As I\u2019ve said before, Chinese can be quite intimidating for beginner learners.\u00a0 Believe me, I\u2019ve been there.\u00a0 The tones (\u58f0\u8c03) and the characters (\u6c49\u5b57) alone can be enough to send you running for the hills.\u00a0 For yours truly, throwing in the towel often seemed like a good idea when I first started learning Chinese.\u00a0 Luckily for me, I was living in China, so I really had no choice but to push on.\u00a0 While the tones and the characters can easily make your head spin, I encourage you to keep working at it.\u00a0 Once you have a solid understanding of the tones and the pin yin system, you can really dive into learning and speaking Chinese.<\/p>\n
As you progress, you will come to realize that in Chinese, the \u8bed\u6cd5 (y\u01d4 f\u01ce – grammar) really isn’t so difficult.\u00a0 Compared to \u82f1\u8bed (y\u012bng y\u01d4 – English), Chinese grammar is a breeze.\u00a0 As an English teacher in China, I have come to realize just how difficult English grammar is for Chinese students.\u00a0 While native English speakers botch their tones and struggle to read characters, their Chinese counterparts have the most difficulty with the vast amount of grammar present in English.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to show you that \u5b66\u4e60\u6c49\u8bed (xu\u00e9 x\u00ed h\u00e0n y\u01d4 – studying Chinese) is \u4e0d\u592a\u96be (b\u00f9 t\u00e0i n\u00e1n – not too difficult), I’m going to show you a few examples comparing Chinese grammar with English grammar.\u00a0 Here we go!<\/p>\n
When teaching my \u5b66\u751f (xu\u00e9 sh\u0113ng – students) English, I notice that they have a lot of trouble with personal pronouns, the different forms of the verb “to be”, and possessive pronouns.\u00a0 Luckily, for us Chinese learners, things are much simpler in Chinese.\u00a0 Let’s start with simple pronouns.<\/p>\n
ENGLISH:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0CHINESE:
\nI\/me\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u6211 – w\u01d2
\nYou\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u4f60 – n\u01d0
\nHe\/him\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u4ed6 – t\u0101
\nShe\/her\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u5979 – t\u0101
\nIt\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u5b83 – t\u0101
\nWe\/us\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u6211\u4eec – w\u01d2 men
\nYou (plural)\u00a0 \u4f60\u4eec – n\u01d0 men
\nThey\/them\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u4ed6\u4eec – t\u0101 men<\/p>\n