Lessons 1-10

Mandarin Lesson 15 你想做什么? What would you like to do?

我 想 去 书店。I would like to go to the bookstore.
Wǒ xiǎng qù shūdiàn.
I like-want go bookshop.

我 不 想 去 学校。I don't want to go to school.
Wǒ bù xiǎng qù xuéxiào.
I not like-want go study-school.

我 想 买 词典。I would like to buy a dictionary.
Wǒ xiǎng mǎi cídiǎn.
I like-want buy phrases-collection.

她 想 去 饭店。 She would like to go to the restaurant.
Tā xiǎng qù fàndiàn.
She like-want go rice-store.

你 想 做 什么? What would you like to do?
Nǐ xiǎng zuò shénme?
You like-want do what?

学生们 想 吃 饭 。The students would like to eat.
Xuéshengmen xiǎng chī fàn.
Study-born-plural like-want eat rice.

我 想 学 中国 历史。I would like to learn about Chinese history.
Wǒ xiǎng xué Zhōngguó lìshǐ.
I like-want study Middle-country calendar-history.

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
Mandarin is a tone language--that is, different pitch patterns actually distinguish one word from another. Mandarin has no irregular verbs or noun plurals to learn, because words have only a single form. Because Mandarin is completely unrelated to any European language, you may think it might be difficult to develop your vocabulary. However, it really is not that difficult. Why? The reason is that the meanings of many words consisting of two or more characters can be inferred from the meanings of the characters or even the roots of individual characters. So, your vocabulary can rapidly expand when you have grasped the basic characters and character roots.