| Welcome to Fun and Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com. |
| 嗨大家好，我是李殷如. |
| (Hài dàjiā hǎo, Wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú.) |
| “Hi, everyone! Yinru Li here.” |
| Do you know what the five most commonly used Chinese characters are? |
| If your goal is to be able to read and write in Chinese, the very first step is to memorize the most commonly used "Chinese characters," 汉字 (Hànzì). |
| According to data collected from classical and modern Chinese writings, these 5 characters: |
| 的 (de) |
| 一 (yī) |
| 是 (shì) |
| 不 (bù) |
| and… 了 (le) |
| are the 5 most commonly used Chinese characters. |
| In this lesson, you will learn the pronunciation, stroke order, meaning, and usage of these top 5 most common Chinese characters. |
| The first place of all the commonly used Chinese characters goes to… |
| 的 (de). |
| 的 (De) is the neutral tone, which means it’s light and brief. |
| 的 (de) |
| And to write 的 (de) in the correct stroke order, it goes like this.... |
| 一 (yī)，二 (èr)，三 (sān)，四 (sì)，五 (wǔ)，六 (liù)，七 (qī)，八 (bā) |
| So it has 8 strokes. |
| 一共有八笔画。 |
| (Yīgòng yǒu bā bǐhuà.) |
| 的 (de), first, can indicate possession. |
| For example, 你 (nǐ) means "you" and 手 (shǒu) means "hand." |
| If we put 的 (de) between "you" and "hand," it becomes "your hand.” |
| 你的手 (nǐ de shǒu) "your hand" |
| 你的手 (nǐ de shǒu) |
| 他们 (tāmen) is another pronoun meaning "they," and 狗 (gǒu) "dog." |
| So if we connect 他们 (tāmen) and the 狗 (gǒu) with the 的 (de), it becomes 他们的狗 (tā men de gǒu), meaning "their dog." |
| 他们的狗 (tā men de gǒu) |
| 大卫 (Dàwèi) is the Chinese translation of the name “David.” |
| 大卫 (Dàwèi) |
| And 朋友 (péngyou) means "friend." |
| So 大卫, 朋友 (Dà wèi, péngyǒu), and we link them with the 的 (de), this phrase becomes 大卫的朋友 (Dàwèi de péngyou) "David’s friend." |
| 大卫的朋友 (Dà wèi de péngyou) |
| 的 (de) also indicates possession by turning a noun or pronoun into a possessive noun. |
| Let's look at some examples. |
| 这只狗是他们 (Zhè zhī gǒu shì tāmen) |
| 这只狗 (Zhè zhī gǒu) means “this dog.” |
| 是 (zhī) “is” |
| 他们 (tāmen) “they” |
| All by itself, it doesn’t make much sense. |
| “This dog is they.” |
| But if we put a 的 (de) after 他们 (tāmen), we turn “they” into “theirs.” |
| 这只狗是他们的。(Zhè zhī gǒu shì tāmen de.) “This dog is theirs.” |
| Okay. |
| 这只狗是他们的。(Zhè zhī gǒu shì tāmen de.) |
| The next sentence: |
| 这只手 (zhè zhī shǒu ) “this hand” |
| 是 (shì) “is” |
| 你 (nǐ) “you” |
| “This hand is you” does not make much sense. So how about we put a 的 (de) after 你 (nǐ). |
| It becomes: |
| 这只手是你的。(Zhè zhī shǒu shì nǐ de.) “This hand is yours.” |
| 这只手是你的。(Zhè zhī shǒu shì nǐ de.) |
| A second common use of 的 (de) is that it is used at...after adjectives to modify nouns, or which means it’s connecting an adjective with a noun. |
| So…adjective + 的 (de) + noun. |
| Let’s look at some examples: |
| 干净 (Gānjìng) is an adjective meaning “clean.” |
| And 手 (shǒu), we know, is “hand.” |
| So, to say “a clean hand” in English, we don’t need anything between the adjective 干净 (gānjìng) and the noun 手 (shǒu) to say “clean hand,” but it’s a different case in Chinese. You need 的 (de) in between. |
| So we have to say: |
| 干净的手 (gānjìng de shǒu) “clean hand” |
| [slow] 干净的手 (gānjìng de shǒu). |
| And next: |
| 可爱 (Kěài) is an adjective meaning “cute.” |
| And 狗 (gǒu) means "dog.” |
| So to say “a cute dog,” we have to use 的 (de) between 可爱 (kěài) and 狗 (gǒu). |
| 可爱的狗 (kěài de gǒu) “a cute dog” |
| But ironically, the second ranking most common 汉字 (Hànzì) actually means "one." |
| 一 (yī) |
| In Pinyin, it looks like this. |
| 一 (yī) |
| What we need to pay attention about this character 一 (yī) is its pronunciations, to be more exact, its tones. |
| When 一 (yī) is used as a numeral in sequence such as when you’re counting, it is the first...1st, flat tone, 第一 (dì yī). |
| As in: |
| 一 (yī)，二 (èr)，三 (sān)，四 (sì)，五 (wǔ)。 |
| “One, two, three, four, five.” |
| 一 (yī)，二 (èr)，三 (sān)，四 (sì)，五 (wǔ)。 |
| Or 第一 (dì yī) meaning "the first." |
| 1st tone, 一 (dì yī) “the first.” |
| Okay. |
| When 一 (yī) is followed by other characters to make compound words, or when 一 (yī) is followed by a measure word, otherwise called classifiers or counters, 一 (yī) has two different tones. |
| First, when 一 (yī) is followed by a 4th falling tone… |
| Okay, one more time. |
| When 一 (yī) is followed by a 4th falling tone, 一 (yī) becomes the second rising tone. |
| 一 (yí) |
| As in 一样 (yí yàng) |
| See, 样 (yàng) is the 4th falling tone. |
| 一样 (Yí yàng) meaning “the same.” |
| 一样 (yí yàng) |
| Okay. When 一 (yí) is followed by the three other tones; 1st tone, flat; 2nd tone, rising; 3rd tone, down and up, 一 (yí) becomes the 4th falling tone. |
| As in 一杯 (yì bēi). |
| 杯 (bēi) - 1st, flat. |
| 一杯 (Yì bēi) means “one cup” or “one cup of.” |
| [slow]一杯 (yì bēi) |
| And… |
| 一直 (yìzhí) |
| 直 (Zhí) - 2nd rising tone. |
| 一直 (Yìzhí) means “always.” |
| [slow] 一直 (yìzhí) |
| And…come on: |
| 一起 (yìqǐ) |
| 起 (Qǐ) - 3rd, down and up. |
| Meaning “together” |
| [slow]一起 (yìqǐ). |
| The third most common 汉字 (Hànzì) is 是 (shì). |
| 是 (shì) |
| This character has a few more strokes. |
| So, to write it in the correct stroke order, please watch closely. |
| 一 (yī)，二 (èr)，三 (sān)，四 (sì)，五 (wǔ)，六 (liù)，七 (qī)，八 (bā)，九 (jiǔ) |
| So it has nine strokes. |
| 是 (shì) |
| Depending on context, 是 (shì) can be translated as "am,” “is,” or “are." |
| So they’re all the same “to be.” It’s the same word in Chinese. |
| For example: |
| 我 (wǒ) “I” |
| 大卫 (Dàwèi) “David” |
| So, to say, “I am David,” we use 是 (shì). |
| 我是大卫。(Wǒ shì Dàwèi.) “I am David.” |
| 我是大卫。(Wǒ shì Dàwèi.) |
| And 这 (zhè) means “this.” |
| 我的狗 (wǒ de gǒu) “my dog” |
| And to say “This is my dog.” |
| 这是我的狗。(Zhè shì wǒ de gǒu.) |
| 这是我的狗。(Zhè shì wǒ de gǒu.) |
| 他们 (tāmen) “they” |
| 我的朋友 (wǒ de péngyou) “my friend” |
| “They’re all my friends” in Chinese is: |
| 他们是我的朋友。(Tāmen shì wǒ de péngyou.) “They are my friends.” |
| 他们是我的朋友。 (Tāmen shì wǒ de péngyou.) |
| Okay |
| To negate 是 (shì), or to say "am not," "is not," “are not," we need the next commonly used 汉字 (Hànzì), which is 不 (bù). |
| 不 (bù) |
| 不 (Bù) has four simple strokes. |
| To write it: |
| 一 (yī)，二 (èr)，三 (sān)，四 (sì) |
| 不 (Bù) is often used before verbs to negate. |
| For example, to say “am not, is not, are not,” we say 不是 (búshì). |
| 我是大卫. (Wǒ shì Dàwèi.) “I’m David.” |
| 我不是大卫。(Wǒ búshì Dàwèi.) “I’m not David.” |
| 这是我的狗. (Zhè shì wǒ de gǒu.) |
| 这不是我的狗. (Zhè búshì wǒ de gǒu.) “This is not my dog.” |
| Or just like the character 一 (yī), the tones of 不 (bù) also changes, but the good thing is the tone changing rules is the same as 一 (yī), which is when followed by the 4th falling tone, 不 (bù) becomes the second rising tone as in 不是 (búshì). |
| [slow] 不是 (búshì) |
| And when it’s followed by the three other tones, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or when 不 (bù) is used alone by itself, it’s the 4th falling tone as in 不知道 (bù zhīdào), meaning "do not know." |
| 知 (zhī) - 1st tone. |
| 不知道 (bù zhīdào) |
| And 能 (néng) is “can,” 2nd rising tone. |
| 不能 (bùnéng) "cannot" |
| [slow] 不能 (bùnéng) |
| And 好 (hǎo), 3rd tone, “good.” |
| 不好 (bùhǎo) "not good" |
| [slow] 不好 (bùhǎo) |
| 不好 (bùhǎo) |
| Most common 汉字 (Hànzì) no.5 is 了 (le). |
| 了 (le) |
| Just like 的 (de), 了 (le) is also a neutral tone, which means it’s short and brief with no tone marks on top. |
| 了 (le) itself, looks kind of looks like a fishing rod with a hook. |
| It only has two simple strokes... |
| 一 (yī) and 二 (èr). |
| Well, 了 (le) is basically a grammatical particle, with no exact English translation. First of all, 了 (le) as a particle can indicate past events and completed actions. |
| For example: |
| 我 (wǒ) “I” |
| 洗 (xǐ), it’s a verb meaning "wash." |
| And 手 (shǒu) means “hand.” |
| We can say, 我洗手 (wǒ xǐ shǒu), meaning “I wash hand.” |
| But if we put a 了 (le) after the verb 洗 (xǐ), 我洗了手 (wǒ xǐ le shǒu) becomes a past event... |
| “I washed my hands” or “I have washed my hands.” |
| 我买一只狗 (wǒ mǎi yì zhī gǒu) “I buy a dog.” |
| Well, how about we put 了 (le) after the verb 买 (mǎi). |
| 我买了一只狗 (Wǒ mǎi le yì zhī gǒu) becomes “I bought a dog.” |
| So this is the first major function of 了 (le). |
| The second major function of 了 (le), the particle, is that 了 (le) indicates change of status. |
| This phrase 下雨 (xiàyǔ) means "to rain." |
| Okay, if we say 下雨了 (xiàyǔ le), it means something different. It means “It’s starting to rain” or “It’s raining now.” Even though there’s no “now” seen anywhere in the sentence, but with the 了 (le) here, it indicates it changed, it’s a different case now. It wasn’t raining, but it is raining now. |
| So, in this sentence: |
| 我们 (wǒmen) “we” |
| 不要 (búyào) “don’t want” |
| And if we say, 我们不要了 (wǒmen búyào le), it indicates that we wanted it. We did want it before, but now, we don’t want it anymore. It’s a different case, it’s been changed. |
| 我们不要了。 (Wǒmen búyào le.) |
| Here’s a short paragraph in Chinese characters containing the 5 most commonly used 汉字 (Hànzì) and a few phrases we introduced in this lesson. |
| Can you try to read it? |
| Now, let’s read and translate together. |
| 我买了一只狗。 (Wǒ mǎi le yì zhī gǒu.) “I bought a dog.” |
| 我的狗是一只可爱的狗。(Wǒ de gǒu shì yì zhī kě ài de gǒu.) “My dog is a cute dog.” |
| 我的狗不爱干净。(Wǒ de gǒu bú ài gānjìng.) “My dog does not like being clean.” |
| Note the 不 (bù) here is in 2nd rising tone because it’s followed by 爱 (ài) "to love or like," in 4th falling tone. |
| 下雨了，我要去洗我的狗。(Xiàyǔ le, wǒ yào qù xǐ wǒ de gǒu.) "It’s raining now, I have to go wash my dog." |
| 要去 (Yào qù) means "have to go" or "am going to." |
| 要去 (yào qù) |
| One more time, altogether: |
| 我买了一只狗。 (Wǒ mǎi le yì zhī gǒu.) |
| 我的狗是一只可爱的狗。(Wǒ de gǒu shì yì zhī kě ài de gǒu.) |
| 我的狗不爱干净。(Wǒ de gǒu bú ài gānjìng.) |
| 下雨了，我要去洗我的狗。(Xiàyǔ le, wǒ yào qù xǐ wǒ de gǒu.) |
| Thank you for watching. I’ll see you next time! |
| 下次见！(Xiàcì jiàn!) |
| Bye-bye! |
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