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—- Learn about Chinese greetings (Taiwan/Hong Kong) —-
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People from Taiwan and HK prefer saying “……安 ān!”, but people from China Mainland prefer saying “…好 hǎo!”, because in general Chinese people say “你好 Nihao!” for any time of the day. Also you can replace “你好 Nihao!” with the following greetings at different time of the day.

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早安 zǎo ān. Good morning! (used in Taiwan and Hong Kong)
早上好 zǎoshang hǎo. Good morning! (used in China Mainland)

午 安 wǔ ān. Good afternoon! (used in Taiwan and Hong Kong)
下午好 xiàwǔ hǎo. Good afternoon! (used in China Mainland)

晚安 wǎn ān . Good evening! (used in Taiwan and Hong Kong)
晚上好 wǎnshang hǎo. Good evening! (used in China Mainland)

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Attention:
晚安 wǎn ān. People from China Mainland say “晚安 wǎn ān!” for “Good night!” when saying bye-bye in the evening. It means quite different from that used in Taiwan and Hong Kong which is just for greetings in the evening time.
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-Learn Chinese numbers and gestures -

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1 = 一　(yī)
2 = 二　(èr)
3 = 三　(sān)
4 = 四　(sì)
5 = 五　(wŭ)
6 = 六　(lìu)
7 = 七　(qī)
8 = 八　(bā)
9 = 九　(jĭu)
10 = 十　(shí)

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— Four tones in Chinese —

-Why learn Chinese?
-Four tones and toneless / neutral tone:

1st tone: mā - mother

2nd tone: má - hemp, linen

3rd tone: mǎ - horse

4th tone: mà - accuse, blame, curse, scold

Neutral tone: ma - a question particle best translated as: “…, or not?”

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拼音 pīnyīn - Pinyin will rescue You to write down Your vocabulary without Chinese characters. And Pinyin will allow You to get the tones on paper. We will use the example word of “ma”.

Tone1 - The high tone:

Spoken with a high pitched voice it will be first tone.

mā

Tone2 - Rising tone:

Spoken with beginning low, then rising to a high pitched voice.

má

Tone3 - Falling and rising tone:

You start with a high pitched voice, lower it and then go up again.

mǎ

Tone4 - The falling tone:

The word starts high pitched and falls down to a very low frequency according to some textbooks. I can hardly hear this falling but one thing that is clear. The word is spoken short with a aggressive voice.

mà

The neutral tone or soft tone:

This tone has no special pronounciation. Yet it is different from the other tones. It’s short, in a middle frequency and soft. Soft means no so loud as the other ones.

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What are the meanings of mā má mǎ mà ma?

妈 mā - mother . Mother is the meaning of the character, however if you want to say the word “mother” it’s 妈妈 (māma).

妈 mā - mother

麻 má - hemp, linen

马 mǎ - horse

骂 mà - accuse, blame, curse, scold

吗 ma - a question particle best translated as: “…, or not?”

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Thus, a nice little tongue twister of those with an interest in Chinese tones is:

妈妈骑马,马慢,妈妈骂马。

Mother is riding a horse. The horse moves slowly. Mother curses the horse.
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Any problems in this Chinese video lesson, please turn to our teachers online. ChineseHour.com is your first place to learn Chinese online from native Chinese teachers at the comfort of your home or workplace.

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— Four tones in Chinese 拼音声调 —

拼音 pīnyīn - Pinyin will rescue You to write down Your vocabulary without Chinese characters. And Pinyin will allow You to get the tones on paper. We will use the example word of “da”.

- 搭dā
- 答dá
- 打dǎ
- 大dà
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Any problems in this Chinese video lesson, please turn to our teachers online. ChineseHour.com is your first place to learn Chinese online from native Chinese teachers at the comfort of your home or workplace.