Lesson One: How are you?
Conversation: 你好吗？
你好吗？
How are you?
我很好。谢谢。
I am fine, thank you.
你呢？
And you?
我也很好。
I am fine too.
| New Words | ||
|---|---|---|
| 你 | pron. (singular) you | |
| 我 | pron. I, me, self |
|
| 好 | adj. good, fine |
|
| 很 | adv. very, quite, very much | |
| 也 | adv. also; too |
|
| 谢 | vb. thanks, thank you |
|
| 吗 | pt. (question form used at the end of sentence) | |
| 呢 | pt. (for questions on a subject under consideration) |
Language Applications
你好 is the most common greeting and can be used at any time of day.
您 is a polite usage of 你 that is used to show respect when addressing elders.
Grammar Points
Asking questions with 吗
There are many forms for interrogative sentences in Chinese. One of the most common is to add 吗 to the end of a sentence. It is not necessary to change the word order of the sentence.
Asking questions with 呢
Another form of interrogative sentence in Chinese is to add 呢 after the noun and pronoun. 你呢? is similar to “And you?” in English.
Exercises
Read the following phrases and translate them into English.
- 你好吗?
- 我很好.
- 你呢?
- 谢谢.
Writing Exercises
If possible use paper with squares on it. Remember each character should appear as if it is inside a square without touching the edges of the square. Refer to the writing basics lesson if you are unsure of the different strokes.
This concludes the first lesson. You should now be familiar with 7 different Chinese characters and be able to make several sentences using them. Read over this lesson’s contents as many times as necessary until you feel you have mastered all the material.
Hi Sir/Ms,
I am very much interested to learn Chinese language. I think this free site and the techniques of teaching is very good. I humblly appreciate to you. I hope It will be more fruitful me.
By looking your favourable follow up.
HariKc, Nepal
Now, Dubai, UAE
I am Very interested in learning another language . Chinse is my top interest !
( :
Hello. I am much interested in learning how to speak, read and write the Chinese language. What other advice do you have for me? GOD bless you.
Thanks for the comments. Of course we recommend you follow the lessons on this site to learn Chinese. It helps you if do the lessons in the order they are written. And don’t worry if you need to go slowly and read things over several times. There is no royal road to success – learning a new language takes time.
I will put together a blog posts of tips on how to study Chinese.
I love it !
why no song?
What kind of song?
wawww very good pro lessons
I am very new in learning Chinese language. I am very glad to be able to learn the primary lesson
Its reallly helpful. Could you please provide audio for pronunciation? It would make your lessond more interactive. Thanks a load.
Great suggestions! Thanks for the ideas. In fact, we are planning to add some audio and video to the lessons. Not sure when this will happen but keep checking this site for further updates.
Can you please put audios with each statement so that we can hear the correct pronunciation,thanks.
i want to learn Chinese thruogh tamil on computer its possible?
Hi Ramesh,
It might be possible using Google Translate. Try this link to start. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=en&tl=ta&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freechineselessons.com%2F
Let us know if the results work for you.
it’s very simple and useful techniqaue to learn. thank you.
But how can you remember what to say and when to say it?
Practicing with a Chinese speaker helps. Repeat the conversation exercises on this site until you have them memorised. Listening to what the other person says is an important part of learning a language. Don’t just think about what you need to say, try to hear what the other speaker is saying.
Anyone else have any tips?
I love this site as it gives lots of ideas. Since practicing online is not easy most of time in our country due to poor electricity supply and availabilty of internet. So I would be grateful to you if you suggest and recommend for best books and CDs that can be used in our context to improve speaking and writing Chinese.