PLACEMENT OF TONE MARK IN PINYIN

If a final includes 3 finals, or two finals, the tone mark is written over the 2 nd final: kuai4 (over a); huan2
(over a); qiong2 (over o)

In the case of ai1 (over a); ao2(over a); ei3(over e); ou4 (over o) uo4(over o0 etc.

SOME ADDITIONAL PINYIN CONVENTIONS:

 “u” after the initials J, Q, & X is pronounced as the last final (w/ 2 dots above) is written as U.
 When “i” and “u” (w/ 2 dots) begin a syllable, they are written as yi and yu.
 When “u” begins a syllable, it is written as w.
 In two syllable words, when the boundary between syllables is not clear from the Pinyin spelling,
and more than one interpretation of the boundary is possible, an apostrophe is used to separate
the syllables. For example, if the 2nd syllable begins with a final, an apostrophe is used: Xi’an vs.
xian.

PRONOUNS

1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS – SINGULAR AND PLURAL PRONOUNS -please look at the infographics in
your respective GC/LMS
2. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS -zhe4 and na4 (singular); zhe4 xie1 and na4 xie1 ( plural) .please
look at the infographics in your respective GC/LMS
3. POSSESSIVE PROUNOUNS- WO3 DE, NI3DE ETC. ( please look at the infographics in your GC/
LMS.
4. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS – myself (wo3 zi4 ji3), yourself ( ni zi ji), himself/herself (ta zi ji ).( please
look at the infographics in your respective GC/LMS.
5. INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS- to be taken up in another topic after the midterm.

SHI4 – the VERB TO BE. WHEN TO USE AND WHEN NOT TO USE IT

When to use it:

1. To connect nouns ( My sister is a doctor) or pronoun and noun ( She is a journalist).

2. Use it in the phrase shi bus shi to ask a question or confirm information ( to be discussed in
detail when we reach the topic about Asking Questions
3. Use to keep a conversation going with the phrase shi ma?
4. Use it to agree in conversation- shi de, shi a, jiu shi.

When Not to use shi

1. Do not use it to connect noun/pronoun and an adjective.

For example, in English, we say, “The child is tall.” It is translated in Mandarin Chinese as “Haizi
hen gao.’ Instead of using “shi,” “ hen” is used. In the sentence “She is bright, ” the Pinyin
translation is “Ta hen congming.”
 2. Do not use shi to connect a noun and a prepositional phrase. In English, we say, “ My mother is
at home”., which is translated in Mandarin Chinese as, “ Wode mama zai jia “. The sentence
structure is Subject + zai +location or + (preposition).
3. Do not use shi4 to say “there is/there are”. Instead , use “you”. For example, we say in English, Is
anybody there? It is translated in Mandarin as, “ You ren zai ma? “ It uses the verb “you”
meaning to have. “You” goes at the beginning of the sentence. No subject is necessary. For
example, “There is a cat on the table.” It is translated as “ You mao zai zhuo zi shang.”
4. Do not use “shi” as a helping verb. For example in English, “ I am eating an apple.” Instead, use
“zai”. It is translated as,” Wo zai chi ping guo.”

SIMPLE QUESTIONS REQUIRING YES OR NO ANSWERS (How to Form Them in Chinese). There are two
(2) ways/methods of asking questions or making simple interrogative sentences:

1. The 1st Way/method is to Add Ma to the End of a Simple (Declarative ) Sentence to Turn it
into a Question without Changing the Word Order.

For example:
A. Ta1 shi4 xue2sheng ma? Is he a student?
Positive Answer /reply: Shi4 or Shi4 de; Negative Answer: Bu2 shi4
NOTE that there is no transposition of words like we do in English.
B. Ni3 chi1 le ma? Have you eaten?
Positive Answer/reply: Chi1 le. Negative Answer: BU4 chi1.
C. Ni3 you3 hai2zi ma? Do you have children?
Positive Answer/ reply : you3; Negative Answer: Mei2 you
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO STANDARD WORDS FOR YES AND NO, but you can
often use shi (de), dui4le ( yes, that is right) and bu2 shi4 (no, not). The most common
way is to repeat the verb to say yes, and to repeat the verb together with bu4 or mei2 as
required or appropriate.

2. The 2nd way is TO PHRASE QUESTIONS using the Verb-not-Verb structure or the Affirmative-
Negative Structure.
Let’s use the above questions to convert them into the 2 nd way of asking questions.
A. Ta1 shi4 bu2 shi4 xue2sheng? Same English translation as the above example. Answer is
the same too.
B. Ni3 chi1 bu4 chi1 ? Same English translation. Same answer too.
C. Ni3 you3 mei2 you3 hai2 zi? Same English translation and answer.

BU4 & MEI2 ARE THE TWO NEGATION WORDS WE USE IN MANDARIN CHINESE LANGUAGE.