Few simple expression - could you please correct?

[arekmalarz]

Hello everyone!

 

This is my first post here and I'd like to say Hi to all the members!

 

I just started learning Mandarin, the way I usually start a new language is through the below list of most important (for me) expressions. You know, something to start with (and to practice tones and basic signs). Below is the list of my phrases. 

 

Would any of you be kind enough to check if the following phrases are written correctly? Both characters and pinyin.

 

Thank you in advance

Arek

 

ENGLISH	PINYIN	CHARACTERS
yes	shì	是
no	Méiyǒu	没有
maybe	Yěxǔ	也许
how are you?	Nǐ hǎo ma?	你好吗？
What's your name?	Nǐ jiào shénme míngzì?	你叫什么名字？
My name is...	Wǒ jiào	我叫
Nice to meet you	Hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nǐ	很高兴见到你
please	Qǐng	请
thank you	Xièxiè	谢谢
hello	Nǐ hǎo	你好
good bye	Zàijiàn	再见
have a nice day!	Zhù nǐ jīntiān yúkuài!	祝你今天愉快！
excuse me	Láojià	劳驾
I'm sorry	Duìbùqǐ	对不起
Do you speak english?	Nǐ néng shuō yīngyǔ ma? yingwen（英文） yingyu（英语）	你会说英语吗？ 你会说英文吗?
I speak a little Mandarin	Wǒ shuō yīdiǎn pǔtōnghuà	我说一点普通话
I teach myself	Wǒ jiào zìjǐ	我教自己
I don't understang	Wǒ bù míngbái	我不明白
what does it mean?	Zhè shì shénme yìsi	这是什么意思
This is good	Zhè hěn hǎo	这很好
this is very good	Zhè shì fēicháng hǎo	这是非常好
This is no good	Zhè bù hǎo	这不好
Oh Really?	Zhēn de ma?	真的吗？
This	Zhège	这个

[Tomsima]

yes and no don't work like in English, so in many situations the words you have written will not make sense; the way to say yes and no is context dependent, so spend a bit of time reading up this point in a grammar book (eg Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar)

Nice to meet you is also context dependent, and is not used like in English, or perhaps other languages you have previously learned?

 

Be aware that 'please' in Chinese is very formal, and there are better ways to express asking. This will take time, but its worth knowing from the start that 請 will sound strange if you are using it as an equivalent to the english 'please'

 

'have a nice day' is not said in chinese, there are similar phrases, such as 一切順利 (perhaps 'all the best' in english), but again, these are not used like in English, so try to get out of the habit of speaking in this way in chinese.

'excuse me' is context dependent, eg. 不好意思 (sorry, excuse me), 請問 (excuse me, can I ask a question) etc. 勞駕 is formal and outdated (from my experience).

'I teach myself' perhaps 我是自學的? 

 

Everything else is usable.
 

[Wurstmann]

@arekmalarz Where did you get those sentences? As @Tomsima said, there are some unnatural ones. In addition to the grammar book he mentioned you can also use the grammar wiki.

[Publius]

Like Tomsima said, Yes and No don't work like in English. A yes-no question in Chinese is often answered by repeating the sentence (or at least the verbal part) in positive or negative form. Of course, you can preface it with a Yes or No, for example, ——你是学生吗？ (literally: You be student?) ——是的，我是学生。 (Yes, I be student) / 不，我不是学生。 (No, I not be student).

 

"Nice to meet you" is better expressed as 很高兴认识你 (Very glad to know you).

 

We don't say "Have a nice day' in Chinese. It's pointless to try and translate it.

 

劳驾 is used in the north when asking for direction or some favor from a stranger. But usually you can use "I'm sorry" instead.

 

"I speak a little Mandarin" => 我会说一点普通话, i.e. you need an explicit 'can'.

 

"This is very good" => 这是非常好, i.e. you must not use a copula ('is') before a predicative adjective ('good').

[arekmalarz]

Thank you so much for your input!

@Wurstmann I took majority of those phrases from various internet resources and Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese course. 

 

I need something to get me started and speak (of course very badly) from day 1, that's why I usually follow Pimsleur or Michel Thomas methods. I understand that expression get outdated with time, and usually these course use way to formal sentences, but this is something to be corrected in the future.

 

1. as per YES and NO, now I understand it's context dependent, but is there any phrase I can use to get by in most of the situations?

For example, when someone points to an item and ask "this one?" can I use 是 or maybe 对?

 

2. I will use 对不起 instead of 劳驾, but I wonder thats the difference between first one and 请问? Pimsleur indicates that "duì bu qǐ is" more like "excuse me" whereas "qǐng wèn"

more like "Please let me ask" - does that still make sense in moden Mandarin?

@Tomsima: thanks for all the new "excuse me" phrases! I will investigate those.

@Publius: thanks for the corrections!

 

3. Last one: Zhège vs Zhè - I've read Zhè is more colloquial, but I most heard Zhège in variety of resources...

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the help!