A free, self-paced textbook in 7 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 210 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the pitch contour of a syllable changes the meaning of a word. There are four main tones plus a neutral (light) tone. The fir...
The most common greeting is 你好 (nǐ hǎo), and the formal or polite version replaces 你 with 您 (nín), giving 您好 (nín hǎo), which is used for elders, customers, or strangers. Goo...
Polite expressions are essential in daily Chinese. 谢谢 (xièxie) means thank you and the polite reply is 不客气 (bú kèqi), which means you are welcome. When someone apologizes with...
Mandarin uses measure words (called 量词 or classifiers) between a number and a noun, and they cannot be dropped in standard speech. The most general measure word is 个 (ge), used...
The two main eating verbs are 吃 (chī) for solid food and 喝 (hē) for liquids. 我吃饭 means I eat a meal, 喝茶 means drink tea, 喝咖啡 means drink coffee, and 喝水 means drink wate...
Travel vocabulary includes 飞机 (fēijī) for airplane, 火车 (huǒchē) for train, 出租车 (chūzūchē) for taxi, 地铁 (dìtiě) for subway, 机场 (jīchǎng) for airport, and 火车站 (huǒchēzh...
To ask the time, say 现在几点 (xiànzài jǐ diǎn), where 几 means how many and 点 marks the hour. The response is something like 现在三点 (xiànzài sān diǎn). For minutes, use 分 (fēn...