Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Chinese language - simple sentences - introduction

Let's practice some simple sentences without a teacher in your face:)
http://www.chineselearner.com/speaking/introduction.htm
Copy and paste each sentences to http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/annotation.html to get annotation.

No need to cram the new words in your head. Learning a word is like to know a person, takes time and repetitive encounters.



Here are some breakdowns of these sentences in above link (in addition to annotation you get from http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/annotation.html it may not always be correct, as it's just a web application, and lacks human touch).



张,张武。Copy and paste bold texts to the search bar in page http://www.nciku.com/
and you'll get long explanation
E.g.
http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%A7%93/1317086
http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%8F%AB/1307606

姓 is usually used as a verb. 姓X means My surname is X.

E.g.
我姓X,名YZ。 My surname is X, family name is YZ.
Chinese people name format: 姓+名 (surname + family name).  
Surname comes first in Chinese name, which is opposite to the order in English name.

叫 has several meanings, here means 'be called as' (usually used in spoken Chinese).
E.g.
我叫XYZ。I'm called as XYZ.



李燕。
是 is used as verb here, means 'be'.
是can be used after 我(I), 你(you), 他(he), 她(she),我们(we),你们(you plural),他们(they), so it's equal to  am/are/is/was/were/has been/have been/will be/would be ... 
E.g.
她是个好人。She is a good person. 个 means 'a/an or one'.

他们是好人。They are good persons.

Verb in Chinese doesn't have past, future or present tense. The tense is implicitly indicated by time, in other words, there's no tense in Chinese language.
E.g. 
我是个好人。I'm a good person.  No time indication found in sentence, present tense by default.
我曾是个好人。I once was a good person. 曾means 'once', so sentence is in past tense.
我将是个好人。I will be a good person. 将 means 'be about to', so sentence is in future tense.
This example is to help you see the different grammar between Chinese and English. Forget the tense when you use Chinese.



我是美国人.
美国人 means 'American' = 美国(America) + 人(person)
Here you see the powerful yet simple combination of Chinese words:
E.g.
中国人=中国(China)+人
印度人=印度(India)+人
It's simpler than the variations in English. E.g. China -> Chinese, India -> Indian, etc. In Chinese, we just add '人' after the country name.



来自加拿大。
来自means 'come from'. 来(come),自(from)。自has several meanings, but it only means 'from' when put after 来. So like everything in universe, Chinese character isn't independent, better to understand it in a word, in a sentence, in a context. Thus cramming single words from a dictionary without a context makes little sense.






我是一名教师。
一名means ‘a/an or one’, it's a formal version of 一个。
So above sentence's informal version: 我是一个教师。
Earlier I said 个 means 'a/an or one', which isn't accurate.
Actually it has no real meaning, but a measure word, and only applies to countable nouns.
个without numerical kind before it = 一个(a/an or one)
E.g. 我是教师 = 我是一个教师.
三个 means 'three'. 三(three), 个has no meaning here。
E.g. 三个人。Three persons.

名, like 个,is measure word too。 The only difference is it's a little formal, and usually applies to people.
E.g.
一名教师。 One teacher.
三名教师。 Three teachers.

Did you notice that singular and plural nouns in Chinese can be the same (no need to add 's' as in English)?


是王伟。
这(this)。 位, like名,is another measure word, usually used to address people in a respectful manner.
E.g.
这位是老板。 This is boss。

Good timing to mention character decomposition here http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E4%BD%8D/1315929


[rén]
+
[lì]

亻= One form of 人 as a part in another character, means related to human/person.
 立 means 'stand upright'.
So we can deduce that 位 means 'person standing upright', which implies someone having some social status.

Another example:
好(good) = 女(woman) + 子(child)
From this character alone we can have a peek of Chinese people's traditional family values.


微软公司工作
在 means 'at/in/on’. Like 是(be), 在doesn't have the kind of variations in English.
E.g.
在家。At home.
在北京。In Beijing.

在can also means 'be doing (something) / in the middle of ' .
E.g.
我在工作。 I'm working。

公司 means 'Corp. /  Inc.'
E.g.
怪物(monster)公司。 Monsters, Inc.

工作 means 'work/job', usually used as noun, but here as verb.
For some words the dictionary hasn't mention their verb usage, it doesn't mean they don't exist. The key is to read more, after all language is just people's habit of word's combination.

So 我微软公司工作 means
I'm working at Microsoft Corp.  or
I have a job at Microsoft Corp.



我来给你介绍一下。 这位是大卫。
Let me introduce for you. This is David. -> Let me introduce David to you.
给你(do something)   means  '(do something) for you'.
(do something) 一下 means  '(do something) one time / in a short time'. Very informal, normally used in spoken Chinese.

介绍一下自己
Let me introduce myself.
来 means 'be about to (do something)' here.



OK, that's a lot to take in. Remember, no cramming, like the idiom said http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%B0%B4%E6%BB%B4%E7%9F%B3%E7%A9%BF/39319 .

Some said Chinese language is spoken by children, while English is spoken by adults. My understanding is that Chinese language doesn't have many grammars and rules. Maybe because it's was used to convey feelings/emotions mostly in history.


If you have questions, just put them in comments. I'll try my best to answer them.
For complete list of lessons, please visit http://daytodaychinese.net/Default.aspx?Level=1.



No comments: