Learn the key pattern to say where you're from
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| Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Zheng Zhu asks, |
| "Where are you from?" |
| 你是哪里人？ |
| First is 你 (nǐ), "you." 你. 你. |
| Next is 是 (shì). Here, it's like the "are" in "you are." 是. 是. |
| Together, 你是 (nǐ shì). "You are." 你 是. |
| Next is 哪里 (nǎlǐ), "where." 哪里. 哪里. |
| Pronunciation note: when there are two third tones in a row, the first one changes to the second tone. Listen to the pronunciation again. 哪里 (nǎlǐ). 哪里 (nǎlǐ). |
| The pronunciation differs from the pinyin, where you will still see two third tones. |
| After this, 人 (rén). "Person." 人. 人. |
| Together, 哪里人 (nǎlǐ rén) literally means "where person." 哪里人. |
| All together, it's 你是哪里人？Literally "You are where person?" But it translates as "Where are you from?" 你是哪里人？ |
| Remember this question. You'll hear it again later in this lesson. |
| Now, let's take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Mark Lee says, |
| "I'm an American." |
| 我是美国人。 |
| First is 我, "I." 我 (Wǒ). 我. |
| Next is 是 (shì). Here, it's like the "am" in "I am." 是. |
| Together, 我是 (Wǒ shì). "I am." 我是. |
| Next is 美国 (Měiguó), which literally means "beautiful country," but it translates as "the United States of America." 美国. 美国. |
| Last is 人 (rén), "person." 人. 人. |
| Together, 美国人 (Měiguó rén) literally means "United States of America person" or "an American." 美国人. |
| Note: 美国人 (Měiguó rén) is a noun, not an adjective. |
| All together, 我是美国人。 (Wǒ shì Měiguó rén) means "I'm an American." 我是美国人。 |
| The pattern is |
| 我是 (Wǒ shì) {home country} 人 (rén). |
| "I'm a {noun for person of home country}. |
| 我是 {home country} 人. |
| To use this pattern, simply replace the {home country} placeholder with the name of your country. |
| Imagine you're from Australia. In Chinese, 澳大利亚 (Aòdàlìyà). 澳大利亚. 澳大利亚. |
| Say |
| "I'm an Australian." |
| Ready? |
| 我是澳大利亚人。 (Wǒ shì Aòdàlìyà rén.) |
| "I'm an Australian." |
| 我是澳大利亚人。 |
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