Welcome to the fourth free unit in our Chinese4Free course. Being able to communicate about one’s family and favorite activities is one of the most rewarding aspects of speaking a foreign language, so this section will provide students with an introduction to these topics and their accompanying grammar structures in Chinese. As in the previous unit, PDFs containing character and grammar exercises for this lesson will be included for students to download, complete, and study at their leisure.
The fourth unit’s character exercise is available below for students to become acquainted with our new vocabulary before learning more grammar structures.
Possessive Descriptors and Measure Words
The two main ways to express ownership or possession in Chinese use the characters 的 (de) or 有 (yǒu). In English, we use an apostrophe usually followed by the letter “s” or a modified pronoun (“my,” “his,” or “hers”) to denote the possession of an object. Similarly, the character 的 can be placed after a noun and thought of as the Chinese equivalent of “‘s”. For example, the English phrases “my,” “his,” and “hers” can be translated as 我的, 他的, and 她的, respectively (notice the subtle differences in gendered characters like 他 and 她). Moreover, multiple 的 characters can be used to describe ownership of an object: “My mother’s book” can be translated as 我的妈妈的书, and “I am my Father’s son” can be translated as 我是我的爸爸的儿子.
Similarly, the characters 有 (yǒu) and 没有 (méiyǒu) can be thought of as the Chinese equivalent for English phrases like “have/has” and “don’t have,” respectively. For example, the phrase “I have…” can be translated as 我有…, or “I don’t have…” can be translated as 我没有… When using 有 or 没有 to describe the amount of something a person owns, it is grammatically correct to include a measure word following the number (measure words can also be used when referring to a specific item, but we will cover that in the next section). There are many types of measure words depending on the category of item being referred to, but for the sake of simplicity, only two will be covered in this course: 个 (gè) and 口 (kǒu).
The measure word 个 is most commonly used and can adequately convey information if a student forgets the grammatically correct character. For example, a native speaker would most likely understand the phrase 我有一个书 (meaning “I have a book”), even though the correct phrase should be 我有一本书 (using the 本 (běn) measure word). The character 个 is used properly in the phrase 我有两个姐姐 (meaning “I have two sisters”).
The measure word 口 literally means “mouth,” explaining why it is used when describing a number of people. 口 is often used when describing the size of one’s family. For example, the question “How many people are in your family?” can be translated as 你家有几口人？ An appropriate response may be 我家有四口人 (“My family has 4 people”).
This, That, and Who?
As mentioned in the previous section, the measure word 个 is often used when referring to specific items in an environment. Two common descriptors to describe objects are 那 (nà) and 这 (zhè), meaning “that” and “this”, respectively. 那 and 这 can be used in tandem with the character 谁 (shéi), meaning “who?” For example, “那个人是谁?” means “Who is that person,” and “这是我的哥哥” would be the response “This is my brother.” When posing a question in Chinese using 谁, it is important to recall the proper word order: STPVO (Subject, Time, Place, Verb, Object). In the phrase “那个人是谁?”, 那个人 (“that person”) serves as the subject, 是 (“is”) serves as the verb, and “谁” (“who”) serves as the object. In this way, “那个人是谁?” may be literally translated as “That person is who?”
Activities and The Verb 做 (zuò)
In the Chinese language, verbs are almost always followed by object characters to denote a complete action or activity. This leads to some seemingly redundant verb-object phrases like 唱歌 (chànggē), in which 唱 is a verb meaning “to sing” and 歌 is a noun meaning “a song” (when combined the two characters literally mean “to sing a song”).
The most general verb in the Chinese language is 做 (zuò), meaning “to do.” 做 can be used as previously explained in the verb-object phrase 做功课, meaning “to do homework.” However, 做 (zuò) is also frequently used in question phrases like 做什么 (zuòshénme) meaning “to do what?” (the application of such phrases will be explained in the next sections).
To Invite and Want
When making plans with others in Chinese, the characters 想 (xiǎng) and 请客 (qǐngkè) will be critical to communicate what activities you would like to participate in. The verb 想 means “to want to” and precedes another verb-object phrase denoting an activity. For example, the sentence “我想看电影。” means “I want to watch a movie.”
The verb-phrase 请客 means “to invite” or “to treat” when placed after the subject and before another object (the character 客 is typically omitted for simplicity). For instance, the sentence 我请你看电影 literally means “I invite you to watch a movie.”
In our previous units, we discussed how the opposite of 是 (“is”) can be written 不是 (“is not”). This 是不是 structure also applies to the verb 想. To express that one does not want to do something, use the phrase 不想 (literally meaning “to not want to”). In regards to our previous invite to watch a movie, an accurate response may be 我不想看电影 (meaning “I do not want to watch a movie”).
To Enjoy Something (最，喜欢 and 觉得…有意思)
With the ability to discuss what students want to do, we should also introduce how to explain students’ favorite activities and things that interest them. In Chinese, the verb 喜欢 (xǐhuān) means “to like” and functions in the same way grammatically as the verb 想. Both verbs come in the same order of a sentence and utilize the 是不是 structure, so 不喜欢 means “to not like.” Therefore, we can translate “I like listening to music” as 我喜欢听音乐, or “I don’t like singing” as 我不喜欢唱歌.
喜欢 allows speakers to describe something they do or do not like, but the character 最 (zuì) allows them to describe something they most like or dislike. In English, we often add the suffix “–est” to an adjective to make a superlative (ie: fastest, slowest, smartest, etc.), but the character 最 can be placed before 喜欢 to indicate that the following activity or object is our favorite. For instance, we can translate “I most enjoy dancing” as 我最喜欢跳舞.
An alternative sentence structure to express interest in a subject uses 觉得 (juédé)… 有意思 (yìsi). 觉得 translates to “to feel,” and 有意思 translates to “interest” or ”meaning”. As a result, an idea or activity can be placed between the two phrases to describe one’s feelings. For example, the sentence “I think reading is interesting” can be translated as 我觉得看书有意思. Conversely, the sentence “I think playing sports is not interesting” can be translated as 我觉得打球没有意思. Notice that the negative form of the “觉得… 有意思” structure places the character 没 before 有 to indicate that the idea does not have meaning to the subject of the sentence.
和, 还是, and 都
In English, we often write a list of objects or ideas separated by commas and finalized by the word “and” before the last item. In Chinese, lists function essentially the same way grammatically, with the character 和 (hé) being equivalent to “and.” For example, the sentence “I like dancing, singing, and listening to music” can be translated as 我喜欢跳舞，唱歌，和听音乐. However, 和 does not function as a conjunction (it cannot combine two independent clauses of a compound sentence) like the English “and” does.
Similarly, to ask someone to pick from a list of options in Chinese, we can use the character for “or,” 还是 (háishì). To illustrate, we can translate the question “Do you want to do homework or watch TV?” as 你想做功课还是看电视？ After a question using 还是, a person can respond using 还是 followed by the particle 吧 (ba) instead of the verb 想 to indicate their choice, making their tone reluctant and seemingly unhappy with their options: 我还是做功课吧 translates as “I better do my homework.”
Given a list of two or more options that are all equally preferable, a person can use the character 都 (dōu) to address both or all of them. For example, when asked 你想看电视还是看电影? (“Do you want to watch TV or a movie”), a person may respond 我都喜欢 (“I like them both”) or 我都不喜欢 (“I don’t like either”). The character 都 has many applications as both an adverb and pronoun, notably being able to refer to an entire group in combination with 有 or 没有: 他们都觉得看书有意思 (“They all think reading is interesting”).
Naming Colors
The final concept covered in this unit is the ability to name and discuss colors. This section will be relatively short, as there are few grammatical structures relating to color that can be introduced at this foundational level. The bulk of our introduction to colors will come from memorizing the names of different hues available at the end of the Unit 4 Character Exercises at the top of the page.
Beyond vocabulary, it is important to understand that 颜色 (yánsè) refers to color in general, not a specific hue, meaning that we can ask “What is that color?” with 那个颜色是什么? The character 色 (sè) indicates that the phrase before it refers to a color, not an actual object. Remembering to include 色 after a color is useful in differentiating between a natural object and a shade that share appearances. For example, 橘子 (júzi) refers to an orange fruit, while 橘色 refers to the color orange.
Conclusion
The Unit 4 Grammar Exercise is available below to test your mastery and improve your knowledge of this unit’s grammar structures.
Congratulations, you have completed the fourth unit of the Chinese4Free course! If you have retained at least a small fraction of the information provided thus far, you will be well prepared for a successful education in Chinese. Continue to check chinese4free.com for more material in the future.
Mastering Mandarin and reaching fluency in Chinese culture is a lifelong pursuit, but I guarantee that the beauty of language learning will justify the countless hours of effort spent perfecting your craft.