Learn how to use the phrase "Do you speak English?"
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| Hēi , dàjiā hǎo , wǒ jiào Mǎ Yànrú . Hi everybody! I’m Yanru Ma. |
| Welcome to ChineseClass101.com’s Sān fēnzhōng Hànyǔ”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Chinese |
| In the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in Chinese. Do you remember them? |
| In this lesson we’re going to learn a very useful phrase: “Do you speak English?” |
| If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in Chinese, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no. |
| Here's the usual, slightly informal way to say it. |
| Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| [slowly] Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| Let’s break that down |
| ... you: Nǐ |
| … can: huì |
| … speak: shuō |
| …. english: Yīngyǔ |
| … question marking particle: ma |
| You’ll notice the word “nǐ” in the beginning of the sentence. Remember that this is the way to say “you” |
| The next word, huì is like the English “can”: |
| Then we have the verb ”shuō”, which means to speak. |
| Next up is Yīngyǔ, the word for English: |
| And last we have ma, This is used to ask a question. It works just like a question mark. Put it at the end of the sentence with a low tone. |
| All together it’s |
| Nǐ huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma? |
| To learn how to properly use verbs, like huì, please look at our Absolute Beginner series on ChineseClass101.com. You can find very detailed grammar lessons and resources there!” |
| We’re now going to make this sentence formal. First, we need to use the formal version of “you,” which is “nín”. Even if we change the word for “you,” we don’t need to change the verb huì. Everything stays the same. |
| Nín huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| “[slowly] Nín huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| Adding , "qǐngwèn", the sentence becomes even more polite: It means, something like “excuse me” here: (slow) qǐngwèn. |
| Altogether, it’s |
| Qǐngwèn, nín huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| [slowly] Qǐngwèn, nín huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma ? |
| The responses you will receive could be one of these three: |
| Huì. "Yes." |
| [slowly] Huì. |
| or |
| Huì,wǒ huì shuō yī diǎn ."Yes,i can speak a little." |
| [slowly] Huì,wǒ huì shuō yī diǎn |
| or |
| Wǒ bù huì shuō . "No, I don’t." |
| [slowly] Wǒ bù huì shuō . |
| Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to say a negative word bù before the verb, huì . It’s just that easy. |
| Now it’s time for Yanru’s Insights. |
| For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can use this question with any language you need. More and more Chinese people are studying other languages, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute Yīngyǔ with… |
| Yìdàlìyǔ for Italian. |
| Éyǔ for Russian. |
| Xībānyáyǔ for Spanish. |
| Déyǔ for German. |
| In this lesson we mentioned the expression qǐngwèn. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson we will learn this and other ways to apologize in Chinese. |
| I'll see you in our next Sān fēnzhōng Hànyǔ lesson. |
| Zàijiàn! |
Comments
HideWhich languages do you speak?
Hello Shan,
Thank you for your comment, that's cool!
Thank you for learning with us, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
I speak sindhi Language
你好 robert groulx,
谢谢 for posting and studying with us. Amazing to read; you are a true polyglot! Keep up the good work with your new languages and if you ever have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
i speak english, french and spanish a little portuguese and italian
i currently studying russian, german and mandarin ( hopefully)
robert
Hi Jack
Here are the languages:
French: 法语 [fá yǔ]
Filipino: 菲律宾语 [fēi lǜ bīn yǔ]
Romanian: 罗马尼亚语 [luó mǎ ní yà yǔ]
And you need to use 人（which means 'person'), when you would like to say a nationality:
法国人 (a French person /French people)
菲律宾人 (a Filipino person/ Filipino people)
罗马尼亚人 (a Romanian person/ Romanian people)
Thanks for learning with us. Good luck with your learning!
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
One more thing. What is Romanian in Chinese? Thanks again.
謝謝 for telling me what French is in Chinese. Chinese is my favorite language and I want to keep learning it! Do you know what Filipino is in Chinese?
Hi Jack
'French' in Chinese is: 法语 [fá yǔ].
Thanks for learning with us.
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
What is French?
Hello, Asma,
Arabic is 阿拉伯语(ā lā bó yǔ).
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello ! thanks for these amazing lessons , i really am improving fast !
one question , how do we say Arabic in Chinese ?
Hi Jeifu,
Please be noted that after your free trial is done, you can check the first three lessons of each series, or the lessons published within three weeks for free.
Thank you,
Jae
Team ChineseClass101.com
hey Just a quick question, when your 7 day free trial is over, does that mean you must pay in order to continue to use the site, and do you take debit?
Hi Chirs,
Not for all the langauges, but in many cases, they are the same.
English 英语 Yīngyǔ＝ 英文 Yīngwén
Japanese 日语 ＝ 日文
Italian 意大利语＝意大利文
German 德语＝德文
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
What's' the difference between Yingyu and Yingwen?
Hi Fernando!
Thank you for posting! And you're very welcome!
I hope you will continue to enjoy learning Chinese with us!
Engla
Team ChineseClass101.com
Thank you for sharing this so people who wants to learn Chinese.
Hi Monte,
Thank you a lot for taking the time to write us a feedback!
We do our best to provide you the best material, so it's great to hear you're appreciating our courses.
Please feel free to ask us anything!
Regards
Mélanie
Team ChineseClass101.com
Her Chinese pronunciation is clear. I like the way this is presented. The teacher looks serious but very helpful.