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

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Here and There in Chinese | How to Use "And" in Chinese

In this video lesson we'll learn how to say here and there in Chinese, how to use "and" in Chinese with 和. We'll also learn how to say some animals like cat, dog and fish in Chinese, and how to refer to animals by using "it" in Chinese with 它.

  • Here and there in Chinese
  • "And" in Chinese with 和
  • Animals like cat, dog and fish in Chinese
  • Measure Words 条 and 只
  • "It" in Chinese with 它

VOCABULARY


GRAMMAR


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 哪 and  那 in both Characters and Pinyin Tones. 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.

Here There Where
这里 / 这儿 那里 / 那儿 哪里 / 哪儿
zhèlǐ / zhèr nàlǐ / nàr nǎlǐ / nǎr

 

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:

This That Which
zhè

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  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  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)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 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
5 Comments
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Roxanne CuPremium Student September 22, 2021 at 5:54 pm

您好, 老师。I just noticed that in the word 认为 (rènwéi ), the second syllable is in the 2nd tone. However, 为 (wèi) alone is pronounced in the 4th tone. Does it mean that some syllables could lose their original tone when combined with other syllables? I am just familiar with some syllables that would turn into the neutral tone when paired with other syllables like 认识, 漂亮, 便宜,etc. 谢谢您。

I’m glad you noticed. Some Chinese characters have more than one pronunciation, and usually when pronounced differently, the meaning is also different. Characters like this are called 多音字(duōyīnzì).

imsedatedPremium Student September 23, 2020 at 12:58 pm

It seems lately that the Oxford comma is all the rage in the States. Would it ever be okay to list off items like A,B,C,和 D?

In Chinese, in front of 和 there should not be a comma. It’s the Chinese writing punctuation standard.

T.I.PPremium Student December 1, 2019 at 4:35 pm

Very informative lesson full of useful grammar points. Thanks a lot! I will have to find the special character for the comma on my keyboard 🙂

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