Lessons 1-10

Mandarin Lesson 33 上海的东西很贵。Things in Shanghai are very expensive.

她 想 喝 东西。 He would like to drink something.
Tā xiăng hē dōngxī.
He want-like drink east-west.

杨 先生 想 喝 东西。Mr. Yang would like to drink something.
Yáng xiānshēng xiăng hē dōngxī.
Yang first-born want-like drink east-west.

郑 先生 想 吃 东西。Mr. Zheng would like to eat something.
Zhèng xiānshēng xiăng chī dōngxī.
Zheng first-bornw want-like eat east-west.

我 要 去 商店 买 东西。I will go to the store to buy things.
Wŏ yào qù shāngdiàn măi dōngxī.
I want go commerce-store buy east-west.

上海的 东西 很贵。Things in Shanghai are very expensive.
Shànghăide dōngxī hĕn guì.
On-the-Sea-of east-west very expensive.

中国 学生 学 东西 快。Chinese students learn things quickly.
Zhōngguó xuéshēng xué dōngxī kuài.
Middle-country study-born study east-west fast.

他 学 东西 快。He learns things quickly.
Tā xué dōngxī kuài.
He study east-west fast.

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.