Chinese Language Stack Exchange
Chinese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mandarin]

Question specifically about the Mandarin dialect. (Not for arbitrary questions that happen to involve Mandarin.)

Mandarin is one of the most spoken languages in the world with over 837 millions of native speakers.

It is a group of dialects, mostly from the north to the south-west China. Its standard pronunciation is the dialect of Beijing. It is also known in China as 普通话 putonghua or 'the standard language'.

Taiwan refers to it as 國語 guoyu, 'the national language', whereas in Southeast Asian Chinese communities such as those in Singapore and Malaysia it is common to hear 华语 huayu or 'the language of the Chinese (华人 huaren)'.

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Why is 有 (yǒu) the only verb that requires 没 while other verbs can use 不?

To negate something, we use 不 (bù) before the verb, such as in this short dialogue: A: 你是老师吗？= Are you a teacher? B: 不是。= I'm not. However, the verb 有 (yǒu) is the only one that requires 没 (méi) = 不是，不来，不忙, etc. vs 没有. First of all, is this…
Alenanno
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Can native Chinese speakers distinguish tones in songs?

I already have a hard time distinguishing tones in normal speech. This gets significantly worse when I listen to Chinese songs, since the melody masks tones even further. Yes, I understand that context will help distinguish words from one another.…
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How do we choose the correct characters for a Western name?

Since there are many characters that share a common pronunciation and sometimes also the same tone, how do we properly choose which character best represents our name? Is it totally arbitrary or are there some rules? For example, my name is…
Alenanno
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Is it easier to learn Chinese after learning Japanese or vice versa?

For those who speak both Chinese and Japanese, would first learning Chinese make it easier to learn Japanese? Knowing that Japanese Kanji are derived from Chinese characters, how hard is it to do the opposite? Learning Mandarin after learning…
Gabriel Fair
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Tense and use of 了

I struggle a bit to get my head around tenses in Mandarin, and in particular when I need to use 了 (le). Do you have any tips, examples or resources to help me out with this?
Cocowalla
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What is a good technique for remembering tones?

I find it a great struggle to try and remember tones for all the new vocab I learn, and aside from gradually picking up tones by listening and talking with native speakers, I can't really remember tones. Does anyone have any suggestions for good…
Ciaocibai
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How to describe differences between Cantonese and Mandarin?

When I tell people I speak Cantonese I'm often asked, "What's the difference between that and Mandarin?". This inevitably leads to a very poor explanation that includes references to the differences between Portugese and Spanish (which I feel is a…
Zann Anderson
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What is the exact meaning of 吃豆腐, and where does the expression come from?

I'm not talking about eating tofu, but the expression that means something more like taking advantage of someone. What exactly does 吃豆腐 mean, and where does this expression come from?
Ciaocibai
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Tips for pronouncing X vs SH in Mandarin?

I'd like to think my Mandarin pronunciation is generally pretty reasonable, but I often get tripped up with X and SH - for example words like 雪 and 水, or 虾 and 莎. Even with different tones, I find these kind of tricky to get right - although…
Ciaocibai
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Why do native speakers often say a character has "no meaning"?

Many times I will know all the characters in a name but one & I'll ask what that one character means. 9 times out of 10 the response is, "That character has no meaning". While it might be true that the character isn't used on its own, of course it…
aelephant
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高兴 vs 快乐 vs 愉快 vs 幸福: what's the difference?

So, I'm a bit confused. All the time. 高兴 eg 我很高兴 It seems 高兴 has a connotation of impermanence .. you could be happy right now but unhappy later on. It appears to be the most common, most general form of "happiness" 快乐 eg 新年快乐 It seems 快乐 is…
Ming
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Confusion about bian 邊 and miàn 面

I'm having a little trouble with learning directions and positions. It seems that most often the word bian is being used to indicate a position: front side 前邊, back side 後邊, etc. But then I see stuff that uses mian for position: 外面有人吗? So I'm a…
Kevin Thompson
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"Baby" vs "宝贝" - coincidence?

I am interested if the phonetic similarity between the English "baby" and the Chinese "宝贝" (baobei) is purely coincidental.
Mike Chamberlain
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How do we know what characters correspond to Chinese names?

Recently I've asked "How do we choose the correct characters for a westerner name?", and now, I'm facing a similar, yet kind of different problem, which I think applies to any westerner or Chinese student at a beginner level. There are two…
Alenanno
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Is there a rule of thumb for distinguishing male and female names in Chinese?

I often get tripped up when reading names of Chinese people, and trying to work out if they are male or female. Is there a good rule of thumb to follow to determine which is which?
Ciaocibai
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