Text

这是什么地图？

Zhè shì shéi de dìtú?

这是谁的地图？

Zhè shì Āndéliè de dìtú.

这是Āndéliè的地图。

Zhè shì shénme dìtú?

这是什么地图？

Zhè shì Zhōngguó dìtú.

这是中国地图。

Nǐ kàn, zhè shì Běijīng, nà shì Shànghǎi.

你看、这是Běijīng, 那是Shànghǎi.

Zhè shì Chángjiāng ma?

这是Chángjiāng 吗？

Вú shì，zhè shì Huánghé, nà shì Chángjiāng.

不是、这是Huánghé, 那是Chángjiāng.

Zhè shì shénme?

这是什么？

Zhè shì Chángchéng.

这是Chángchéng.

Notes

1. “这是谁的地图?” — “Whose map is this?”
2. “这是什么地图?” — “What map is this?”
3. “你看。” — “Look (you).”

The verb “看” also has other meanings: to have a look, to read, to watch. E.g.: “看书” — “to read a book.”

Pronunciation drills and conversation practice

Initial	j
Finals	ing iang uang

1. The four tones

   jīng	jíng	jǐng	jìng	—	Běijīng
   jiāng	jiáng	jiǎng	jiàng	—	Chángjiāng
   huāng	huáng	huǎng	huàng	—	Huánghé
   chāng	cháng	chǎng	chàng	—	Chángchéng
   shēn	shén	shěn	shèn	—	shénme

2. Sound discrimination

   bīng — pīng
   zhuāng — chuāng
   bǎo — pǎo
   kōng — gōng
   tiē — diē
   guò — kuò

   láng — liáng
   rén — réng
   dōu — diū
   nán — náng
   yǔ — wǔ
   máng — méng

3. Tone discrimination (2^nd tone and 3^rd tone)

   chuáng — chuǎng
   hái — hǎi
   fáng — fǎng
   méi — měi
   yáng — yǎng
   jié — jiě

4. Tone changes

   (1)

   nǐ hǎo
   hěn hǎo
   yě hǎo

   (2)

   nǐ dìdi
   wǒ péngyou
   wǒmen lǎoshī
   nǐmen lǎoshī

   (3)

   nǐ de chē
   wǒ de dìtú

   (4)

   nǎ guó rén
   Éguó rén
   Měiguó rén

1. Identifying people or objects

   (1)

   

   A: Zhè shì shénme?
   В: Zhè shì

   A: Nà shì shénme?
   B: Nà shì

   (2)

   A: Zhè shì shéi de chē?
   B: Zhè shì wǒ de chē.

   tā
   lǎoshī

   dàifu
   tā péngyou

   (3)

   A: Nà shì shénme dìtú?
   B: Nà shì Zhōngguó dìtú.

   Bějīng
   shìjiè
   Ōuzhōu

   Fēizhōu
   Dàyángzhōu
   Nánměizhōu

2. Asking about occupations and nationalities

   (1) Answer the following questions:

   Māsha shì shéi?

   Māsha de māma shì lǎoshī ma?

   Nà shì Māsha de chē ma?

   Nà shì shéi de chē?

   Tā shì lǎoshī ma?

   Shéi shì nǐmen de lǎoshī?

   Hànyǔ lǎoshī shì Měiguó rén ma?

   Hànyǔ lǎoshī shì nǎ guó rén?

   (2) Read out the following dialogue:

   A: Nǐ máng ma?
   В: Bù máng, nǐ ne?
   A: Wǒ hěn máng. Nǐ bàba, māma hǎo ma?
   В: Tāmen dōu hěn hǎo.
   A: Nà shì shéi?
   B: Nà shì Māsha de bàba.
   A: Tā yě shì dàifu ma?
   В: Bú shì, tā shì lǎoshī.
   A: Tā shì shéi?
   В: Tā shì Āndéliè de lǎoshī.
   A: Tā shì Zhōngguó rén ma?
   В: Shì, tā shì Zhōngguó rén.

   (3) Make up dialogues on each of the following pictures, using the words given in brackets:

   
   (好、都)
   

   
   (这、是)
   

   
   (谁、老师)
   

   
   (什么、的)
   

Phonetics

How to pronounce the initial

Initial j [tɕ]

The initial is produced by first raising the front of the tongue to the hard palate and pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of the lower teeth, then loosing the tongue to let the air squeeze out through the channel between the tongue and hard palate. The vocal cords do not vibrate in pronouncing this sound.

Grammar

Questions with an interrogative pronoun

In Chinese, a question with an interrogative pronoun has the same word order as that of a declarative sentence. Questions of this kind can be formed by substituting an interrogative pronoun for the word or phrase in the declarative sentence to be asked about. E.g.

他是Āndéliè — 他是谁？
“He is Andrei.” — “Who is he?”

她是大夫。 — 谁是大夫？
“She is a doctor.” — “Who is a doctor?”

这是书。 — 这是什么？
“This is a book.” — “What is this?”

那是我的书。 — 那是谁的书？
“That is my book.” — “Whose book is that?”

他是Zhōngguó人。 — 他是哪国人？
“He is a Chinese” — “What’s his nationality?”

Pronouns

Personal pronouns	Interrogative pronouns	Demonstrative pronouns
我、你、他、她、我们、你们、他们、她们	谁、什么、哪	这、那

Situational tasks

Ask questions to the attribute, using interrogative pronouns “谁的”, “什么” и “哪”.

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

京；进；平；冰；林；英；顶；银；讲；亮；
狼 ；窗；装；样；酿；黄；定；敬；
毛巾；服装；邻国；进城；和平；命令；居民；皇帝。

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

1. Zhè shì shénme shū?
2. Nǐ gēge shì shénme rén?
3. Nà shì hànyǔ lǎoshīde dìtú.
4. Wǒmende lǎoshī bú shì Zhōngguó rén.
5. Zhè bú shì wǒde dìtú, zhè shì wǒ péngyoude dìtú.
6. Nà shì shéide shū? — Shì wǒ Zhōngguó péngyoude shū.
7. Nǐ kàn, zhè shì wǒ bàbade chē.
8. Nǐ gēge kàn shénme shū?

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

日本dìtú; 上海chē; 美guó dàifu; 世界dìtú; 欧洲rén; 亚洲rén; 北京lǎoshī; 非洲dìtú.

1. Wǒmende hànyǔ lǎoshī bú shì 上海 rén, tā shì 北京rén.
2. Nǐ kàn, zhè shì 长城.
3. Zhè shì shénme dìtú? — Zhè shì 南美洲 dìtú.
4. Zhè shì lǎoshīde dìtú, shì Zhōngguó dìtú. Nǐ kàn, zhè shì 黄河.
5. 亚洲 dìtú shì gēgede.
6. Zhè bú shì 长江, zhè shì 黄河.

Do you know?

Beijing, Shanghai, the Changjiang (Yangtze) River, the Huanghe (Yellow) River and the Great Wall

Beijing (Běijīng, 北京, lit. “northern capital”) is the capital of the People’s Republic of China, the country’s chief political, economic and cultural centre.

Shanghai (Shànghǎi, 上海, lit. “outlet to the sea”) is China’s biggest city, and her largest industrial centre as well.

The Changjiang (Yangtze) (Chángjiāng, 长江, lit. “long river”) River, whose total length is 6,300 kilometres, is the longest river in China and one of the longest rivers in the world.

The Huanghe (Huánghé, 黄河, lit. “yellow river”) River is the second largest with a total length of 5,464 kilometres. The Huanghe valley was the cradle of the ancient Chinese civilization.

The Great Wall (Wànli cháng chéng, 万里长城, or abbreviated to Chángchéng, lit. “Ten-thousand mile long wall”), which was built over 2,000 years ago, is one of the world’s wonders in ancient architecture. Its total length is more than 2,500 kilometres, but quite a number of places are made up of several walls, the actual length comes to over 6,000 kilometres (more than 12,000 li). And for this reason it is also known as the “Great Wall of Ten Thousand li (里, lǐ).