[Chinese] Want to learn Chinese? :)

[lee ying]

someone told me thhis words , but I don't know if I can use it with a girl too?
hao hai zi: 好孩子：D she said the meaning was Good boy=) that's right?

[Jessica]

hai zi means "child"

so actually, it can mean both "good boy" and "good girl"

[Jessica]

-Chinese is easier than Japanese-

[ROBINDESBOIS]

continue with your lessons I love them.

[Jessica]

all right what else would you like to know?

[VivaEspana]

Hey, Jessica. I did my first 'optional' challenging homework. Here is it but without Chinese characters. Only the pronounciation together with the sign for tone or phonetics. I also printed the corresponding Chinese characters written in pencil. It was fun.

Unless impeached or convicted of a crime we must support lawful President.

Translation: ( I printed it and wrote the corresponding characters in pencil. It was fun)

Chu fei mian zhi hai shi xuan pan de zui xing wo men bi xu

zhi chi hefa de zongtong


You should see my printout, Jessica. Although I am not sure if I did correctly, the printout was in bold letters, phonetics had parenthesis.

除非 免职 还是 宣判 的 罪行 我们 必须 支 持 合法 的 总 统

[chanman]

Originally Posted by VivaEspana

Hey, Jessica. I did my first 'optional' challenging homework. Here is it but without Chinese characters. Only the pronounciation together with the sign for tone or phonetics. I also printed the corresponding Chinese characters written in pencil. It was fun.

Unless impeached or convicted of a crime we must support lawful President.

Translation: ( I printed it and wrote the corresponding characters in pencil. It was fun)

Chu fei mian zhi hai shi xuan pan de zui xing wo men bi xu

zhi chi hefa de zongtong


You should see my printout, Jessica. Although I am not sure if I did correctly, the printout was in bold letters, phonetics had parenthesis.

除非 免职 还是 宣判 的 罪行 我们 必须 支 持 合法 的 总 统

应该是 [yīng gāi shì] (Debe ser):

除非被弹劾或则犯了罪，我们还是必须支持合法的总统。
[chú fēi bèi tán hé huò zé shì fàn le zuì, wǒ mén hái shì bì xū zhī chǐ hé fǎ de zóng tǒng]
Unless he has been impeached or has committed a crime, we should still support the legal president.

弹劾 - to impeach
被弹劾 - to be impeached
被- To have an action done onto you.

门被我关了。
mén bèi wǒ guān le.
The door was closed by me.
门 - Door
关 - close.
Lit: The door BY ME was closed.

犯罪 - Commit a crime
犯 - to commit
罪 - A serious offense.

支持 - support
坚持 [jián chǐ]- to persist

必须 - Must
必要 [bì yào]- Need (lit. - must have)

还 [hái] - still (adv)
还 [huán] - to return [an object]. Quiere decir devolver, no es volver.
[hái] y [huán] son escribido el mismo, pero son pronunciado diferentemente.

Un errore que hiciste es que usaste la palabra "hái" donde debiste haber usado "huò zé" [还 --> 或则].
No puedo explicar porque es como este, sólo es una manera de hablar.
Posiblemente, una forma de explicar este es que 或则 [huò zé] es como "ni", y 还 puede querer decir "todavía" o "o"

[Jessica]

thank you chanman. my Chinese seemed to be slipping off my mind I forgot how to write dong tian and xia tian....and chun tian (well I just added an extra line in the box)....that is just stupid

[VivaEspana]

My fourth day of studying Mandarin yesterday, Saturday. Teacher is very very enthusiastic to teach us students. Many students kept on asking how 'do we say this and that in Mandarin. Laoshi was very very competent. His name is Rex.

[chanman]

Originally Posted by Jessica

thank you chanman. my Chinese seemed to be slipping off my mind I forgot how to write dong tian and xia tian....and chun tian (well I just added an extra line in the box)....that is just stupid

冬天
春天
夏天
冬天

I always get 夏 and 复 mixed up.

[Jessica]

What's "复"? I don't think I've learned it before

[chanman]

Originally Posted by Jessica

What's "复"? I don't think I've learned it before

It is one of the characters of 复杂 [fù zá]- meaning complicated.

Outside of that "word" though, it generally gives the feeling of the English prefix "re-" (of course, it cannot be used as flexibly).

复活 [fù huó] - come/bring back to life
复习 [fù xí] - study/review [literally - learn again].
学习 [xué xí] - study, as in "I study art history"
复兴 [fù xīng] - Renaissance; restoration
重复 [chóng fù] - Repeat.

[Jessica]

Ah I got it. thanks ^_^

[chanman]

I don't know if this has been included somewhere, but I'm going to make short posts about idiomatic phrases in Chinese:

To ask a question, you end with a "question particle". Examples include:
吗[ma], 呢[ne], 啊[a], etc. Though they are technically "neutral" tone, these particles are generally pronounced as if with the first tone. [mā, nē, ā].

It is very difficult to explain how they are used.

你去过图书馆了吗？
[nǐ qù guò tú shū guǎn le ma?]
Have you gone to the book store?

你妈妈在哪里啊？
[nǐ mā mā zài ná lǐ a?]
Where is your mother?

你妈妈呢？
[nǐ mā mā ne?]
Where is your mother?

You really have to get into daily conversation to understand how to use these particles. There are other ways of phrasing, though, where particle choice is less complicated. They hardest part to get is that they are never interchangeable - there is a certain particle that you must use in each type of question, and using the wrong one will sound very, very awkward to Chinese speakers.

I think there's a weak correlation this way:
吗 goes with actions, and 啊 goes with asking for information.

呢 can be used one of two ways.
1) Instead of asking "某某人[móu mou rén]在哪里啊？”, you can say "某某人呢？”. Both will be taken to mean "Where is ___?" (某某人 is equivalent to "Person X" in Chinese)

2)
A:“我今年上五年级。”
[wǒ jīn nián shàng wǔ nián jí]
I am in Fifth Grade this year.

B: "你弟弟呢?"
[nǐ dì di ne?]
What about/How about your younger brother?

A: ”他今年上二年级。”
[tā jīn nián shàng èr nián jǐ]
He is in Second Grade this year.

When given a specific piece of information, 呢 can be used to inquire about someone/something else. In essence, it is a "pro-question" (taken from pronoun), replacing the need to repeat information.

The main form of asking whether someone has done an action yet, other than using 吗, is through the A-not-A sentence form.

你有没有？
[nǐ yǒu méi yǒu]
Do you have (it)?
Lit: You have-not-have?

你要不要？
[nǐ yào bu yào]
Do you want (it)?
Lit: You want-not-want?

不 and 没 are both negative words. 不 is used to indicate present and future actions, while 没 is used to indicate past actions (generally).

More examples:

你会不会打网球？
[nǐ huì bu huì dá wǎng qíu]
Do you know how to play tennis?
Lit: You can-not-can play tennis?

For two word verbs, properly, you should say both words 喜欢不喜欢 (xǐ huān bu xǐ huān) (like or not like), but in colloquial speech, most people just repeat the first word of the verb, as in 喜不喜欢 (xǐ bu xǐ huān).

你喜不喜欢吃橘子？
[ní xǐ bu xǐ huān chī jú zi]
Do you like to eat oranges?

你安不安装？
[nǐ ān bu ān zhuāng]
Will you install it?

Be careful with this style of question, though. It is often used sort of like a threat, and sounds more like an order than a request. With the above example, one would probably want to word it differently.

Ex:
Mother: 你做不做作业？
[nǐ zuò bu zuò zuo yè]
Will you do your homework?

[Jessica]

thanks again!!

[lee ying]

上帝保佑你 means God bless you? someone told me this=)

[chanman]

保佑 technically means something along the lines of "protect", but yes, idiomatically that is how it is said. Few people in China will say "God bless you" though. Christianity is practically nonexistent there.

[Jessica]

gracias chanman. my brain got fried

[lee ying]

O(∩_∩)O谢谢， chanman .
ANd I would like to say, you 're a good friend. let me try:
你是我恨的好朋友！ AM Iright？

[Jessica]

There's no '恨'. otherwise it's correct.

你是我的好朋友 << You're my good friend.