Text

你妈妈是大夫吗？

Notes

1. “这是你的车吗?” Is this your car?
   “车” is a general term for land vehicles of all kinds. In different context, it may refer to a motor-car, a train or a bicycle. In the present lesson “车”

   refers to a sedan.

2. “是、她是大夫。” — “Yes, she is a doctor.”

3. “那是她的书吗?” — “Is that her book?”
   In Chinese, there are two different characters for the singular third person pronoun “tā”: one is “他” denoting a male person, the other is “她” denoting a female person. Both “他” and “她” are sounded exactly the same.

Pronunciation drills and conversation practice

Initials	(zh) ch (sh) f
Finals	ai

1. The four tones

   chē

   ché

   chě

   chè

   bū

   bú

   bǔ

   bù

   — bú shì

   nā

   ná

   nǎ

   nà

   shū

   shú

   shǔ

   shù

   dāi

   dái

   dǎi

   dài

   fū

   fú

   fǔ

   fù

   } dàifu

2. Sound discrimination

   zhǐ — chǐ
   bào — pào
   zhái — chái

   bǐ — pǐ
   gāi — kāi
   chóu — shóu

3. Tone discrimination (4^th tone and 1^st tone)

   chè — chē
   dài — dāi
   shù — shū

   chì — chī
   fèn — fēn
   chàng — chāng

4. Tone changes — half 3^rd tone and neutral tone

   nǐ
   wǒ
   tā

   de
   de
   de

   shū
   shū
   shū

   nǐmen de chē
   wǒmen de chē
   tāmen de chē

5. Read out the following sentences:

   (1)

   A: Nǐ gēge shì dàifu ma?
   B: Wǒ gēge bú shì dàifu, wǒ péngyou shì dàifu.

   (2)

   A: Nà shì nǐ de shū ma?
   B: Nà bú shì wǒ de shū, nà shì wǒ dìdi de shū.

---

1. Identifying people or objects

   (1)

   A: Zhè shì shū ma?
   В: .

    

   A: Nà shì bǐ ma?
   В: .

    

   A: Nà shì bàozhǐ ma?
   В: .

   Replace the bold words with the given words on the right. Prepare fluent reading.

   (2)

   A: Zhè shì nǐ de chē ma?
   B: Zhè bú shì wǒ de chē, zhè shì tā de chē.

   shū
   chǐ

   bǐ
   zhǐ

   (3)

   A: Nà shì tā gēge ma?
   B: Nà bú shì tā gēge, nà shì tā péngyou.

   dìdi
   bàba

   (4)

   A: Tā shì nǐ péngyou ma?
   В: Tā bú shì wǒ péngyou.
     Tā shì wǒ māma de péngyou.

   gēge
   dìdi
   bàba

2. Asking about someone’s occupation

   A: Nǐ shì dàifu ma?
   В: Shì, wǒ shì* dàifu.

   tā
   nǐmen

   tāmen
   nǐ bàba

Phonetics

How to pronounce the initial and final

Initial ch [tʂ] ≈ [ʧʃ]

The initial is the correspondent aspirated to the unaspirated “zh” (≈ ʤ).

Compound final ai [ai]

The compound final “ai” is produced by first articulating “a”, a front vowel pronounced long and loud with the tongue-position a little more to the front than for “a” as an independent final, then gliding in the direction of “i” which is pronounced light, short and somewhat indistinct.

Tones of “不”

“不” is pronounced in the 4^th tone when it stands by itself or precedes a 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd tone, but is pronounced in the 2^nd tone when it precedes another 4^th tone (or a neutral tone that is originally a 4^th tone), e.g. bù máng, bù hǎo, bú shì.

Grammar

“是” sentence type (1)

A sentence in which the predicate is made up of the verb “是” and one other word or phrase is known as a “是” sentence. In a “是” sentence, the verb “是” is usually pronounced light. Such a sentence is made negative by putting “不” in front of “是”.

Attributives showing possession

When a noun or a pronoun is used attributively to show possession, it must take after it the structural particle “的”, as in “你的车”, “她的书” and “妈妈的车”.

When a personal pronoun is used attributively to show possession, it is used without “的” if the qualified word denotes a family relationship or a unit of which the speaker (or the person spoken to or of) is a member, e.g. “我爸爸”, “你哥哥”.

In Chinese, an attributive must precede what it qualifies.

Exercises

1. Make negative sentences out of the following (first write them, then read them):

   а) 这是书。
   б) 这是他的车。
   в) 这是我爸爸。
   г) 这是我弟弟。
   д) 这是我的书。

2. Add attributes with “我” to the following words, using “的”, if necessary, e.g.: 书→我的书.

   车、

   哥哥、

   弟弟、

   bǐ,

   bào,

   朋友、

   爸爸

3. Do the previous task even, replacing the pronoun “我” with 3^rd person pronoun “他”, and then 2^nd person pronoun “你”.

Listen to the following words and word combinations. Write them in transcription pinyin. Lay tone marks:

福；佛；说；车；酌；太；待；丑；火；蛇；
者；盖；开；吃；知；窄；柴；派；白；师；
设；折；成；胜；晒；火柴；上车；开门；
城市；迟到。

Write the following sentences in Chinese characters adding tone marks above them:

1. Zhè shì wǒ gēgede chē.
2. Wǒde péngyou shì dàifu.
3. Zhè bú shì wǒde shū, shì wǒ dìdide shū.
4. Māma bù máng, bàba hěn máng.
5. Zhè shì wǒ bàbade shū, nà yě shì tāde shū.

Write the following words and words combinations in Chinese characters and pinyin, lay tone marks:

1. 报纸、尺子。
2. Nà shì wǒ péngyoude 笔。
3. Zhè bú shì wǒde 纸, zhè shì tāde 纸。
4. Nà shì tāmende 尺子。
5. Zhè shì nǐde 报纸 ma?