3.1 Greetings, Names, and Countries — Epoché
What you will be able to do Greet, thank, apologise and take your leave, choosing between the plain and the polite "you". Give your name and surname, ask for someone else's, and address a man, a woman, a teacher and a classmate. Name seven countries and two languages (with two words for Chinese), and turn a country name into the word for a person from it. Use the eight pronouns, and answer with "yes", "no" or "it does not matter". Prerequisites : 2.5, which gave you the question particle and so lets you turn the statements below into questions. The copula from lesson 2.2 and the verb of possession from 2.4 are also assumed. Vocabulary lessons have no single pattern to learn: forty-five words in five sets, each set closing off an area of talk rather than sampling it, with corpus sentences for every word. Read the list first, then the sentences. Word list The first column gives the simplified form, the traditional form in brackets where it differs, and the pinyin. The third column is the one to read slowly; it is not a translation of anything. A word met in an earlier list appears again here so that the set is complete; its note opens with "From" and the number of the lesson that first listed it. Four patterns run through the list. Thirteen of the forty-five words contain a toneless syllable, marked in pinyin by a missing tone mark. Two consist of two third tones in a row, which Chinese does not allow, so the first is said rising and the pinyin does not show it. The negator falls alone but rises before another falling tone. And twenty-three words differ in traditional writing, almost always in the same few repeated parts. Greetings and farewells Eight fixed expressions. Four are built on the word for "good", and the greetings for morning and evening both put the time of day first, the reverse of English. Word Meaning Notes 你好 zh nǐhǎo phrase · hello Note for English speakers From 1.9. Literally 'you good', and pinyin often writes it as two words, nǐ hǎo. Both syllables carry the third tone, and Chinese does not allow two of those in a row, so the first is said as a rising tone. 你好。 Hello. 你好吗？ How are you? 您好 zh nínhǎo phrase · hello (polite) Note for English speakers The polite counterpart. English has no polite form of 'you', so nothing in the English greeting changes; here the pronoun itself does. 您好！ Hello! 您好吗？ How are you? 早上好 zh zǎoshang hǎo phrase · good morning Note for English speakers The order is the reverse of English: morning first, good second. Used in the morning only, as 'good morning' is in English. 早上好。 Good morning. 大家早上好。 Good morning, everybody. 晚上好 zh wǎnshang hǎo phrase · good evening Note for English speakers Same reversed order. It is a greeting only. For a parting in the evening there is a separate expression, so do not use it as English uses 'good night'. 晚上好。 Good evening. 晚上好，你好吗？ Good evening, how are you? 再见 zh zàijiàn （ 再見 ） zàijiàn phrase · goodbye Note for English speakers From 0.2. Literally 'again see', so it promises another meeting rather than closing one, as French 'au revoir' does. The second character is written in a fuller form in Taiwan and Hong Kong. 再见。 Goodbye. 我想说再见。 I'd like to say goodbye. 谢谢 zh xièxie （ 謝謝 ） xièxie verb · thank you; to thank Note for English speakers From 0.8. A doubled verb, and the second syllable loses its tone. As a verb it takes the person thanked straight after it, as in 谢谢你 ; said alone it already means 'thanks', with no 'you' needed. 谢谢！ Thanks! 谢谢你。 Thank you. 不客气 zh bù kèqi （ 不客氣 ） bù kèqi phrase · you are welcome Note for English speakers Literally 'not polite', that is, do not stand on ceremony. The first syllable is written bù but said bú here, because a fourth tone follows. 不客气。 You're welcome. 「谢谢。」「不客气。」 "Thank you." "You're welcome." 对不起 zh duìbuqǐ （ 對不起 ） duìbuqǐ phrase · sorry (an apology) Note for English speakers The middle syllable is unstressed and toneless. It is an apology for a fault, not the 'excuse me' that opens a question: that one is the last word in the final set. 对不起。 I'm sorry. 对不起，我来晚了。 Sorry I'm late. Names and how to address people Ten words. Chinese has a verb for having a surname, which English lacks entirely, and titles follow the family name instead of preceding it. Word Meaning Notes 名字 zh míngzi noun · name; given name Note for English speakers From 1.3. The second syllable is toneless. On its own the word can mean the given name alone, though the usual answer to the question for a name is the full name. 叫什么名字？ What's your name? 我没有名字。 I don't have a name. 叫 zh jiào verb · to be called; to call Note for English speakers From 1.3. It carries no 'to be': the sentence is 'I am-called Eva', with no equivalent of 'am'. Its other everyday sense is to shout or, of an animal, to make its noise. 她叫什么名字？ What's her name? 他大叫。 He yelled. 姓 zh xìng verb · to have as a surname; surname Note for English speakers English has no verb for this. It is both a verb and a noun, so a single character does the work of 'my surname is'. 你姓什么？ What's your surname? 我不知道他的姓。 I don't know his surname. 先生 zh xiānsheng noun · Mr; sir Note for English speakers It follows the family name instead of preceding it, and the second syllable is toneless. Used alone it is the polite way of saying 'sir' to a stranger. 谢谢您，先生。 Thank you, sir. 你认识高先生吗？ Do you know Mr Gao? 女士 zh nǚshì noun · Ms; madam Note for English speakers The formal title for a woman. It says nothing about whether she is married, so it is the safe equivalent of 'Ms'. The vowel is the u written with two dots, not the plain u. 请问，这位女士是什么人？ Excuse me, who is this lady? 小姐 zh xiǎojiě noun · Miss; young woman Note for English speakers Two third tones again, so the first is said rising. It is fine as a title after a family name; used alone to address a stranger it has become risky in the mainland, and English 'Miss' carries none of that. 先生小姐你们好。 Hello, ladies and gentlemen. 老师 zh lǎoshī （ 老師 ） lǎoshī noun · teacher Note for English speakers From 0.4. Used a