Course in Modern Mandarin Chinese

32 Routledge Course in Modern Mandarin Chinese Level 1

a. Eating pumpkin seeds

Kè guA zH bù tJ guA zH pí, When eating squash seeds, don’t spit out the shells,

bù kè guA zH dào tJ guA zH pí. When not eating squash seeds, spit out the shells.

b. XiFo Xiè wèn tóngxué

XiFo Xiè wèn tóngxué. Little Xie asked his classmate.

Tóngxué wèn jiGjie. His classmate asked older sister.

JiGjie bù gAoxìng. Older sister was not happy.

XiFo Xiè duìbuqH. Little Xie apologized.

 Structure drills 

1.  Introducing people by name (Use and Structure notes 3.1, 3.3)

You will hear a question followed by a short answer. Use the short answer to form the long
answer, as in the example.

Example:

You will hear: TA xìng shénme? (GAo)

You will say: TA xìng GAo.

You will hear the correct response: TA xìng GAo.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g)

2. Saying and and all, both (Use and Structure notes 2.6, 3.5)

You will hear two sentences describing Xiao Zhang and Xiao Gao. Restate the information
in a single sentence using the words hé and and dDu all, both, as in the example.

Example:

You will hear: XiFo ZhAng shì xuésheng. XiFo GAo shì xuésheng.

You will say: XiFo ZhAng hé XiFo GAo dDu shì xuésheng.

You will hear the correct response: XiFo ZhAng hé XiFo GAo dDu shì xuésheng.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f )

3. Two kinds of yes-no questions (Use and Structure note 3.7)

You will hear a yes-no question formed with ma. Restate the question as a verb-not-verb
question, as in the example.

Example:

You will hear: NH shì xuésheng ma?

You will say: NH shì bù shì xuésheng?

You will hear the correct response: NH shì bù shì xuésheng?

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g) ( h) (i) (j)