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!