Exercise Set 6
7 A Beautiful Day 美好的天气
晴 qíng sunny
阴 yīn cloudy
雪 xuě snow
因 yīn cause
所 suǒ place
走 zǒu walk
路 lù road
跑 pǎo to run
吧 ba a particle
Word Practice
Exercise Set 7
8 Where Are You Going? 你去哪儿？
旅 lǚ travel
汽 qì steam
自 zì oneself
船 chuán boat
远 yuǎn far
近 jìn near
慢 màn slow
长 cháng/zhǎng long/grow
等 děng to wait for
从 cóng from
到 dào to arrive
场 chǎng field
离 lí to leave
比 bǐ to compare
Word Practice
Exercise Set 8
9 Let’s Exercise 让我们一起运动
动 dòng move
泳 yǒng swim
踢 tī kick
球 qiú ball
篮 lán basket
跳 tiào jump
唱 chàng sing
就 jiù only
让 ràng permit
过 guò to cross
但 dàn but
Word Practice
Exercise Set 9
10 “Can You Lower the Price?” “便宜点儿，行吗?”
新 xīn new
手 shǒu hand
表 biǎo surface
两 liǎng two
百 bǎi hundred
千 qiān thousand
元 yuán China currency
便 pián/biàn cheap/convenient
第 dì prefix
次 cì number of times
斤 jīn unit of weight
卖 mài to sell
Word Practice
Exercise Set 10
11 One of My Days 我的一天
每 měi every
早 zǎo morning
晚 wǎn night
床 chuáng bed
洗 xǐ to wash
报 bào report
司 sī to manage
班 bān class
事 shì matter
票 piào ticket
意 yì meaning
Word Practice
Exercise Set 11
12 Take it Easy 别太累了
身 shēn body
眼 yǎn eye
累 lèi/lěi tired
忙 máng busy
病 bìng disease
药 yào medicine
休 xiū to rest
望 wàng to hope
别 bié do not
Word Practice
Exercise Set 12
Answer Key
English-Chinese Index
Hanyu Pinyin Index
Some Tips on Learning
Mandarin Chinese Characters
Look at the nature surrounding you, the mountains, the rivers, the trees, the flowers, the animals and the people. All have different shapes and different voices. Ancient Chinese people living within this beautiful world found a unique way for humans to communicate with each other. They created Chinese characters!
From oracle-bone script to bronze inscriptions, from seal script to clerical script, from regular script to simplified Chinese characters, centuries upon centuries have passed by and those square shaped figures are still being used by a vast population today.
Chinese characters from past to present
There are two other ancient writing systems known to man, the Sumerian cuneiform and the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Of the three, the Chinese character writing system is the only ancient writing system still being used today. Credit for this goes to several distinct features that make Chinese characters unique.
Three Basic Elements of the Chinese Character: Form, Sound and Meaning
汉字的三个基本要素: 形,音,义
Chinese characters are known as square shaped characters. Each character is made up of three basic elements: form, sound and meaning. For example,
“我” is the form.
“wǒ” is the sound.
“I” is the meaning.
Over time, there have been many changes in the phonetics of Chinese characters. The composition and meanings, however, have remained somewhat the same. As a result, many Chinese speaking people today can read ancient texts without much difficulty.
Before the inception of Chinese characters, communication was difficult within China due to the number of vastly different dialects being spoken. Chinese characters gave people a common ground for understanding.
One Syllable and Single Characters
单音节和独体字
Chinese characters are single