Question

Mandarin HSK I Tutorial: Studying Chinese, Telling the Date

Answer 1

\({\bf{Welcome~to~My~Tutorial:}}\)

✩ This is a tutorial, not a question.
☾ Please save all comments or questions for the end.
✩ Please do not copy-paste my content.
☾ Please do not leave irrelevant or disrespectful comments.
✩ Interrupting/rude comments will be reported as spam/harassment.

This tutorial is meant to be a study guide for the HSK, as well as a general tutorial to help people learning Chinese. The HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) is a proficiency examination in Mandarin Chinese (the most widely spoken dialect of Chinese).

Answer 2

\({\bf{Vocabulary:}}\)

Studying Chinese

汉字 (Hànzì) Chinese writing
字 (zì) word/character
写 (xiě) to write
说(shuō) to speak
读 (dú) to read
书 (shū) book
学校 (xué xiào) school

Food & Drink

菜 (cài) food or cuisine (if you put a country name before it, it implies cuisine, ex: 中国菜 means Chinese food. It can also just mean a dish, or food in general, ex: 做菜 means to cook)
米饭 (mǐ fàn) rice
茶 (chá) tea
杯字 (bēi zi) cup
好吃 (hǎo chī) delicious
吃(chī) to eat
喝 (hē) to drink

Telling Dates

月 yuè (moon/month. Since this is a section about telling the date, we’ll focus on month as the meaning)
号(hào) used to designate the date # when telling the date. Ex: 一月一号 means January 1st
今天 (jīn tiān) today
昨天 (zuó tiān) yesterday
明天 (míng tiān) tomorrow
星期 (xīng qī) week

Other Vocabulary

很 (hěn) very (see grammar notes)
会 (huì) to be able to (see grammar notes)
做 (zuò) to make
怎么 (zěn me) how (see grammar notes)
请问 (qǐng wèn) polite way to start a question. Separately, 请 means please and 问 means to ask.
看 (kàn) to watch/look. Together with 书, means “to read.”
去 (qù) to go (see grammar notes)
想 (xiǎng) to want (see grammar notes)

Answer 3

\({\bf{Grammar~Notes:}}\)

✩ 会 (to be able to) + verb expresses the ability to do something. Ex: 我会说汉语. In the negative, it’s 不会

☾ 很 (very). This works a bit differently than in English. A basic structure with this sentence is Subject + 很 + adjective (In English, we would use a linking verb like “to be,” but do not do that in this sentence structure). Ex: 你的中文很好 (not 是好 or 是很好)

✩ 怎么 (how). Used before a verb. Ex: 你的名字怎么写？

☾ How to ask today’s date: 今天(是)几号?
Response: 今天(是)__ 月__号. (It is ___ month and __ day)
To ask about yesterday or tomorrow, replace 今天 with 昨天 or 明天 as appropriate.

✩ How to ask for the day of the week: 今天星期几?
Response: 今天(是)星期___ (It is Monday/Tuesday, etc.)
Note: in Chinese, the week starts on Monday. So Monday is 星期一, Tuesday is 星期二, etc. until you get to Sunday, which is 星期日 (xīng qī rì) or 星期天 (xīng qī tiān).
To ask about yesterday or tomorrow, replace 今天 with 昨天 or 明天 as appropriate.

Additional note: you can omit the 是, as the date/day of the week can act as a nominal predicate.

☾ 去 (to go) can be used in the following sentence structure: Subject + 去 + place + purpose. Ex: 我去学校学汉语.

✩ 想 (to want). 想 + verb is used to express the desire. Typically it’s used to express immediate desires. 我想吃中国菜

Answer 4

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Liping, J., Fang, W., Feng, W., Liping L. (2018). HSK Standard Course 1. Beijing Language and Culture University Press.

Other helpful resources:
https://www.purpleculture.net/online-chinese-input/ (will let you type pinyin and get characters)

https://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/converter-pinyin-unicode.html (will convert plaintext to pinyin, with accent marks)

https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php (pinyin dictionary. Would also recommend the app Pleco)

http://www.learnchineseeveryday.com/2009/08/01/days_of_the_week/