What’s your name?

Text

您贵姓？

Notes

1. “请问...” — “May I ask…?” or Excuse me, but…”

   It is a polite form of inquiry used to ask someone something.

2. “您贵姓?” — “What’s your surname?”

   It is a polite way of asking someone’s surname. The person thus asked may give just his or her surname, i.e. “我姓…” or his or her name in full, i.e. “我叫...” The simple form of this question is “您姓什么?”.

   “我姓 Dīng, 我叫 Dīng Yún.”
   “My surname is Ding, and my name is Ding Yun.

3. There is some difference between “学” and “学习”.

   The verb “学” initially meant имел значение “to study [a subject]”, “to learn [a subject]”. In this case, a direct object is needed (e.g., “学外语” — “to learn a foreign language”).

   The verb “学习”, besides the functions and a meaning of the verb “学” (你学汉语 = 你学习汉语), can also indicate a type of activity or an occupation of the speaker: “我学习” — “I study”, “I am a pupil/student”. In this case, we do not need a direct object after “学习”. It should be noted that in colloquial speech, when we need to mention the subject that we are studying or learning, the short form is used more often: “你学什么？” — “我学 汉语”, although “我学习汉语” is also perfectly acceptable.

Pronunciation drills and conversation practice

1. The four tones

   jiāo	jiáo	jiǎo	jiào
   xīng	xíng	xǐng	xìng
   wēn	wén	wěn	wèn	—	qǐngwèn
   guī	guí	guǐ	guì	—	guì xìng
   xuē	xué	xuě	xuè	}	xuésheng
   shēng	shéng	shěng	shèng
   liū	liú	liǔ	liù	—	liúxuéshēng
   wāi	wái	wǎi	wài	—	wàiyǔ
   yuān	yuán	yuǎn	yuàn	—	xuéyuàn
   xī	xí	xǐ	xì	—	xuéxí

2. Combinations of tones

   “˘” + “ˉ”
   lǎoshī
   Běijīng
   Měizhōu

   “˘” + “´”
   nǎ guó
   qǐ chuáng (to get up)
   hěnmáng

   “˘” + “˘”
   nǐ hǎo
   liǎojiě
   (to understand)

   “˘” + “`”
   qǐngwèn
   nǚshì
   qǐngjìn

   “˘” + “˚”
   wǒmen
   nǐmen
   xǐhuan

3. Read out the following dissyllabic words:

   juéxīn
   yīnyuè
   yuànyì
   zhǔnbèi
   yúkuài
   jiàoshì
   huídá
   kèwén
   wèntí
   Lǔ Xùn

   (determination)
   (music)
   (to be willing)
   (to prepare)
   (happy, pleasant)
   (classroom)
   (to answer)
   (text)
   (question, problem)
   (Lu Xun)

4. Try to pronounce the following polysyllables in quick succession:

   niàn kèwén
   kàn kèwén
   tīng yīnyuè
   wèn wèntí
   huídá wèntí
   Wǒ wèn.
   Nǐmen huídá.
   Duì bu duì?
   Duì.
   Bú duì.

   (to read aloud the text)
   (to read the text)
   (to listen to music)
   (to ask questions)
   (to answer questions)
   (I ask a question.)
   (You answer it.)
   (Is it right or wrong?)
   (It is right.)
   (It is wrong.)

1. Asking about nationalities

   A: Qǐngwèn, nín shì Zhōngguó rén ma?
   В: Shì, wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.

   Cháoxiǎn
   Déguó

   Fǎguó
   Éluósī

   A: Qǐngwèn, nín shì Rìběn rén ma?
   B: Bu, wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.

   Cháoxiǎn,
   Éluósī,
   Yīngguó,

   Zhōngguó
   Yīngguó
   Měiguó

2. Asking about surnames and names

   A: Qǐngwèn dàifu, nín guì xìng?
   В: Wǒ xìng Zhāng, jiào Zhāng Míng.
   A: Wǒ jiào Lǐ Hóngyún.

   gūniang
   xiānsheng
   tàitai
   nǚshì

   A: Qǐngwèn, nín shì Wáng xiānsheng ma?
   B: Shì, wǒ xìng Wáng.
   A: Wáng xiānshěng, nín hǎo.

   Dīng gūniang
   Wáng nǚshì
   Jīn lǎoshī
   Zhāng dàifu
   Lǐ xiānsheng

   A: Тā xìng shénme?
   В: Тā xìng

   A: Tā jiào shénme?
   B: Tā jiào

Phonetics

How to pronounce

Compound final üe [yɛ]

The compound final “üe [yɛ]” is produced by articulating “ü” first, then promptly gliding to “e”. “e” should be pronounced much louder and longer than "ü”.

Rules of phonetic spelling

“uei” and “uen”, when preceded by an initial, are written as “ui” and “un” respectively. When “ui” comes after an initial, the tone-graph is placed above “i”.

When “ü” and the finals that begin with appear after “ü” appear after “j”, “q” or “x”, “ü” is written as “u”, with the two dots omitted, e.g. “xuéxí”.

1.	贵		9
	貴		12
2.	姓		8
3.	问		6
	問		11
4.	留		10
5.	学		8
	學		16
6.	生		5
7.	叫		5
8.	外		5
9.	院		9
10.	习		3
	習		11

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

问 — 王；眼 — 元；先 — 写 — 学；
缺 — 妾 — 浅；决 — 届；讯 — 损；
怪 — 贵 — 亏；水 — 追；退 — 堆；
问题；姓名；学期；同学；剧院；姐妹；
英语；保留；语言；交通。

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

1. Zhè shì wǒmende Wàiyǔ xuéyuàn.
2. Tāmen dōu shì liúxuéshēng.
3. Wǒ xuéxí hànyǔ, wǒde péngyou yě xuéxí hànyǔ.
4. Qǐng wèn, nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?
5. Qǐng wèn, nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? — Wǒ bú shì lǎoshī, wǒ shì xuésheng.
6. Nǐmende hànyǔ lǎoshī xìng shénme?
7. Wǒ māma shì Wàiyǔ xuéyuànde lǎoshī.
8. Nǐmen xuéxí shénme?
9. Wàiyǔ xuéyuànde lǎoshī dōu hěn máng.
10. Wǒmende lǎoshī dōu hěn hǎo.

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

女士们；英国 chá; 朝鲜人; 美国liúxuéshēng; 王小姐; 英国 shū; 欧洲女士; 朝鲜 dìtú; 法国lǎoshī; 英国 dàifu; 非洲 liúxuéshēng; 俄罗斯 xuésheng.

1. Тā bú shì Zhōngguó liúxuéshēng, tā shì 朝鲜 liúxuéshēng.
2. Xiǎojiě, nǐ hē shénme? — Wǒ hē 英国 chá.
3. Nǐmende lǎoshī shì nǎ guó rén? Shì 英国 rén ma? — Вù, tā shì 美国 rén.
4. 小姐, nín guì xìng?
5. Tā shì 法国 liúxuéshēng, tā xuéxí hànyǔ.

Translate the following sentences from English into Chinese. Use the polite form when “pf” is written in brackets.

1. Excuse me, what’s your (pf) surname? — My surname is Wang.
   
2. What’s your (pf) name? — My name is Wang Daifu.
   
3. Excuse me, are you (pf) Mr. Ding? — Yes, I am. — Welcome, welcome.
   
4. What’s his surname? — His surname is Jin. He is an English teacher.
   
5. What country is your friend from? — My friend is from Russia. He is a foreign student.
   
6. What do you study? — I study Chinese, and you? — I study Korean.
   
7. I am a student of the Institute of Foreign Languages. I study French.
   



8. Not all the teachers of our Institute are English.
   
9. All the teachers of foreign languages are foreigners (外国人).
   
10. My younger brother also studies Chinese. He is (very) busy.
    
11. Excuse me, whose books is this? — This is Mr. Wang’s book.
    
12. Excuse me, what is this? — This is an English book.
    
13. Is your (pf) doctor old? — He is not old.
    
14. Whose car is this? — This is my car. — Your car is good.
    
15. Are your father and mother both (lit.: all) well? — They are both well.