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First steps
It starts with the sounds: pinyin and the four tones, and the first characters for numbers, family, food and the bare essentials.
Sentences are short and follow subject, verb, object. Anyone at this level can say who they are, what they have and what they want, and ask simple questions with 吗.
Sounds, characters and the basic sentence12
Sounds and characters
41Reading pinyinInitials, finals, and the handful of letters that do not sound the way English reads them.1The four tonesEvery syllable has a pitch shape, and a different shape makes a different word.1Tone changesTwo third tones in a row, and the words yī and bù, change their tone before another syllable.1What a character isOne character is one syllable with a meaning, built from a small set of recurring parts.
The basic sentence
81Word orderSubject, verb, object as in English — but time and place come before the verb, and the verb never changes.1A is B with shìShì links two nouns — “A is B” — but never a noun and an adjective.1Adjectives as predicatesAn adjective works like a verb on its own; hěn usually stands before it, often meaning no more than “is”.1Having and existing with yǒuYǒu means both “to have” and “there is”, and its negative is always méiyǒu.1Negation with bù and méiBù negates what you do, want or are; méi negates what did not happen, and the verb yǒu.1Yes-no questions with maAdd ma to the end of a statement and it becomes a question; answer by repeating the verb.1Question wordsA question word stands where the answer will stand, and the sentence keeps its statement order.1The particle neNe after a noun asks “and what about …?” or “where is …?”; at the end of a statement it marks something still going on.
Nouns, measure words and comparison8
Nouns, numbers and measure words
61Counting with shí, bǎi, qiān and wànTen digits and four place words build every number up to the hundred millions.1Two kinds of two: èr and liǎngÈr is the digit you count with; liǎng is the two you have of something.1Number, measure word, nounA number never stands directly before a noun: a measure word goes between them.1This, that and which: zhè, nà and nǎZhè and nà point, nǎ asks — and before a noun all three want a measure word.1The suffix men: a plural for peopleMen makes the pronouns plural and can follow a noun for people — and nothing else.1Asking how many: jǐ and duōshaoJǐ expects a small number and takes a measure word; duōshao expects any number and can do without one.
The particle de and modification
1Comparison
1Time, aspect and the verb5
Time and place
31Time words before the verbWhen something happens goes before the verb, and a date or a clock time runs from the biggest unit to the smallest.1Being somewhere and doing something there with zàiZài says where something is, and before another verb it says where the action happens.1On, in, under: place words after the nounChinese says “the table on” rather than “on the table”: the word for the position follows the noun.