
zh	Pronounced as a "dj"

Chinese Alphabet: A to Z
Many dictionaries of Chinese symbols build on the number of strokes contained in the symbol. It is more intuitive to us, especially since we use pinyin, in MS applications, to write in Chinese. What follows is a fairly complete dictionary, A to Z, of Chinese symbols with pinyin spelling and the basic meaning of the symbol. There will be different symbols, at least, for different prosody of a syllable. In most cases, there are several symbols per syllable with the same prosody, and sometimes one symbol can be used for the same syllable with different prosody. The meaning of words made up of more than one symbol can be discerned from the meaning of individual symbols.
Symbol	Pinyin	Meaning
阿	ā	Used before a name or family title, like ama for mom.
啊	ă, à, á	Surprise, understanding, questioning, respectively.
哀	āi	Surprise, anger, grief.
哎	āi	Surprise or discontent
埃	āi	Dust, angstrom
挨	āi	Close, next to, near to
唉	āi	Response to inquiry
癌	ái	Cancer
皑	ái	Pure white
挨	ái	Suffer, endure
蔼	ăi	Friendly, likable
唉	ài	Sigh
爱	ài	Love
嗳	ài	Regret
暧	ài	Dim (light)
安	ān	Put in place, install. Interrogative: where, what, how
鞍	ān	Saddle
氨	ān	Ammonia
谙	ān	Know well
俺	ān	Hut, convent
铵	ăn	Ammonium
案	àn	(Law) case
按	àn	Press, push down
暗	àn	Dim, dark, dull
黯	àn	Dim, gloomy
岸	àn	Bank, shore, coast
昂	áng	Hold high
盎	àng	Ancient vessel with big belly and small mouth
凹	āo	Concave, hollow, sunken, dented
鏖	áo	Engage in fierce battle
熬	áo	Boil or stew
遨	áo	Stroll, saunter