The first words you’ll learn in the lesson are wǒ (我) and nǐ (你). Check out my previous lesson personal pronouns to review this vocabulary.

Next you’ll learn how to say “to want”: yào (要). Make sure you get the fourth tone right. Next you’ll learn how to say “what”: shén me (什么). Notice the me has a neutral tone. Thus, it does not rise or fall.

Now you’ll learn how to make a sentence. nǐ yào shén me? (你要什么?). Wǒ yào kā fēi (我要咖啡.)

You can also say, Wǒ yào chá (我要茶).

Now you’ll learn how to say, “I want to buy”. Do do this you first say wǒyào, I want. Then you’ll need to add the verb for “to buy”: mǎi (买). Notice it uses the third tone. If you switch to the fourth falling tone you get mài (卖), which means, “to sell”.

The final verb you’ll learn here is “to like”: xǐhuān (喜欢). So, to say “What do you like?” you say, ní xǐ huān shén me? (你喜欢什么).  An example of a response to that question would be, “I like coffee”, or wǒ xǐ huān kā fēi (我喜欢咖啡).

Now you can practice these Chinese sentences and verbs many times with Benny’s fantastic YouTube video!

Yet another Mandarin Chinese Lesson with our favorite kitties. Here you’ll learn how to say very cute in Mandarin Chinese! Nà wǒmén xiàn zài zài kàn dào xiǎo māo de liǎn  (那我们现在在看到小猫的脸.) That first nà (那) does not really have any meaning. It kind of means “that”. I picked it up from Taiwanese Mandarin. For the word face in Mandarin say lian with the third tone.

How to say Can you see it in Mandarin Chinese

kě yǐ kàn dào ma (可以看到吗？). If you travel to China you will hear kě yǐ (可 以) all the time. It means “to be able to” or “it’s alright” in Mandarin Chinese. For example, if you want to ask somebody if something is okay you ask, “kě yǐ mā”.

How to say very cute right in Mandarin Chinese

Hěn kě ài duì bú diù (很可爱对不对?) To say cute in Mandarin you say kě ài (可爱). You see that duì bú diù (对不对)? That means right? or correct? in Mandarin. You will hear that from day 1 when you start learning Mandarin Chinese.

I’m sorry this video for learning Mandarin Chinese online was so short. There will be more to come! Thanks!

How to say hello everybody this is your Mandarin Chinese teacher in Chinese

We say: dà jià hǎo wǒ shì dà wèi nǐ mén zhōng wén lǎo shī (大家好我是大卫你们中文老师). Dà jià means everybody and literally means “big family”. Zhōng wén (中文) is one of several ways to describe Chinese. The first character zhong means “central” or China (eg, Middle/central Kindom). Lǎo shī (老师) is teacher. Actually Lǎo shī is considered an honorable title in China. So, I don’t know if I’m worthy enough of being called Lǎo shī.

How to say Kitten in Mandarin Chinese

To say kitten you say: xiǎo māo 小猫 = kitten. Xiǎo (小) means little or small. Make sure you get the third dipping tone right.

How to say but she is very shy in Mandarin Chinese

We say: dàn shì tā hěn hài xiū (但是他很害羞). Dàn shì means but. Remember, emphasize the fourth tone on those two chracters. To say shy you say  hài xiū = 害羞. Be sure to make the tones fourth falling tone then first tone.

How to say Do you know what he’s trying to find in Mandarin Chinese

You say: ní zhī dào tā zài zhǎo shén me ma? (你知道他在找什么马). Zhī dào (知道) means to know. It literally means to have knowledge of the “Way” – as in Taoism.  To find you say zhǎo (找). Make sure you get that third dipping tone right. If you use the fourth falling tone you’ll be saying photograph.

How to say he’s looking for mommy’s nipple

You say: Tā zài zhǎo mā mā de nǎi tōu （她再找妈妈的奶头）. Zài is a particle placed before the very to indicate that the person doing the verb is in the process of doing it. It’s the same as adding an “ing” to the end of a very in English. To say nipple you say: nǎi tōu (奶头) which literally means milk head.

How to say Yes! Why? Because he wants to eat! in Mandarin Chinese

You say: Shì  de wěi  shé  me ne? Yīn wèi tā yào chī fàn (是的, 为什么呢？因为他要吃饭). Wěi  shé  me (为什么) means why. Yào (要) means to want to in the immediate sense like you want to do something right away.

How to say to be hungry in Mandarin Chinese

To say hungry you say: è = 饿. That “e” sounds like when somebody hits you in the stomach. To say hungry you can also say: dù zi è le (肚子饿了). Dù zi (肚子) means stomach. Le (了) is simply a particle that describes that there is a situation occuring.

How to say she does not want to eat anymore in Mandarin Chinese

You say: Tā bù xiǎng chī le (他不想吃了). Xiǎng (想) means to wish or desire to. It’s not as strong as the Yao (fourth tone) we learn above. Here the le (了) particle indicates that the situation has occured and is finshed or completed.

How to say she wants to rest in Mandarin Chinese

Tā yào xiū xí le (他要休息了) Again, the yào (要) here indicates that the kitten wants to sleep immediately.

How to say Also in Mandarin Chinese

To say also you say yě (也). Make sure you put stress on the third dipping tone.

How to say wait in Mandarin Chinese

You say: Děng yixià. Děng (等) means to wait.  Yixià is added after verbs in Mandarin Chinese to indicate that the action will take place soon and quickly.

How to say to speak in Mandarin Chinese

To say to speak you say: Jiǎng huà = 讲话= to speak. Make sure you get that third tone right on the Jiǎng and the fourth tone right on the hu.

I hope this video and tutorial for learning Mandarin Chinese online helped you to improve! I look forward to reading your comments below!

In this lesson you’ll learn how to say cat in Mandarin Chinese. The cat is cute so watch the video! I shot this video of a cat named Princess. She is a stray cat who I have been looking after for several months. She just had kittens and they’re so cute! To say cat in mandarin Chinese you say yī zhī māo = 一只猫. You need to use the word zhī as a measure word, like a flock of geese. Also, notice the word for cat sounds just like when we say “miao” to imitate a cat’s voice in English.


In this video I decided not to use my boring powerpoint presentation format because I’m getting sick of that – it’s putting me to sleep!

In this video you’ll also learn a bunch of other Mandarin Chinese vocabulary. If you did not catch it all the first time just re-play the video a few times and I’m sure you’ll get it all very fast. Here’s what you’ll learn:

How to Say to Rest in Mandarin Chinese

To rest or to “take a rest” say xiū xí = 休息. You can also say 休息一下 (yī xià). I forgot to mention the yī xià  in the video.  Basically you stick that after any verb in Mandarin and it kind of suggests let’s do this particular verb (if you have a better translation please leave your comment below. Thank you.

How to Say Little or Small in Mandarin Chinese

You also learn the word for little: = xiǎo (小). The word for big is dà (大). That’s the first character in my Chinese name: Dawei!

How to Say to Bother in Mandarin Chinese

You’ll also learn how to say to bother = dǎ rǎo = 打扰. You see how there’s two third tones in a row? Well, in this situation you should make that first third tone on da a second rising tone. This is a rule in Mandarin: two 3rd tones in a row you make the first 3rd tone a 2nd tone. I often forget this one but it’s important to remember.

How to Say good-bye in Mandarin Chinese

Here you’ll review how to say good-bye = zài jiàn = 再见. You’ve learned this in previous lessons for learning Mandarin Chinese online.

How to say mom in Mandarin Chinese

You’ll learn how to say mother or mom = mā mā =  妈妈. Don’t forget to call your mom folks!

How to say yes or certainly yes in Mandarin Chinese

You’ll learn to say yes: shì de = 是的. I honestly don’t know why the Chinese stick in that de at the end. But, if you really want to confirm that the anwer to a question is yes then stick in the de 的. Another way of confirming a yes answer is to say 就是. That first character is jiù four falling tone.

Stay tuned this week because there are more videos for learning Mandarin Chinese online of cute kitties on the way!

Personally when I speak Mandarin naturally I say it the Taiwan way but I used the Bejing way in the video as Bejing Mandarin is considered the proper Mandarn, or Standard Spoken Chinese.  The character lái (来) simply means to come. Make sure you get the second tone right on this one. The last character de (的) is simply a particle and means of or from in Mandarin Chinese.

I hope this video on learning to ask somebody where they are from in Mandarin helped. In the next video we’ll go through the countries so you’ll actually be able to tell people where you come from in Mandarin Chinese! Good luck!

In this lesson you’ll learn some key phrases in Mandarin Chinese including how to say hi and how to say nice to meet you. The first time you meet somebody you’ll need to say hello. To say hello or How are You in Mandarin Chinese you say: ní hǎo (你好). That literally means: You Good.

How to say my name is in Mandarin Chinese

To say my name is in Mandarin Chinese you say: wǒ jiào (我叫). Wǒ means me or I (the Chinese do not distinguish between me or I and just have one character to express both). Jiào means to be named or called. Make sure you say this with a clear four falling tone.

How to say nice to meet you in Mandarin Chinese

To say “nice to meet you” in Mandarin Chinese say: hěn gāo xìng rèn shì nǐ (很高兴认识你). Hěn means very. I kind of exaggerate the tone in the video! To say happy say gāo xìng. Make sure you get the tones right: first tone on gao and fourth tone on xing. The “X” sounds like “sh”. Rèn shì means to know or to be acquainted with somebody. It does NOT mean to know something.

I hope this helped and appreciate any feedback below.

So, qǐng wèn nǐ de diàn huà hào mǎ jǐ hào – What’s your phone number?

The good news is there is that there are no verb tenses to memorize in Mandarin. Basically each verb just has one character and one way of saying it. So to express time we must insert a time word before the verb.


The basic sentence sturcture is:  Subject + Character for when the event takes place + Verb. In thes video we use the example of going to Shanghai and learn to say “Today I go to Shanghai”, “Yesterday I went to Shanghai” and “Tomorrow I will go to Shanghai”.

Mandarin Chinese Present Tense
我今天去上海 = wǒ jīn tiān qù shàng hǎi
I (wǒ) today (jīn tiān ) go (qù) Shanghai

Mandarin Chinese Future Tense
我明天去上海 = wǒ míng tiān qù shàng hǎi

I (wǒ) tomorrow (míng tiān ) go (qù) Shanghai

Mandarin Chinese Past tense
我昨天去上海 = wǒ zuó tiān qù shàng hǎi
I (wǒ) yesterday (zuó tiān ) go (qù) Shanghai

In this lesson you’ll learn how to compare two things or objects in Mandarin Chinese. There is only one character which you need to learn: 比 = bǐ. Here is the basic sentence structure: Thing or Object A bǐ Thing or Object B + Adjective. Here’s our example: Canada bǐ England B + Big.

Learn Mandarin Online

In Chinese characters this reads: 加拿大 bǐ英国大 (jāi ná dà bǐ yīng guó dà). Translation: Canada is bigger than England. You see – you just have to memorize this simple grammatical sentence structure in Mandarin chinese -  Thing A bǐ Thing B + Adjective – and you will be able to compare any to objects or things.