In the last post, I introduced three common mistakes you often make when you learn Chinese. Today let's continue our topic and focus on the pronunciation and sentence structure.
4. zh, ch, sh / j, q, x and
As we said, tones are the most important part of Mandarin pronunciation. However, these are the consonants that learners struggle with most often. The best guide to these sounds is probably the one at mandarin capital. They are hard and the aspirated ones aren't the same as the un-aspirated ones. Have a read of that guide, and keep listening, listening, and listening.
Tip:is on the v key in most pinyin input systems.
5. Not using topic-comment structure
Many English learners are not used to the topic-comment structure. A big feature of Mandarin sentence structure is that it is topic-First. This means that the most important item in the sentence should usually be put first, regardless of its grammatical role. In other words, put whatever the sentence is about first (the topic), then add the rest of the information (the comment). This is very different with English, which has to have a subject and put it first in the sentence.
6.+ adj
Adjectives in Mandarin are actually like verbs. They can be attached to nouns without a separate verb. As this is very different to many European languages, speakers of these languages often try to use adjectives with(to be). The most common way to link adjectives to nouns is with . This is often described as meaning €very€, but its main function in this case is just to sit between the noun and adjective. €«€ can just be translated as €she's tall€.
7. ‰ + †
€‰€ is used to negate past actions, and €†€ is used to mark completed actions. So it's easy to mistakenly think that €†€ is about the past tense. This then leads people to use † in phrases with ‰. This doesn't actually make sense, as † is about completed actions. An action can't be completed if it was never done. ‰ alone is enough to express that something was not done. As always, though, there's an exception to rule. ‰ also has meanings like €there are not€ and €not have€, and † can be used with these to express €there are no more€ or €not any more€. † just can't be used with ‰ when it's a negating a past action.For more info, please visit Mandarin Capital Blog (to be continued)
4. zh, ch, sh / j, q, x and
As we said, tones are the most important part of Mandarin pronunciation. However, these are the consonants that learners struggle with most often. The best guide to these sounds is probably the one at mandarin capital. They are hard and the aspirated ones aren't the same as the un-aspirated ones. Have a read of that guide, and keep listening, listening, and listening.
Tip:is on the v key in most pinyin input systems.
5. Not using topic-comment structure
Many English learners are not used to the topic-comment structure. A big feature of Mandarin sentence structure is that it is topic-First. This means that the most important item in the sentence should usually be put first, regardless of its grammatical role. In other words, put whatever the sentence is about first (the topic), then add the rest of the information (the comment). This is very different with English, which has to have a subject and put it first in the sentence.
6.+ adj
Adjectives in Mandarin are actually like verbs. They can be attached to nouns without a separate verb. As this is very different to many European languages, speakers of these languages often try to use adjectives with(to be). The most common way to link adjectives to nouns is with . This is often described as meaning €very€, but its main function in this case is just to sit between the noun and adjective. €«€ can just be translated as €she's tall€.
7. ‰ + †
€‰€ is used to negate past actions, and €†€ is used to mark completed actions. So it's easy to mistakenly think that €†€ is about the past tense. This then leads people to use † in phrases with ‰. This doesn't actually make sense, as † is about completed actions. An action can't be completed if it was never done. ‰ alone is enough to express that something was not done. As always, though, there's an exception to rule. ‰ also has meanings like €there are not€ and €not have€, and † can be used with these to express €there are no more€ or €not any more€. † just can't be used with ‰ when it's a negating a past action.For more info, please visit Mandarin Capital Blog (to be continued)
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