A thread for all of my questions

[gary]

I plan on nagging a lot and asking a lot of questions, so I'll keep them all in this thread.

So here I go:

1. I know how to say I, and You, and He/She, but how do I say "we"? and is there a word for "you guys" or "you all"?


2. How do you say something tastes good? I know its "Hen Hao" something... like "shi"? Hen Hao Shi (like "sure")?

3. How do you ask somebody how they have been? I know Ni Hao is sort of saying that, but what if I actually would like to know how somebody has been doing? Something like "how have you been lately?" or "what have you been up to?"


Thanks in advance....

[Psy]

1. I know how to say I, and You, and He/She, but how do I say "we"? and is there a word for "you guys" or "you all"?

Quite easily! men is a plural suffix:

wǒ = I
wǒmen = we
tā = he/she/it
tāmen = they
nǐ = you
nǐmen = you (plural)

dàjiā = everyone

2. How do you say something tastes good? I know its "Hen Hao" something... like "shi"? Hen Hao Shi (like "sure")?

I'm a beginner so I only know one, but it's hěn hǎo chī (very good eat). You bend your tongue towards the back of your mouth to say the sound chi.

3. How do you ask somebody how they have been? I know Ni Hao is sort of saying that, but what if I actually would like to know how somebody has been doing? Something like "how have you been lately?" or "what have you been up to?"

Well, one variation is nǐ hǎo ma, simply adding the question marker, forming "are you good?" I understand that this is a much heavier question than something like "what's up?" in English though, so it isn't something you ask everyone all the time. I've heard another, casual one that goes something like nǐ chī fàn le ma? (have you eaten?) and it's used for "what's up?"

That's all I know. I'm sure someone else will be along with more details!

[gary]

I'm a beginner so I only know one, but it's hěn hǎo chī (very good eat). You bend your tongue towards the back of your mouth to say the sound chi.

Thanks... but I always get nervous saying words that end in "i" withouth hearing them... does it sound like "chee" or "Cher" (no, not like the singing lady Cher, sounds like 'share', but Cher they way it should sound, like the last syllable of "whatcher"... hahaha).

I hate "I" sounds!!!!

[paglino9]

I spend a lot of time in restaurants here in China, and as a result I feel my language is the most competent in this arena.

There are a couple of way to express deliciousness to your waiters or to the cook at home.

The most basic, all purpose "tastes good" is 好吃 hao3chi1.

You can spice it up and exclaim 美味 mei3wei4. It is a noun meaning beautiful taste or delicacy.

On the other hand, if something really sucks, maybe you end up with a plate of cow intestines, which sometimes happens accidentally you can say 很难吃 hen3nan2chi1.

Or if you want to describe your dining experience at Golden Hans you shout out 真垃圾 zhen1la1ji1. Basically means really garbage.


Wish the best of luck to you and your stomach!

[shanshanchua]

When you say 你好，you are not actually asking a question, it's just like saying hello. To ask how someone is doing, you can say 你好吗？butit's kind of like asking "how are you?" -- you don't always get a detailed reply, maybe just "I'm fine" or "Good", that kind of answer. If you really want to find out more, you can ask more specific questions like

"最近在忙些什么？" (zui jin zai mang xie shen me?) - what have you been busy with lately?
"最近身体还好吗？" (zui jin shen ti hai hao ma?) - how is your health lately?

As for "i " , it's the "eee" sound when used with b, p, m, y, d, t, n, l, j, q and x. It only sounds different when used with z, c, s, r, zh, ch and sh. And it doesn't make any actual word with f, g, k, h and w (ie. there's no chinese word that's "fi" or "ki").

It's quite difficult to describe the other sound cos there's no english equivalent, but in korean it would be similar to the 으 sound. So for "si", it would sound like "스".

[maxiewawa]

Waah, good answer shanshanchua!

[gary]

thank you for the answers....

I'd still like to hear "hen hao chi" before I say it though.....