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Chinese Primer (Gwoyeu Romatzyh)
tf
CHINESE PRIMER Lessons
Ta-tuan Ch'en Perry Link Yih-jian Tai Hai-tao Tang
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England 1989
Copyright © 1989 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book was prepared at the Chinese Linguistics Project, Princeton University, with the aid of a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The title page calligraphy is by Professor Ching-nung T ! ai ( *%? and sh .) and "r" for retrof lexes palatals
{j j ch , and sh ).
derives
from
the
fact
The
choice of
that palatals
"i" for
can only
a subscript
for
be pronounced
in
combination with vowel sounds closely related to the Chinese i sound. pages 17 and 17 rows -i and -iu.)
(See
Since there is no palatal r sound, there
is also no need to distinguish the retroflex r with an additional "r" as subscript.
THE INITIALS AND FINALS
11
Take care to distinguish both palatals and retroflexes from jy and r in English.
The English sounds, for one thing, are pronounced with
the lips slightly protruded or rounded.
(Watching yourself in the mirror
say, !\S7?ow the judge his chair.") That same present
in
ch, sA,
Chinese
retroflexes
and
lip movement
palatals
(unless,
should not be of
course,
the
following vowel sound is something like the Chinese u, which itself requires such rounding).
The retroflex r, besides being retroflex, is different from an English r in that it carries the hint of a buzzing sound—rather like the sound of the second g in the French "Georges". the given syllable is stressed.
Row six
in the Table of
their pronunciation generally
This element is often accentuated when
Ask your teacher for a demonstration.
Initials are called "gutturals", which means
is controlled at the very back of the mouth.
are not difficult
for English
should be made regarding the Chinese A.
These
speakers, but one special note It is somewhat rougher than an
English A — almost like the ch in the German "acA", but rarely as rough as that.
The roughness usually increases with increasing stress on the given
syllable.
Even when the tongue
is in a fixed position in the mouth, different
sounds may be produced by blowing out more air or less, by using the nasal passages, and so on.
These distinctions are categorized in the columns of
the Table of Initials.
The most important of these distinctions
is between the first column,
called the "unaspirated" initials, and the second, called the "aspirated" initials.
To "aspirate" means to blow out air, and, as a check on your
pronunciation, you might hold a sheet of paper right in front of your face for a moment
(holding
from the top) and then pronounce
an initial
from
12
CHINESE PRIMER
column
one.
The
paper
should
not
move.
When
you
pronounce
the
corresponding initial in column two, the paper should fly out from in front of your mouth.
(Don't be shy about aspiration.
Very few beginning students
o^er-aspirate the initials of column two.)
The unaspirated initials b> d, and g are also unvoiced, meaning that they do not employ
the vocal
cords in their pronunciation.
This makes
them
different from the English b as in "£oy", d as in "dog", or g as in "^oat". If one
listens closely,
they are very like the p
"stage", and the k in "s/ry".
You will probably
in "sport",
the t in
learn these finer points
better through careful listening and imitation of your teachers and tapes than through further analysis.
The remaining three columns—called
"nasals", "fricatives", and "voiced
continuants" respectively—are seldom troublesome, and require no additional comment.
Exercises on Initials—refer to Table 3. 1.
Pronounce the following syllables, paying attention to the distinction
between the unaspirated initials of column one and the aspirated initials of column two in the Table of Initials. b-p
d-t
tz-ts
ban
"|
pan
"1
bai
-1
pai
^]
beng
\J
peng
\j
bu
\|
pu
\|
bau
J
pau
J
bei
1
pei
"1
di
"1
ti
du
1
tu
da
ta
ding
1
ting
1
dau
N J
tau.
1 N J
dang
N
tang
N
tzai
H
tsai
"|
tzou
\|
tsou
\J
THE INITIALS AND FINALS tzuo
g-k
2.
13
tsuo
1
tzu
1
tsu
1
tzan
J
tsan
J
tzau
J
tsau
J
guo
J
kuo
J
gang
1
kang
1
gai
"I
kai
1
gu
VJ
ku
VI
gau
N
kau
VJ
gan
J
kan
J
Pronounce the following syllables, which use initials from row four in
the Table
of
Initials.
Pay
special
attention
to
the
retroflex
tongue
position.
i
chry
1
sh r y
1
ry
1
ch r u
\J
sh u
N
ru
VI
ch an
J
sh an
J
ran
J
jrou
N J M
ch ou
VI
sh ou
N
rou
V|
jreng
1
ch eng
1
sh eng
n
reng
i
jj.au
Vj
ch au
sh au
N
rau
V|
jj-en
\|
ch en
N VI
sh en
V|
ren
VI
Jru
A
ch u
sh u
-i
ru
A
jran
1
ch an
1
sh an
i
jruan
1
ch uan
"1
sh uan
i
ch au
-1
sh au
jj.an
jj.au 3. the
rau
Pronounce the following syllables, which use initials from row five in Table
of
Initials.
Pay
special
attention
to
the
palatal
j±i
1
ch.i
1
sh.i
1
j ,• ia
~l
ch.ia
1
shiia
1
chiing
1
shiing
1
position.
ch±ie
shiie
J
ch^iang
J
shiiang
J
VJ
ch.i
VJ
sh.i
V|
VJ
ch.ing
N
sh^^ing
V|
tongue
14
CHINESE PRIMER shiing
chiing
4.
Pronounce
the
following
syllables,
paying
special
attention
to the
distinction between palatal and retroflex initials.
jiiou
1 1
j
sh.iau
J
J
ch.iou
jrou sh au
V chrou
ch.iu
shrl
\i N
ch ang
ch.iang sh.in
sh en 5.
Listen
to
the
dictated
M N 1
sh.ia
syllables,
V
Write
if
the
initial
is
retroflex, "i" if it is palatal. 1.
2.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
9.
5. 10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
The Finals Each Mandarin final consists of three optional parts: a post-medial, and (3) an ending.
(1) a medial, (2)
Table 4 shows all the possible medials,
post-medials, and endings. Table 4:
Medials, Post-medials, and Endings
medials
Post-medials
Endings
0
0
0
1
u iu
a e o
l
u n ng 1
THE INITIALS AND FINALS
15
The null symbol " 0 " indicates the lack of any element in that category. example: i + 0 + 72 = iff, u + o + 0 = z/o, i + a + u = iau, etc. Oy n, ng, and 1 cannot occur by themselves. finals.
Note that 0 + 0
For
The sounds
Table 5 lists all the existing
+ 0 is a possible final which is symbolized -y.
The pronunciation of the -y final is discussed below.
Memorize Table 5 in
the order given. Table 5: Medial
The Table of Finals in Basic Forms
Row
Ending
-i
Zero
-u
None
Row-a
-y a
i
Row-i
i
ia ie
iai
u
Row-u
u
ua uo
uai uei
iu
Row-iu
iu
e
ai
ei
au
ou
iau iou
iue
-ng
-n
eng
an
en
ang
ian
in
iang ing
uan
uen
uang ueng
-1
ong
el
iong
iuan iun
Table 5 shows all the finals in Mandarin Chinese, arranged according to their phonetic properties.
Memorize the table in the given order.
Below is
a list of hints which may help you learn the correct vowel quality of the finals.3 get
Even more than for the initials, however, it is often difficult to
the right
idea
from mere description.
Pay
close
attention to your
teachers and your tapes.
Row-a—The
-y final is exceptional because it is the only final that
cannot be pronounced by itself; it is always preceded by an initial (hence the hyphen in the notation - y ) .
Its initial must be from row 3 or row 4 in
the Table of Initials (i.e., tz, ts, s and j , ch , sh , and r ) . Following tz,
ts, and s, the -y final is simply a buzzing prolongation of the initial
itself.
Keep the lips spread back.
Following j , ch , sh , and r, the -y
final is a prolongation of the retroflex initials, producing a vocalized r sound. 3
Thus shv,
for example, sounds rather like the shr of "shrill".
The authors are indebted to Y.R. Chao, Mandarin Primer, pp. most of these descriptions.
Be
22-24, for
16
CHINESE PRIMER
sure to keep both tongue and lips in the standard retroflex position from start to finish.
Do not protrude or round the lips as in English "shoes11.
The a final is as in "father". The
e
final
will
need
special
practice.
"Southern accent" in American English—or the u of "up" as a Southerner does.
If
you
have
a
so-called
can imitate one—then try saying
Most students find, however, that this
sound more than any other in Chinese requires careful imitation of teachers and sounds on tapes. The ai final is close to "aisle" in English.
It has a (front) clear,
bright quality. The ei final is nearly the same as "eight" in English. The au final falls about midway between aw in "lav" and ow in "cov".
One
is definitely wrong to approach either of these extremes, and many American students approach the "cow" extreme too readily. listen to your model voices.
Stay in the middle and
Be conscious of the back, dark, broad quality
of this sound. The ou final is rather near the English "oA". The an final falls between the an of "Dan" and the on of "Don", though it is a bit nearer the latter. The en final is pronounced as in "omen".
Be sure never to pronounce it
as in "Amen". The eng final is almost the same as ung in "sung". The ong final requires you to round your lips as if you were going to say oo
as
in "boo".
The
correct
sound
does
not
contain
this
however, nor does it rhyme with "dong" as in "ding-dong".
"oo" sound,
Listen to your
teacher.
Row-i—The i final sounds
like the name of the letter "e" in English.
In principle, all the other finals of Row-i are composed of those of Row-a with the i medial affixed.
There are, however, some important
from this principle, as noted below.
deviations
THE INITIALS AND FINALS The ie final
is like the ye in "yet".
17
Note that the e in ie has a
different value from the e final by itself. The ian final comes close to "yen" in English. in fact, use ien to spell this sound.)
(Some spelling systems,
Note the difference
from the an
final above it. The
vowel
sound
of
the
in and
ing
finals
falls between
"inn"
and
"machine".
R o w - U — T h e u final, which is basic to the entire row, is a tricky sound for a native speaker of English, but one you can master if you try.
It
resembles, but is importantly different from, the oo in English "boo".
To
produce the Chinese u sound, the tongue must be pulled toward the back of the mouth while the lips make a very small opening in front.
The cavity of
the mouth
two
is maximized.
Professor
Y.R.
Chao has
devised
ingenious
tricks for producing the correct oral positioning. ...try to whistle the lowest note possible, then vocalize instead of actually whistling. Another device is to imagine holding as much water as possible without either swallowing it or spilling any of it out of the lips.1*
The
uo
pronounces
final
is
"door".
pronounced Combined
as
with
a the
person
with
a
initials 6, p,
"New
York
m,
and /,
accent" the u
component is much slighter than with the other initials.
Row-iu —
The iu final, though spelled iu, is a pure vowel sound and not
two vowels pronounced in sequence.
It is produced by using the lip position
of the u final and the tongue position of the i final. like the u in German or a French u as in "usine". The iue final rhymes with the ie final. The iuan final rhymes with the ian final.
* Mandarin Primer, pp. 23-24.
It sounds rather
18
CHINESE PRIMER The vowel quality of certain finals varies according to tone.
First and
second tones sometimes have one value, third and fourth tones a slightly different value.
This effect
is perhaps most noticeable
in the following
cases. The iou final is closer to
!t
you" in the first and second tones, to "yo"
in the third and fourth. When pronounced without an initial, the in and ing finals tend to be more diphthongized in the third and fourth tones than in the first two. The uei final in the first two tones tends slightly in the direction of "wee"; in the latter two tones it sounds more like "way". The el final sounds more like "err" in the first two tones, like "are" in the second two. Do not go overboard with any of these distinctions.
Listen to your model
voices.
Exercises on Finals Refer to the Table of Finals.
The exercises focus upon important points as
they come up column by column in the Table, beginning from the left. 1.
2.
The "prolonged initial" -y-
N
ch r y
shry
shry
1
sh r y
shry
tzy
1
tsy
1
sy
"1
ch r y
1
shry
n
1 1
u
'I
u
j
sh r y
\J
The u final.
u hu fu 3.
M J
hu
hu
fu
fu
Contrasting the u final and the iu final.
J
u hu
\1
fu
N
\l
Change the tongue position
while keeping the same lip position. u
"1
iu
-|
u
"|
iu
"]
THE INITIALS AND FINALS ch u 4.
"I
ch. iu
"I
19
ch u
"1
ch. iu
~|
Contrasting the i final and the iu final. Change the lip position while keeping the same tongue position.
5.
8.
iu
"|
i
"|
iu
"1
ch.i
"1
ch.iu
"1
ch.i
H
ch.iu
"I
i
H
iu
"Iu
sh u
"|
sh.iu
1
'
Jj[ iu
\J
ch i iu
\|
chii
\(
ct^iu
\j
e
1
ke
1
jre
1
Ie
\l
jre
\j
se
\l
ke
J
re
J
ch r e
J
de
^
he
A
jre
^
ch r u
7.
"1
Contrasting i , u> and iu by "pivoting" on the latter.
^i 1
6.
i
sh.i
""]
iu
Hi
1
sh.iu
~"|
J^ 1U
Jr
sh u
H
J^i chru
\J
The e final.
The varying quality of e in the e, i e , and iue finals. sh e
"1
sh.ie
H
sh e
1
sh.iue
1
jre
-1
jiie
^|
jre
^|
J^iue
^1
e
\J
ie
Me
\|
iue
N
sh e
J
sh.ie
J
J
sh.iue
J
sh e
Contrasting -y, e, and w. chry
"I N
sy
chre
n
N
se shre
9.
~|
"1
su
N
sh u
chry
J
chre
J
ch u
tsy
\J
tse
\J
tsu
"Back" vowels e and izo. e
ch u
"1
uo
"1
J N
20
CHINESE PRIMER de
10.
duo
ge
J
guo
A J
ke
1
ke
-1
ke
luo
1
luo
-1
luo
luo
hei
1
lai
lei
A
pai
pei
1
bei
J
mai
J \l
mei
M
guai
"1
guei
"I
huai
^1
huei
s\
shuai
M
shuei
\l
au
1
iau
1
diau
N
ch.iau
J
bai
12.
-J
ke
Contrasting ai and ei.
hai
11.
J
Uai and uei
and iau.
dau ch au
J
mau
raiau
13. Contrasting au and ou.
14.
tau
1
tou
1
jrau
jrou
kau
J \J
kou
J \J
rau
1
rou
1
1
j±iou
sh.iu
J
sh.iou
chiiu
-1
ch.iou
Contrasting iu and iou.
liu
liou
J N
N
THE INITIALS AND FINALS 15.
16.
The changing quality of "aTt in an, ian, uan, and iuan. an
1
ian
j an
J
j . ian
tan
"1
tian
*1
tuan
'I
Ian
\J
lian
\1
Iuan
\|
"]
"1
j . ian
N
ch,ian
\J
tie
J
tian
J
shi ie
-1
sh.ian
j uan
iuan
^
1
j . iuan
j . iue chj[iue
1 \J
j . iuan
J
1
ch. iuan \J
fan
1
fen
1
ban
J N
ben
J \|
nen j r en
Contrasting uan and uen.
uan
n
uen
tuan
-i
tuen
Iuan
N J
luen
guan
guen
J
ch. iang
"1
jiiang
\l
Ang and i chrang
ang
20.
~!
Contrasting an and en.
j r an
19.
~|
ch. ie
nan
18.
J
uan
The similar quality of "e" in ie and iue and "a" in ian and iuan. j . ie
17.
21
Contrasting
in and
iang
1 J
sh ang
J
sh.iang
lang
-1
liang
ing.
Note
that in addition
"1 to the presence or
absence of a final "glf, the vowel qualities also differ slightly.
22
CHINESE PRIMER in
1
ing
bin
"I
bing
min
J
ch.in
n
ming
-i
ch^ing
j
kong
"1
dong
J M
Nl 21.
Contrasting ang, eng, and kang
"!
keng
dang
J
deng
chrang
M
chreng
J N
tsang
-1
tseng
-1
tsong
tzang
i
tzeng
1
tzong
n
Jrang
Nl
jreng
M
jrong
\i
1
ch.iong
n
ong
J
Jiiong
j
chrong
-1
ch.iong
ch ong
22. Contrasting ong and iong.
chrong
23.
Change of vowel quality with tone (uei, iou, and ei finals only), uei
"1
uei
^1
uei
J
uei
\J
tuei
"I
tuei
*1
tuei
J
tuei
\l
iou
"1
iou
1
iou
J
iou
\J
liou
"1
liou
s\
liou
J
liou
N
el
1
el
'I
el
J
el
N
23
Lesson 3 TONAL SPELLING Many years1 experience has shown that, in the long run, the aspect of Chinese pronunciation which proves most difficult for non-native speakers is control of
tones.
conquering
this
A device which has proved to be of great
difficulty
is
the Tonal
Romatzyh which we present in this lesson. by
Professor Y.R.
Chao, has
the great
differently according to its tone. in
the
four
tones
as
mha> ma,
Spelling
System
benefit in
called
Gwoyeu
This system, designed principally virtue
of
spelling each
syllable
The syllable ma> for example, is spelled maa > mah,
respectively.
learner's mind, each syllable has its tone built
Thus,
in
the
into its very identity;
there is no way you can read, write, or even think about a syllable in its romanized form without mastering spelling
also thinking of the correct tone.
tonal pronunciation, systems
which use
the
system
diacritical
has
marks
definite to
In the task of advantages
indicate
tones.
over These
marks—added above a syllable's spelling as if by afterthought—tend to be overlooked in the heat of concentration on grammar and fluency.
Each spelling in this system has a basic form from which all spellings in the four tones are derived.
The basic form of any syllable is the simple
combination of its initial (if any) and its final, as recorded in the Tables of Initials
and Finals.
There is one exception
to this
rule.
"labial11 initials b, p, m, and f, the u drops out of the uo final.
For
the
(There
is no change when the labials combine with any other finals.)
You should note that certain initials do not combine with certain finals. In particular, the retroflex initials, j > ch , sh , and r, combine only with rows a and u in Table 5, while the palatal initials j ., ch ., and sh . combine only with rows i and iu. principle, there
When you begin to feel at home with this
is no great danger
of confusing the retroflex with the
24
CHINESE PRIMER
palatal j9 ch, and sh. the subscripts "r" and
Accordingly, in the tonal spelling system, we drop ft tf
i .
You must be most careful, however, never to
drop the phonetic distinction.
Exercise Spell the dictated syllables in basic us ing
form, and indicate the tone signs
H , 'I , J , and \| .
1.
2.
3.
4.
5
6.
7.
8.
9.
10
11.
12.
13.
14.
15
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
First Tone Spelling:
Syllables in the first tone are spelled exactly as
in the basic form, except for those whose initials are m, n, i, and r.
For
these initials, an h must be added after the initial, as in lhing> rheng, mhaUy
etc.
initials
and
(The reasons (2)
there
for this are: exist
in
(1) these
Chinese
are the only
comparatively
few
voiced
first-tone
syllables beginning with m, n> i, and'r, whereas there are a great number of second-tone
syllables
using
these
initials.
Hence
the
basic
form
is
reserved for second tone.) Note:
You must now remember two special lists of initials:
my n, i,
and r, for the first-tone spelling, and the labials—b, p> m, and / — f o r dropping u when appearing with the uo final.
Note that one initial, i.e.
m, appears on both lists, and therefore the combination of m + uo + first tone is spelled mho. Exercises on First Tone Spelling 1.
Pronounce the following syllables.
TONAL SPELLING
2.
25
tan
lhau
chiuan
uen
song
nhie
jiun
mho
sheng
Spell the dictated syllables in tonal spelling.
(Note that there is no
longer a need for signs such as "1 .) 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Important Note to Student:
From this point on we begin to introduce the
meanings of syllables, and a very small
amount of grammar.
Yet we must
remind you that the main work of the current lessons is pronunciation, and this work is crucial.
Concentrate on it.
If your interest in grammar and
meaning leads you at this stage to neglect pronunciation, you will only be crippling your proper study of grammar and meaning, which will follow in due course. 3.
Pronounce the following syllables and learn their meanings.
Nouns shu - f book f5 jong - 'clock1 deng - 'lamp1 or flight1 tang - f soup !
Verbs chy - f eat f he - fdrink' ting - 'listen' or 'listen to' shuo - 'say' Adjectives
5
Since there is no distinction of number in Chinese nouns, these words may also be translated 'books', 'clocks', 'lamps', etc.
26
CHINESE PRIMER duo - fmuchf or 'many'* gau - 'high' or 'tall1
Pronoun ta - 'he' or fshef Second Tone Spelling:
For any syllable beginning with m, 77, 1, or r,
second-tone spelling is simply basic form spelling. (or
syllables
with no
initials) second-tone
For all other initials
spelling
accords with
the
following rules:
Rule 1:
For all Row- chour, tzar.
When an n or ng ending is involved,
however, the r appears in the middle of the syllable, as in pern, charngy tsorng.
Rule 2:
For
all Row-i and Row-IU
finals, change the i to y.
For
example:
Similarly:
chiau
(basic form)
i —> y
(rule 2)
chyau
(second-tone spelling)
iau — > yau, die — > dye> shiu — > shyu, etc.
Exception:
For the
i final itself, add
a y without
losing
the i:
i — > yi\ pi — > pyi\ etc.
Rule 3:
For Row-u finals, change the u to w: hua
(basic form)
u —> w
(rule 3)
hwa
(second tone spelling)
Similarly, uen — > wen; kuei — > kwei\ chuang — > chwang; etc.
* Though called "adjectives", these words function more ^ as verbs do in English. You may think of their meaning as fis much1 or * is high 1 .
TONAL SPELLING Exception A : the u.
27
For the u final itself, add w to u instead of replacing
Thus u — > wu\ hu — > hwu\ du — > dwu\ etc.
Note that syllables using the uo final normally change to second tone by changing
the u
to w
(duo — >
dwo\
etc.)-
In accordance with the
rule
regarding labials explained on page 23, however, the u in the uo final drops out with the b, p, m, and / initials, and as a result the change from u to v becomes impossible.
For the m initial there is no problem, because all m
initial syllables are automatically second tone in their basic form; thus mo is second tone, while first tone is mho.
For the by
p, and / initials,
however, we need the following extra rule: Exception B:
The basic forms bo, po, and fo are made into second tone
according to rule 1, thus: bo — > bor\ po — > por\ fo — > for.
In the past, students have had trouble with tricky cases of second tone spelling such as the following:
yn, yng, erl3 mo, yu, chyuan.
What are the
first tone forms of these syllables?
Exercises on First and Second Tone Spelling 1.
Pronounce the following and indicate which tone it is using H and A . parng
mha
kwei
ding
lian
chyn
chang
bor
jeng
shyuan
mo
lai
2. Spell the dictated syllables: 1.
2.
3.
4.
5
6.
7.
8.
9.
10
11.
12.
13.
14.
15
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
28
CHINESE PRIMER
3.
Pronounce the following syllables and
learn their meanings (N=noun;
P=pronoun; V=verb; A=adj ect ive). ren - 'person1 (N) shye - fshoef (N) men - fdoorT (N) tarng - 'candy, sugar1 (N) sheir - 'who?1 (P) wal - 'play, have fun' (V) lai - 'come' (V) nan - 'difficult' (A) Third Tone Spelling:
The following rules may be used to derive third-
tone spelling from basic form spellings:
Rule 4: the vowel.
Rule 5:
All syllables spelled with a single vowel in basic form double Thus ke — > kee; tang — > taang; du — > duu; po — > poo.
The ie and ei finals double the e.
Thus s h i e — > shiee\ lei — >
leei\ j i e — > jiee\ fei — > feei\ etc
Rule 6:
The uo and ou finals double the o:
tzuo — > tzuoo\ mou — >
moou; huo — > huoo; gou — > goou; etc.
Rule 7:
All other basic form spellings must contain either a u or an i
(because these are the only remaining cases)., To make them third tone, change the u to o or change the i to e.
For example:
gua
(basic form)
u —> o
(rule 7)
goa
(third tone spelling)
Similarly, dau — > dao\ chian — > chean\ guang — > goang.
TONAL SPELLING
29
When both u and i appear in the basic form, change whichever comes first. For example: shiue
(basic form)
i —> e
(rule 7)
sheue
(third tone spelling)
Similarly, niu — > neu\ niou — > neou; jiau — > jeau\ guai — > goal; guei — > goei.
Supplementary Rules
for Third Tone:
Rules 4-7 are adequate only for
syllables which have initials (such as choan, tzoei, kee), or which, lacking initials, happen to be in Row-
(regular rule)
e
eou add
(incomplete third tone spelling) ff lf
y
(supplementary rule 1)
yeou
(complete third tone spelling)
Similarly, iun — > eun — > yeun; in — > iin — > yiin; etc.
Supplementary Rule 2:
For Row-u, add a w in the same way.
For example:
ua
(basic form)
u —> o
(regular rule 7)
oa
(incomplete third tone spelling)
add "w"
(supplementary rule 2)
woa
(complete third tone spelling)
Similarly, uen — > oen — > woen\ uei — > oei — > woei; etc.
30
CHINESE PRIMER Supplementary Rule 3:
The finals ie and uo are special cases in which y
and w replace i and u respectively. and ie — >
iee — > yee (not yiee).
Thus:
uo — >
uoo — >
woo (not wuoo\)
Actually, you may forget about this rule
if you simply memorize the two exceptions woo and yee.
Note
the
following
third
relatively tricky in the past:
tone
spellings
which
students
have
sheue, ae, yii, cheauy moo, yeun, wuu.
found What
are the first and second tone counterparts of these forms?
Exercises on First, Second, and Third Tone Spellings 1.
Pronounce the following. bean
jeuan
yeun
tiing
wuu
chee
tzoei
loong
saan
2. Spell the following third-tone syllables.
3.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5
6.
7.
8.
9.
10
11.
12.
13.
14.
15
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
Pronounce the following and indicate the correct tone using "1 , ^ , and
J.
4.
pyng
kae
j iun
tzu
mang
ruu
deeng
yeuan
chair
lei
shou
moo
Spell the following first, second, and third tone examples. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
TONAL SPELLING
5.
31
17.
18.
19.
20
21.
22.
23.
24
25.
26.
27.
28
29.
30.
Pronounce the following syllables and learn their meanings. jyy - 'paper*(N)
shiee - fwritef (V)
goou - Tdogf (N)
doong - 'understand' (V)
beau - 'watch' (N)
yeou - 'have' (V)
shoou - 'hand' (N)
mae - 'buy' (V)
bii - 'pen' or 'pencil' (N)
daa - 'hit' (V)
nil - 'you' (P)
sheau - 'little' (A)
woo - 'I' or 'me' (P)
hao - 'good' (A)
been - 'very' (Adverb - may be used before appropriate adjectives)
Fourth
Tone Spelling:
While the rules for producing second and third
tone spellings generally apply to the Table of Finals row by row, the rules for fourth-tone spelling apply column by column.
Rule 8:
They are as follows:
For the first three columns, add h to the end of the finals;
thus: ge — > geh\ hua — > huah\ chie — > chieh\ etc.
Rule 9: y:
For the next two columns, whose finals end in i, change the i to
bei — > bey; k u a i — > kuay; duei — > duey\ etc.
Rule 10:
For the next two columns, ending in uy change the u to w:
gau
— > gaw\ jiou — > jiow'yraiau— > miaw etc.
Rule 11:
For the next two columns, ending in n, double the n:
luann; kuen — > kuenn\ ban — > bann\ etc.
luan — >
32
CHINESE PRIMER Rule 12:
For the next three columns, which end in g> change the g to q:
dong — > donq\ guang — > guanq\ ching — > chinq; jiang — > jianq; etc.
Rule 13:
The el final changes to ell.
Just as for third tone, supplementary rules apply to initial-less fourthtone syllables in rows i, u, and iu.
Supplementary Rule 4:
For Row-i and Row-iu,
change the i to y.
For
example: ia
(basic form)
add "h"
(rule 8)
iah
(incomplete fourth tone spelling)
i —> y
(supplementary rule 4)
yah
(complete fourth tone spelling)
Similarly, iuan — >
iuann — > yuann; iang — > ianq — > yanq; iou — > iow — >
yow\ etc.
Supplementary Rule 5:
For Row-u, change the u to w.
For example:
uan
(basic form)
double the "n"
(rule 11)
uann
(incomplete fourth tone spelling)
u —> w
(supplementary rule 5)
wann
(complete fourth tone spelling)
Similarly, uo — > uoh — >
woh\ uei — >
uey — > wey\ uang — > uanq — > wanq;
etc.
Supplementary Rule 6: above.
The finals i, u, irij and ing are exceptions to the
For them, add y (or w) without dropping i (or u):
(not yh\)\ u — >
uh
—>
wuh; in — >
inn — >
i — > ih — > yih
yinn; ing — >
inq — > yinq.
(You may forget about this rule if you memorize these four as exceptions.)
TONAL SPELLING Note
the
following
chiuehy yann, yonq.
relatively
33
tricky,
What are the first,
fourth-tone
spellings:
enn,
second and third tone forms of
these syllables?
Exercises on Tonal Spelling 1.
2.
3.
Pronounce the following. jenq
tah
benn
j iunn
tzuey
sanq
law
duoh
Spell the following fourth-tone syllables. I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
Pronounce the following and indicate the correct tone using "1, 'I, J, and N .
4.
jenq
deei
koong
taan
lieh
jah
tarn
wu
shyun
jeeng
mey
kanq
tann
jiuan
goai
jeng
jiuann
wuh
Spell the following first, second, third, and fourth tones. 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
II.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
34
5.
CHINESE PRIMER 31.
32.
33.
34.
35
36.
37.
38.
39.
40
Pronounce the following syllables and learn their meanings: yaw - 'want to1 (V) kann -
f
look at"1 (V)
mah - fscold1 (V) may - 'sell' (V) bay - 'newspaper1 (N) dah - fbigf (A) jeh - 'this' or 'these1 (Determinative) nah - 'that1 or 'those' (Determinative)
S u m m a r y of Tonal Spelling:
Professor Y.R. Chao has summarized the rules
for tonal spelling in the following economical form:7 1st Tone: (1) Use basic form: ta, shuo, uan, ia. 2nd Tone: (2) Add r after the vowel for Row-
A:
Tzar.men jiow yaw jey-jian .ba.
B:
Hao, jiow tzemm jyuedinq .le.26
Nii kann tzeemyanq?25
ae
82
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 2 MESSY ROOM
(Three weeks later) A:
Look, you!ve got more and more clothes scattered around and our room's getting messier every day.
B:
You've got quite a few things yourself. big ones, too.
One here, one there —
Not only a lot of books, but
downright chaotic.
A:
I just straightened them up this morning.
B:
The more straightening you do, the messier it gets.
And when you're
finished, the books all wind up on my bed. A:
I'm sorry.
I forgot to put these books on the bookcase.
B:
And then there's your newspaper—also a page here, a page there.
From
now on don't read the paper in the room. A:
How'm I going to learn the news if I don't read the newspaper?
B:
You
can go to the
library
starting today, okay?
A:
Let's
set up
a work
schedule
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays you do
How does that sound?
Fine.
We'd better get our work schedule down on paper and then stick it
up on the wall. B:
read.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I'll sweep the
floor and dust off the table. it.
to
That way we won't forget.
Your handwriting is better than mine.
You write it.
(A draws up the schedule and sticks it onto the wall.)
UNIT I I I
LESSON 2
83
DIH'ELL KEH UTZ TAY LUANN
{Three weeks later) A:
Nii kann nii.de i.fwu yueh lai yueh1 duo, tzar.men jeh utz i-tian bii itian2 luann.
B:
Nii.de dong.shi yee bu shao3 .a.4
Nii.de shu Audann5 duo erlchiee dah.
Dong i-beel,s shi i-beel, jeanjyr7 luann .de buderleau.* A:
Woo jin.tian tzao.chern gang jeeng.lii guoh9 .a.
B:
Nii yueh jeeng.lii yueh luann.10
Nii jeeng.lii-wan.le, nii.de shu dou
daw woo chwang.shanq .lai 11 .le. A:
Duey.buchii,12 jey-7'ii-beel13
woo wanq.le1*
fanq
.daw
shujiahtz.shanq
.chiuh .le. 15 B:
Hair
.yeou nii.de baw, yee.sh dong i-jang, shi i-jang.
Yiihow16
bye
tzay utz.lii kann-baw17 .le. A:
Bu kann-baw tzeem jy.daw shinwen?11
B:
Nii kee.yii daw twushugoan19 .chiuh20 kann .a. tzar.men dinq ig gongtzuoh shyrjianbeau,22 san-wuu23
woo
sao-dih
tsa
Tsorng jin.tian chii, 21
.hao
juotz, ell-syh-liow
.bu.hao? nii
Shingchi'i-
lai,2l>
nii
kann
tzeemyanq? A:
Hao .a.
Tzar.men tzuey hao 25 baa 28 gongtzuoh shyrjianbeau shiee .tzay
jyy.shanq,27 ranhow21 tie .tzay chyang.shanq, jiow buhuey wanq.le. B:
Nii tzyh shiee .de bii woo hao, 29 nii lai 30 shiee.
(A draws up the schedule and sticks it onto the wall.)
84
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 3 A VISITOR IS COMING
B:
This room of ours might be messy, but it's pretty comfortable. Itfs much better than living in a dorm, if you ask me.
A:
No question.
It!s a bit cheaper, too.
Also closer to the classrooms.
Especially somebody like you, who's always late, just has to be close to the classrooms. B:
By the way, do you think this room of ours is the messiest in the whole building?
A:
I don't think we count as the messiest, actually. worse.
Number five is even
UNIT III LESSON 3
85
DIHSAN KEH KEH.REN YAW1 LAI
B:
Tzar.men jeh utz luann
. sh luann, kee.sh tiing2 shu.fwu.
Woo jyue.de
bii juh suhsheh hao .de duo. A:
Nah dangran, erlchiee yee pyan.yi i.deal. Shianq
.nii jehyanql** charngx chyrdaw
Jell li3 jiawshyh yee jinn.
.de ren, youchyi5 deei juh .de
jinn i.deal tsair shyng.6 B:
E, nii kann tzar.men jey-jian utz sh .bu.sh jey-suoo farngtz.lii tzuey luann .de i-jian .le?
A:
Chyishyr tzar.men jey-jian hair buneng suann.sh7 tzuey luann .de, in.wey wuu-haw bii jey-jian genq8 luann.
WOO SHANfl SAN HAW, NII-NET
86 B:
CHINESE PRIMER But we
can't
just
compare
ourselves with
the bad
ones; we have to
compare with the good ones. A:
Right.
Exactly right.
But that's easy to say and not so simple to
achieve. (Another few days pass.) A:
You had a letter downstairs, and I brought it up for you.
B:
Thanks.
A:
What's the matter?
B:
I have a relative who lives nearby, and he wants to come visit.
A:
When's he coming?
(Reading the letter) Oh no!
Blast it!
Who's the letter from?
How can we have guests in a messy room like this?
We
better clean it up fast. B:
Relax.
He's not coming till a week from Friday.
We've still got more
than a week. A:
Since you're always so slow with things, you better start cleaning up now.
B:
I may be slow, but I've never screwed things up.
That's a lot better
than you. A:
Okay, let's not throw accusations back and forth.
Why don't we just get
to work? B:
No way—I have a test tomorrow.
Got to be off to the library to study.
Let's put it off a couple of days!
UNIT III B:
LESSON 3
Buguoh tzarm bu inggai jyy gen huay
87
.de bii,9
inggai gen hao .de bii
tsair shyng. A:
Duey.le.
Nii
shuo
.de
jen
duey.
shuo.chii.lai10
Kee.sh
rong.yih,
tzuoh.chii.lai jiow bu nemm jeandan .le. (Another few days pass.) A:
Loushiah yeou i-feng nii.de shinn, woo geei .nii na.shanq.lai1l .le.
B:
Duoshieh, duoshieh. (Reading the letter) .Ai.ia!
A:
Sherm shyh?
B:
Woo yeou g chin.chi juh .tzay fuhjinn.1* Ta yaw lai kann .woo.
A:
Ta sherm shyr.howl lai? keh.ren?
B:
Tzaugau!l2
Sheir lai .de shinn? 13
Tzar.men jeh utz tzemm luann, tzeem neng jauday
Tzar.men deei maashanq jeeng.lii vx.
Nii bubihls
jiin.jang.16
Ta
shiahg
shingchiwuu17
tsair 11
lai, hair
.yeou ig duo 19 liibay .ne. A:
Nii tzuoh-shyh shianqlai20 mann, suoo.yii tzuey hao shianntzay jiow21 kaishyy jeeng.lii.
B:
Woo tzuoh-shyh sweiran mann, dann.sh woo tsornglai22 mei wuh.guoh shyh, bii nii hao .de duo.
A:
Tzarm bubih nii guay 23
woo, woo guay nii
.le, hair.sh24
lihkeh jiow
donq-shoou .ba. B:
Bushyng, woo ming.tian yeou kaoshyh.
Woo deei shanq twushugoan .chiuh
kann-shu, guoh leang-tian tzay shuo 25 .ba.
88
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 4 CLEANING UP
(One week A:
later)
It f s already Wednesday and he hasn ! t lifted a finger. too lazy. trick him.
I've got to think of something.
This guy's just
I f m afraid I'll just have to
(Writes a note and sticks it on the door, locks the door,
and goes out.) B:
(Taking down the note and reading it) "I had originally decided to visit you on Friday.
But it turned out I had to come here to see my dentist,
so I'm here two days early.
I just saw my dentist, and then came over
to visit you, but you werenft home. this afternoon."
Egad!
I111 come back at three o'clock
Only two and a half hours.
(B throws clothes,
books, notebooks, etc. into closets and drawers.) (3:40 p.m. A enters.) A:
My!
How neat!
This room's never been so neat!
B:
Where1 ve you been all this time?
What happened?
I'm dead tired from cleaning up the
room all by myself. A:
Why'd
you have to clean it up so soon?
Isn't
our guest coming on
Friday? B:
He came two days early to see his dentist.
He already came once this
morning, but luckily we weren't home so he didn't come in. note on the door saying he'd be back at three. and he's still not back.
He left a
It's already 3:45 now
I'm going crazy here waiting.
I've got a lab
at four that I'm going to have to miss. A:
(Stifling laughter) Go ahead and go to your lab. He won't be coming.
B:
(As the truth begins to dawn) How do you know he isn't coming? up note and looks at it carefully) out.)
You must have written this!
I'm going to beat you to a pulp!
(Chases A)
(Picks (A runs
UNIT I I I
LESSON 4
89
DIHSYH KEH JEENC. Lll (One week A:
FARNGJIAN
later)
Jin.tian yii.jing liibaysan .le, ta ideal dou1 mei donq. laan .le. Woo deei sheang g fartz tsair shyng. .ta .i.shiah .le.
Jeyg ren tay
Koongpah jyy hao 2 piann
{Writes a note and sticks it on the door, locks the
door, and goes out.) B:
(Taking down the note and reading it) lai kann .nii, howlai3
in.wey yaw daw jell . lai kann ya f i jiow tzao*
Gangtsair5 woo kann.le ya f i jiow lai kann .nii, nii
lai.le leang-tian. bu tzay-jia.6
"Woo beenlai jyuedinq liibaywuu
Woo shiah.wuu san-dean tzay lai."
.yeou leangg bann8 jongtour.
Hao-jia.huoo!7
Hair
(B throws clothes, books, notebooks, etc.
into closets and drawers.) (3:40 p.m. A enters.) A:
.He!
Jen gan.jinq!
Jeh utz tsornglai mei.yeou tzemm
gan.jinq.guoh.
Jeh.sh tzeem hwei shyh?9 B:
Nii
tzeem
shianntzay
tsair 10
hwei.lai?11
Woo
ig
ren 12
jeeng.Hi
farngjian jeeng.lii .de ley.syy.le. A:
Nii herbih tzemm tzao jiow 13 jeeng.lii, keh.ren bu.sh liibaywuu tsair lai .ma?1*
B:
Ta in.wey kann ya T i tzao
lai.le leang-tian.
Shanq.wuu yii.jing lai-
guoh 15
.le, shinq.kuei tzar.men dou bu tzay-jia, ta mei jinn.lai.
.tzay
men.shanq
liou.le
g
tyautz
shuo
Shianntzay yii.jing san-dean san-keh16 .de jyi.syy.le.
san-dean
jong
tzay
Ta lai.
.le, ta hair.bu lai. Woo deeng
Woo syh-dean jong hair yeou i-tarng shyryann, jyy hao
bu chiuh .le. A:
(Stifling laughter)
Nii fanq-shin chiuh shanq-shyryann
.ba. Ta buhuey
lai .de. B:
(As the truth begins to dawn)
Nii tzeem jy.daw ta buhuey lai?
up note and looks at it carefully)
(Picks
Jeh idinq 17 sh nii shiee .de. (A
runs out.) Woo fei daa-syy .nii bukee. 11
(Chases A)
90
CHINESE PRIMER
UNIT IV DOGGED LOCALIZERS AND DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENTS
Lesson 1 "CANT SEE CLEARLY" OR "HAVEN'T SEEN CLEARLY"
(As soon as the teacher [T] goes to the podium, some students [B, C, E] start laughing, because the teacher is wearing a brown shoe on one foot and a black shoe on the other.) T:
What are you laughing at, Shyr Kee'leei?
B:
You have a brown shoe on your left foot and a black one on your right. They don!t match, and you canft see it yourself.
T:
Oh no!
How embarassing!
was very bright out.
I got up very early this morning, before it
I couldn't see clearly, and that's why I put on
the wrong shoe. C:
But sir, in our last class you explained that "couldn't see clearly" and "haven't seen clearly" mean different things.
Was your particular
case one of "couldn't see clearly" or "haven't seen clearly"? T:
When I got up this morning, my room was still rather dark, so I was "unable to see clearly".
If the room had been bright enough, or if I
had turned the light on, but had still put on the wrong shoes, that would have been a case of "not having seen clearly". (All the students): T:
Do you understand?
Now we understand.
My appearance is indeed a bit strange today, but I'm going to lecture on Lesson Eight, and I'm going to use a special method, so if my appearance is a bit special, that will be fitting after all. look and see if there is anything on the floor.
A:
No.
Nothing at all.
We can't see a thing.
I want all of you to
Is there?
UNIT IV
LESSON 1
91
DIHSYH DANYUAN LAO HWANG
DIH'I KEH "KANN.BU-CHING.CHUU" GEN "MEI KANN-CHING.CHUU" (As soon as the teacher [T] goes to the podium, some students [B, C, E] start laughing, because the teacher is wearing a brown shoe on one foot and a black shoe on the other.) T:
Shyr ffee'leei,1 nii shiaw sherm.me?
B: Nin 2 tzuoo jeau chuan hwang shye,3 yow jeau chuan hei shye, tzuoo-yow bu iyanq, nin tzyhjii kann.bu-jiann. T:
.Ai.ia!
Jen buhaoyih.sy.
Jin.tian tzao.chern woo chii.lai* .de been
tzao, tian hair mei dah lianq.5
Woo kann.bu-ching.chuu, suoo.yii chuan-
tsuoh.le.6 C:
Laoshy .a, jaw7 .nin shanq-tsyh suoo9 jeang .de, "kann.bu-ching.chuu" gen flmei kann-ching.chuu" yih.sy bu iyanq, nin dawdii sh "kann.buching.chuu" hair.sh "mei kann-ching.chuu"?
T: Woo chii.lai .de shyr.howl, utz.lii hair.sh heix .de,9 suoo.yii woo sh "kann.bu-ching.chuu".
Yaw.sh utz.lii sh lianq .de, huoh.jee woo kai.le
dianndeng, kee.sh woo hair baa shye chuan-tsuoh. le, nah jiow.sh "mei kann-ching.chuu". Nii.men doong.le .mei.yeou? A
(All the students):
Shianntzay doong .le.
T:
Jin.tian woo.de yanqtz dyichiueh10 yeou .deal chyiguay, kee.sh jin.tian woo yaw geei .nii.men jeang dihba keh. Woo yaw yonq ig tehbye .de fartz jeang, suoo.yii woo yanqtz tehbye 11
.i.deal daw yee heen hershyh.
Nii.men kann .a, dih.shanq yeou dong.shi .mei.yeou? dong.shi? A: Mei.yeou.
Sherm dou mei.yeou.
Sherm dou kann.bu-jiann.
Yeou mei.yeou
92
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 2 IN THE D O G H O U S E
(There appears on the floor a doghouse covered with a black cloth.) T: How about now? A: Yes—now something is there. T: Wang Rujang, what is it that's on the floor? E: A big box. T:
But I don't know what's in it, because I can't see.
If I take away the cloth you all can see.
A: Wow, it's a big dog!
And good-looking!
T: This is our family dog. His name is Lassie, but we all call him Old Yaller. This is Old Yaller's doghouse. A: Hey! That house isn't bad! T:
Come on, Old Yaller. (Old Yaller comes out of doghouse.) Here's a cookie for you. shut.
(Dog eats cookie.)
Go back now. (Doghouse door has fallen
Dog walks up and is unable to enter.
The teacher goes over.)
Old Yaller can't go in, because he can't open the door. Now I open the door, and he can go in. (Dog enters.)
Come out, Old Yaller.
Come over
here. Go over there by the chair. Run under the table. Now, jump out. (The dog pants.)
UNIT IV LESSON 2
93
DIH f ELL KEH GOOU FARNGTZ
{There now appears on the floor a doghouse covered with a black cloth.) T:
Shianntzay .ne?
A:
Shianntzay yeou dong.shi .le.
T:
Wang Rujang, shianntzay dih.shanq sh1 sherm dong.shi .a?
E:
Sh g dah hertz.
Hertz.lii sh sherm.me jiow bujydaw .le, in.wey kann.bu-
jiann. T:
Woo baa buh na.diaw2 nii.men jiow kann.de-jiann .le.
A:
.Ah, sh .tyau3 dah goou, jen piaw.lianq!
T:
Jeh.sh woo.men jia .de goou, ming.tzyh jiaw Laishii,** kee.sh woo.men dou goan5 .ta jiaw Lao Hwang.
Jeh.sh Lao Hwang juh .de farngtz.
Jeh farngtz heen butsuoh .ma.6
A:
.Oh!
T:
Lao Hwang, nii lai.
{Lao Hwang comes out of doghouse.)
i-kuay biinggan7 chy. .ba. enter.
The teacher goes over.)
men kai.bu-kai.10
Dog walks up and is unable to
Lao Hwang jinn.bu-chiuh9
.le, in.wey
Shianntzay woo baa men kai.x, 11 ta jiow jinn.de-chiuh
.le.
{Dog enters.)
tzoou
.daw yiitz.nall
Nii tiaw.chu.lai.
.nii
Shianntzay nii hwei.chiuh1
{Dog eats cookie.)
{Doghouse door has fallen shut.
Woo geei
Lao Hwang nii chu.lai. .chiuh.12
Nii pao
{The dog pants.)
Nii shanq jell .lai.
.daw juotz dii.shiah
Nii
.chiuh.
94
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 3 LYING DOWN ON THE JOB
T:
{Continuing) Are you tired?
Rest for a while and drink some water.
{The dog drinks.)
Sit down.
tall.
Stand up.
Stand up.
I wonder whether you can climb up onto it.
teacher goes over to the stool.)
That stool is a bit Give it a try.
{The
Come on, Old Yaller, climb up.
Now,
let me sit on the chair, while you sit on my lap, okay?
Now jump off!
Next, I want you first to stand in front of the students, and then to stand between the stool and the chair. that chair?
How's that?
That chair is too small for you.
How about lying down on your back?
You want to sit in
You can't get into it.
Or else just lie on your stomach...
I think you've rested enough, Old Yaller.
Now I want you first to run
to the left side of the table, and then to the right side. front of the chair. Fine!
Come on over.
Then sit in
After that, go behind the chair and stand there. Run!
{To the students)
Look, now Old Yaller is
walking back and forth in front of me, making it impossible for me to do anything.
So I say to him, "Old Yaller, don't walk around here.
over by the doghouse and walk around."
Go
So he goes over to his doghouse.
Right now he's walking around beside the doghouse.
UNIT IV LESSON 3
95
DIHSAN KEH LAO HWANG TAY LEY .LE T:
{Continuing) Nii ley .le .ma? drinks.)
Nii
denqtz yeou
stool.)
jann.chii.lai.
.deal
shanq.chiuh.
Nii shie .hoel, he .deal shoei.
Nii
gau,
woo
Tzuoh.shiah. bujydaw
shyh.x kann1
.ba.
nii
{The dog
Jann.chii.lai.
Ney-jang
par.de-shanq.chiuh
par.bu-
{The teacher goes over to the
Lao Hwang, nii par.shanq.lai.2
Shianntzay
ranq
.woo tzuoh
.tzay yiitz.shanq,3 nii tzuoh .tzay woo shen.shanq, .hao .bu.hao? tiaw.shiah.chiuh
.ba!
Shianntzay
woo
yaw
.nii
shian
jann
Nii .tzay
shyue.sheng chyan.tou,1* tzay jann .tzay denqtz gen yiitz .de jongjiall.5 Tzeem.me, nii sheang tzuoh .tzay ney-baa yiitz.shanq?* tay sheau, nii tzuoh.bu-shiah.chiuh.7 huoh.jee nii jiow paj 9 .ba. woo yaw
.nii
shian pao
Ney-baa yiitz
Nii taang* .tzay dih.shanq .ba,
Lao Hwang, nii shie-gow.le .ba?
.daw juotz tzuoo.bial, tzay
pao
Shianntzay .daw juotz
yow.bial, ranhow nii jiow tzay yiitz chyan.tou tzuohj, tzay daw yiitz how.tou
jannj. 10
Hao!
Guoh.lai, pao.guoh.lai!ll
{To the students)
Nii.men kann, jey.hoel Lao Hwang .tzay woo miannchyan tzoou-lai tzoouchiuh,12 ranq .woo mei fartz 13 tzuoh-shyh.chyng.
Woo jiow gen .ta shuo,
"Lao Hwang .a, bye tzay jell tzoou, daw farngtz parngbial .chiuh tzoou." Ta jiow tzoou
.daw farngtz parngbial
.tzay farngtz parngbial tzoou .ne.15
.chiuh.le.lk
Shianntzay ta jenq
96
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 4 INSIDE OUTSIDE
T:
{Continuing) Old Yaller doesn't like to stay indoors.
He likes to play
outside the house, because outside the air is fresh and there is lots of space.
There is also
a
lawn and
flowers
and trees.
Sometimes Old
Yaller likes to eat flowers; I tell him, "You're eating flowers again! I've told you you're not permitted to eat flowers.
If you ever eat
flowers again, I'll hit you!1' He shakes his head, meaning that he won't ever dare eat flowers again.
Old Yaller is very happy playing outside,
but it's getting late, and he has to go back inside his doghouse.
Just
as he is about to go through the door, I call to him, "Old Yaller, look! What's on the door?" Dog:
Yeah, there's a landscape painting on the door.
T:
Look again at what's above the door.
D:
There are some characters above the door.
T:
What characters?
D:
They're too small.
T:
If you walk a little closer you can make them out.
D:
I recognize them now.
T:
Good.
D:
Lesson Four: right,
I can't make out which ones they are.
Try reading them aloud.
in
outside,
between,
inside, above, below, in front, behind, left,
come
out,
go
in,
come
up,
go
down,
get
up.
Localizers and Directional Complements. T:
(Jo students) All of you saw that, I trust.
Even Old Yaller understands
everything in Lesson Four, and all the characters. you do not?
Is it possible that
I would guess that all of you understand.
I have guessed
correctly, have I not? A:
You have definitely guessed wrong.
We still don't understand, because
Old Yaller is smart, and we are stupid.
UNIT IV
LESSON 4
97
DIHSYH KEH LII.TOU WAY.TOU
T:
{Continuing) Lao shii.huan
tzay
Hwang bu farngtz
dih.fang yee dah. shuh. shuo,
shii.huan
way.tou
dai
wal,
.tzay
in.wey
farngtz
way.tou
Nii yow2
kongchih
Ta hao,
Way.tou yow1 yeou tsaodih, yow yeou hual, yow yeou
Lao Hwang yeou shyr.howl shii.huan chy hual. fl
lii.tou.
Woo gen Lao Hwang
Woo gaw.suh .nii busheu chy hual .ma.3
chy hual .le.
Nii yaw.sh tzay chy hual woo jiow yaw daa .nii
. l!a.ni* Ta yau.x tour,
yih.sy sh shuo5 ta yiihow bugaan tzay chy .le. Sweiran Lao Hwang tzay way.tou wal .de heen gaushinq, kee.sh shyr.howl yii.jing bu tzao .le.
Ta deei tzoou .hwei farngtz. lii .chiuh .le.
Ta
tzoou .daw menkooul gang yaw jinn.chiuh, woo jiaw .ta, "Lao Hwang, nii kann men.shanq yeou sherm.me?" Dog:
Ee?
Men.shanq yeou .jang shanshoei-huall.*
T:
Nii tzay kann.x men shanq.tou yeou sherm.me?
D:
Men shanq.tou yeou jiig tzyh.
T:
Yeou jiig sherm tzyh?
D:
Tzyh tay sheau .le, woo kann.bu-chulai7 sh sherm tzyh.
T:
Nii tzoou jinn .i.deal jiow kann.de-chu sh sherm tzyh .lais .le.
D:
Shianntzay woo kann.chu.lai .le.
T:
Hao, nii niann.x kann.
D:
Dihba keh:
way.tou, lii.tou, shanq.tou, dii.shiah, chyan.tou, how.tou,
tzuoo.bial,
yow.bial,
jongjiall,
chu.lai,
jinn.chiuh,
shanq.lai,
shiah.chiuh, chii.lai; Localizers and Directional Complements. T:
{To students) Nii.men dou kann-ching.chuu .le .ba? .de, dihba keh suoo yeou
.de9 tzyh,
nandaw 11 nii.men hair bu doong doong .le. A:
Nin tsai
.ma?
lian10
Dihba keh suoo jeang
Lao Hwang dou doong.le,
Woo tsai 12 nii.men keendinq dou
Woo tsai .de butsuoh .ba? .de keendinq tsuoh
Hwang tsong.ming, woom benn.
.le.
Woo.men hair bu doong,
in.wey Lao
98
CHINESE PRIMER UNIT V THE NOSE JOB
Lesson 1 I'M SLEEPY
(Monday at 9 a.m., outside a classroom.) A:
(Yawning) I'm really sleepy.
I didn't get to bed till 2:00 a.m. last
night. B:
Where had you been?
A:
My parents came to New York the day before yesterday. visit my sister. yesterday.
They came to
She phoned to tell me about it, so I went to New York
All my other brothers and sisters also went to New York from
Boston and Philadelphia. B:
Where all did you go?
A:
It was my parents1
We had a good time together for a whole day.
first time
in New York.
We went
to the United
Nations, the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty.
Of course
we also went to a Chinese restaurant for a big meal. B:
Then you really must have had a great time!
A:
It was great, all right, but tiring too.
B:
I think you'll be nodding off again in class today.
A:
No, I won't.
(Students enter the classroom and sit down.
Professor enters and begins to
lecture.) P:
Today I will lecture on Lesson 20.
Before discussing the text, I will
discuss Chinese society during the May Fourth period.
UNIT V
LESSON 1
99
DIHWUU DANYUAN* HUAH BYITZ
DIH'I KEH WOO JEN KUENN
(Monday at 9 a.m., outside a classroom.) A:
(Yawning)
Woo
jen kuenn.
Woo tzwo.tian woan.shanq1
leang-dean
jong
.tsair shanq-chwang. B:
Nii shanq naal .chiuh.le?2
A:
Woo fuh-muu3 chyan.tian* daw Neouiue .lai.le.5 mey.x
Woo mey.x daa-diannhuah6 gaw.suh
.de.
daw Neouiue .chiuh.le. Feycherng7 daw Neouiue.
Woo.men ikuall wal.le i-tian.
Nii.men dou wal.le .shie§ sherm dih.fang?
A:
Jeh.sh woo fuh-muu dih!i-tsyh daw Neouiue. Maw.yih
.woo, woo tzwo.tian jiow
Woo ge.x, jiee.x, dih.x, yee tsorng Boshyhduenn
B:
Shyh.jieh
Ta.men sh lai kann .woo
Jongshin,
hair.yeou
Woo.men kann.le Lianhergwo,
Tzyhyoushern-shianq.9
Woo.men
dangran yee shanq Jong.gwo goantz 10 .chiuh dah 11 chy.le i-duenn. B:
Nah nii.men idinq wal .de heen gaushinq ,lo.12
A:
Gaushinq sh gaushinq, kee.sh heen ley.
B:
Woo kann .nii jin.tian shanq-keh dahgay yow yaw shuey-jiaw.13
A:
Buhuey .de.
(Students enter the classroom and sit down.
Professor enters and begins to
lecture.) P:
Jin.tian jeang dih'ell.shyr keh, tzay mei.yeou jeang kehwen yiichyan,1* woo shian geei
.nii.men jeang .i.jeang Wuu-syh15
shyrday .de Jong.gwo
shehhuey.
* From Unit V Lesson 1 on, we no longer use sandhi.
italics to indicate tone
100
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 2 THE JOB
B:
(Whispering to C and pointing at A) Look, hefs asleep again.
C:
He always falls asleep as soon as he gets to class.
(C holds chalk in front of ATs nose and A, nodding, bumps into it leaving a white mark.) D:
I've got every color of pen here.
(Gives C colored pens; C holds them
in front of A's nose.) P:
I forgot my watch today.
What time is it?
E:
Nine forty-eight.
P:
Time's up now; let's stop here.
Class is almost over. For next time, in addition to preparing
the text and doing the exercises, make certain you go to the language lab and listen to the tapes. B:
Should we wake him up?
C:
Not this time. •k
*
Let's see how long he sleeps. *
*
(Students for next class enter.
*
Two students sitting in the back [F and
G] notice A and wonder about him.) F:
What a weird guy!
Do you know him?
G:
You could say I know him.
F:
What do you mean, "you could say I know him"?
G:
Because I know him, but he doesn't know me.
We live in the same dorm.
He's famous in the dorm; at night, when everybody's studying, he either sings at the top of his lungs or turns his stereo way up. stand him.
Nobody can
UNIT V
LESSON 2
101
DIH'ELL KEH HUAH BYITZ
B:
{Whispering to C and pointing at A) Nii kann, ta yow shuey-jaur1 .le.
C:
Ta tzoong.sh i shanq-keh jiow shuey-jiaw.
(C holds chalk in front of A1 s nose and A, nodding, bumps into it leaving a white mark.) D:
Woo.jell yeou geh-joong2 yan.seh
.de bii.3
(Gives C colored pens; C
holds them in front of A1s nose.) P:
Woo wanq.le day* beau.
E:
Jeou-dean syh.shyrba-fen.
P:
Shianntzay shyr.howl daw.le, woo.men jiow jeang .daw6 jell. shanq-keh
yiichyan
Shianntzay jii-dean .le? Kuay5 shiah-keh .le.
nii.men
chwu.le7
yuh.bey
kehwen
tzuoh
Shiah-tsyh liannshyi
yiiway, idinq deei shanq yeuyan-shyrshyishyh .chiuh ting luh'inday. B:
Tzar.men yaw .bu.yaw baa .ta jiaw-shiing?
C:
Jey-hwei tzarm bu jiaw .ta; kann .ta shuey .daw sherm shyr.howl.
*
*
*
it
*
(Students for next class enter.
Two students sitting in the back [F and G]
notice A and wonder about him.) F:
Jeyg ren hao8 chyiguay.
G:
Yee9 kee.yii shuo renn.de.10
F:
Tzeem jiaw 11 "yee kee.yii shuo renn.de"?
G:
In.wey woo suhsheh.lii.
renn.de Ta
Nii renn .bu.renn.shyh .ta?
ta, ta bu
tzay
renn.de woo.
suhsheh.lii
heen
Woo.men
yeouming,
juh
.tzay
woan.shanq
ig 12
dahjia
niann-shu .de shyr.howl, ta bu.sh 13 dahsheng14 chanq-ge ? l 15 jiow.sh baa diannchanqji kai 1 6 .de heen sheang,17 suoo.yii renren dou taoyann1* .ta.
102
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 3 THE BIG SLEEP
F:
Hefs sound asleep.
G:
No, donft.
Should we wake him up?
Letfs wait and see how the teacher will handle it.
{Teacher goes to the podium, opens his book; A suddenly starts to snore.) T:
Who!s snoring?
F:
{Pointing) This is the one.
T:
What happened to his nose?
G:
I don't know, but heTs got all sorts of colors on his nose: red, yellow,
How come there's snoring even before class has started?
blue, white, black, green. T:
Wake him up.
G:
Hey!
Wake up, wake up!
{A opens his eyes, looks all around; startled, he looks at his watch and stands up. A:
Other students stifle their laughter.)
What class is this?
{Students burst out laughing.) T:
Computer science.
A:
No, Ifm not.
You must not be in this class.
Ifm from the Chinese class before this one.
. . excuse me.
Excuse me . .
{Heads out)
T:
You'd better go to the bathroom first to look in the mirror and wash up.
A:
Right, right. *
*
*
*
{Enters restroom, looks in mirror) A:
Oh my gosh!
Another of Lii's good deeds!
*
UNIT V
LESSON 3
103
DIHSAN KEH DAA-HU.LU 1
F:
Ta shuey .de jen hao.
Yaw .bu.yaw baa .ta jiaw-shiing?
G:
Bu jiaw .ta, kann laoshy tzeem bann.2
{Teacher goes to the podium, opens his book; A suddenly starts to snore.) T:
Sherm ren daa-hu?
Tzeem hair mei.yeou kaishyy shanq-keh jiow daa.chii
hu .lai.le? F:
{Pointing) Sh jey-wey torngshyue.3
T:
Ta byitz sh tzeem hwei shyh?
G:
Bujydaw sh tzeem hwei shyh.
Byitz.shanq yeou horng, hwang, Ian, bair,
hei,1* liuh geh-joong yan.seh. T:
Baa .ta jiaw-shiing.
G:
.Hei!
shiing.le!5 shiing.le!
{A opens his eyes, looks all around; startled, he looks at his watch and stands up. A:
Other students stifle their laughter.)
Jeh.sh sherm keh?
{Students burst out laughing.) T:
Dianntzyy-jihsuannji.6
A:
Bu.sh,
bu.sh.
Woo
Nii hao.shianq bu.sh jey-ban .de shyue.sheng. sh
Duey.buchii, duey.buchii.
shanq.i-ban
Jongwen-keh
.de
shyue.sheng.
{Heads out)
T:
Nii tzuey hao 7 shian daw tsehsuoo jaw.x8 jinqtz baa lean shii .i.shii.9
A:
Sh, sh.
•k
*
*•
*
*
{Enters restroom, looks in the mirror) A:
.Ai.ia!
Tzaugau!
Idinq sh Sheau Lii gann .de hao shyh.10
104
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 4 LITS "GOOD DEED" {A finds A:
C.)
{Catching C and twisting his arm) You're disgusting, Lii! pull a stunt like that? Ouch!
Sorry!
You made a big fool of me!
C:
Ouch!
A:
Just tell me how you1re going to apologize.
C:
I'll treat you to a movie, okay?
A:
Okay, this weekend.
C:
Okay, okay.
Sorry!
Ow--!
Saturday afternoon.
That's fine, that's fine.
massages his arm.)
How could you
(A lets go.
Now you can tell me, Jang:
C chuckles as he
when did you wake up?
A:
At five after ten.
C:
How did it happen?
A:
A student sitting next to me woke me up.
C:
What did the teacher say?
A:
He said I didn't seem like a student in that class.
The other students
all burst out laughing, and the teacher told me to go to the bathroom to look in the mirror and wash up.
Now can I ask you something?
When did
you paint my face? C:
I started about 9:15.
A:
Where did you start?
C:
On the tip of your nose.
A:
How come there were so many colors?
C:
I just put the colored pens in front of your nose.
How did you do it?
yourself. A:
Where did the colored pens come from?
C:
They were Ding's.
A:
Disgusting.
C:
Right.
Okay, march!
Let's go find Ding.
He has to help pay for the movie.
{They go off together.)
You bumped into them
UNIT V LESSON 4
105
DIHSYH KEH SHEAU Lll GANN .DE HAO SHYH
(A finds A:
C.)
(Catching C and twisting his arm)
Sheau Lii, nii tay keewuh .le.
tzeem kee.yii jehyanq kai-wanshiaw?
Ranq .woo naw .le g dah shiaw.huah.
C:
.Ai.io,1 .ai.io, duey.buchii, duey.buchii, .ai ... .io...
A:
Nii shuo, nii tzeem daw-chiann .ba?
C:
Woo chiing .nii kann-diannyiing, shyng .bu.shyng?
A:
Hao, jeyg joumoh,2 liibayliow shiah.wuu.
C:
.Hao, .hao, .hao, .hao, kee.yii, kee.yii, kee.yii, kee.yii. C chuckles as he massages his arm.) gaw.suh .woo .le .ba.
Nii
(A lets go.
Lao Jang, nii shianntzay kee.yii
Nii sh jii-dean jong shiing .de?3
A:
Woo sh shyr-dean wuu-fen shiing .de.
C:
Nii sh tzeem shiing .de?
A:
Sh tzuoh .tzay parngbial .de ig shyue.sheng baa .woo jiaw-shiing .de.
C:
Laoshy shuo sherm.me?
A:
Laoshy
shuo
woo
hao.shianq
bu.sh
shyue.sheng dou shiaw.chii.lai.le.
ney-ban
shyue.sheng.
Bye.de
Laoshy jiaw .woo daw tsehsuoo .chiuh
jaw.x jinqtz, baa lean shii .i.shii. .nii.
.de
E, shianntzay woo yee yaw wenn.x
Nii sh sherm shyr.howl geei .woo huah .de lean?1*
C:
Dahgay jeou-dean i-keh kaishyy .de.5
A:
Sh tzay naal kaishyy huah .de?
C:
Tzay byitz jial.shanq kaishyy .de.
A:
Tzeem yeou nemm duo yan.seh, sh tzeem huah .de?
C:
Woo baa yan.seh bii fanq .tzay nii byitz chyan.tou, sh nii tzyhjii penq .de.
A:
Naal lai .de yan.seh bii?
C:
Yan.seh bii sh Sheau Ding .de.6
A:
Tay keewuh .le.
C:
Duey!
Tzoou!
Tzar.men chiuh jao Sheau Ding .chiuh.
Kann-diannyeengl7 ta yee deei chu-chyan.1
(They go off together.)
106
CHINESE PRIMER UNIT VI WHO'S NEXT?
Lesson 1 ALL SET Daughter:
I've found another person to ride to school in my car, Mom.
there are four all together, counting me.
Now
We've decided to leave the
day after tomorrow. Mother:
Have you gotten all your things ready?
You're taking everything
you need, I hope. D:
Everything's all ready except that I still have to buy two bath towels.
M:
Why don't you buy them at that department store on Great Eastern Street? Their things are good—and inexpensive, too.
Let me show you something
... look at these two pairs of sneakers. D:
They're exactly alike!
M:
This pair I bought at that department store for $12.75; the other pair I bought
somewhere
else
for
difference as big as that!
$15.99.
The
same
thing
with
a
price
By the way, do those people riding with you
know how to drive? D:
One of them doesn't.
But three drivers are enough.
repair cars as well as drive them.
One knows how to
With her in the car we can relax.
M:
Have all of them driven on long trips before?
D:
Of course I They're all older than I am.
I'm the only freshman.
Two of
them are juniors, and the other one's going to graduate next year. M:
How many thousand miles are on that old car of ours?
D:
Forty-five thousand. there's no problem.
I just sent the car for repair and a check-up, and
UNIT VI LESSON 1
107
DIHLIOW DANYUAN SHIAH-IG SH SHEIR?
DIH'I KEH YUH.BEY SHANQ-SHYUE Mha, woo yow jao .daw1 ig ren da 2 woo.de che chiuh shyueshiaw.
Daughter:
Shianntzay lian3 woo tzyhjii igonq yeou syhg ren .le.
Woo.men jyuedinq
how.tian donq-shen. Mother:
Nii dong.shi dou yuh.bey-hao. le1*
.ma?
Yaw yonq
.de dong.shi dou
day.le5 .ba? D:
Chwu.le
hair
yaw mae
leang-tyau
shii-tzao
maujin yiiway, bye.de dou
yuh.bey-hao.le. M:
Nii kee.yii daw Dahdong Jie ney-jia baehuoh gongsy .chiuh mae. nail
.de dong.shi
dong.shi.
yow pyan.yi yow hao.
Woo geei
.nii kann
i-yanql
.de, shyr!ell-kuay
chi-mau
Nii kann • jey-leang-shuang chyoushye.
D:
Jey-leang-shuang chyoushye wanchyuan iyanq .ma!
M:
Jey-shuang wuu.6
Ta.men
sh ney-jia
baehuoh
gongsy
Ney-shuang sh linq.i-jia7 mae
mae
.de, shyrwuu-kuay jeou-mau jeou.
Iyanq .de dong.shi, jiah.chyan chah tzemm duo.
E!
Ney jiig tzuoh .nii
che .de ren dou huey .bu.huey kai-che? D:
Yeou ig buhuey.
Buguoh yeou sanTg ren kai-che yee tzwugow .le.
Yeou ig
ren yee8 huey kai-che yee huey shiou-che, yeou ta tzay che.shanq woo jiow fanq-shin .le. M:
Ta.men dou kai.guoh charngtwu .mei.yeou?
D:
K-a-i--.guoh.9
Ta.men dou bii
.woo dah. 10
Jyy yeou woo sh shinsheng.
Ta.men yeou leangg sh san nianjyi, yeou ig ming.nian jiow bih-yeh .le. M:
Tzar.men ney-lianq jiow che jii-wann lii 11 .le?
D:
Syh-wann wuu-chian duo lii. mei.yeou wenntyi.
Woo gang baa che sonq.chiuh shiou.lii.guoh,
108
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 2 PLEASE HELP, M O M
{The next evening. Father:
Father, mother, and daughter are in the living room.)
All our friends and relatives here are happy that you can go to
this university, Sheau Jen. one.
It's an expensive school, but a really good
Some of their departments are world-famous.
I hope you make the
best of your four years of college life.
You must work hard on your
courses,
enjoy
and
at
the
same time
learn to
yourself.
The
most
important thing is to learn to be a good person. M:
I feel you have some bad habits that need to be corrected.
You always
eat candy while you read, for instance. D:
I don't eat nearly as much as I used to.
M:
And you stay up too late at night; you don't go to bed until two or three o'clock. open.
D:
The next day you're so tired you can't keep your eyes
How can you have any energy left for classes?
I know, I know all about it.
Mom—I have something I need your help
with. M:
What's that?
D:
I can't take my flowers and my goldfish with me... I have to ask you to take care of them.
M:
You know I'm terrible at keeping flowers and can't stand goldfish.
D:
Of course I do.
But there's no way I can take them.
I have to bother
you. M:
Okay, let me give it a try... from home.
Sheau Jen, this is your first time away
I really am a bit worried.
You call us often from school,
do you hear? D:
Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I'll call home often.
UNIT VI
LESSON 2
109
DIH'ELL KEH CHUNG MHA.MHA BANG-MANG
(The next evening. Father: .de
Fathery mother, and daughter are in the living room.)
Sheau Jen,1 nii jey-tsyh neng shanq jeyg dahshyue, jell suoo yeou chin.chi
perng.yeou
dou
jyue.de
heen
gaushinq.
sweiran guey, kee.sh dyichiueh sh g hao shyueshiaw. shih chyuan shyhjieh dou yeouming. dahshyue sheng.hwo;
i-fangmiann2
Jeyg
dahshyue
Ta.men yeou jii-
Shiwanq nii haohaul.de guoh syh-nian yaw yonq-gong3
dwu-shu,*
i-fangmiann
yee yaw jy.daw tzeem wal, youchyi yawjiin .de sh shyue tzeem tzuoh-ren.5 M:
Woo
jyue.de
nii
yeou
.shie
buhao
.de
shyiguann
inggai
gae.diaw.6
Bii.fang shuo nii tzoong.sh ibial7 kann-shu, ibial chy-tarng. D:
Woo yii.jing bii yiichyan chy .de shao .de duo .le.
M:
Hair yeou nii meei-tian shuey san-dean
tsair
.de tay woan, tzoong.sh bannyeh8
shanq-chwang,
dih'ell-tian
ley
.de9
leang-
yean.jing
dou
jeng.bu-kai, naal 10 hair yeou jing.shern shanq-keh? D:
Jy.daw .le.
Woo dou jy.daw .le.
Mha, woo yeou .jiann shyh yaw chiing
.nin bang-mang. M:
Sherm shyh?
D:
Woo ney-jii-pern
hual
hair
.yeou
jinyu, dou buneng
day.chiuh,
deei
chiing .nin goan.x.11 M:
Nii jy.daw woo tzuey buhuey goan-hual, woo youchyi taoyann yeang-yu.
D:
Woo dangran jy.daw, kee.sh woo mei fartz day.chiuh, jyy hao ma.farn .nin .le.
M:
Hao, woo shyh.x kann .ba.
Sheau Jen .a, jeh.sh nii dihfi-tsyh li.kai12
jia, woo jen yeou .deal bu fanq-shin.
Nii daw.le shyueshiaw yaw charngx
lail3 diannhuah .ou.lk D:
Bah, Mha, nin fanq-shin jia .de.
.ba, woo idinq huey charng daa-diannhuah hwei
110
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 3 A QUIET ROOMMATE
The first phone call M:
Hello?
Hello?
Who's this?
...Oh, its Sheau Jen! was you!
With whom am I speaking?
This is a terrible line...
Whom do you want?
I didn't even know it
Hang up and call again.
(Phone rings again.) M:
Hello?
D:
I'm here, Mom!
M:
Did everything go well along the way?
D:
Everything was fine.
I've already moved into the dormitory.
The weather wasn't very good at first.
raining—but later it cleared up. is fine.
How are the dormitory rooms?
It took us only six hours.
It was The dorm
The rooms are big—two of us to a room.
M:
So you have a roommate.
D:
No,
she hasn't
moved
Is she there? in yet.
California, and really nice.
But we've
already
met.
She's
from
We hit it off very well.
The second phone call M:
How are you, Sheau Jen?
Why haven't we had any news from you for three
weeks? D:
I'm incredibly busy with my schoolwork...besides, I can't sleep well at night.
M:
You're staying up late again, are you?
D:
No, I lose sleep because of my roommate.
M:
What?
You've been quarreling with your roommate?
Didn't you tell us
last time how nice she was? D:
We haven't quarreled. goes wrong at night.
She's just fine during the day, but something When she's asleep she's always either snoring or
talking in her sleep—sometimes she even grinds her teeth, and it sounds
UNIT VI
LESSON 3
111
DIHSAN KEH TORNG'UL
Dih'i-tsyh diannhuah M:
.Wai, .wai.1
Nin naal?2
Sheau Jen .a. nii .lai.
Nin neei-i-wey?
Nin jao sheir?
.Oh, nii sh
Diannhuah sheng.in huay-jyi.le, woo dou mei ting-chu sh
Nii guah.shanq, tzay tsorng3 daa ig.
{Phone rings again.) M:
.Wai.
D:
Mha, woo.men daw.le.
M:
Nii.men i-luh dou hao .ba?
D:
I-luh dou heen shuenn.lih.
Woo yii.jing ban.jinn suhsheh .le. Suhsheh farngjian tzeemyanq? Gang chu.lai .de shyr.howl tian.chih budah
hao, shiah-yeu,4 howlai jiow chyng .le. jiow5
daw.le.
Jell
suhsheh
heen
Woo.men kai.le liowg jongtourl
hao,
farngjian heen
dah.
Woo.men
leangg ren i-jian. M:
Nah nii yeou g torng'ul .le, ta lai.le .mei.yeou?
D:
Ta hair mei.yeou ban.jinn.lai, buguoh woo.men yii.jing jiann.guoh miann .le.
Ta sh tsorng Jiajou6
lai .de, ren heen hao, woo.men heen tarn.de-
lai.7 Dih'ell-tsyh diannhuah M:
Sheau
Jen,
nii
tzeemyanq8
. le?
Nii
tzeem
san'g
shingchi
dou
mei
shiau.shyi9 .a? D:
Woo gong.keh mang .de yawminq, erlchiee woo woan.shanq shuey.bu-hao.
M:
Nii yow.sh shuey .de heen woan, sh .bu.sh?
D:
Bu.sh.
M:
Tzeem.me?
Woo shuey.bu-hao sh in.wey woo torngful .de yuan.guh.10 Nii gen
.nii torngful chao-jiah
. le?
Nii shanq-tsyh bu.sh
shuo ta feicharng hao .ma? D:
Woom mei chao-jiah. buduey
.le.
menqhuah,
Ta jeyg ren bair.tian heen hao, daw woan.shanq jiow
Ta shuey-jiaw
yeou
shyr.howl
.de shyr.howl hair
yeau-ya,
bu.sh daa-hu, yeau
Suoo.yii naw .de woo jeanjyr mei fartz shuey.
.de11
jiow.sh
shuo
nanting-jyi.le.
112
CHINESE PRIMER just awful.
She makes such a racket there's simply no way I can fall
asleep. M:
Doesn't that mean you're kept awake every night?
D:
It's not as bad as every night, but it's almost that bad.
M:
Then you should move into another room.
D:
But I really don't want to leave her. out.
She's really a nice person.
She'd feel very hurt if I moved
She's kind, cheerful, neat—maybe if
I just listen to her snoring a few more days I'll get used to it. M:
I have some bad news for you—your chrysanthemums are dead.
D:
(Sadly) Oh. The third phone call
D:
I fell and hurt my hand, Mom.
M:
What happened?
D:
It's nothing, don't worry.
Did you hurt it badly? Yesterday afternoon my car was being used by
my roommate, so I went out shopping on foot.
There was ice on the road,
and I fell down in a moment of carelessness.
I didn't fall hard;
be okay in a few days. M:
Your roses are dead.
D:
Oh.
it'll
UNIT VI
LESSON 3
113
M:
Nah nii bu.sh meei-tian woan.shanq dou shuey.bu-jaur .le .ma?
D:
Sweiran
bujyh.yu12
tianx
shuey.bu-jaur,
dann.sh
yee
chah.buduo
tzemmyanql .le. M:
Nah nii inggai ban .daw bye.de utz .chiuh.
D:
Kee.sh woo yow bu yuann.yih li.kai idinq heen nanshow.
.ta.
Yaw.sh woo ban.chu.chiuh, ta
Ta jen sh g hao-ren; ta shin hao, 13
shinq.chyng
hao, yow ay gan.jinq; yeesheu woo tzay duo ting jii-tian ta daa-hu jiow shyiguann .le. M:
Yeou ig buhao .de shiau.shyi yaw gaw.suh .nii, jiow.sh nii.de jyuhua syy .le.
D:
(Sadly) .Oh. Dihsan-tsyh diannhuah
D:
Mha, woo.de shoou shuai-shang .le.
M:
Tzeem hwei shyh?
D:
Mei-shell.15 bey 16
woo
jie.shanq
Shuai .de lih.hay14 .bu.lih.hay?
Nin bye
torng!ul
jiin.jang.
geei 17
Tzwo.tian
kai.chu.chiuh.le,
.chiuh mae .deal dong.shi.
shiah.wuu woo.de woo
jiow
chihche
tzoou-luh
Luh.shanq yeou bing.
.daw
Woo ig bu
sheau.shin18 jiow shuai.le, shuai .de heen ching, guoh jii-tian jiow hao .le. M:
Nii.de mei.gueyhual syy .le.
D:
.Oh.
114
CHINESE PRIMER
Lesson 4 MOTHER'S CARE
The fourth phone call D:
Ifve got good news for you, Mom.
This afternoon I saw the doctor for
the last time, and he said my hand has completely healed. M:
Wonderful!
But you must be more careful from now on.
Don!t fall again.
D:
There's going to be a China Night here next month.
The students are
going
to
sing
Chinese
songs,
calligraphy and painting.
make
Chinese
food,
and
do
Chinese
They asked me to show them how, so I have to
ask your help. M:
How do you want me to help?
You mean you want me to go to your school?
D:
No, Ifd like to ask you, Dad, and your friends—Uncle Wang, Uncle Lii, Uncle Jang, Uncle Ding, and Auntie Chern—to help by making a videotape with
all
those
things
on
it:
singing,
cooking,
calligraphy,
painting...you think they'd be willing? M (Ironically) You really are ingenious! D:
Let me go ask them for you.
That song you and Dad used to sing called one.
ft
We Were Children" is a pretty
Could you tape that one for us?
M:
What song is that?
I've never heard of any such song.
D:
It's also got something about the wind, and the birds, and stuff.
M:
Oh, you mean "Recalling the Time When We Were Young".
D:
Yeah, right, that's the one.
And then I'd like to ask you, Uncle Wang,
Auntie Chern, and them to sing one all together, okay?
I hope you can
send it to me next week, because we have to start practicing soon. M:
All right, we'll give it a try.
You really are a pain.
UNIT VI
LESSON 4
115
DIHSYH KEH
WOO JEN DANSHIN i
Dihsyh-tsyh diannhuah D:
Mha, yeou g hao shiau.shyi gaw.suh .nin. how i-tsyh kann i.sheng.
Jin.tian shiah.wuu woo tzuey
Ta shuo woo.de shoou yii.jing wanchyuan hao
.le. Yiihow idinq deei sheau.shin; bye tzay shuai .lfa.
M:
Hao-jyi.le.
D:
Shiahg yueh jell yeou g Jong.gwo Woanhuey.
Torngshyue.men yaw chanq
Jong.gwo-ge11, tzuoh Jong.gwo-tsay,2 shiee Jong.gwo-tzyh, huah Jong.gwohuall.
Ta.men jiaw3
.woo jiau
.ta.men, woo jyy hao chiing .nin bang-
mang. M:
Nii yaw .woo tzeem bang .ne?
Nii nandaw yaw
.woo daw nii shyueshiaw
chiing Bah.x, Mha.x, hair
.yeou nin.de perng.yeou
chiuh .ma? D:
Bu.sh.
Woo sheang
Wang Bor.x, Lii Bor.x, Jang Shu.x, Ding Shu.x, Chern A!yi** bang-mang geei .woo luh i-jeuan
luhyiingday5
baa chanq-geTl, tzuoh-tsay, shiee-
tzyh, huah-huall dou luh.shanq.chiuh, bujydaw ta.men keen .bu.keen.6 M:
{Ironically) Nii daw
jen sheang.de-chu hao bann.faa
.lai.
Woo chiuh
geei .nii wenn.x .ta.men .ba. D:
Nin gen Bah.x charng chanq
.de neyg ge'l "Woo.men Sh Sheauharl11 heen
haoting, nin kee .bu.kee.yii geei .woo.men luh neyg ge'l? M:
Naal yeou tzemm g ge'l .a?
Woo tsornglai yee bujydaw yeou tzemm g ge'l.
D:
Hair .yeou sherm feng .a, neaul .a, sherm.de.7
M:
.Oh, nii sh shuo "Jih.de Dangshyr Nian.jih Sheau".*
D:
Duey.le, duey.le, jiow.sh neyg.
Hair yaw chiing .nin gen Wang Bor.x,
Chern A ! yi ta.men jiig ren herchanq ig ge f l, .hao .bu.hao? shiahg shingchi jiow jih
.geei
.woo.
In.wey woo.men deei tzao
kaishyy liann.shyi. M:
Hao .ba.
Woo.men shyh.x kann .ba.
Shiwanq nin
Nii .kee jen ma.farn.9
.deal
116
CHINESE PRIMER The fifth phone call
M: Hello Sheau Jen, your goldfish are dead... Hello? Jen? D:
Sheau
Why aren't you talking?
What's wrong?
{Feebly)
Sheau Jen?
My mums are dead, Mom—and my roses, too.
Now the goldfish
I'm really worried.
are gone.
M: What are you worried about? D:
I wonder how Daddy's doing.
M: Nonsense! Your father is neither flower nor fish—don't make me lose my temper!
I'm not saying any more to you. Good-bye.
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UNIT VI LESSON 4
117
Dihwuu-tsyh diannhuah M:
.Wai, Sheau Jen, nii.de jinyu syy .le. tzeem .le?
D:
Yi?
Sheau Jen, Sheau Jen, nii
Nii tzeem mei sheng.in .le?
{Feebly) Mha, jyuhua syy.le, meiguey yee syy.le, shianntzay jinyu yee wan.le, woo jen danshin....
M:
Nii danshin sherm.me?
D:
Woo bujydaw Bah.x tzeemyanq .le.
M:
Hwu-shuo!10 Nii Bah.x yow bu.sh hual, yow bu.sh yu. sheng-chih .le.
Woo bu gen .nii shuo .le.
Nii bye ranq .woo
Tzayjiann!11
BEEN SHYH* Jihde dangshyr nianjih sheau, Woo ay tarn-tian nii ay shiaw. Yeou i-hwei binqjian tzuoh tzay taur-shuh shiah, Feng tzay lin-shau neau tzay jiaw. Woomen bu jy tzeenyanq shuey-jwo leau, Menq lii hua-erl luoh duo shao. Music: HUANG Tzyh (1904-1938) Lyrics: LU Chyan (1905-1951)
BYGONE TIMES I remember, when we were young I liked to talk, and you liked to laugh. One time, as we sat side by side Beneath the peach tree, The wind was in the treetops And the birds were chirping. Somehow, we fell asleep, And knew not how many Flowers fell in our dreams!
* For vocabulary of Been Shyh see p.150 of the Character Workbook.
118
CHINESE PRIMER UNIT VII GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER
Lesson 1 SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND
(A middle-aged couple sits in the living room. television; the mother is knitting.
The father is watching
The telephone rings, and the mother
gets up to answer it.) Mother:
Hello?
Daughter: M:
ITm done with exams, Mom, and I!m dead tired.
Ifm sure you haven!t been sleeping.
You need a good rest.
When are you
coming home? D:
Day after tomorrow.
Mom ... (pause)
M:
What!s the matter?
D:
I want to come home with a friend, and invite the friend to stay with us
Why aren't you talking?
for a few days, okay? M:
Fine, no problem.
I'll put another bed in your room, and you can stay
together where it'll be easy to talk. D:
It's a boyfriend, Mom,
We better have him sleep on the sofa in the
living room. M:
Oh, you have earlier? yesterday.
a boyfriend!
didn't you
let us know
We were saying you're just about through with college and Are the two of you close yet?
Uh-huh. We've already talked about marriage. calls are expensive.
Mom—daytime long distance
Let's not talk any more now; let's wait till we
see each other. M:
Why
Your Dad and I were worrying about this just the day before
still don't have a boyfriend. D:
Wonderful!
Fine.
(They hang up simultaneously.)
UNIT VII
LESSON 1
119
DIHCHI DANYUAN KANN.FAA1 BUTORNG
DIH'I KEH YEOU.LE NANPERNG.YEOU .LE
(A middle-aged couple sits in the living room. television; the mother is knitting.
The father is watching
The telephone rings, and the mother
gets up to answer it.) Mother:
.Wai.
Daughter: M:
Mha, woo kao-wan.le, kao .de ley.syy.le. Nii deei haohaul.de shiou.shyi2 vx.
Nii idinq sh mei shuey-jiaw.
Nii
sherm shyr.howl hwei.lai? D:
Woo how.tian hwei-jia.
M:
Sherm shyh?
D:
Woo yaw
Mha,... (pause)
Nii tzeem bu shuo-huah .le?
gen
ig
perng.yeou
ikuall
hwei.lai, sheang
chiing
.ta
tzay
jia.lii juh .jii-tian, .hao .bu.hao? M:
Hao
.a, mei wenntyi.
Woo tzay
.nii utz.lii tzay fanq i-jang chwang,
nii.men juh .tzay ig utz.lii, shuo-huah faftg.biann .i.deal. D:
Mha,
sh
g
nanperng. yeou.
Ranq
.ta
shuey
.tzay
kehting.lii
.de
shafa.shanq .ba. M:
.Oh!
Nii yeou.le nanperng.yeou .le.
.deal gaw.suh .nail
jau-jyi3
.woo.men .ne? .ne, shuo
mei.yeou nanperng.yeou. D:
.Eng.
Woo.men
yii.jing
Woo gen
Tay hao
.le!
Nii tzeem bu tzao
.nii bah.x chyan.tian hair
.nii dahshyue
dou* kuay bih-yeh
.tzay
.le, hair
Nii.men yii.jing heen hao5 .le .ma? tarn.daw6
jye-huen
.le.
Mha, bair.tian
daa
charngtwu diannhuah heen guey, shianntzay bu gen .nin duo tarn, deeng jiann.le miann tzay shuo7 .ba. M:
.Hao.
(They hang up simultaneously.)
120
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 2 THEY'RE HOME
M:
{To father)
Did you hear that?
F:
{Watching television) Mm.
M:
Youfve been watching TV for two hours already. say to you.
No more TV!
It was a phone call from Sheau Jen.
You don't hear a thing I
{She turns off the television.)
Sheau Jen
called to say she has a boyfriend. F:
Really?
M:
She says she's finshed with exams.
She's coming home with her boyfriend
day after tomorrow, and wants to invite him to stay with us a few days. They're pretty close already—even talked about marriage. F:
Something
as important
as this—why
didn't she bring
it up with us
before? M:
That's just the way she is.
F:
You must be happy now that she has a boyfriend.
M:
Of course I am.
*
*
boyfriend Lii. D: Lii: F:
You mean to say you aren't? -k
{Two days later.
Don't tell me you didn't know it, either.
*
-k
Doorbell rings, father opens door, sees Sheau Jen and her
Father is dismayed.)
Let me introduce you, Dad.
This is my friend Lii Wenshin.
Hello, Uncle Wang. {Calling mother)
Mei'ing!
Sheau Jen's back!
{Mother comes out.) D:
Hello, Mom!
This is my friend Lii Wenshin.
L:
Hello, Aunt Wang.
M:
Have you had lunch yet?
D:
We ate on the airplane.
You must be hungry.
UNIT VII
LESSON 2
121
DIH'ELL KEH TA.MEN HWEI.LAI .LE M:
{To father)
F:
{Watching television)
M:
N i i y i i . j i n g kann.le leangg jongtourl
.de diannshyh . l e . 1
shuo sherm.me n i i dou t i n g . b u - j i a n n .
Busheu kann . l e .
the
Nii ting.jiann .mei.yeou?
Sh Sheau Jen lai . de diannhuah.
.Eng.
Sheau Jen l a i . diannhuah shuo ta y e o u . l e
television.)
Woo gen . n i i {She turns
off
nanperng.yeou
.le. F:
Jen.de?
M:
Ta shuo .ta kao-wan.le. yaw chiing
How.tian gen .ta nanperng.yeou ikuall hwei.lai,
.ta tzay jia.lii juh .jii-tian.
Ta.men yii.jing heen hao
.le, dou tarn .daw jye-huen .le. F:
Tzemm jonqyaw2 .de shyh, ta weysherm bu tzao gen .woo.men tarn.x?
M:
Ta.de shinq.chyng jiow.sh3 tzemm tehbye, nii yee bu.sh bujydaw.u
F:
Ta shianntzay yeou.le nanperng.yeou .le, nii gaushinq .le .ba?
M:
Woo dangran gaushinq .le, nandaw nii bu gaushinq .ma?
*
*
*
{Two days later. boyfriend Lii. D: Lii: F:
*
*
Doorbell rings, father opens door, sees Sheau Jen and her
Father is dismayed.)
Bah, woo geei .nin jieh.shaw.
Jeh.sh woo perng.yeou Lii Wenshin.
Wang Laobor.5 {Calling mother) Meifing,G Sheau Jen hwei.lai.le.
{Mother comes out.) D:
Mha, nin hao. Jeh.sh woo perng.yeou Lii Wenshin.
L:
Wang Bormuu.
M:
Nii.men chy.le wuufann .mei.yeou?
D:
Woo.men tzay feiji.shanq chy-guoh.le.7
Duhtz idinq eh .le .ba?
122
CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 3 MR. Lll WENSHIN
{Father and Lii sit on sofa in living room.) F:
What time did you leave the dorm today?
(Said three times, the first
time at normal volume3 the second time a little louder, the third time very loudly.) L:
We left the dorm at nine o'clock in the morning.
F:
(Loudly) How did you come, by train or by plane?
L:
We came by plane.
F:
At which airport did you board the plane?
Was it at the South Airport
or at the North Airport? L:
We boarded at the North Airport.
F:
(To himself) Talking to this guy really wears you out!
(In a side room) M:
(In a hushed voice) I know you always say good looks don't matter in a person—that person!s
the
most
important
thing
is good
character.
looks shouldnft be too peculiar, should they?
Just
Still, a look at
this friend of yours—hair half grey half brown; one ear high and the other low; one eyebrow long, the other short; one big eye, one little one; D:
a huge nose; a very strange-looking mouth, too.
You don't have to speak so softly, Mom.
Lii Wenshin is hard of hearing.
He's not going to hear you. M:
What?
He can't hear talk?
Then how do you talk with him?
D:
Really good friends don't necessarily have to talk.
M:
(Annoyed) Right.
You are quite right.
There's nothing left for me to say. company!
(Exit)
He really is your good friend.
You can go keep your good friend
UNIT VII LESSON 3
123
DIHSAN KEH Lll WENSHIN
{Father and Lii sit on sofa in living room.) F:
Nii.men
jin.tian
sh jii-dean
jong
li.kai suhsheh
.de?1
(Said three
times, the first time at normal volume, the second time a little louder, the third time very loudly.) L:
Woo.men sh shanq.wuu jeou-dean li.kai suhsheh .de.
F:
(Loudly) Nii.men sh tzeem lai .de?
Sh tzuoh huooche lai .de?
Hair.sh
tzuoh feiji lai .de? L:
Woo.men sh tzuoh feiji lai .de.
F:
Nii.men sh tzay neeig feijichaang shanq
.de feiji?2
Sh Nan-jichaang,
hair.sh Beei-jichaang .a? L:
Woo.men sh tzay Beei-jichaang shanq .de feiji.
F:
(To himself) Gen .ta shuo-huah .kee jen ley.
(In a side room) M:
(In a hushed voice) Woo jy.daw nii charng shuo ren haokann buhaokann mei.yeou guan.shih, tzuey yawjiin sh shinq.chyng hao. yanqtz yee bu inggai tay tehbye, sh perng.yeou,
tour.faa
bann huei
.bu.sh?
bann hwang,3
mei.mau i charng i doan, yean.jing
Kee.sh ren .de
Nii kann.x eel.duoo
.nii jey-wey
i gau
i di, 4
i dah i sheau, byitz tehbye dah,
tzoei .de yanqtz yee heen chyiguay. D:
Mha, nin bubih tzemm sheausheng shuo-huah.
Lii Wenshin eel.duoo buhao,
ta sh buhuey ting.jiann .de.5 M:
Sherm.me?
Shuo-huah
ting.bu-jiann?
Nah nii tzeem
gen
.ta tarn-huah
.ne? D:
Jen.de hao perng.yeou, sh binq bu idinq yaw tarn-huah .de.
M:
(Annoyed) Duey.le, perng.yeou.
nii
shuo
.de
jen
duey.
Woo mei sherm kee shuo .de6 .le.
perng.yeou .chiuh .ba!
(Exit)
Ta
jen
sh
nii.de
hao
Nii chiuh peir nii.de hao
124
CHINESE PRIMER
UNIT VIM LOVE ME, LOVE MY CHINESE
Lesson 1 WHY "WIFE"?
(A is Chinese. A:
B and C are Americans.)
There's a question I've always wanted to ask the two of you, but have never had the chance. just ask?
The question is how, in the beginning, you got interested in
studying Chinese. B:
With both of you right here today, why don't I
Why don't you go first, Lao Wang?
My answer is simple.
I wanted to study Chinese because my "wife" was
Chinese. A:
"Wife?"
Why do you use English for this word?
B:
These days some Chinese say "tay.x" for "wife", and some say "ay.ren". Last year when I was in Beeijing (Peking), Shanqhae, Nanjing, Shi'an and Goangjou
(Canton), everybody used "ay.ren" for "wife"; but Chinese in
Shianggaang (Hong Kong), Tair'uan (Taiwan), and America all say "tay.x". I'm not sure what I ought to do, so when I'm speaking with Chinese who understand English I just say "wife". A:
That's not a bad idea.
B:
It's fine when you use "wife" for your own wife. when you use it to address somebody else's wife.
But problems come up For instance, if a Mr.
Jang introduces his wife to me, and uses "tay.x" for "wife", I can call her "Jang Tay.x"; but if he uses "ay.ren", then I don't know what to say.
Because I can't address her as "Jang Ay.ren", and I can't call her
"Jang Wife", either. A:
You could use her given name, or say something like "Sheau Lii" or "Sheau Wang".
UNIT VIII
LESSON 1
125
DIHBA DANYUAN WEYSHERM SHYUE JONGWEN
DIH'I KEH AY.REN 1 GEN TAY.TAY
(A is Chinese. A:
B and C are Americans.)
Woo ijyr2 sheang wenn .nii.men leang-wey ig wenntyi, kee.sh lao mei.yeou Jin.tian jenqhao nii.men leang-wey dou tzay.jell,3 woo jiow
ji.huey. . lai*
wenn.x
.nii.men
.ba.
weysherm yaw shyue Jongwen? B:
Woo.de
wenntyi
jiow.sh
nii.men
dangchu
Lao Wang, chiing .nii shian shuo .ba.
Woo.de hweidar heen jeandan.
In.wey woo "wife" sh Jong.gworen, suoo.yii
woo yaw shyue Jongwen. Jeyg tzyh nii weysherm yaw yonq Ingfwen shuo?
A:
"Wife"?
B:
Shianntzay yeou.de5 ay.ren.
Chiuh.nian
Goangjou,6 TairTuan, tay.x.
Jong.gworen goan
renren hair
woo
tzay
dou goan
Beeijing,
"wife"
.yeou Meei.gwo
"wife" jiaw
.de
jiaw
tay.x, yeou.de
Shanqhae, ay.ren.
Jong.gworen
Nanjing,
jiaw
Shi1an,
Kee.sh
Shianggaang,
dou goan
"wife" jiaw
Woo yee bujydaw gai tzeem jiaw hao, 7 suoo.yii shianntzay woo
kann.daw doong Ingfwen .de Jong.gworen woo jiow shuo "wife". A:
Nii jeyg fartz heen butsuoh.
B:
Yonq "wife" jeyg tzyh lai shuo tzyhjii
.de "wife" sh mei.yeou wenntyi
.le,
"wife"
kee.sh
yaw
cheng.hu
bye.ren
.de
hair.sh
yeou
wenntyi.
Bii.fang shuo Jang .Shian.sheng geei .woo jieh.shaw ta "wife", yaw.sh ta goan "wife" jiaw tay.x, woo kee.yii cheng.hu
.ta Jang tay.x, dann.sh
ruguoo8 ta goan "wife" jiaw ay.ren .ne, woo jiow bujydaw gai tzeem jiaw .le.
In.wey woo buneng cheng.hu
.ta Jang Ay.ren, yee buneng jiaw .ta
Jang "wife". A:
Nii kee.yii jiaw .ta ming.tzyh huoh.jee jiaw sherm.de.
.ta Sheau Lii Sheau Wang
126
CHINESE PRIMER
B: Of course I could say that if I knew her well.
But how can I use her
name, or "Sheau Wang" or "Sheau Lii", if it's the first time I've met her?
A MAP OF CHINA
PROVINCES 1. Herbeei
J^^li*
4. Liauning
2. Shanshi
d*
5. Jyilin
3. Ney Mengguu1
J^j jfaj**
Tzyhjyhchiu
W
&>
\
6. Heilongjiang
"
1
It is written "Mongol" on official maps pronunciation, however, is "Mengguu".
2
The characters in parentheses are simplified characters.
of the
PRC.
The
Chinese
UNIT VIII LESSON 1 B:
127
Yaw.sh woo gen .ta heen shour,9 dangran kee.yii tzemm jiaw.
Kee.sh woo
gen .ta dihfi-tsyh jiann-miann tzeem neng jiaw .ta ming.tzyh huoh.jee jiaw .ta Sheau Wang Sheau Lii .ne?
PROVINCES (Continued) 7. Shandong
iM
8. Hernan
V"^
19. Ningshiah Hweitzu Tzyhjyhchiu 20. Gansuh
9. Jiangsu 10. Anhuei
21. Chinghae
11. Jehj iang
22. Shinjiang Weiwueel3 Tzyhjyhchiu
12. Jiangshi
>£,
13. Fwujiann
23. Syhchuan
14. Hwubeei
24. Gueyjou
15. Hwunan
25. Yunnan
16. Goangdong
26.
17. Goangshi Juanqtzu Tzyhjyhchiu
(f)
Shitzanq
ag s 4th century B.C.), whose style seems to them quite modern, than students in an American college know Chaucer (14th century A.D.). Another
reason
is
the
relative
social
and
cultural
homogeneity
and
stability in China during more millenia than has been the case with most other peoples of the world.
Of upheavals China has had plenty.
the
Manchus
conquering
language.
Mongols
and
made
hardly
an
But even
impression
on
the
There was no large-scale borrowing of words such as followed the
Norman invasion of Britain. Finally, the Chinese language seems old because, instead of spreading by subdivision into various national languages, which would then seem new, as did the Romance languages descended from Latin, it spread by diffusion to culturally
less
advanced
borrowed characters. the
forms known
neighbors
in
the
form
of
borrowed
words
and
These borrowed words and characters are still used in
as Sino-Japanese,
Sino-Korean, and
Sino-Vietnamese, and
stand as testimonies to the antiquity of the Chinese language, a language that gave more than it took
and maintained its identity
and comparative
homogeneity more than its neighbors. O u r Knowledge of Old Chinese.
The ancient Chinese language is basic
knowledge for modern Chinese intellectuals, but only in the sense that the text in characters and the idiom in composition are understood. aloud, it is always pronounced in a modern dialect. dialects in China.
When read
There are many modern
By studying their sounds, as well as the pronunciations
144
APPENDIX B
in Japan, Korea, and Indo-China of anciently borrowed Chinese words, modern scholars have made a reconstruction in all detail (except the actual melodic values of the tones) of the ancient Chinese pronunciation of about 600 A.D. This is called Ancient Chinese. tentative—to
reconstruct
There have also been attempts—even more
the pronunciation
years earlier than ancient Chinese.
of
Chinese
about
a thousand
This is called Archaic Chinese.
Broadly speaking, Archaic Chinese had a very rich system of consonants and vowels, and probably only three tones. four
grades
of
initial
consonants:
It had ten final consonants and
voiceless
unaspirated,
aspirated, voiced unaspirated, and voiced aspirated. the two voiced grades.)
voiceless
(Modern Mandarin lacks
There were a few initial consonant clusters, like
gl-, kl-, bl-y and pl-9 but these were relatively infrequent. From
Archaic
to Ancient
certain consonants vowel sounds.
important
change was that
(the pure voiced initials and endings b, d, g) became
There were
Going, and Entering. -/r.
Chinese, the most
four tones
in Ancient
Chinese:
Even, Rising,
The Entering tone comprised words ending in -p, -£,
A large part of the Going tone came from Archaic forms ending in -b>
-d, -g. Growth of Modern Dialects. except
M
as
in
Mandarin,
There is no Modern Chinese with a capital M,
which,
important
as
it
is
practically,
is
linguistically one of the youngest of the modern dialects, having evolved furthest away from ancient pronunciation. A.D. have affected
Certain broad changes since 600
most modern dialects, including Mandarin.
The voiced
initials of Ancient Chinese have lost their voicing in all dialects except those of Zhejiang (Jeh. jiang ^ V f > X ) , parts of Jiangsu {Jiang.su ^£*§% and parts of Hunan (ffwu.nan ^£]3&1).
The Ancient final consonants -/&, -p,
-t, -k are either lost or changed except in the extreme South.
In most of
northern China, the Entering Tone of Ancient Chinese has lost not only its consonantal
endings
but
also
its
redistributed into the other tones.
class
identity,
as
it
has
been
The four tones of Mandarin are not the
four tones of Ancient Chinese, but correspond only to its first three tones,
CHINESE PRIMER of which the dialects
first
have
central and
has been
preserved
split
ancient
eastern dialects
145
in two.
endings
On
and
the ancient
the whole, the
tone-classes
southern
best,
and the
initials best, while the other
dialects have departed further from Ancient Chinese. Classification of Dialects. three
zones.
The
zone
of
The dialects the greatest
of China are distributed over
variety
is
in the
southeastern
coastal provinces including Guangdong (Goangdong/SS ^^ )y Fujian (Fwujiann most of Hunan (ffwu.nan), Jiangxi (Jiang.shi s/£.{f£) ), and Zhejiang
T and parts of Guangxi (GoangshiJ\&qjp ), Anhui (An and Jiangsu
(Jiang.su).
The
second
zone
is the great
,huei^^^(j),
Mandarin-speaking
region comprising most of the rest of China proper and the greater part of the northeast provinces.
In the third zone, the territories and borderlands
of the southwestern provinces and province of Xinjiang non-Chinese languages are spoken side by side with Chinese in some form of Mandarin.
While
the last
zone includes
more than half the
area of all
China, it includes less than one-tenth of the population. There are nine main groups of dialects in China, six in the first zone and three in the second.
The first six groups are the Guangdong dialects;
Kan-Hakka (Gann-Kehjia ^fqT~~&*AO
\ t ^e Amoy or Xiamen (ShiahmenjM* j I )
dialects, including Swatow (Shann.tou l/d\ ^yj) 5 Fuzhou (FwujouXffl^l ); the Wu (J/u-9\ ) group, including Shanghai and Wenzhou (Uen. jou / Hunan.
which is the literary name for
The Guangdong, Kan-Hakka, and Amoy dialects frequently preserve the
ancient consonantal
endings -/H, -/?, -£, -/r.
The Fuzhou dialect
forms a
group apart, though it is near the Amoy group in many respects and is often classed literary
together name
Southern Min
with
it under
of Fujian
the term
province.
The
Min Amoy
(tfiinjatj ) , which dialects
are often
is the called
(Miinnanhuahi%\\i$l\?i7) and the Fuzhou dialects Northern Min
(Miinbeeihuah J!£J^
*tf)• Th e Wu dialects and the Hunanese group frequently
retain from Ancient Chinese the voicing of initials like b> d> g> and dz.
146
APPENDIX B The second dialect zone, including roughly two-thirds of the population
and most of China proper, is the zone of the Mandarin dialects, which can be divided into a northern group, a southern group, and a southwestern group. The northern provinces.
group includes The
the Yellow
River basin
Beijing dialect, upon which
belongs to this group.
the
region
of
greatest
dialectal J£^$Q
of Guangxi
of Hubei
(Goangshi), and part
sound-systems. for the
most
is based,
The southern Mandarin group covers a rather small
{Syh.chuany^D )x\ ), Yunnan {Yunnan
including Hankou.
northeastern
standard Mandarin
area between Hankou (Hann .koou/J^k*? ) and Nanjing. covers
and the
The southwestern group
uniformity—including
Sichuan
}, Guizhpu (Guey. J O U " T J T 1 ] ), part (Hwu .beei ^ X f l ^ ^ ) up
to and
All Mandarin dialects agree in having relatively simple
They have four or five tones. frequent
words
such
They have a common vocabulary
as personal
pronouns, demonstratives,
interrogatives, and particles. The mutual languages,
intelligibility
both
upon
the
background of the speakers.
of Chinese dialects depends, as with other
dialects
themselves
and
upon
the
educational
The three groups of Mandarin dialects may be
compared with the English dialects of the British Isles, North America, and Australia.
The other groups of dialects are about as far from Mandarin and
from each other as, for example, Dutch or Low German is from English, or Spanish from
French.
differently, while
(To be sure, these European
all Chinese
dialects have
comparison concerns spoken language only.) among
the major
difference
groups
between
of Chinese
English
dialects, ranging from
and
a common written form;
our
On the whole, the differences
dialects
German.
languages are written
are
Within
Sichuan to Heilongjiang
less the
radical group
of
than
the
Mandarin
(Heilongjiang x**\ /J^j^"^ )•*
speakers can converse freely, each in his own dialect, without
attempting
too much mutual adjustment. For speakers of the non-Mandarin dialects, ignorance of Mandarin can be a problem when
traveling
or when doing
educational
or public work.
Most
educated persons acquire a Mandarin of sorts either by "picking it up" from
CHINESE PRIMER
147
others, or merely by adopting the vocabulary of Mandarin novels Dream
of
the
Red
pronunciation.
Chamber
without
attempting
any
like the
readjustment
in
Among people in public life, linguistic difficulties arising
from dialect differences have been relatively negligible. For the common people, with their limited base of vocabulary and limited contact
with
other
habits
of
diction
and
articulation,
it
is
often
impossible to communicate orally across the boundaries of dialect groups, or even subgroups. Dialects, Mandarin, another
in
three
and
respects.
Classical The
most
in Shanghai, and lam in Guangzhou. of words for common use.
important
differ
difference
distinct words
is
!
The word for
he, she* is ta^^Jin
that
of
and
from the other
in Cantonese.
common stock
dialects
of Chinese
choose
another
Mandarin, yi\j
Out of these three
language, some
as the
favorite
ordinary use, leaving the others as obsolete or literary words. dialects differ f
from one
Secondly, dialects differ in the choice
Shanghai dialect, and ghoe^Q
choose one
Dialects
For example ^/L^ 1 woods f is pronounced lin in Beijing, ling
pronunciation.
in the
Chinese.
in grammar.
dialects form
for
Thirdly,
Thus, in Mandarin, one uses the word-order
give me some water,1 while in Shanghainese and Cantonese one says something
like
'give some water me. ' This third
aspect is 'the least important, as
there is comparatively great uniformity of grammar among the dialects. Over
and
above
dialect—there "classical
the dialects—or
is a literary language or wenyan ^l
Chinese11
dialect, for
rather, included
by
Western
scholars.
it has no pronunciation
Wenyan
of its own.
as a
part of each
^
, now often called
is
not
The
an
additional
same sentence
wenyan has as many ways of pronunciation as there are dialects.
in
To be sure,
a direct quotation from the Analects of Confucius must have been pronounced in one particular way in a dialect of Lu
(LUUSQ
) in the sixth century B.C.
But what concerns us is the fact that the Analects, as a currently read book of
a still
living,
if
not
spoken,
idiom
exists
in the
collection
meaningful sounds in the mouths of literate persons of all dialects.
of The
148
APPENDIX B
fact that there is one and the same system of characters throughout China has certainly played a major part contemporary
life of wenyan
understanding,
in the preservation of wenyan, but the
is not
reading aloud,
in the writing as such, but in the
learning by rote, quoting, and free use of
this common idiom, though its actual linguistic embodiment in audible form varies from dialect to dialect. whole of Chinese
literature
It is, accordingly, possible to reach the
through the medium of any one of the major
dialects.
Vernacular Literature and the Literary Revolution. Chinese literature is in wenyan.
The vast body of
Writing in the vernacular style, whether
in standard Mandarin or in any other dialect, was, until recent decades, never done on nearly so large a scale as in wenyan. vernacular
literature in the dialects
texts exist
in the form of Buddhist of
the
is negligible.
Mandarin vernacular
lectures of the ninth century, some
philosophical
works
comparatively
small number of plays and novels from the Yuan
dynasty on (since 1277). Cantonese
and
the
Sung
The amount of existing
(Sonq ^ L ) dynasty
(960-1278),
and
a
(Yuan7\^j )
Vernacular literature in other dialects, such as
Suzhou
(Su. jou $?yt »*H ) dialect,
exists
in even
less
significant amounts. Since the "literary revolution11 that was part of the May Fourth Movement beginning
in the late 1910s
(See Unit V, Lesson 1, note 12), the use of
modern vernacular Chinese in writing has spread greatly. first
articles
advocating
the
use
of
modern
written
Ironically, the vernacular
were
themselves written in wenyan, and the leaders of the movement continued to write letters in the classical language long after they had begun to write articles in modern vernacular. The modern vernacular movement penetrated most deeply and quickly in the field of literature.
New novels and plays, and to a lesser extent poetry,
were written in the modern vernacular and came increasingly to be accepted among modern educated youth.
(By now nearly all creative writing, as well
as publications on scientific subjects and translations of foreign books,
149
CHINESE PRIMER are in modern vernacular Chinese. taught
in the elementary
In the schools, only the vernacular is
grades, and wenyan
is introduced
beginning
in
junior high school.) Change was slowest to come in government, in business, and in the nonacademic professions, no doubt because of the difficulty of disturbing wellestablished result
of
phraseology this,
and
during
familiar
the
1920s
conventional
through
despatches, official notices, and even
forms.
1940s, was
A
that
paradoxical while
advertisements were often
news
in the
literary idiom, the so-called literary section and frequently the editorial section of newspapers were in the vernacular. vernacular has
Since the 1940s, the written
established itself more and more firmly in every part of
China—on the mainland, in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and in overseas Chinese communities. Unification of the National
Language.
Parallel with the trend toward
literature in the modern vernacular, there developed a series of efforts toward unification of the national language.
We have seen that there was
already a great degree of linguistic unity within the second dialect-zone. After 1911, when China became a republic, there was a conscious movement to unify the spoken language of the nation.
A Society for the Unification of
Pronunciation was formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Education.
A
system of 39 "national phonetic letters", or jub'in tzyhmuu V was
devised.
dialect was
A standard fixed in 1919
of pronunciation
based mainly
on the
Beijing
(revised in 1932 in the direction of a still
closer approach to the pure dialect of Beijing), and machinery was set up to train teachers
to teach
standard Mandarin
was
"the national
called—in
the
language"—or schools.
gwoyeu \&\&o
In 1937, the
>
as
government
subsidized the four largest publishers in the country in the manufacture of type matrices pronunciation
in which indicated
each
character was
on the right-hand
cast side.
in one block They then
with the
ordered all
textbooks through the sixth grade to be printed in such type, so that all reading matter could be self-pronouncing.
150
APPENDIX B The
Romanization
unification
Problem.
Originally the chief emphasis was laid on
of pronunciation, but another
importance as time went on.
development
assumed
This was the movement for adopting a form of
writing in the Roman alphabet.
The transcription of Chinese sounds in the
Latin alphabet is as old as the meeting of East and West. (1552-1610)
devised
the
Mandarin of around 1600. until
comparatively
increasing
first
known
spelling
system,
Matteo Ricci
representing
the
But extensive use of romanized texts did not come
recently, when the
Christian Bible, translated
into
various dialects in romanized form, began to be taught by missionaries.
In 1928, the system of Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) g&J &%Wfe.$lSr > x also called "national
romanization,"
was
adopted
by
the
government.
This
was
theoretically a system of transcription to be used only when Chinese names or words were mentioned in a foreign text or in public signs for foreigners, although in practice most government departments, until the revolution in 1949,
themselves followed the practice of foreigners in China by using the
Wade-Giles system of romanization.
In the 1950s the Wade-Giles system gave
way to the official pinyin/ffit% system of the People's Republic. The distinctive feature of GR is that it spells syllables in different tones
with
numerals. and may
f
different Thus mai
to sell1
!
letters,
instead
of
using
diacritical
to bury'^jc^is spelled differently from mae
f
marks to buy1
or 0
jQ , whereas in pinyin the distinctions are mai, maiy and
maiy and in Wade-Giles mai2, mai3, and maik.
(In the pinyin and Wade-Giles
systems, tone indications are normally omitted entirely, except in textbooks and dictionaries.) individuality
to
Spelling is more complicated the
physiognomy
of
words,
in GR, but it gives an
with
which
it
is
easy
to
associate meaning in a way not possible in the case of forms with tone-signs added as an afterthought.
Tonal spelling has proven in practice to be a
most powerful aid in enabling the student to grasp material with precision and clarity. has
1
turned
Thus the long-range utility of GR, far from its original aims, out
to be
in the
teaching
of Chinese
to speakers
of other
The word romatzyh, which is actually pronounced luomaatzyh , apparently is a combination of GR with Italian {Roma = Rome) or English roma(nization).
CHINESE PRIMER
'
151
languages. A system of romanization devised by A. Dragunov for teaching the Chinese in Russia to read became popular in the 1940s in the communist movement.
It
was called Latinxua or Latinization.
The system does not distinguish tones
except
late
in
special
developed between
cases.
In
the
1940s
considerable
advocates of GR and of Latinxua , sometimes with
irrelevant arguments.
the
other
hand,
quite
The former called Latinxua a communistic system, as
if a system of transcription could have an ideology. on
controversy
called
GR
a
tool
of
the
Advocates of Latinxua , bourgeoisie
because
it
differentiated tones and the use of tonal patterns is a feature of bourgeois poetry.
By the same
reasoning, since bourgeois
poets
also make use of
alliteration and assonance, a proletarian system of spelling would also have to do without consonants and vowels! The greatest difficulty with any toneless spelling system, or a system like pinyin or Wade-Giles in which tone indications are usually omitted, is that it does not write the
language.
Tones, as phonemes, are fully as
important in distinguishing words as vowels and consonants are. given
enough
context, much may
be guessed
from
an
To be sure,
under-differentiated
orthography, just as mumbled speech or even a grunt can often be understood. A sentence like: whether heard quality.
M
Aw want aw glawss awf called watawM is quite intelligible
or read, although it dispenses with distinctions of vowel
But if all English vowels were like
f
aw ?
said in a normal way would not be intelligible.
in
T
awl f , many things
"This is called water"
would not be distinguishable from "This is cold water." Another
difficulty with
any under-differentiated
orthography
is
that
native speakers of a language will by no means desist from using all of the word-forming elements that are available in the language.
No Chinese can
feel that he is speaking Chinese unless he speaks with tones.
He will be
able to read words written in a toneless romanization only when they remind him of words he already knows, with
tone and all.
When confronted with
"toneless" spellings, he will be quite unable to pronounce them in a Chinese
152
APPENDIX B
way.
The Western
student
of Chinese,
if he
is
conscientious, will be
equally unable to open his mouth. There remain many technical difficulties as well as social and political hurdles to be surmounted before any romanization can come into general use inside
China.
The
majority
of
Chinese
romanization and carry on their daily
are
not
much
concerned
with
life of reading and writing in the
good old characters, which "everybody"—alas, not everybody!—knows. Romanization of Classical Chinese. the Roman alphabet features
of
all
Any spelling of Chinese sounds using
faces the problem of representing all the distinctive syllables
by
using
only
26
letters.
Thus
distinguishes a retroflex and palatal " j " sound using zh and j. as well as piny in, distinguishes two
?f !!
u
sounds using u and u.
piny in
Wade-Giles, GR manages
to. spell all the syllables in Mandarin without using diacritical marks—but, as noted, needs more complicated
spelling rules
in order to do it.
problem for classical Chinese is much more severe. has
about
1,300
different
syllables—burden
The
Whereas modern Mandarin enough
for
the
Roman
alphabet—the Ancient Chinese of 600 A.D., as represented in the dictionary Goangyunn/i&'faljA , 1007 A.D., had as many as 3,877 distinctive syllables. try to render all of these in romanized spellings would lead to arcane, if not
unreadable,
complexity.
On
the
other
syllables into the 1,300 of modern Mandarin language as it is pronounced
in modern
ambiguity because of homophones.
hand,
to
collapse
all
the
(i.e., to write the classical
Mandarin) would
lead to too much
In short, the chief objection to any all-
purpose romanization for Chinese has to be the fact that one cannot use it to represent wenyan adequately.
Therefore any abolition of the characters
would mean the drastic cutting off of China's cultural heritage, most of which is in the classical language.
It is all very well to say that the
literature of the present and the future is and will be in the vernacular and
therefore
intelligible
in
romanized
writing.
But
as
for
past
literature, it would be a superhuman job, if possible at all, to translate all of it into the vernacular form.
in order to make it legible in alphabetic
To
153
CHINESE PRIMER Basic Chinese.
Another part of the movement to simplify Chinese writing
has been the attempt to reduce the number of characters. Y. C.
Yen -^C ) %)f/? > as part
In the 1930s James
of his Mass Education Movement in Hebei
(Her.beeisjo\ >lc ) province, selected a list of about 1,200 frequently-used characters
and
limited
composed to teach
himself
the barely
to
these
literate.
in publishing
elementary
texts
A more linguistically systematic
effort was undertaken by the dramatist Hung Shen (Horng Shen/?\ ?yjO > who prepared a list of 1,100 "basic characters" in 1934.
Like the word list of
C. K. Ogden!s "Basic English," it is not based on frequency as such, but on flexibility in combination and sufficiency for general use.
Since, however,
a character represents a monosyllable and a monosyllable is often less than a "word", Hung Shenfs list of 1,100 units allowed much greater freedom of combination than the word list in Basic English.
The result was that the
language written within the limits of this list was much nearer to normal language and gave much less impression of a special style than did Basic English. For whatever gained general
reason-, neither currency.
Yen's
Similar
nor Hung's
restricted
lists
ever
efforts in the 1950s by the Communist
Party also met with limited success.
CHARACTERS Pictographs
and
Ideographs.
Ancient
Chinese
described as being pictorial or ideographic.
the
characters,
is
usually
Thus, a circle with
a dot
is the character for 'sun1, and three horizontal strokes ZZ*
inside it Q / represent
writing
'three1.
number
called
liowshu >^^>
are
the easiest characters
indications of ideas, as J-
recognized.
to understand.
consisting
for 'up1 and
for the numbers 'one, two, three'.
tradition, six
)
of
categories
(1)
Shianqshyng
(2) Jyyshyh
simple
for 'down', or —
of
'simple
diagrammatic , SZ , jjj^
(3) Hueyyih 'compound ideographs'^iji
are characters whose meaning is the combination of the meanings of their
154
APPENDIX B
parts.
f
Stock examples are jt
'human' +
'word1 - A%
^
stopf +
jXj 'arms' = jjf^ 'military1
'honest1.
Characters in the preceding three categories form only a small minority of
all
characters.
They
are,
language they are used with. a
sign
for
the
English
theoretically,
independent
of
the
spoken
For example, three strokes would form as good 'three1
word
as
for
the
Chinese
word
san.
Conceivably the Chinese system of writing could have developed along its own lines
into
language.
a complete
system
Actually,
characters
have
of
however,
become
so
symbols,
from
very
intimately
independently ancient
associated
of the
times,
with
the
the words
Chinese written of
the
language that they have lost their functions as pictographs or ideographs in their own
right and become "logographs," meaning conventionalized
representations ideas, but
of
only
spoken words.
symbols
of
ideas
represent are symbols of ideas.
They
are no
in so
far
longer direct as
the
spoken
visual
symbols words
of
they
One should not, therefore, be misled by the
popular conception that an analysis of the formation of characters will lead to a correct understanding of the Chinese words they represent.
Borrowed Characters, Phonetic Compounds, and Derivative Characters. The vast majority of characters are logographs that fall into three further categories.
As the ancient Chinese devised characters for words, obviously
the meaning of many words could not be pictured.
A common practice was to
borrow a character whose word had the same sound as the word for which a character was sought.
For example, in Archaic Chinese, there was a word l%g
for a kind of wheat, which was written with a picture of the plant Table 12, p. 158). meant 'come*. meaning
that
(See
There existed, at the same time, a homonym l%g that
Rather than to invent another character for this word with a was
hard
to picture
or
indicate
diagramatically,
ancient
writers simply borrowed the character for the plant to write the word for f
come f .
Such characters are known as (4) jeajieh 'borrowed charactersf
ft-
^
CHINESE PRIMER In
the example
just
obsolete long ago.
cited,
155
the original
word
happens
to have
become
But in some cases, both the original word and the word
for which the character was borrowed exist side by side. £(\ 'to burn1 is also the character used differentiate the two, an extra part j\^
For example, ran
for the word ran 'thus, so 1 . f
To
firef was added to the character
(which, as an ideographic compound, already contains a part meaning
T
firef
in the form of four dots at the bottom), thus making an Tenlarged character1 >ft/\ f ° r
ran
'to burn! , and allowing the original character to be used only 'thus, so 1 .
for the word ran
Characters so
enlarged belong
shyesheng ^VQ ^0L~Xphonetic
called (5) shyngsheng "Uy^%Tor
to a group
compounds1.
The
original character ^ v \ ran is called the 'phonetic* and the added part the 'signific', which in the majority radicals, see pp.
153-156
written*,jtL enlarged byf£
of cases
below.)
is
also
Similarly, joj
the
woang
'radical'. !
a net1
(On
is now
, a signific associated with threads or strings,
tin while
the
original
character jc I is
borrowed
exclusively
to write
the
homonym woang 'have not ! . Besides the enlargement of a loan character, there is a second source of phonetic
compounds.
Thus, the word wen
Words
in every
language
acquire
extended meanings.
'line, streak' is written with the ideograph X
.
By
extension (not by loan), the same word also has the figurative meanings of 'writing,
literature, culture.1
To
distinguish
in writing
between
the
literal and the figurative meanings of the same word wen, a signific fj^ is added to form the character^vX^, to be used in the literal meaning, leaving the original character yi^ is the other way around:
for the figurative meanings only.
Sometimes it
The derived meaning has the enlarged character.
Thus, the word fang means 'square' in the general sense and 'a square* as a place in a city.
To differentiate between the two, the word is written^@
for 'square1 in general and &Q
, with an additional graph jj,
do with places, for 'square, market place.'
which has to
It is as if one were to write
Harvard Squerre, with a suggestion of terre in the second word.
156
APPENDIX B Thirdly, there is the group of pure phonetic
signific
is added
extension
in the
to a phonetic which first place, but was
combine with the signific.
compounds
was never expressly
in which the
a loan or a semantic used
for
its sound to
For example, tarng 'sugar1 writtenyjyjg , consists
of Vf^ the signific relating to cereal foods and the phoneticyg yu
f
elm,f written^fllj , consisting of ^v_ the signific for
phonetic>BiJ Many
yu.
f
tarng; or
treef and the
Pure phonetic compounds are of relatively recent origin.
characters
of
the
preceding
categories
seem
to
be
pure
phonetic
compounds because most people are not aware that the unenlarged character or 'phonetic1 was used as a loan character or used in a related meaning in old texts for centuries before the enlarged form came into use. Phonetic compounds form by far the majority of all characters.
When they
were formed, the sound of the original character and that of the compounded character were
identical or very
similar.
Later, differences
in sound
between compounds and their phonetics developed and increased, and it is now no longer practical to infer the present sound of a compound character from the present sound of its phonetic or the other way around.
But after the
sounds of both the compound and its phonetic are learned, it will be of help to note the phonetic similarity. Finally, category
(6)
characters1. form
the
traditional
joanjuh ^f3r^S^
classification that
we
of
might
characters translate
recognizes
as
a
'derivative
Scholars include here words whose sound, meaning, and written
all undergo
'propitious1 to 3 *
an associated modification, sheang 'enjoy1.
for example
from
"^
heng
But membership in the joanjuh class is
both small and uncertain, and scholars differ widely over what it should include. Radicals.
Various systems have been used, through the ages, to classify
characters according to their component parts called 'radicals'.
The most
important practical use of such systems is in arranging dictionaries.
In
most cases, a radical is the signific, or the character minus its phonetic, since the majority of characters are phonetic compounds.
For example, in
CHINESE PRIMER the character3^ > i *
is the radical
157
and y&
the phonetic.
In the
relatively small number of cases where the character is not phonetically formed, the analysis of the radical is a matter of arbitrary convention, which often is at variance with the actual history of the character. Therefore etymological conclusions cannot follow from any of the present radical systems. Table 11 List of Radicals
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
3 4
12 A
« n tb
5 6 7 8 9
n *F €7
m
r 100 110 m 120 130 1% 140 * 150 J2. R 160 170 180 • 190 I &W. H$ 200 210 * • 2 3 4
•3-
ZJLJ
ih
5*
4
Si J*
-a-
fc
tk 5 6 7 8 9
o
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210
APPENDIX B
158
Table 11 lists the radicals employed by many dictionaries.
in the traditional system of 214 radicals The order of the radicals is arranged by the
number of strokes, beginning with one stroke for No. 1 — ~
and ending with
17 strokes for No. 214'yfF) . Within each group that has the same number of strokes, the order is purely conventional. have one or more variant forms.
Note that many of the radicals
With certain radicals, such as 9 or 85, the
variants are more frequent than the main form.
Radicals
modern texts, always occur in their variant forms. however, in their conventional
140 and 162, in
The main forms are kept,
positions on the list, since the variant
forms do not have the same number of strokes as the main forms. In a dictionary arranged by radicals, the characters under each radical are arranged in the order of the number of strokes. radical ^ ^
muh
!
tree, wood1,
there
is
first
the
For example, under the radical
itself
as a
character, then the characters with one additional stroke, such as ^p* wey f
have not
(yet)1
and >?JN been
'root1.
Next are the characters with two
additional strokes, such as > 3 ^ Ju, a surname, down to characters with as many as 24 strokes, such &s>«Sf ling the
same
radical
with
the
same
!
sill f . number
For different characters under of
additional
strokes,
the
dictionaries differ in their order of arrangement. The problem steps:
of finding a character
in a dictionary thus
involves two
(1) correctly identifying its radical, and (2) counting the number
of additional strokes.
Sometimes characters that appear to have radicals
plus additional strokes are in fact complex radicals that do not involve
additional strokes, for example: y\^ 4"J jj^ ~*fif rf^-'&y ijf^. N ? M and % are all themselves radicals. A majority of characters can be broken down into a left-hand side and a right-hand side, in which case the left-hand side is usually the radical, as in -5^3* ^'^Jn*fr!&& • radicals 181,
Important
exceptions
(referring
to
Table
11) are
18 (variant), 59, 62, 66 (variant), 69, 76, 163 (variant), 172,
and 196, all of which occupy the right-hand side, as in Ijyi^^l Other characters can be divided into an upper and a lower part.
-%y Of
CHINESE PRIMER
159
these, the majority have radicals occurring at the top, such as nos. 8, 40, 87 (variant), (variant).
116, 118
(variant), 122
(variant), 140
(variant), and
173
In cases where the radicals occur at the bottom, as in y\ iJ*1**
(5? 3fo , the number
of different radicals
is actually
greater than the
number of radicals that occur at the top; but the total number of characters that have such radicals is smaller than the number that have radicals at the top. Finally, certain radicals enclose, or partially enclose, or are otherwise mixed up with the residual strokes, as in |^| Hrl ^j^^jf^-^wL-H whose radicals are | I P J j
ji$r ^ C _ ~ |
and js^.
While the above rules will cover most of the cases, many irregular cases For example, "^fc/ is under JfJ
have to be learned individually. £$L
is under ^** and notjj^_ , etc.
and not yf^,
Most dictionaries have a special list of
characters whose radicals are difficult to discern; this list is arranged not by radical, but by the total number of strokes. "possible11 radicals.
characters under several
indexed under sfs^ as well as ]EJ
Some dictionaries list
For example, "ifq
might be
, with a note pointing out which is the
actual radical. Some Chinese-English dictionaries are arranged alphabetically according to the spellings of
a romani^ation
system.
These dictionaries are very
convenient if you already know the pronunciation of a character and simply want
to
check
on
pronunciation, you
its
meanings
still
need
and to
uses.
But
look up the
if you
character
don't by
know
the
finding
its
radical in an index. Order and
Number of Strokes.
In teaching children to write, Chinese
teachers lay great stress on the order of strokes in which a character is written.
There are both aesthetic and practical reasons for this.
When
made with a brush-pen, characters will not have the right shape unless the order of the strokes is correct.
Moreover, since most everyday writing is
in a running hand (see p. 158), in which separate strokes become connected, a wrong order will result in unrecognizable forms.
160
APPENDIX B The general principle of making the strokes is from left to right and
from
top to bottom.
In strokes
that
thin down
to a sharp point,
the
direction is from the thick to the thin end, which in some cases involves making strokes from below upwards or from right to left, as ^
in /
and
When a horizontal stroke and another stroke intersect, the horizontal one is usually made first.
In a character containing a vertical stroke with two
symmetrical parts on both sides, as in^jC^ , the vertical stroke is made first,
followed
by
the
left-hand
side,
then
the
right-hand
side.
In
complete enclosures, the left hand wall is made, then the top and the righthand side are made in one stroke, then the content the bottom stroke added.
filled in, and finally
(For examples, see characters \ih) andrjjtjif in the
Character Workbook, pp. 4 and 68.) In counting strokes, a horizontal from the right end down, as in
line and a vertical line joining it
' , are counted as one stroke.
Similarly an
L-shaped combination of lines is sometimes counted as one stroke.
These two
operations can be combined in a single stroke, as in the last stroke of which is fj . Styles
( S e e ^ - ^ in the Character Workbook, p. 6.)
of
Script.
inscriptions
on
ox
The bones
earliest and
known
Chinese
tortoise
shells,
writing
consisted
of
oracles
of
recording
divination under the rulers of the Shang (Shang JcR ) dynasty, ca. 1766-ca. 1122 B.C. Chou
Next in antiquity we find inscriptions, mostly on bronzes, of the
(JOUJCM
) dynasty, ca. 1122-246 B.C.
Characters written for the same
word differed widely from age to age until finally, under the Ch!in (Chyn JSJ^)
dynasty,
characters1 was
246-206
a
system
of
characters
known
as
'seal
(or 'small seal 1 , as contrasted with the 'great seal* of Chou)
established.
simplified
B.C.,
From
characters
the
time
introduced
of
this
in
the
system
until
People's
the
Republic,
system there
of was
comparatively little change in the basic structure of characters, although the type
and finish
of strokes
changed considerably
as a result of the
change from the stylus to the brush as a writing instrument.
161
CHINESE PRIMER
Current styles of writing consist of (1) juanntzyh 'seal characters1 , now used only 'scribe's kaeshu
characters for
writing', now
'model
or
seals; (2) lihshu 4|^klg or
in actual used
regular
occasionally
for ornamental
writing' ' ^ g ^ g
\
(
f or Jj^
tsang
x
(of the sea) dark blue1?
f
(ship's)
A new list of
simplifications, superceding the 1956 list, was published in three parts: (1) 352 simplified characters simplify other
that cannot
be used
characters; (2) 132 simplified
as character-parts
characters that
to
can be so
used; (3) 1,754 simplified characters that result from combinations of the 132 listed under (2).
The total number of approved simplified characters
thus was raised from 515 to 2,238. In
December
1977, the
most
announced by the State Council
radical
reform
proposals
as a "draft plan".
to
date
were
As in 1964, the new
simplified forms were divided into two groups, those that allowed and those that did not allow
combination with other character parts.
If entirely
adopted, the 1977 reforms would have brought the total number of simplified characters
in general
use to around 4,500.
But the
1977 reforms were
adopted only in a piecemeal fashion in the ensuing years, partly because of practical and aesthetic objections (see pp. 163-164) and partly because they were tainted by association with the rule they had been conceived.
Maoist "Gang of Four," under whose
CHINESE PRIMER
165
The announcements of 1956, 1964, and 1977 did not specify what formal principles underlay the various simplifications.
But by inference from the
lists themselves, one can infer six general principles that cover nearly all the cases.2 1.
Simplification by borrowing of sound.
In some cases less complex
characters are simply substituted for more complex characters that have the same sound.
Thus j\j yuan, originally meaning
as the simplified form of jiyj yuan
T
roundT.
T
the first, original1, serves
In other cases it is only a
character part that is substituted in a more complex character of the same or similar
pronunciation.
For
example C J
yii
'B, the second
(Heavenly
A/
Stem) 1 1J .
is substituted The same £j
million1
to make
in^g*** yih 'skill, art1 to make its simplified form
substitutes for J^» its simplified
in the character J^f yih
form^j^J.
Some of these
T
a hundred
substitutions
appear to be based on regional varieties of Mandarin that diverge somewhat from the official standard, e.g. 3fc-jay
'(military) camp1 is simplified as
jLt ky borrowing %£* tzay 'to be in, at f . 2.
Simplification
cursive
form
based
(tsaoshu)
simplification of/{Sj wei 158) is
an example.
The
on
is
cursive writing.
recast
in
to do, to be simplification
In
"regular" to /y
this
process,
the
(kaeshu)
form.
The
, as shown in Table 12 (p.
of ^
6C ; * 3 ^ dwo 'seize'
s
^" 3& chorng 'bug' tg ; )jfQtmieh ' extinguish' ) \ ^ ; Jg> goang 'broad' J 5.
Official adoption of existing simplified forms, including forms that
originated in antiquity, such as^£ that have simpler variants
6. >^
wann ' 10,000' for^fn , and characters
in popular use, such as/Jy^j chour 'enemy' for
Arbitrary simplification of certain character parts.
stands
chyuan
(1) for ^
'right, power';
in characters such as # A ^ (2) for J^
huan
in characters
stand1 and X pL jian 'difficult'; (3) for 7§L injf-n" duey 'correct'; and (5) f or jj^
in M j
such
arbitrary
conventions
'joyous'
likex^pL
tan 'vendor's
in %$zj ji 'chicken'.
generates
a
and^X^
shih 'play', (4) for 2fc
based on sound, meaning, or history unifies these cases. of
For example,
great
No principle
But a small number
number
of
simplified
characters. While some simplified characters cannot be explained by any of the above principles (for example the simplification of ^T* dao 'lead, guide' to-^T ) other examples can be explained by more than one of the principles. simplification of v ^
to ^Lj follows principle
The
(4), but since vPj was an
antiquated form, it also follows principle (5). Although most of the simplified characters are now in common use in the People's Republic, especially among youth, others have brought problems and controversy, and have not gained wide acceptance. been three kinds of objections to simplified more characters are simplified are erased. including
For
'offend,
involve, seek, or
example
J
oppose, beseech'
Celestial Stem (tiangan y\^ |
In general, there have
characters:
(1) When two or
into the same form, important gan originally
interfere,
jam
had
distinctions
a variety of meanings,
(a radio broadcast),
as verbs, as well
as
concern,
'riverbank, shield, a
) , and a surname' as nouns.
not complicated enough, the simplification of^fZj*gann to
As if this were j
meant that the
CHINESE PRIMER T
additional meanings of kill
treetrunk, body, talents, capable, to manage, to
(colloq.)' were added
to the burden of the character")
simplification of j&ijgan, also t o T dry, exhaustedT .
167
T
, added the meanings
; and the
clean, diligent,
There arose, moreover, the problem thatjf'JJ is also read
chyan to mean 'heaven, a father, a sovereign1, but in this use it is not simplified
and
remains %\J
mutually distinct, they cause confusion. T
•
(2) Even
when
simplified
sometimes resemble one another
The simplified characters in ) J\
f
characters
are
closely enough to
femalef and yang j w
malef have been criticized for looking too similar, and therefore easily
leading to confusion. (3) There have also been objections to simplified characters on aesthetic grounds.
Such judgments are inevitably subjective, of course, and we will
not try to discuss them.
The problem is naturally less for printed forms
and ordinary handwriting than for the traditional art of calligraphy. Despite
these objections,
most
simplified
common use in the PeopleTs Republic.
characters
have
come
into
Nearly all books and newspapers are
printed in simplified characters, and many young people cannot write the traditional somewhat
characters.
more in the
Traditional
characters are, however, being used
1980s than they were
in the
1960s
and 1970s, for
example in the publication of classical texts and books or newspapers for overseas consumption. Pinyin Spelling.
In the early 1950s, a Research Committee for Chinese
Writing Reform began to study the question of how to design a new phonetic writing
system.
Many
reasons
were
adduced
for
this
effort:
phonetic
spellings, as direct representations of sounds, should be easier to read, write,
and
telegraphy
remember; much
spellings would standard adapt
they
easier;
would
indexing
make of
be an important tool
pronunciation
to romanized
would be facilitated.
books
would
be
typesetting, much
in the important work
of Mandarin; and,
spellings with
typewriting,
assuming
relative
that
and
simpler;
the
of spreading
foreigners
ease, international
could
exchange
Most important, perhaps, was that Chairman Mao Zedong
168 had
APPENDIX B declared
in
1951
that
"we
must
proceed
in
the
direction
of
phoneticization being taken by all languages in the world.11 The initial dilemma in the 1950s was whether the phonetic system should be based on
Roman
letters
or on Chinese
characters.
The promotion of
Latinxua (see p. 148) had been largely unsuccessful in the 1940s, and some argued
that
a
appropriate.
system
derived
from
Chinese
characters
would
be
more
But after three years of studying this question, the Committee
for Chinese Writing Reform concluded that the advantages of Roman letters remained greater.
In February
Phonetic Spelling of Chinese."
1956 they presented a "Draft Plan for the The new system, known as pinyin
f
phonetic
spelling1, was based on Latinxua but designed to phoneticize only standard Mandarin, whereas
Latinxua had been
intended
to serve
several dialects.
After extensive review of the "draft plan," the State Council officially adopted pinyin in 1958. Pinyin has spread much less successfully than simplified characters. of the big problems is that it cannot distinguish homophones.
J different
Hannyeu
characters
tsyrdean
pronounced
f
A Dictionary
shi
of Chinese1
(shyh).
Obviously
characters, they are all spelled the same in pinyin. pinyin spellings normally omit indications of tone.
One
For example, lists
forty
distinct
in
To make things worse, When shi, shi, shi and
shi are all represented as shiy then 79 characters in the Hannyeu tsyrdean all are spelled shi.
Another 113 all are spelled li> etc.
Another major obstacle to the spread of pinyin has been the simple but profound
fact
that
the
Chinese people,
nationalism, continue to prefer characters. up with
familiar customs
letters, on the other appears
on many
for
reasons
and popular.
alien and ungraceful.
signs, posters, product
both habit
and
Characters are intimately bound
and traditions, both elite
hand, seem
of
labels, and
the
Roman
Although pinyin front pages
of
newspapers and magazines, nearly all readers routinely ignore it in favor of the Chinese characters that always appear alongside.
CHINESE PRIMER
169
Perhaps the only context in which pinyin is actively exercised on a broad scale is the grade-school classroom, where teachers use pinyin to identify correct pronunciations of standard Mandarin.
But even here, the utility of
pinyin is limited by the quality of the teacher's own accent. Popularization
of Standard
Mandarin.
We have
noted
efforts that were made during the Republican period spread
the
Essentially
use the
of
standard
Mandarin
same goal was
set
or
in the
language
above
(1910s to T
gwoyeu
national
early years of
1940s) to language*.
the People's
the standard
'general speech'.3
From 1955-1958 the top leadership issued a number of
of
instruction;
workshops
were
called
146)
Republic, although
directives to promote puutonghuah.
was now
(p.
puutonghuah or
All schools were to use it as the medium to
train
language
teachers
in
correct
pronunciation; all cadres (officials and managers) were to learn puutonghuah and use it in their work; pinyin was held up as a key tool for assuring standard
pronunciation.
Certain
groups
in
society
priority targets for the teaching of puutonghuah: public or
official functions, and speakers
were
identified
as
the young, anyone with
of the dialects that
diverge
furthest from the Beijing standard. There are no reliable measures of how much success the campaign to spread puutonghuah has had.
It is clear that more people speak it in the cities
than in the countryside, among the young than among the old, in areas where the native dialect is closer to the Beijing dialect, and among the better educated.
To the extent that puutonghuah truly has spread, it is likely
that radio broadcasts have had a greater impact than administrative orders. News and political exhortations, beamed across the country and even into remote areas, have used standard Mandarin pronunciation. 3
(Television and
Another term for |Chinese' that has been introduced in the People's Republic is hannyeuy-&J\3g , literally 'the language of Han people.' This term was promoted for the political purpose of showing respect for the non-Han ethnic minorities in China, who, because they are also citizens of China, therefore also speak languages that should count as 'Chinese.' While the term hannyeu is used in formal contexts such as textbooks and course titles in schools, or in official political statements, in everyday use the terms Jongwen, Jong.gwo-huah, and puutonghuah are still much more common. Another difference is that hannyeu, like Jongwen, can refer to either spoken or written language, whereas Jong.gwo-huah and puutonghuah refer only to the spoken language.
170
APPENDIX B
film have functioned similarly, but have not, as of the 1980s, approached radio in audience size.) Among people who do speak Mandarin as a second (or third, etc.)
dialect,
the first or native dialect continues to be the preferred one in daily use. A Cantonese official who speaks Mandarin at his office invariably buys his fish on the way home in Cantonese. it in Mandarin.) and
government
somewhat
(Indeed, he might have trouble getting
Mandarin, used in political meetings, official speeches, media,
inhibiting
often
tone,
carries
while
the
a
formal,
native
partly
artificial,
dialects,
used
in
and
myriad
unofficial contexts, are still the clear favorites for more lively, relaxed, and down-to-earth expression. In Taiwan, beginning right after World War II, a program to spread gwoyeu has
been
quite
successful.
Standard
gwoyeu
in
Taiwan
and
standard
puutonghuah in mainland China continue to be essentially the same, although there are regional variations in both cases.
The written language in Taiwan
continues to use the traditional form of beginning at the other end from Western books and writing in vertical columns from right to left.
In the
mainland, the Western style of horizontal rows is standard.
ADVICE TO THE WESTERN STUDENT The
various
twentieth people.
reform
century
efforts
have
spawned
concerning
the
considerable
Chinese
language
controversy
among
in
the
Chinese
The Western student is best advised to begin by standing clear of
these debates and taking an empirical approach to what the Chinese language is.
Ask first what the pronunciation, grammar, and writing are, not what
they might better be.
It is not your business to ask Chinese to use fewer
characters, but to try simply to learn as many characters as you can.
If a
character has a printed form, a different handwritten form, and yet another simplified form, and all are commonly met with, you eventually will have to learn them
all.
If you
learn the pure
Beijing
dialect
and
later meet
someone with a Chungking (Chorngchinq 5 > ^ ^ ) accent, you will have to learn to attune your ears accordingly.
CHINESE PRIMER
171
In the matter of romanization, it would be well if one system could be used for all purposes. you
But unfortunately this, too, is not practical.
continue far with China
several systems. pronunciation.
studies, you will
eventually
need to
If
learn
GR is the best system for learning and maintaining good
Piny in is used in dictionaries and other publications from
the PRC, and has in recent years become the preferred romanization system in Western newspapers and scholarly publications.
Before the decade 1970-1980,
during which a changeover occurred, most Western publishers preferred WadeGiles, and thus you must learn this system in order to read many important books.
In addition the "Yale system,11 devised at Yale University, is used
in some important textbooks, readers, and reference works.
Still another
system has been used in French scholarly publications.
The 1932 system of
"national
is
phonetic
letters"
(see
p.
146),
which
used
in
some
dictionaries, literary publications, and newspapers from Taiwan, is still well worth knowing. Rather than spending your energy in the debate over which should be "the" system among all these, alternatives, you are better advised to spend the same energy simply learning them—at least most of them. as
formidable
as
it
may
seem.
In
fact,
if
your
pronunciation has been well done, it is quite easy. it
will
seem
plain
as day
that
as both ^ / 5
an
d ^
/&_
After about a year of English dictionaries. identifying radicals 153-157 above.
a
H
foundation
work
in
When you are finished,
Ch!ung-Chfing,
Chungking,
Chongqing, Chungching, and •fXZ. x i £ -
This task is not
Chorngchinq,
refer to the same place, just
do. study, you will need
This will and counting
require you
to begin to use Chineseto develop
the skills
of
strokes, such as are explained on pp.
You are well advised to memorize the numbers of some of the
common radicals, such as, in Chart 11 on p. 154, numbers 9, 30, 32, 38, 61, 64, 75, 85, 86, 120, 140, 149, 162, and 167.
(Note that the numbers may be
different if your dictionary uses a different radical chart.) cut will save you much time.
This short
One fourth of the radicals cover three fourths
172
APPENDIX B
of all characters.
Another time-saving device is to memorize the number of
strokes in frequently recurring parts of characters, e.g.-jrr 4 strokes, so that you
can analyze«*r>»
6 strokes ,
quickly as 6 + 4 =
10 strokes,
without counting every single stroke. In writing
characters, you
style (kaeshu in Table 12). necessarily
to
write,
are best
on the
regular
Eventually you will need also to read, if not
scribe's
characters, and running hand.
off concentrating
writing,
printed
characters,
simplified
Each of these is easy to learn to read if you
begin from a mastery of the regular characters.
It is much less easy the
other way around, e.g., to move from the simplified or running style to the regular form. Be careful never
to associate characters directly with English words,
thereby skirting the Chinese pronunciation and losing the feeling of the Chinese
constructions.
This
practice
vitiates
every
learning, even including proper learning of the writing. living language by regarding it as dead.
aspect
of
language
You cannot read a
GLOSSARY AND INDEX
173
The numbers that follow each vocabulary item tell you where to find it in the lesson texts. Vocabulary items follow the given note number; for example, ae 1.3.24 means that you can find ae in Unit I, Lesson 3, after note 24. (A footnote number of "0" means that the vocabulary item appears before the first note of a lesson.) When a note number is given in boldface, it directs you not only to the location in the text, but to the grammar note where the meaning of the term is explained in additional detail. WARNING: The English glosses provided here are intended only to help you identify which word you are looking up. THEY MUST NOT be taken as "equivalents" of the Chinese words they appear with. To learn the uses and meanings of the Chinese words, refer to the lesson texts and the notes.
.a: ae:
particle with many functions 1.3.21 short (measured from ground up), low 1.3.24 .Ah: interjection of minor surprise IV.2.2 .ai.ia: interjection of surprise or consternation 1.4.21 .ai.io: exclamation for pain V.4.1 Ar: interjection expressing surprise 1.3.29 ay: to love; to have a strong liking VI.3.13 a'yi: aunt (mother's sister; polite form to address parents1 friends) VI.4.4 ay.ren: spouse (mainland usage); lover VIII.1.1 ba: eight 1.5.28 .ba: particle of suggestion 1.4.25 baa: AN for chair and for things with handles 1.2.5; pretransitive III.2.26 baehuoh gongsy: department store VI.1.5 bah (bah.bah): dad VI.2.14 bair: white V.3.4 bair.tian: daytime VI.3.10 ban: class V.3.6 ban: to move VI.3.3 bang-mang: to help II.4.11 barm: half III.4.8 bann: to do V.3.2 bann.faa: method VI.4.6 bannyeh: midnight VI.2.8 baw: newspaper III.2.15 beau: watch, wristwatch V.2.4 beei: north VII.3.2 Beeijing: Peking VIII.1.6
been (beel): AN for book III.2.6 beenlai: originally 1.5.23 beitz: cup II.2.36 benn: stupid IV.4.12 bey...(geei): by VI.3.16,17 bey: to recite VIII.4.1 bi: compel, to force VIII.2.1 bih-yeh: to graduate VI.1.10 bii: to compare III.1.7 bii: writing instrument V.2.3 bii.fang shuo: for example VI.2.6 biijiaw: comparative VIII.3.5 biinggan: cookie, cracker, biscuit IV.2.7 biisay: compete, competition, race, to race II.4.17 bing: ice VI.3.17 binq (bu, mei): actually (not) II.4.1 bor.bor: uncle (father!s older brother; polite form to address parents1 friends) VI.4.4 bormuu: aunt (wife of father's older brother; polite form to address parents1 friends) VII.2.6 Boshyhduenn: Boston V.1.6 bu: no, not 1.1.8 bubih: needn't III.3.15 budah: not very II.2.9 budann...erlchiee...: not only...but also... III.2.5 budann...yee..: not only...but also... VIII.3.13 buderleau: extremely III.2.8 buduey: wrong, incorrect 1.2.10 bugaan: dare not IV.4.5 bugoan: no matter (what) VIII.3.16
174
CHINESE PRIMER
bugow...: not...enough, insufficient (ly). . . 1.3.8 buguoh: but; however 111.3.8 buh: cloth IV.2.1 buhao: bad 1.3.15 buhaochy: not tasty 1.3.15 buhaokann: ugly, not handsome 1.3.24 buhaoyih.sy: embarrassed IV.1.3 buhuey: will not III.1.22 bujydaw: don!t know (whether) 1.5.26 bujyh.yu: not as (bad) as VI.3.12 bu.sh: no; is not 1.1.13 bu.sh...j iow.sh...: if not...then... V.2.13 busheu: not permit, not allow IV.4.2 bushu.fwu: uncomfortable; not feeling well 1.3.6 bushyng: will not do III.3.24 butay: not quite 1.3.10 butorng: different; difference III.1.23 £utsuoh: not wrong; not bad, pretty good 1.3.13 Auyawjiin: unimportant II.3.26 buyonq: don't have to, don't need to II.3.6 bye...: don!t... I.3.25 bye.de: other 1.5.33 bye.ren: other people VIII.1.7 byitz: nose 1.3.24 chah: differ VI.1.7 chah.buduo: almost, about the same III.1.12 chanq-ge?l: to sing (song) V.2.15 chao-jiah: to quarrel, to squabble VI.3.10 char: tea 1.5.2 charng: long VII.3.4 charngcharng (charng): often, frequently III.3.4 charngtwu: longdistance VI.1.8 charyeh: tea leaves II.1.15 chatz: fork II.2.22 che: vehicle VI.1.2 cheng.hu: to address VIII.1.7 Chern: common surname VI.4.3 chi: seven 1.5.29 chian: one thousand VI.1.11 chie: to cut II.2.23 chihche: automobile VI.3.15 chihshoei (chihshoel): soda 1.5.9 chii.lai: get up (from bed) IV.1.4 chii.lai: begin to... III.3.10 chiing: please (polite expression)
1.4.2; to invite, to treat 1.5.14; to request II.4.10 chin.chi: relative III.3.13 ching: clear 1.5.2 ching: light VI.3.18 chingchar: green tea 1.5.2,4 ching.chuu: clear IV.1.0 chiuh: to go III.4.16 chiuh.nian: last year VIII.1.5 chorng (tsorng): (to do something) over again VI.3.3 chuan: to wear IV.1.2 chuang.huh: w indow 1.3.13 chuangtz: window III. 1.12 chu-chyan: give money, to pay V.4.8 chuei-niou: to brag VIII.3.17 chuen: spring VIII.4.3 chuen.tian: spring VIII.4.0 chujong: junior high school 1.1.15 chu.lai: come out IV.2.11 chwang: bed 1.3.7 chwu.le...yiiway: except for... V.2.7 chy: eat 1.3.15 chyan: money 1.5.13 ...chyan: (time) ago II.4.18 chyang: wall III.2.28 chyan.tian: day before yesterday V.1.4 ...chyan.tou: in front of... IV.3.4 chy-faim: eat (meal) 1.4.24 chyiguay: strange 1.3.19 chyishyr: actually II.2.15 chy-kuei: on losing end 1.5.1 chyng: fine (as of weather) VI.3.4 chyouchaang: ball field or court 1.3.18 chyoushye: sneakers VI.1.5 chyrdaw: (arrive) late III.3.4 chyuan: whole, complete VI.2.1 da: to ride (car, plane, boat) VI.1.2 da X .de che: get a ride with X VI.1.2 daa: to strike, to beat III.4.17 daa-chah: to make an interruption VIII.3.9 daa-diannhuah: make a telephone call V.1.6 daa-hu: to snore V.3.1 daa-hu.lu: to snore V.3.1 dah: big 1.2.2 dahgay: probably, perhaps V.1.12 dahjia: everyone V.2.12 dahsheng: loudly V.2.14 dahshyue: college, university 1.2.2 dahshyuesheng: college student 1.2.2 dai: to stay IV.4.0
GLOSSARY AND INDEX dangchu: at the outset; in the first place VIII.1.4 dangran: of course II. 1.18 dangshyr: at that time VI.4.8 dann.sh: but 1.2.12 danshin: to worry VI.4.1 danyuan: unit 1.1.2 dau-cha: knife and fork II.2.17 dautz: knife II.2.22 daw: arrive II.3.15 daw: contrary to one!s expectations II.3.8 .daw: to, into II.2.35 daw-chiann: to apologize V.4.1 daw...PW...chiuh: go to...PW III.2.15 dawdii: after all IV.1.8 daw...PW...lai: come to...PW III.2.11 daw.lii: principle, reason, argument VIII. 3.15 day: carry with; bring VI.1.5 day: to wear V.2.4 .de: particle of subordination and modification 1.1.6 ....de i-sheng: sound of... 11.3.22,23 dean: o'clock III.4.6 ...dean jong: o'clock 111.4.15,16 deei: have to II.4.31 deeng: to wait III.4.16 deng: lamp III.1.17 denqtz: stool IV.3.0 ....de yawminq: extremely... VI.3.9 di: low VII.3.4 diannchanqj i: phonograph V.2.15 dianndeng: electric light IV.1.9 diannhuah: telephone call; telephone (machine) V.1.6 diannshyh: television VII.2.0 dianntzyy-jihsuannji: computer V.3.6 diannyiing (diannyeengl): movie V.4.1 diaw: to fall II.2.35 .diaw: (resultative complement)—off IV.2.2 dih: floor; ground IV.2.0 dih: ordinal prefix: -st, -nd, -rd, -th 1.1.2 dih.dih: younger brother V.1.6 dih.fang: space IV.4.0; place V.1.8 dii.shiah: bottom, below IV.2.12 Ding: common surname 1.1.5 dinq: set up III.2.21 doan: short VII.3.4 dong: east I.5.25 dong.shi: thing (object) 1.5.24 donq: to move III.4.1
175
donq-shen: set out (on a journey) VI.1.3 donq-shoou: begin to III.3.24 doong: understand IV.1.9 dou: in all cases 1.1.18 duann.liann: to exercise, work out II.4.27 duenn: AN for meal V.I.11 duey: right, correct 1.2.10; for (you) II.2.28; (speaking) to VIII.2.2 duey.buchii: I'm sorry III.2.12 duey.le: yes; right, correct II.3.29 duhtz: stomach; abdomen 1.5.9 duo: many 1.3.17 ...duo: much (more)... III.1.10 duoball: for the most part, the majority 1.5.5 duo-nian: many years; longlasting VIII.3.17 duoshieh: many thanks III.3.11 dwo.me: how, how? I.3.20 dwu: to read VIII.3.6 dwu-shu: to study VI.2.4 dyichiueh: indeed IV.1.10 E: Mby the way11 1.5.11 .e: final particle expressing "you know, you see11 1.3.28 Ee: interjection of surprise 1.2.8 eel.duoo: ear VII.3.4 eh: hungry 1.4.22 ell: two 1.4.18 .eng: interjection of agreement VII.1.5 erlchiee: moreover III.1.14 fanchye: tomato II.3.4 fang.biann: convenient VII.1.2 fangmiann: side, aspect VI.2.2 fann: cooked rice, meal, food 1.3.14 fanngoal: restaurant 1.5.16 fanq: to put III.2.14 fanq.shiah: put down II.2.24 fanq-shin: rest assured; relax III.4.16 fanyih: to translate, translation VIII.3.6 farngdiing: ceiling, roof III.1.20 farngjian: room III.1.5 farngtz: building, house III.3.6 fartz: method II.1.17 fei...bukee: must... III.4.18 feicharng: extremely II.4.24 feiji: airplane VII.2.6 feijichaang: airport VII.3.1 -fen: minute V.2.4; cent, penny VI.1.6 feng: AN for letter III.3.10 feng: wind VI.4.6
176
CHINESE PRIMER
Feycherng: Philadelphia V.1.7 fuhjinn: vicinity III.3.14 fuh-muu: parents V.1.3 g (.geh): general AN 1.1.11 gae: to change, modify VI.2.5 gai: should, ought to VIII.1.8 gang: just, recently II.3.15 gangtsair: just a while ago, just now III.4.5 gan.jinq: clean III.4.8 gann: to do V.3.10 gau: high, tall 1.1.16 gaujong: senior high school 1.1.16 gaushinq: happy IV.4.5 gaw.suh: to tell IV.4.2 ge'l: song V.2.15 geei: give II.3.29 ge.ge: elder brother V.1.6 geh: each; various V.2.2 gen: and, with 1.1.19 genq: even more... III.3.8 goan: take care of VI.2.11 goan...jiaw...: to call... IV.2.5 Goangjou: Canton, Guangzhou VIII.1.6 goantz: restaurant V.1.10 gong.keh: schoolwork VI.3.9 gong.pyng: fair, just VIII.2.3 gongsy: company VI.1.5 gongtzuoh: work III.2.21 goou: dog 1.2.9 gow: enough II.4.7 guah: to hang VI.3.2 guann: accustomed II.1.18 guan.shih: relation VIII.2.1 guay: to blame III.3.23 guey: expensive VI.2.1 gueyshinq: your (honorable) name 1.1.3 guh.shyh: story VIII.4.0 guoh: pass (the days), lead (a life) II.2.5 .guoh: verb suffix—did or have...before II.2.31 guoh.lai: come over IV.3.11 gwojih: international VIII.3.13 hair: still 1.2.13 hair.sh: or (for choice) 1.1.15 hao: good 1.2.9; how, really V.2.8 haochy: tasty, delicious 1.3.15 haohaul.de: properly, well VI.2.1 hao-jia.huoo: Oh boy! goodness gracious! my goodness! III.4.7 Aiojii...: quite a few... III.1.17 haokann: good-looking 1.3.15 hao.shianq: it seems 11.3.8,10
haoting: pleasant to listen to VI.4.6 ...haw: number... III.1.6 he: to drink 1.5.1 .He: interjection for surprise III.4.8 heen: very 1.3.7 been shao: seldom 1.5.5 hei: black IV.1.9 .Hei: interjection for calling attention V.3.4 heihei .de: darkish IV.1.9 herbih: why must? III.4.12 herchanq: to sing together, (chorus) VI.4.8 hershyh: suitable IV.1.11 hertz: box IV.2.1 horng: red 1.5.6 horngchar: black tea 1.5.6 howlai: later (in the past) II.4.26 how.tian: day after tomorrow VI.1.3 how.tou: rear IV.3.9 huah: speech 1.4.10 huah: to paint V.1.0 hual: flower IV.4.1 huall: a painting VI.4.2 huay: bad 1.3.14 huaydann: "rotten egg!" 1.3.26 huei: grey VII.3.2 huey: know how to, can, know (as a language) 1.4.9; will likely 1.5.10 huoh.jee: or (conjunctive) II.1.12 huooche: train VII.3.1 hwang: yellow IV.1.3 hwei: time V.2.7; to return III.4.11 hwei.chiuh: go back IV.2.8 hweidar: answer; to answer VIII.1.4 hwei-jia: return home VII.1.2 hwei.lai: come back III.4.11 hwu-shuo: nonsense VI.4.10 hwu.twu: indistinct, muddled, confused VIII.2.1 i: one I.1.10 iau.chyou: demand, request 1.3.0 ibial VI ibial V2: V2 while VI VI.2.7 ....i.deal: a little bit (more or less) III.1.9 idinq: surely III.4.17 i-fangmiann: on the one hand VI.2.2 i.fwu: clothes II.3.6 igonq: altogether VI.1.3 i-hoel: a moment, a while II.3.11 ijyr: all along VIII.1.2 ikuall: together II.3.1 i-luh: all the way VI.3.3 Ing1wen: English 1.4.11
GLOSSARY AND INDEX inggai: should, ought to III.3.8 in.wey: because 1.4.8 i.sheng: doctor VI.4.1 i-shyr: for the moment VIII.3.12 i-tian-daw-woan: all day II.4.8 iyanq: the same III. 1.13 "j (-jy> - J e ) : suffix for progressive action IV.3.9 jaan: AN for light or lamp III. 1.17 jang: AN for flat things 1.2.5 Jang: common surname 1.1.5 jann: to scand IV.3.0 jao: to look for V.4.6 jauday: entertain 111.3.14 jau-jyi: nervous, anxious VII.1.3 -jaur: complement for getting at, touching, realized V.2.1 jaw: according to IV.1.7 jaw-jinqtz: to look in the mirror V.3.8 jeandan: simple III.3.10 jeang: to lecture, to discuss IV.1.8 jeanjyr: simply VI.3.11 jeau: foot IV.1.2 jeeng.lii: to tidy up III.2.8 jeh: this, these 1.2.1 jehyanq (jehyanql): this way V.4.0 jell: here 1.5.24 jen: truly; true 1.3.14 jen.de: really 1.4.18 jeng: open (eyes) VI.2.9 jenq: just ...-ing, just in the process of... IV.3.15 jenqhao: happen to; as it happens; by coincidence; just at the right time VIII.1.2 jenq.jyh: politics VIII.3.13 jeou: nine 1.5.29 jeuan: a reel, AN for tapes VI.4.4 jey-: this, these 1.2.5 jeyg: word used as !tfiller-in:t VIII.3.10 jey.hoel: this moment IV.3.11 ji: chicken 1.3.15 jia: AN for stores, restaurants, etc. 1.5.16; home II.3.19 jia: clench II.3.20 jiah.chyan: price VI.1.7 Jiajou: State of California VI.3.6 jial: tip V.4.5 jian: AN for room 1.3.12 jiann: AN for things II.2.8 jiann: to splash II.3.6 jiann-miann: to meet VI.3.5 jiau: to teach II.2.21
177
jiaw: be called 1.1.7; call (to someone) IV.4.5; tell...to, ask...to V.4.3 jiaw-shiing: wake up (someone) V.2.7 jiawshyh: classroom 1.3.12 jichaang: short for feijichaang VII.3.2 jidann: (chicken) egg 1.3.16 jiee.jiee: elder sister V.1.6 jie: street II.4.30 jieh.shaw: to introduce VII.2.4 jih: to mail VI.4.8 jih.de: remember II.3.19 jihran: since, given that... II.3.5 jih.shiuh: to continue VIII.3.3 ji.huey: opportunity, chance VIII.1.2 jii: how many 1.4.4; several II.4.5 jii-dean: what time V.2.4 jiin.jang: tense, uptight III.3.16 jing.shern: energy (spirit) VI.2.10 jinn: close to, near III.3.5 jinn: enter II. 1.3 jinn.chiuh: go in IV.2.9 jinn.lai: come in III.4.15 jinqtz: mirror V.3.8 jin.tian: today 1.3.4 jinyu: goldfish VI.2.10 jiow: old (state) 1.3.8 jiow: then; immediately 1.4.22; only 1.5.9 jiow.sh: be just the same thing as, simply is 1.5.3 .jiow.sh.le: that's all II.4.28 jiuh: sentence VIII.3.9 jongfann: lunch 1.3.15 Jong.gwo: China 1.1.13 Jong.gworen: Chinese 1.4.8 Jong.gwo-tzyh: Chinese characters 1.4.16 jongjiall: middle IV.3.5 Jong-Meei: Sino-American VIII.3.14 jongshin: center V.1.8 jongshyue: high school 1.1.15 jongshyuesheng: high school student 1.1.15 jongtour (jongtourl): hour III.4.8 Jongwen: Chinese 1.3.19 jong.wuu: noon 1.3.15 jonqyaw: important; significant VII.2.2 joong: type or kind II.3.18 joumoh: weekend V.4.2 juh: to live II.1.20 juhyih: notice, pay attention to II.3.11 juotz: table, desk 1.2.5
178 jy:
CHINESE PRIMER
AN for animals or for one of a pair of things 1.2.9 jy (jel): juice II.3.6 jy.daw: know III.2.17 jye-huen: get married VII.1.6 jyi: nervous III.4.16 ...jyi.le: extremely... 1.5.20 jyue.de: to feel; feel that, think that 1.3.6 jyuedinq: decide III.1.26 jyuhua: chrysanthemum VI.3.13 jyy: only 1.4.16 jyy: paper III.2.26 jyy hao: (the) only good (thing to do is) III.4.2 jyy yaw: provided that, so long as II.4.2 kafei: coffee II.1.11 kai: turn on III.1.15; to open IV.2.10 kai-che: to drive a car VI.1.7 kai-deng: turn on the light or lamp III.1.15 kaishyy: begin II.4.30 kai-wanshiaw: to tease V.4.0 kann: look (at) 1.3.19 kann-baw: to read newspaper III.2.17 kann.chu.lai: make out by seeing IV.4.7 kann.daw: same as kann.jiann VIII.1.7 kann.faa: viewpoint VII.1.1 kann.jiann: see. II.3.15 kann-shu: to read III.3.24 kao: to examine VII.1.1 kaoshyh: test, exam III.3.24 .kee: emphatic adverb II.2.29 keen: be willing to VI.4.6 keendinq: for certain II.4.19 kee.sh: but 1.1.20 keewuh: abominable, destestable V.4.0 /ree.yii: may, can II.3.28 keh: lesson 1.1.3; class 1.4.1 keh: quarter (hour) III.4.16 keh.chih: polite II.3.8 keh.ren: guest III.1.0 kehting: living room VII.1.3 kehwen: text of a lesson V.I.13 kongchih: air IV.4.0 konql: unoccupied time or space, leisure II.1.4 koongpah: afraid; perhaps III.1.3 kuay: AN for money or things that come in lumps or pieces 1.5.30 kuay: fast II.2.11 kuay....le: about to... V.2.5
kuaytz: chopsticks 11. 3.19 kuenn: sleepy V.1.0 . l'a: contraction of .le and .a IV.4.4 laan: lazy III.4.1 lai: come II.2.3 Ian: blue V.3.4 lao: old (referring to age); longstanding 1.2.4; overcooked, tough (of food) 1.3.17; always VIII.1.2 laobor: polite form to address parent's friend or friend1s father VII.2.5 lao perng.yeou: old (longstanding) friend 1.2.4 laoshy: teacher 1.2.3 .le: particle for new situation 1.3.9; for completed action II.1.20 lean: face II.3.7 leang: two (used with AN) 1.4.5 leang-yanql: both kinds II. 1.14 ley: tired 1.3.7 li: "distanced" from III. 3.3 lian: including IV.4.10 liang: cool II.1.10 Lianhergwo: United Nations V.1.8 liannshyi: exercise, practice V.2.7 liann.shyi: to practice, to exercise II.4.3 lianq: AN for vehicle VI.1.10 lianq: bright 1.3.13 lih.hay: serious(ly) VI.3.14 lihkeh: right away III.3.24 lihshyy: history VIII.3.14 Lii: common surname II.2.2 lii: mile II.4.25 .lii: inside II.2.36 liibay: week II.4.5 lii.tou: inside IV.4.0 li.kai: to leave, go away from VI.2.12 linq: another VI.1.7 liou: to leave (behind) III.4.15 liow: six 1.5.29 liuh: green 1.5.4 .lo: final particle for obviousness; of course V.1.12 longshia: lobster 1.5.19 loushiah: downstairs III.3.10 luann: in disorder, in a mess, in confusion III.2.0 luh: road VI.3.3 luh: to record VI.4.4 luh'inday: audiotape V.2.7 luhyiingday (luhshianqday): video tape VI.4.5
GLOSSARY AND INDEX .ma:
final particle indicating obviousness IV.2.6 .ma: interrogative particle 1.1.13 maa.lhasong: marathon II.4.23 maashanq: immediately III.3.14 mae: to buy VI.1.5 ma.farn: to trouble VI.2.11 mang: busy II. 1.3 mann: slow III.3.20 mannmhal.de: slowly, unhurriedly
II.4.27 -mau: dime (ten cents) VI.1.6 maujin: towel VI.1.5 maw.yih: trade V.1.8 meei: beautiful VIII.4.0 meei: every 1.4.13 Meei.gwo: (United States of) America 1.1.12 mei guan.shih: doesn't matter II.3.26 mei.gueyhual: rose VI.3.18 mei.mau: eyebrow VII.3.4 mei-shell: have free time II.1.4; itfs nothing (it doesn't matter) II.3.9 mei-shyh: have free time II. 1.4 mei.yeou (mei): have not; there is (are) not 1.4.3 rael (men): AN for course VIII.3.6 men: door I.3.13 menkooul: doorway IV.4.5 menq: dream VI.3.10 mey.mey: younger sister II.3.24 mha (mha.mha): mom VI.1.0 miannchyan: in front of (a person) IV.3.11 raiau.shiee: to describe VIII.4.0 ming.nian: next year VI.1.10 ming.tian: tomorrow II.4.30 ming.tian jiann: see you tomorrow II.4.32 ming.tzyh: given name; full name 1.1.6 .mm: interjection indicating approval or appreciat ion 11.2.1 muu.chin: mother 1.3.27 muu-neu: mother-daughter VIII.3.0 na: to hold 11.2.19,20; take III.3.11 naal: where 1.5.22 naa.lii: where 1.5.27; a denial of other's compliment, a polite expression (Culture Notes) nah: that, those 1.2.1; in that case, then 1.5.18 nail: there 1.5.24 nan: difficult II.2.29 nan: male 1.1.2
179
nan: south VII.3.2 nandaw: do you mean to say? IV.4.11 Nanjing: Nanking VIII.1.6 nanperng.yeou: boyfriend 1.1.20 nan sheng: male student 1.1.2 nanshow: feel bad VI.3.12 nanting: unpleasant to hear VI.3.11 naw: to disturb; noisy VI.3.11 naw-shiaw.huah: make a fool of oneself II.2.30 .ne: particle for follow-up questions 1.2.7 neaul: bird VI.4.6 neei: which 1.2.5 .ne.me...ne?: VIII.3.4 nemm.me (nemm): so, to that extent 1.3.11 neng: can, be able to 1.5.31 Neouiue: New York City V.1.4 neu: female 1.1.2 neu.erl: daughter VIII.2.0 neuperng.yeou: girlfriend 1.1.20 neu sheng: female student 1.1.2 ney-: that, those 1.2.1 nian: year II. 1.20 nian.jih: age VI.4.8 -nianjyi: grade, year VI.1.10 niann: to read aloud IV.4.8 niann-shu: to study II.4.9 nii: you (singular) 1.1.5 nii.de: your, yours 1.1.20 nin: you (polite form) IV.1.2 niourow: beef 1.3.15 .Oh: "Oh, I see11 1.4.18 .ou: particle for mild warning: mind you VI.2.14 pa: plop! II.3.21 pa: to lie (on stomach) IV.3.9 pao: to run II.4.13 pao-buh: jog II.1.1 par: to climb; to crawl IV.3.0 parngbial: side II.2.35 paw-char: steep tea II.1.17 peir: keep company, accompany VII.3.6 penq: to bump V.4.5 pern: (flower) pot VI.2.10 perng.yeou: friend 1.1.2 pian: AN for articles VIII.3.14 piann: to trick, deceive, to fool III.4.2 piaw.lianq: pretty II.3.7 pyan.yi: inexpensive 111. 3.2 pyibau: wallet, purse 1.5.20 ranhow: and then III.2.28
180
CHINESE PRIMER
ranq: let IV.3.2 reh: hot II. 1.9 ren: man, woman, person, human being, people 1.1.1 renn.de, renn.shyh: to know, recognize (a person, word, character) V.2.10 roan: soft 1.3.7 rong.yih: easy II.2.26 row: meat 1.3.15 ruguoo: if VIII.1.8 san: three 1.4.18 sao-dih: to sweep the floor III.2.23 shafa: sofa VII.1.2 shang: to wound, injure II.4.26 shanq: above 1.4.19; attend (class) III.4.16; previous IV.1.7; to board VII.3.1 shanq-ban: go to work VIII.4.5 shanq PW...chiuh: go to... (a place) 1.5.23 shanq-chwang: go to bed V.I.I Shanqhae: Shanghai VIII.1.6 shanq-keh: hold class, attend class II.2.10 shanq.lai: come up IV.3.2 shanq-shyue: go to school VI.1.0 shanq.tou: above IV.4.6 shanq.wuu: morning III.4.14 shanshoei-huall: landscape painting IV.4.6 shao: few; less 1.3.18 sheang: loud(ly) V.2.17 sheang: to think, would like to 1.5.17 sheang.chii.lai: recall VIII.3.13 sheau: small I.1.14 sheauharl: child VI.4 .6 Sheau Jen: a girl's name VI.2.1 sheausheng: in a low voice, hush VII.3.4 sheau.shin: careful VI.3.18 sheaushyue: primary school 1.1.14 sheaushyuesheng: primary school student 1.1.14 shehhuey: society V.I.14 sheir: who 1.2.2 sheir.de: whose 1.2.9 sheng: raw, undercooked 1.3.15 sheng-chih: to get mad; to be angry VI.4.10 sheng.hwo: life VI.2.1 sheng.in: sound VI.3.2 shengtsay: lettuce salad II.3.2 shen.shanq: on the body II.3.25 sherm.me (sherm): what? 1.2.9; some-
thing (indefinite) 1.5.2 ...sherm.me.de (.sherm.de): ...and what not VIII.4.3 shi: west 1.5.25 shia: shrimp 1.4.20 shiah: below 1.4.20; next III.3.17 shiah (shiall): 'a stroke1, AN for verbs II.3.13 shiah.chiuh: go down IV.3.3. shiah-keh: get out of class V.2.5 shiah.tsyh: next time V.2.6 shiah.wuu: afternoon 1.4.3 shiah-yeu: to rain VI.3.4 shian: first, in advance 1.5.1 Shi'an: Sian, Xian VIII.1.6 Shianggaang: Hong Kong VIII.1.6 shiangshinn: to believe II.4.4 shianntzay: now 1.4.2 shianq...jehyanql: like this... III.3.4 shianqlai: all along III.3.20 shian.sheng: Mr.; teacher; husband VIII.1.7 shiau.shyi: news VI.3.13 shiaw: to laugh (at) IV.1.1 -shie: some V.1.8 shie: to rest IV.3.0 shiee: write 1.4.16 shieh: to thank 1.5.35 shieh.shieh: "thank you" 1.5.35 shih: department in a college VI.2.1 shii: to wash V.3.9 shii.huan: to like 1.4.11 shiing: to wake up V.2.7 shii-tzao: to take a bath VI.1.5 shin: heart VI.3.13 shin: new 1.1.21 shingchi: week III.2.23 shingchi...: (for days of the week III.2.23 shinn: believe 1.4.18 shinn: letter III.3.10,13 shinq: surname; have the surname of 1.1.4 shinq.chiuh: interest VIII.3.2 shinq.chyng: temperament 1.3.19 shinq.kuei: fortunately III.4.15 shinsheng: new student, freshman VI.1.9 shinwen: news III.2.18 shiou-che: to repair a car VI.1.8 shiou.lii: to repair VI.1.11 shiou.shyi: to rest VII.1.2 shiwanq: hope; to hope VI.2.1 shoei: water II.2.16
GLOSSARY AND INDEX shoeipyng: level II.2.10 shoou: AN for poem, song VIII.3.6 shoou: hand II.3.24 shour: familiar VIII.1.9 shu: book III.2.5 shu: to lose II.4.20 shuai: to slip and fall II.4.26 shuang: pair VI.1.5 shuenn.lih: smooth, without diffuculty VI.3.3 shuey: to sleep V.2.1,8 shuey-jaur: to fall asleep V.2.1 shuey-jiaw: to sleep V.I.13 shu.fwu: comfortable 1.3.6 shuh: tree IV.4.1 shujiahtz: bookshelf III.2.14 shuo: say; speak 1.3.15 shuo-huah: to talk, to speak II.2.10 shuo menqhuah: to talk in one's sleep VI.3.10 shu.shu: uncle (father's younger brother; polite form to address parents' friends) VI.4.4 shuuchi shyueshiaw: summer school VIII.3.3 shy: poem VIII.3.7 shye: shoe IV.1.3 shyh (sh): be, is, etc. 1.1.9 shyh (shyh.chyng): matters, things (business, affairs) II.1.4 shyh: to try IV.3.1 shyh (sh), shyh.de (sh.de): yes I.1.10 ....shyh.de: it seems 11.3.10 shyhjieh: world V.1.8 Shyhjieh Maw.yih Jongshin: World Trade Center V.1.8 shyiguann: be accustomed to II.2.10; habit VI.2.5 shyng: be fine, will do II. 1.13 shyr: ten 1.5.29 shyrday: era, period V.1.15 shyr.howl: time II. 1.17 shyrjian: time III.2.22 shyrjianbeau: timetable, schedule III.2.22 shyryann: lab (class) III.4.16 shyue: to study 1.4.11 shyue.sheng: student 1.1.9 shyueshiaw: school 1.3.13 sonq: send VI.1.11 ss: interjection of hesitation VIII.3.11 suann: be considered as 111.3.7
181
suhsheh: dormitory 1.3.9 suoo: AN for buildings III.3.6; emphatic adverb IV.1.8 suoo yeou .de: all IV.4.9 suoo.yii: so; therefore 1.1.19 sweiran: although 1.2.12 syh: four 1.5.29 syy: die 1.5.12 ....syy.le: extremely... 1.5.12 ta: he, him; she, her; it 1.2.2 taang: to lie (on back) IV.3.8 ta.de: his; her 1.2.5 Tairbeei: Taipei VIII.3.3 Tair'uan: Taiwan VIII.1.6 tang: soup II.3.24 tanq: scalding II.3.27 taoyann: to find disgusting V.2.18 tarn: to talk, to chat II. 1.9 tarn.de-lai: can talk (with someone)—find (someone) congenial VI.3.7 tarng: AN for classes 1.4.4 tarng: candy; sugar VI.2.7 tarn-huah: to talk, to chat VII.3.5 tay: too, excessively 1.3.0 tay.tay: Mrs.; wife VIII.1.5 tehbye: special; peculiar IV.1.11 tian: day 1.4.2; sky IV.1.4 tian.chih: weather VI.3.3 tiaw: to jump II.2.34 tie: to paste, to stick III.2.28 tiing: very, rather III.3.2 ting: to listen (to) II.2.14 ting.chu.lai: make out by listening VI.3.2 ting-doong: understand from listening II.2.14 ting.jiann: hear VII.2.1 toei: leg II.4.26 torngshyr: at the same time VIII.3.14 torngshyue: schoolmate II.3.0, V.3.3 torng'ul: roommate VI.3.0 tour: the first VIII.4.2 tour.faa: hair VII.3.2 tsa: to wipe II.3.12 tsai: to guess IV.4.12 tsair: only then II.3.12 tsaodih: lawn IV.4.1 tsay: dish VI.4.2 tsehsuoo: toilet V.3.7 tsong.ming: intelligent, smart IV.4.12 tsorng (chorng): from V.1.6; (to do something) over again VI.3.3
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CHINESE PRIMER
tsorng (TV) chii: starting from (TW) III.2.21 tsornglai (bu, mei): never III.3.22 tsuoh: wrong, incorrect IV.1.6 tsyh: a time, AN for verbs II.2.32 twushugoan: library III.2.19 tyau: AN for animals and things in strips IV.2.3 tyautz: note III.4.15 tzao: early; good morning 1.3.2 tzao.chern: morning II.4.13 tzaofann: breakfast 1.3.14 tzao.shanq: morning 1.3.15 tzar.men (tzarm): we (including the person addressed) 1.1.21 tzaugau: what a mess, gosh! 111.3.12 tzay: again II.2.25 tzay: to be in (at, or on) 1.5.24 czay-jia: be at home III.4.6 tzayjiann: goodbye VI.4.10 tzeem bann: what should one do V.3.2 tzeem hwei shyh: what's this? what's the matter? III.4.9 tzeem.me (tzeem): how 1.4.21; how come II.2.19 tzeemyanq: how could that be? III.1.25 tzemm.me (tzemm): so, thus 1.3.11,13; in this manner II.1.22 tzemmyanql (tzemmyanq): in this way II.2.23 tzoei: mouth VII.3.4 tzoong (tzoong.sh): always, generally speaking II. 3.16 tzoou: to walk; to leave II.4.31 tzoou-luh: to walk VI.3.17 tzuey: the most...; ...-est III.3.6 tzuey hao: had better... III.2.25 tzuey how: last, final VI.4.1 tzuoh: sit 1.4.2; to ride (vehicle, ship, airplane, etc.) VI.1.7 tzuoh: to do III.3.10; to make VI.4.2 tzuoh-ren: (how) to be a person VI.2.5 tzuoh-shyh: do things III.3.19 tzuoh-tsay: to cook dishes VI.4.2 tzuoo: left II.2.22 tzuoo.bial: left side IV.3.9 tzwo.tian: yesterday 1.3.15 tzwugow: fully sufficient VI.1.7 tzyh: character,word 1.4.16,17 tzyhjii: self IV.1.3 Tzyhyoushern-shianq: Statue of Liberty V.1.9 .uai: hello (on telephone) VI.3.1 utz: room 1.3.9
wal: to play IV.4.0 wan: to finish II.2.24 wanchyuan: entirely 11. 3.8 Wang: common surname IV.2.0 wann: ten thousand VI.1.10 wanq.le: forget III.2.14 way.gwo: foreign countries 11.3.16 way.tou: outside IV.4.0 wenn: ask II.4.7 wenntyi: problem II.3.27; question VIII.1.2 wenshyue: literature VIII.3.5 wey: AN for people (polite) 1.3.22 weysherm (weysherm.me): why 1.4.7 woan: bowl II.3.24 woanfann: supper 1.3.15 woanhuey: evening of entertainment; social evening VI.4.1 woan.shanq: evening 1.3.15 woo: I, me 1.1.3 woo.de: my 1.1.6 woo.men (woom): we; us 1.1.17 woo.men.de: our 1.2.2 wuh-shyh: cause delay, bumble matters III.3.22 wuluenn: no matter (what) VIII.3.16 wuu: five 1.5.29 wuufann: lunch VII.2.6 Wuu-syh: the May Fourth Movement V.1.15 ya ? i: dentist III.4.3 yanqtz: appearance IV.1.10; shape VII.3.4 yan.seh: color V.2.2 yau: to shake IV.4.4 yau-tour: shake head IV.4.4 yaw: to want, to require, to need 1.4.11 yawjiin: important VI.2.4 yawminq: (see ....de yawminq) yaw.sh: if II. 1.15 Yeajou (Yahjou): Asia VIII.3.14 yeang: to raise (animals) VI.2.11 yean.jing: eye 1.3.24 yeau: to bite II.3.6 yeau-ya: to gnaw VI.3.10 yee: also 1.1.10 yeesheu: perhaps 1.3.8 yeou: have; there is (are) 1.3.5 yeou.de: some VIII.1.5 yeou i.deal: a bit, a little 1.3.5 yeou konql: have free time II.1.4 yeouming: famous 1.3.17 yeou shyr.howl: sometimes II.2.12 yeou yih.sy: interesting VIII.4.4
GLOSSARY AND INDEX yeuyan shyrshyishyh: language lab V.2.7 Yi: interjection for surprise VI.4.9 yih.sy: meaning IV.1.8 ...yiichyan: before... V.I.14 yiichyan: in the past II.4.22 ...yiihow: after... VIII.3.3 yiihow: in the future III.2.16 yii.jing: already II.2.4 yiitz: chair 1.2.5 yiiwei: think (mistakenly) II.2.13 yinq: hard 1.3.8 yng: to win II.4.20 yonq: to use II.2.16 yonq-gong: diligent(ly) (study) VI.2.3
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youchyi: especially III. 3.5 yow: again 1.3.16 yow: right II.2.22 yow.bial: right side IV.3.9 yu: fish VI.2.11 yuan.guh: reason VI.3.10 yuann.yih: willing, glad to VI.3.12 yueh: month II.2.4 yueh...yueh...: the more...the more... III.2.1 yuh.bey: to prepare V.2.7 yunn.donq: (physical) exercise; to exercise II.4.9
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