2. History
• The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent
that they cannot understand each other.... [They] also have another language
which is like a universal and common language; this is the official language of
the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves....
Two of our fathers [Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci] have been learning this
mandarin language...
• — Alessandro Valignano, Historia del Principio y Progresso de la Compañia de
Jesus en las Indias Orientales (1542–1564)
4. Vocabulary
• Many formal, polite and humble words that were in use in imperial China have not been used in daily conversation in modern-day Mandarin, such as
jiàn (贱/賤 "my humble") and guì (贵/貴 "your honorable").
• Although Chinese speakers make a clear distinction between Standard Chinese and the Beijing dialect, there are aspects of Beijing dialect that have
made it into the official standard. Standard Chinese has a T–V distinction between the polite and informal "you" that comes from the Beijing dialect,
although its use is quite diminished in daily speech. In addition, it also distinguishes between "zánmen" (we including the listener) and "wǒmen" (we
not including the listener). In practice, neither distinction is commonly used by most Chinese, at least outside the Beijing area.
• The following samples are some phrases from the Beijing dialect which are not yet accepted into Standard Chinese:[citation needed]
• 倍儿 bèir means 'very much'; 拌蒜 bànsuàn means 'stagger'; 不吝 bù lìn means 'do not worry about'; 撮 cuō means 'eat'; 出溜 chūliū means 'slip'; (大)老
爷儿们儿 dà lǎoyermenr means 'man, male'.
• The following samples are some phrases from Beijing dialect which have become accepted as Standard Chinese:[citation needed]
• 二把刀 èr bǎ dāo means 'not very skillful'; 哥们儿 gēménr means 'good male friend(s)', 'buddy(ies)'; 抠门儿 kōu ménr means 'frugal' or 'stingy'.
5. Chinese grammar
• The grammar of Standard Chinese shares many features with other varieties of Chinese.
The language almost entirely lacks inflection, so that words typically have only one
grammatical form. Categories such as number (singular or plural) and verb tense are
frequently not expressed by any grammatical means, although there are several particles
that serve to express verbal aspect, and to some extent mood.
• The basic word order is subject–verb–object (SVO). Otherwise, Chinese is chiefly a head-
last language, meaning that modifiers precede the words they modify – in a noun phrase,
for example, the head noun comes last, and all modifiers, including relative clauses,
come in front of it. (This phenomenon is more typically found in SOV languages like
Turkish and Japanese.)
7. Common phrases
• Hello!你好！ 你好！ Nǐ hǎo!
• What is your name? 你叫什麼名字？ 你叫什么名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
• My name is... 我叫... 我叫... Wǒ jiào ...
• How are you? 你好嗎？/ 你怎麼樣？ 你好吗？/ 你怎么样？
• Nǐ hǎo ma? / Nǐ zěnmeyàng?
• I am fine, how about you? 我很好，你呢？ 我很好，你呢？ Wǒ hěn hǎo, nǐ
ne?
8. Common phrases
• I don't want it / I don't want to 我不要。我不要。Wǒ bú yào.
• Thank you! 謝謝！ 谢谢！ Xièxie
• Welcome! / You're welcome! (Literally: No need to thank me!) / Don't mention it!
(Literally: Don't be so polite!) 歡迎！/ 不用謝！/ 不客氣！ 欢迎！/ 不用谢！/
不客气！ Huānyíng! / Búyòng xiè! / Bú kèqì!
• Yes. / Correct. 是。 / 對。/ 嗯。 是。 / 对。/ 嗯。 Shì. / Duì.
• No. / Incorrect. 不是。/ 不對。/ 不。 不是。/ 不对。/ 不。 Búshì. / Bú
duì. / Bù.
![History
• The Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent
that they cannot understand each other.... [They] also have another language
which is like a universal and common language; this is the official language of
the mandarins and of the court; it is among them like Latin among ourselves....
Two of our fathers [Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci] have been learning this
mandarin language...
• — Alessandro Valignano, Historia del Principio y Progresso de la Compañia de
Jesus en las Indias Orientales (1542–1564)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)