basic mandarin chinese | lesson 7 | learn to tell your surname!

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Nǐ hǎo Lesson 7 on Basic Mandarin!

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Revision

Translation Mandarin

Miss Xiǎo jiě

Mister/ Mr. Xiān sheng

Mrs. Fū ren

Female friend/ girlfriend Nǚ péngyǒu

Male friend/ boyfriend Nán péngyǒu

Young friend Xiǎo péngyǒu

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Revision

English Mandarin

I Wǒ

To be surnamed Xìng

To be called Jiào

My family name is Wáng Wǒ xìng Wáng

My name is Wáng Péng Wǒ jiào Wáng Péng

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Lesson objectives

1 Learning family names!

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What's in store today?

Today we will learn how to ask someone's name and surname!

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Introductions

Let’s begin by learning the vocabulary for family names, names etc…!

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Introductions

May I ask = Qǐng wèn

Pease = Qǐng Ask = Wèn

Together 'Qǐng wèn' implies, 'Please may I ask?'

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Tonal tip

‘Qǐng’ is pronounced in the falling rising tone, also known as the third tone

Remember that ‘Qǐng’ starts with a ‘ch’ tone

‘Wèn’ is pronounced in the falling tone, also known as the fourth tone

Let’s hear you say ‘Qǐng Wèn’

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Introductions

May I ask

Qǐng wèn

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Introductions

Your name = Nín xìng

Your = Nín Name = Xìng

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Introductions

Your name

Nín xìng

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Introductions

Please may I ask your name ?

Qǐng wèn nín xìng ?

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Grammar tip

While the previous sentence is grammatically correct, it is often polite to add the word, 'honorable' before asking

someone's name

Let's learn how to say 'honorable' in Mandarin!

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Introductions

Honorable = Guì

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Tonal tip

‘Guì’ is pronounced in the falling tone, also known as the fourth tone

Let’s hear you say Guì

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Introductions

honorable

Guì

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Etiquette conversation

May I ask your honorable family name

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Qǐng wèn nín guì xìng

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Etiquette conversation

Nín = yourXìng = family name

May I ask your honorable family name?

Qǐng wèn nín guì xìng?

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Grammar tip

Did you notice that 'Nin' is used both for 'your' as well as 'you' ?

This is because in Mandarin we use the samewords

for pronouns and adjectives derived from them.

Thus, Nín = your, is the same as Nín = you

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Introductions

Furthermore, to ask someone else's name, one would say 'And you'? , let's see how do

we translate this in Mandarin!

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Introductions

And you ? =Nǐ ne

We already know ‘Nǐ’ means you, and ‘ne’ is a question particle

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Introductions

And you?

Nǐ ne?

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Revision

English Mandarin

Honorable Guì

Question particle Ne

What about you, and you Nǐ ne

May I ask Qǐng wèn

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Let's see if you remember…

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Pick the right option

How do we say 'May I ask'?

1

Qǐng wèn

2

Nǐ ne

3

Guì ne

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Pick the right option

How do we say 'May I ask'?

1

Qǐng wèn

2

Nǐ ne

3

Guì ne

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Etiquette conversation

My family name is …….. and you

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Wǒ xìng……..

nǐ ne

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Etiquette conversation

My family name is ……

Wǒ xìng.........

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Grammar tip

nǐ ne? = and you?

You may remember Ne is a question particle used to convert statements to questions

Ending with ne makes a question when the context is already known

A common circumstance is when you wish torepeat

a question that was just asked for another subject, as in the case we are discussing right now

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Etiquette conversation

My family name is ……, and you?

Wǒ xìng......, nǐ ne?

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Etiquette conversation

English Mandarin

Wáng

peng

May I ask your honorable family

name?

Qǐng wèn , nín guì

xìng?

Lǐ YǒuMy family name is Lǐ,

and you?Wǒ xìng Lǐ, nǐ ne?

Wáng

Peng

My family name is

WángWǒ xìng Wáng

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Let's see if you remember…

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Try yourself

How do we say 'My family name is Lǐ, and you?'

1

Wǒ xìng Lǐ, nǐ ne?

2

Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ma?

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Try yourself

How do we say 'My family name is Lǐ, and you?'

1

Wǒ xìng Lǐ, nǐ ne?

2

Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ ma?

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Introductions

Now lets go ahead and learn how to ask someone'sname! The vocabulary required for

this will be ‘What’ and ‘Name’

Let’s start!

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Introductions

What = Shénme

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Tonal tip

‘Shénme’ is pronounced in the mid rising tone, also known as the second tone

Let’s hear you say Shénme

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Introductions

What

Shénme

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Introductions

Name = Míngzi

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Tonal tip

‘Míngzi’ is pronounced in the mid rising tone, also known as the second tone

Let’s hear you say Míngzi

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Introductions

Name

Míngzi

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Revision

English Mandarin

What Shénme

Name Míngzi

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More greetings

What's your name (called)

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Shénme nǐ míngzi jiào

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More greetings

Literally, 'you called what name? '

Jiào = to be called

What's your name?

Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

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Introductions

Now let us take a case where we have the familyname, but

want to know the first name of a person For thepurpose of

this conversation, we'll assume the surname of theperson

to be Wáng and first name to be 'Peng'

As we will see, in Chinese culture we always giveour

Surname before our First name'To view this with Audio and practice games, visit www.CultureAlley.com/Mandarin

Introductions

Mr. Wáng what is your name (called)

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Xiān sheng Wáng shénme nǐ míngzi jiào

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Introductions

Mr. Wáng , what is your name?

Wáng xiān sheng, nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

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Introductions

I am called Wáng Péng

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Wǒ jiào Wáng Péng

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Introductions

My name is Wáng Péng/I am called Wáng Péng

Wǒ jiào Wáng Péng

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Introductions

Miss Li what is your name called

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

xiǎo jiě Lǐ shénme nǐ míngzi jiào

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Introductions

Miss Li, what is your name?

Lǐ xiǎo jiě, nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

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Introductions

My name is Lǐ Yǒu

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Wǒ jiào Lǐ Yǒu

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Introductions

My name is Lǐ Yǒu

Wǒ jiào Lǐ Yǒu

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Grammar tip

Notice that unlike English, titles (Mr./Miss) come after the name of the person,

not before!

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Etiquette conversation

English Mandarin

Lǐ YǒuMy name is Yǒu, what is

your name?

Wǒ jiào Yǒu, nǐ jiào

shénme míngzi?

Wáng Péng My name is Wáng Péng Wǒ jiào Wáng Péng

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Etiquette conversation

English Mandarin

Lǐ YǒuMr. Wáng , what is

your name?

Wáng xiān sheng, nǐ

jiào shénme míngzi

Wáng PéngMiss Lǐ, what is your

name?

Lǐ xiǎo jiě, nǐ jiào

shénme míngzi

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Let's see if you remember…

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Pick the right option

How do we say 'My name is Lǐ Yǒu'?

1

Wǒ jiào Lǐ yǒu

2

Lǐ xiǎo jiě

3

Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi

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Pick the right option

How do we say 'My name is Lǐ Yǒu'?

1

Wǒ jiào Lǐ yǒu

2

Lǐ xiǎo jiě

3

Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi

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Revision

English Mandarin

Wáng

Péng

May I ask your honorable family

name?

Qǐng wèn, nín guì

xìng?

Lǐ YǒuMy family name is Lǐ, and

you?Wǒ xìng Lǐ, nǐ ne?

Wáng

PéngMy family name is Wáng Wǒ xìng Péng

Lǐ YǒuMy name is Yǒu, what is

your name?

Wǒ jiào Yǒu, nǐ jiào

shénme míngzi?

Wáng

PéngI am called Wáng Péng Wǒ jiào Wáng Péng

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Culture Leaf

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Culture leaf

The color Red in Chinese culture usually means good luck. Red is often worn in

weddings to ward off any bad luck to the new bride and groom

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Culture Leaf

A red envelope is a monetary gift which is given inChinese society during holiday or special occasions.

The red color of the packet symbolizes good luck.

Red is strictly forbidden at funerals as ittraditionally symbolized happiness

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What's next?

In the next lesson, we will discuss sentences describing professions, etc…

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Credits

Content

Team CultureAlley, Sunny Dang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_in_Chinese

_culture Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laisee.jpg Oldie

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See you at the Alley!

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