How to pronounce “了” in Chinese? “Le” may be your only answer. But did you know that “了” can also be pronounced “liǎo”? This is one of the Chinese characters that you learn as a beginner.
In Chinese, there are some characters that have multiple pronunciations. In this infographic, we present 6 of the most common ones. We list their pronunciations, their meanings, and also provide some examples.
There are a few cases in Chinese where you have to change the pronunciation of a certain character.
There are three main tone change rules in Chinese YOU MUST KNOW!! These are…
不 usually pronouns as “bù.” But it can change to “bú” when it follows by a 4th tone word.
一 pronouns as “yī.” But it can change to “yí” or “yì.”
And if you see two third tone in a row, the pronunciation of the first word will change to the second tone.
See infographic for more detail!
One of the most “popular” Chinese grammar is the “把 sentence.” This grammar is confusing for some learners since you can’t find this grammar in English.
The basic Chinese sentence structure is S V O (Subject – Verb – Object).
However, when using a “把 sentence,” you place the Object before the Verb. So the sentence structure becomes S 把 O V. So, at this point, you can see that the S V O structure is not for all situations.
When should you use the “把 sentence?”
Check out the infographic for more details and examples.
When to use 二 or 两？
This is another often asked question from students of Chinese. “Both 二 and 两 mean two, but when should I use which?” I made this infographic to answer this question.
Second one, we read as 第二个
Second time, we read as 第二次
Second floor, we read as 二楼
February (Second month of the year), we read as 二月
May 2 (second day of May), we read as 五月二日
The structure will be “两” + measure word
E.g.,
Two cups of tea, we say 两杯茶
Two years, we say 两年
Two dollars, we say 两块钱
I like both of them, we say 我两个都喜欢
When counting numbers, it becomes a bit tricky…but don’t worry! Check out the infographic for more details.
This is our third “conjunction” infographics. Why are conjunctions so important? Written language greatly benefit from conjunctions.
For example, let’s say you would like to write a story.
A beginner may be able to write it with a few individual sentences.
But advanced student can use “conjunctions” they have learned and connect those individual sentences and in the end, deliver a smooth and superior story.
I hope you find these conjunctions useful.
Check out other conjunction infographics,
This “Conjunction Sequencing Actions 先…再…” grammar is pretty simple. The sentence structure is
先(First) + Action/Event 1 , 再(then, and then) + Action/Event 2
For instance,
你 先 做作业，再 去玩。
Nǐ xiān zuò zuo yè, zài qù wán.
You do homework first, then go play.
See the infographic for more examples.
Numbers can be easy or difficult in Chinese. Easy for smaller numbers. Difficult for big numbers. Not to mention a big number with a bunch “zeros” in it!
So….how do you say 10001? 20500? 6401001? Don’t worry, we show you how.
There are 5 sections in the infographic,
A friendly note for dear readers, if you are not familiar with “big numbers in Chinese,” check out the infographic here.
Also, see this post to learn basic numbers in Chinese.
Video Credit to Carol from Growmommy.com
Voice over: Carol
Counting from 1 to 100 is a must-have skill when it comes to learning a new language. In Chinese, numbers are used in ways unlike in English. For example, months and days of the week are expressed with numbers.
In this infographic, we introduce the very basic numbers 1-10. And also teach you the pattern from 11-99.
For numbers 1-10,
1 一 yī
2 二 èr
3 三 sān
4 四 sì
5 五 wǔ
6 六 liù
7 七 qī
8 八 bā
9 九 jiǔ
10 十 shí
Then
11=10+1, so 11 in Chinese is 十一 shíyī (10 and 1)
12=10+2, so 12 in Chinese is 十二 shíèr (10 and 2)
Same pattern applies to 13-19.
20=2*10, so 20 in Chinese is 二十 èrshí (2 and 10)
21=20+1, so 21 in Chinese is 二十一 èrshíyī (20 and 1)
29=20+9, so 29 in Chinese is 二十九 èrshíyījiǔ (20 and 9)
Can you guess how to say 30 in Chinese?
If you think about 20,
30 should be 3*10. So 30 in Chinese is 三十 sānshí (3 and 10)
We have more examples in the infographic. Check it out!
Finally, there is a word for hundred, which is 百 bǎi. One hundred is “one” and “hundred”, so 100 in Chinese is “一百 yìbǎi”
For other infographics related to numbers, see the following posts:
Zeros In Chinese
Multitasking seems a must-have skill nowadays. In this infographic, we teach you how this grammar works! The sentence structure is simple:
1. The subject is placed at the beginning.
2. Then use the phrase “一边 (yībiān)” twice (sometimes more, if necessary)
3. Place verb after each “一边 (yībiān)”
See sentence structure and examples below.
After learning Chinese for a little while, you might notice that three are three “de”‘s. They are “的, 得, 地.” These appear quite often in Chinese.
In this infographic, you will learn the difference between them and practice how to use them properly.
Knowing how to express “time” in Chinese is very important and useful. In this infographic, we made a 6×5 table to show you how to say “time” in reference to the present moment. We include the year, month, week and day.
