Lessons 1-10

Lesson 8 我普通话说得不好。I don't speak Mandarin well.

普通话Pǔtōnghuà Standard Mandarin / 说 shuō Speak / 韓语 Hányǔ Korean Language / 日本语 Rìběnyǔ Japanese /

普通话 Pǔtōnghuà is the common name for the group of dialects found in northern China that is the official language of China.

While the Chinese insist that everyone in China speaks variants of "Chinese", the native dialects of much of southern China can be considered distinct languages in their own right.

得 de is a particle added to the end of verbs so that you can modify them. So to turn "He speaks" 他说 tā shuō into "He speaks well" you just have to add the character for "good",  hǎo and add the particle 得 de to the end of the verb "to speak", 说 shuō. The final product is 他说得好 tā shuōde hǎo.

Example sentences:

你 普通话 说得 很 好。 You speak Mandarin really well.
Nǐ Pǔtōnghuà shuōde hěn hǎo.
You common-dialect speak very well.

我 的 朋友 普通话 说 得 很 好。 My friend speaks Mandarin really well.
Wǒ de péngyou Pǔtōnghuà shuōde hěn hǎo.
I of friend common-dialect speak very well.

我 普通话 说得 不 好。 I don't speak Mandarin well.
Wǒ Pǔtōnghuà shuōde bù hǎo.
I common-dialect speak not well.

你 英语 说得 很 好。 You speak English really well.
Nǐ Yīngyǔ shuōde hěn hǎo.
You English-language speak very well

陈 先生 韓语 说得 很 好。 Mr. Chen speaks Korean very well.
Chén xiānsheng Hányǔ shuōde hěn hǎo.
Chen first-born Han-language speak very well.

王 小姐 英语 说得 很 好。 Ms. Wang speaks English very well
Wáng xiǎojiě Yīngyǔ shuōde hěn hǎo.
Wang little-big-sister English speak very well.

我 的 经理 日语 说得 很 好。 My manager speaks Japanese very well.
Wǒ de jīnglǐ Rìyǔ shuōde hěn hǎo.
I-of classic-logic Japanese language speak very well.

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Sound files for the example sentences:

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Dialogue

A 陈先生英语说得很好。
   Chén xiānsheng Yīngyŭ shuōde hĕn hăo.
   Mr. Chen speaks English really well.

B 是, 他在加拿大住过三年。
   Shì, tā zài Jiānádà zhùguò sān nián.
   Yes, he lived in Canada for three years.

A 我英语说得不太好。
   Wŏ Yīngyŭ shuō de bú tài hăo.
   I don’t speak English very well.

B 我也说得不太好。
   Wŏ yĕ shuō de bú tài hăo.
   I also don’t speak it very well.

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Sound files for the dialogue:

>> Download RL teacher and SS teacher performing this dialogue (right click to save)

>> Download MQ teacher and VG teacher performing this dialogue (right click to save)

Lessons 11-20
Lessons 21-30
Lessons 31-40
Lessons 41-50
Lessons 51-60
Lessons 61-70
Lessons 71-80
Lessons 81-90
Lessons 91-100
Lessons 101-110
Lessons 111-120
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The Mandarin language is not as difficult as you might think. There’s a reason why it’s the world’s most spoken language! A lingua franca for much of Northern China since the Yuan dynasty, Mandarin has a simple, no-nonsense grammatical system and a vocabulary that builds upon itself. So don’t be daunted! You too can speak this beautiful language.