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Welcome to CultureAlleyMandarian!! Nǐhǎo this is Basic Mandarin lesson 7!
Lets start by going over some of the phrases that you learnt in the last lesson…
Miss translates to Xiǎojiě Mister/ Mr. becomes Xiānsheng
While Mrs. Is translated as Fūren Similarly, Female friend or girlfriend translates
to Nánpéngyǒu Male friend or boyfriend becomes Nǚpéngyǒu and Young friend is Xiǎopéngyǒu
Continuing with the revision, I translates to Wǒ and Name becomes Mínɡzi
To be surnamed is translated as Xìng and To be called as Jiào
Lets take an example! Informally, My family name is Wáng translates
to WǒxìngWáng While formally, My name is WángPéng becomesWǒ
de mínɡzishìWángPéng Informally, My name is WángPéng is translated
as WǒjiàoWángPéng Great! Lets start todays lesson! Today we will focus
on learning family names! In the last lesson we learnt how to tell someone
our name and surname, so Today we will learn how to ask someones name and surname!
So lets begin by learning the vocabulary for family names, names and any other vocabulary
required for todays lesson! Lets study each phrase in detail, and then
comine them later to form a sentence!Lets start!
May I ask translates to Qǐngwèn wherein,Pease is translated asQǐng and Ask beomesWèn
Together Qǐngwèn implies, Please may I ask? Lets look at the pronunciations for the new
words we learnt! Qǐng is pronounced in the falling rising
tone, and starts with a ch toneWhereas,Wèn is pronounced in the falling tone.
Lets hear you say QǐngWèn good job! Once again, May I asktranslates toQǐngwèn
! Lets move on ! Your name translates to Níxìng wherein Your
is Ní and Name becomes Xìng Thus, the phrase Your name is translated as
Níxìng Combining the two , we get the sentence, Please
may I ask your name ? which translates as Qǐngwènníxìng ? , once again, its Qǐngwènníxìng
? great! An important point to note is that, While
the previous sentence is grammatically correct, it is often polite to add the word, honorable
before asking someones name Lets learn how to say honorable in Mandarin!
Honorable translates toGuì Lets see how it is pronounced!
Guì is pronounced in the falling tone! Can you say Guì ? great job!
So now we know that,Honorable becomes Guì , lets use it in a sentence!
Heres a break-up of the sentence please my I ask your honorable family name
May I translates to Qǐng, while Ask becomes wèn
Your is ní, Honorable becomesguì while family name translates as xìng
Now lets look at the sentence together! Thus, May I ask your honorable family name?
Becomes Qǐng wènníguì xìng? good work Heres a grammar note you ought to know!
Did you notice that Ni is used both for your as well as you ?
This is because in Mandarin we use the same words for pronouns and adjectives derived
from them. Thus, Ní can mean both your as well as you
Lets move on! After answering for ones name, one could simply
ask the other persons name by saying, And you? , lets see how do we translate this in
Mandarin! We have translated and you in the past, lets
just go over the basics again! And you ? Translates toNǐ ne
We already know Nǐ means you, and ne is a question particle
Therefore, And you? Becomes Nǐ ne? can you say that ?Nǐ ne? Wonderful!
Lets revise what weve covered till now today! The word Honorable translates to Guì and
Question particle becomes Ne What about you or and you becomes Nǐ newhile
May I ask is translated as Qǐngwèn Great! Lets see if you remember what weve
covered till now! How do we say May I ask?
Do we say it as Qǐngwèn ? or do we sayNǐ ne ? or will it beGuì ne ?
Solution To say May I ask?, we say Qǐngwèn !great!
Lets get back to our sentence now! On breaking up the sentence My family name
is …. And you? we get the following! My translates to Wǒ, family name becomes
xìng And becomes nǐwhile You translates to ne
So we can see thatMy family name is …… translates to Wǒxìng........
And nǐ ne? becomes and you? You may remember thatNe is a question particle
used to convert statements to questions! Ending with ne is helpful in making question
when the context is already known! A common circumstance is when you wish to repeat a
question that was just asked for another subject, as in the case we are discussing right now
Conclusively, we can see that My family name is ……, and you? translates as Wǒxìng......,
nǐ ne? Lets do a quick revision using two characters
now! Here is what their conversation would sound
like in English! Wángpeng May I ask your honorable family
name? LǐYǒu My family name is Lǐ, and you?
WángPeng My family name is Wáng Now lets look at this conversation in Mandarin!
WángPeng Qǐngwèn , níguìxìng? LǐYǒuWǒxìngLǐ, nǐ ne?
WángPeng WǒxìngPeng Great! Its quiz time now! Lets see if you
remember what we learnt! How do we say
My family name is Lǐ, and you? Would we say Wǒhěnhǎo, nǐ ma? or would
we say WǒxìngLǐ, nǐ ne? The correct way of saying My family name is
Lǐ, and you?, is WǒxìngLǐ, nǐ ne? We hope you got that one right!
Now lets go ahead and learn how to ask someones name! The vocabulary required for this will
be What and Name! So lets start! What is translated as Shénme Lets look at
the pronunciation for this! Shénme is pronounced in the mid rising tone,
Lets hear you say Shénme Excellent! Once again, What is Shénme lets move on to
the next word Name translates toMíngzi Lets look at its
pronunciation! Míngzi is pronounced in the mid rising tone,
Lets hear you say Míngzi good work! Once again, Name translates asMíngzi !
Lets go over the two new words we just learnt! What is Shénme and Name is Míngzi
Great! Now lets use them in sentences! Lets go through the breakup of the sentence
what is your name? Whats is translated as Shénme while Your
becomes nǐ and Name translates to míngzi Another word that gets added in the Mandarin
translation is jiào , which literally means, to be called
Thus, Whats your name?translates to Nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi? in Mandarin!
Literally, what we are asking is you called what name?
Now let us take a case where we have the family name, but want to know the first name of a
person. For the purpose of this conversation, well assume the surname of the person to be
Wáng and the first name to be Peng As we will see, in Chinese culture we always
give our Surname before our First name Also recall that, Miss translates to Xiǎojiěwhile
Mister becomes Xiān sheng Lets begin y breaking up the sentence Mr.
***, what is your name called? In this case, Mr. translates to Xiān sheng
, while WángremiansWáng! What becomes shénme,Your becomes nǐ, Name
is translated as míngziand called becomes jiào now lets see what happens
when we combine all the words together! Mr. Wáng , what is your name?translates to
Wángxiān sheng, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi? did you get that right? ,once again, itsto
Wángxiān sheng, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi? great!
Lets answer the previous sentence using a simple sentence, My name is WángPéng
Here is the individual break up! My translates to Wǒ, calledbecomes jiào
and WángPéng remains WángPéng itself! Thus, combining the individual words toether,
My name is WángPéng or I am called WángPéng translates to WǒjiàoWángPéng
Great! Now lets look at another sentence! Miss Lǐ, what is your namedcalled ? can be
broken up into the following segments… Miss is translated as xiǎojiě, , while Lǐ
stays the same! What becomes shénme,Your becomes nǐ,,Name
translates to míngzi, and Called becomesjiào, Thus, the sentence, Miss Li, what is your
name?translates as Lǐxiǎojiě, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi? A simple reply to the above question would
be My name is LǐYǒu Lets see how this breaks up
My translates to Wǒ , Name becomes jiào while LǐYǒu remains the same!
The sentence My name is LǐYǒu is then translated as WǒjiàoLǐYǒu
Did you Notice where the titles come? Unlike English, titles such as Mr. or Miss come after
the name of the person, not before! Thats all for todays lesson! Let us try and
have a conversation to revise what we learnt! This is a scenario, wherein WángPéng and
LǐYǒu are meeting for the first time! Lets first see their conversation in English,
and then we shall cover it in Mandarin as well!
LǐYǒu My name is Yǒu, what is your name? WángPéng My name is WángPéng
Here is how theyd go about it in Mandarin! LǐYǒuWǒjiàoYǒu, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi?
WángPéng WǒjiàoWángPéng Good job! Here is an example of sentences using titles
as well! Here LǐYǒu would say, Mr. Wáng , what is
your name? which would translate as Wángxiān sheng, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi?
While WángPéng would say Miss Lǐ, what is your name? which would translate as Lǐxiǎojiě,
nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi? Good work! Alright! Lets take a quiz to see how much
youve grasped today! How do we say My name is LǐYǒu?
Do we say Lǐxiǎojiě ?or will we say WǒjiàoLǐyǒu or will it be Nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi
The correct way of saying My name is LǐYǒu, is WǒjiàoLǐyǒu ! Good work!
Now lets revise everything we learnt today by simulating a conversation between Wángpeng
and LǐYǒu! As always, we shall first cover the conversation in English and then switch
to Mandarin! Wángpeng May I ask your honorable family
name? LǐYǒu My family name is Lǐ, and you?
WángPeng My family name is Wáng LǐYǒu My name is Yǒu, what is your name?
WángPéng My name is WángPéng Now lets see how this goes in Mandarin!
Wángpeng Qǐngwèn , níguìxìng? LǐYǒu WǒxìngLǐ, nǐ ne?
Wángpeng WǒxìngPeng LǐYǒu WǒjiàoYǒu, nǐjiàoshénmemíngzi?
Wángpeng WǒjiàoWángPéng Excellent! Thats all well cover today!
Lets move on to the most interesting part of our lesson, the Culture Leaf!
Todays culture leaf talks about the importance of the color red in China!
The color Red in Chinese culture usually means good luck. Red is often worn in weddings to
ward off any bad luck to the new bride and groom
A red envelope is a monetary gift which is given in Chinese society during holiday or
special occasions. The red color of the packet symbolizes good luck.
Red is strictly forbidden at funerals as it traditionally symbolized happiness
The picture here shows a A typical laisees (contemporary red envelope) made in Hong Kong
In the next lesson, we will discuss sentences describing professions!
We hope you enjoyed your lesson today! See you at the Alley for the next one!
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