Yes, no and the essentials in Mandarin Chinese
The small words that carry half of every conversation, and the ones that rescue it. Play the ten Mandarin Chinese words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Mandarin Chinese phrases in this lesson
- 是shir
- Yes
- 不是boo-SHIR
- No
- 好how
- Okay
- 听不懂ting-boo-DONG
- I don't understand
- 你会说英语吗nee hway shwo ying-YOO ma
- Do you speak English?
- 请再说一遍ching dzai shwo ee-BYEN
- Can you repeat that?
- 请说慢一点ching shwo MAN ee-dyen
- Slowly, please
- 这是什么？juh shir SHUN-muh
- What is this?
- 我需要...wo shyoo-YOW
- I need...
- 你能帮我吗？nee nung BANG wo ma
- Can you help me?
Chinese has no single word for yes: you confirm by echoing the verb. 是 works for "is it...?" questions; 对 (dway), correct, is the everyday all-purpose agreement and probably the one to reach for.
Literally "not is". 不 (bù) negates whatever verb was asked. Softer refusal of offers: 不用 (boo-YONG), no need, the polite way to decline a bag, a sample, a top-up.
The most useful syllable in Mandarin: good, okay, fine, deal. Doubled 好好 or extended 好的 (HOW-duh), it agrees with anything. You will say it two hundred times a day.
Literally "hear not understand", the precise phrase for spoken language failing you. Say it and out comes the phone translator, which all of urban China navigates by anyway.
English is limited outside big hotels and young urbanites, but translation apps have made this nearly moot: everyone, both sides, just talks into a phone. Embrace it.
Literally "please say it one more time".
Literally "please speak a bit slower".