5 comments

1. 02/04 at 2:41 pm

   Susan says:

   I have a couple of questions,

   The first one is about na4.
   In lesson 8 you say na4 means, “then, so.” In lesson 4 you say na4 means
   “that.”
   Does it mean all three – then, so, and that? Or is then, so another tone
   possibly?

   Second one is about bu.
   In lesson 8 in the grammar section, you say, “The negative form is made by
   putting bu4 before the verb shi4.” Could that possibly be a mistake? Do you
   mean bu2 instead of bu4?

   In lesson 8 you list the tones as dui4buqi3. In lesson 5 you list the tones
   as dui4bu4qi3.

   Which one is it?

   In lesson 8 you list the tones as yi1ci4. Yet, it sounds to me as if you
   are saying the tones as yi2ci4

   Which is it?

   I’ve really been enjoying your lessons and learning Chinese.

   Thank you for responding,
   SLReid

2. 02/04 at 2:45 pm

   Serge Melnyk says:

   Nihao Susan,

   Thanks for your good questions.

   Na4 or na4ge=that (sometimes also pronounced as nei4ge)
   na4 or na4me=so, then.

   So, na4 can mean ‘that’ and ‘so, then’

   To be more clear, the full word for ‘that’ is na4ge, opposite of zhe4ge (zhei4ge)
   The full word for ‘so or ‘then’ is na4me.

   The only other different ‘na’ is na3 pronounced in third tone and it means ‘which’, as in na3 yi2ge4-which one. (ge4 originally is in 4th tone, it’s either neutral or 4th tone, either way is fine)

   ******
   About ‘bu’ and ‘yi’.

   By default they are pronounced in: bu4-fourth tone, yi1-first tone.

   There is a rule when they change their tones.

   Bu4. When it’s placed before 4th tone, it turns into bu2-second tone., e.g. bu2 shi4, bu2 yao4, etc.

   When it’s placed before 1st, 2nd, 3rd tones, it’s still bu4-fourth tone. E.g. in dui4 bu4 qi3, qi3 is in third tone, so bu4 is still bu4. However, it can also be written as ‘neutral’ tone here. Either way.

   Same applies to yi1-one.

   When before fourth tone, it becomes second tone, eg. yi2 ci4-one time.

   But, yi4 qi3-together, yi4 is in fourth tone.

   This is just a very common rule, it will help you to understand why the tone is sometimes different with ‘bu’ and ‘yi’

   Best,

   Serge

3. 20/07 at 11:21 pm

   Bobby K says:

   Hi Serge,
   I’m still in lesson 17, but really found my mandarin skill improved a lot using your program. I especially find it’s pretty useful how you sometimes tell how an object is spoken differently in Taiwan and China, it’s pretty useful to know these differences.

   Keep up the good job :)

   Cheers,
   Bobby

4. 21/04 at 6:40 am

   Johnny says:

   Hi Serge,
   Thanks for great training program in Mandarin. I have started to study Mandarin and tried your free podcasts. If paying the amount for 6 months will material purchased (pdf files and podcast) only be possible to use under the 6 months? Will I need to renew and update by paying same amount after the 6 months period?

   Johnny

5. 21/04 at 1:47 pm

   Serge Melnyk says:

   Nihao! When you subscribe to our Mandarin Chinese course, you can download the materials and keep using them after the subscription expires. You won’t be billed automatically, so you can renew at any time you want.

   Best,

   Serge

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