Level 1 Lesson 20.1 – A Dog, A Cat, and A Fish

Grammar 1: How to Say Here and There in Chinese · HSK 1

We learned "where" in Chinese is  nǎlǐ/nǎr 哪里/哪儿 in the previous lesson, in today's lesson we'll learn how to say here and there in Chinese.

Be careful of the differences between nǎ 哪 and nà 那 in both Characters and Pinyin Tones. Nǎ 哪 where, is the one with 口 on the left. Also 哪 is pronounced in the Third Tone, and 那 is Pronounced in the Fourth Tone.

Also remember we learned this, that and which in Chinese in our Basic Course? This and that in Chinese in Lesson 17 and which in Chinese in Lesson 18? Here they are:

Grammar 2: "And" in Chinese with 和 · HSK 1

When we want to say more than one person/item/thing together, we can put them together by using  hé 和, which is a Conjunction,  liáncí 连词. It is used to equally put a few language units together.

So we can say "and" in Chinese with 和 by using this structure:

A, B, C 和 D

Be careful that:

(1) 和 is only used once before the last person/item/thing
(2) we use "，" dòuhào 逗号 comma to separate each person/item/thing
(3) before 和, we do not use dòuhào 逗号 comma
(4) 和 can only be used to connect words and phrases, but cannot be used to connect sentences.

For example,

• māo hé gǒu
  猫和狗
  cat and dog
• Zhōngwén, Yīngwén hé Fǎwén
  中文，英文和法文
  Chinese, English and French

Unlike in English, 和 in Chinese cannot be used to connect sentences. Following are some sentences that we do not say in Chinese with 和.

• wǒ xué Hànyǔ, hé wǒ xué Fǎyǔ
  ^✗ 我学汉语，和我学法语。
  I learn Chinese, and I learn French
• wǒde nánpéngyou xǐhuan māo, hé wǒ xǐhuan gǒu
  
• ^✗ 我的男朋友喜欢猫，和我喜欢狗。
  My boyfriend likes cats, and I like dogs

Grammar 3: Cat, Dog and Fish in Chinese · HSK 1

This is how we say cat, dog and fish in Chinese:

• māo 猫 cat
• gǒu 狗 dog
• yú 鱼 fish

But remember when mentioning how many of something, we need to follow the "number + measure word + thing" structure? So the following phrases are examples of using measure words for cat, dog and fish in Chinese

• yìzhī māo, liǎngtiáo gǒu hé sāntiáo yú
  一只猫，两条狗和三条鱼
  one cat, two dogs and three fish

Grammar 4: "It" in Chinese with 它 · HSK 1

In English we say "it" a lot both as the Object of a sentence, or as the Subject or the Formal Subject of a sentence.

The direct translation word for "it" in Chinese is tā 它.

它 can also be both used as the Subject or the Object of a sentence, however, in Chinese we do not use 它 as the Formal Subject, nor do we use it to refer to nouns that are usually replaced with "it" such as weather.

Let's see how English sentences with "it" would be interpreted in Chinese.

As the Object:

• A: This is my cat, (it is) called Guoguo, I love it a lot
        这是我的猫，叫果果，我很爱它。
        zhèshì wǒde māo, jiào guǒguo, wǒ hěn 'ài tā 

As the Subject:

• B: It is my dog.
        它是我的狗。
        tā shì wǒde gǒu
• C: It is hot outside.
        外面很热。
        wàimiàn hěn rè

As the Formal Subject:

• D: It is believed that Chinese is the most difficult language. 
        很多人认为中文是最难的语言。
        hěnduō rén rènwéi Zhōngwén shì zuìnánde yǔyán