In this lesson you will be learning about full names, surnames, and titles ("Mr.," Mrs.," etc.). Also, you'll be introduced to the sound system of Standard Chinese and to its written representation in Pinyin romanization. Tóngzhì, nǐ xìng shénme?

Upon completion of this lesson, you will be able to identify yourself or someone else by title, surname, and/or full name.

1. nǐ 你 PN: you 2. shéi shéi, shénme. For the first several lessons, these two words will be used as "question words" (QW). Later, you will learn to use them in other ways. 谁 PN: who, whom 3. shénme 生么 PN: what 4. shì 是 EV: to be 5. tā tā. The word tā in the spoken language has no gender and can mean "her" "she" and on occasion "it." In the written language, tā has three different forms to indicate gender. All are pronounced tā. 他，她，它 PN: he, she, it 6. tàitai 太太 N: Mrs.; wife, married woman, lady 7. tóngzhì 同志 N: comrade 8. wǒ 我 PN: I, me 9. xiānsheng 先生 N: Mr., Sir, husband, teacher 10. xiáojie 小姐 N: Miss, lady, daughter (polite) 11. xìng xìng. xìng is used in this lesson as a verb. In later lessons you will learn to use it also as a noun. 姓 N/EV: to be surnamed 12. Wáng 王 SN: Wáng 13. Dànián 大年 GN: Dànián 14. Hú 胡 SN: Hú 15. Měilíng 美㸳 GN: Měilíng 16. Mā 马 SN: Mā 17. Mínglī 明理 GN: Mínglī 18. Wáng Dànián 王大年 FN: Wáng Dànián 19. Hú Měilíng 胡美㸳 FN: Hú Měilíng 20. Mā Mínglī 马明理 FN: Mā Mínglī Abbreviations for parts of speech above (see preface, page ) PN - Pronoun N - Noun EV - Equative verb. Equative verbs connect or equate two nouns or nominal expressions. They resemble in function the English verb is in the sentence "That man is my brother." The verb shi is the most common EV.)

Learn and use these expressions in class . 1. Zào 早 good morning 2. Wǒmen shàngkè ba 我们上课八 let's begin class 3. Nǐ dǒng ma? 你懂吗？ do you understand? 4. Wǒ dǒng 我懂 I understand 5. Wǒ bùdǒng 我不懂 I don't understand 6. Duì le 对了 that's correct 7. Búduì 不对 that's not correct, that's not right 8. Wǒ bùzhīdào 我不知道 I don't know 9. Xiàkè le 下课了 class is dismissed 10. Míngtiān jiàn 明天见 see you tomorrow 11. Zài jiàn 再见 good bye (see you again)

1. A: Nǐ shì shéi? 你是谁？ Who are you? B: Wǒ shì Wáng Dànián. 我是王大年。 I'm Wáng Dànián. 2. A: Nǐ shì shéi? 你是谁？ Who are you? B: Wǒ shì Hú Měilíng. 我是胡美㸳。 I'm Hú Měilíng. 3. A: Tā shì shéi? 他是谁？ Who is he? B: Tā shì Mā Mínglī. 他是马明理。 He is Mā Mínglī. 4. A: Shéi shì Hú Měilíng? 谁是胡美㸳？ Who is ? B: Tā shì Hú Měilíng. 他是胡美㸳。 She is Hú Měilíng. he verb shì 是　means "to be" in the sense of "to be someone or something," as in "I am Daniel King." It expresses identity. (Later, you will learn a verb which means "to be" in another sense, "to be somewhere," as in "I am in Beǐjīng.” That verb expresses location.) Unlike verbs in European languages, Chinese verbs do not distinguish first, second, and third persons. A single form serves for all three persons. Wǒ shì Wáng Dànián. I am Wáng Dànián. Nǐ shì Hú Měilíng. You are Hú Měilíng. Tā shì Mā Mínglī. He is Mā Mínglī. Later, you will find that Chinese verbs (and nouns) do not distinguish singular and plural, either, and that they do not distinguish past, present, and future as such. You need to learn only one form for each verb. The question Nǐ shì shéi? is actually too direct for most situations, although it is all right from teacher to student or from student to student. (A more polite question is introduced in Lesson 2.) The pronoun tā is equivalent to "he," "she," or (in limited use) "it.” Unlike English, changing a question into a statement does not alter word order. Chinese uses the same word order in questions as in statements. Q1 Tā shì shéi? Who is he? S1 Tā shì Mā Mínglī. He is Mā Mínglī. Q2 Shéi shì Hú Měilíng? Who is Hú Měilíng? S2 Tā shì Hú Měilíng She is Hú Měilíng. When you answer a question containing a question word like shéi, "who," simply replace the question word with the information it asks for.

5. A: Nǐ xìng shénme? 你姓生么？ What is your surname? B: Wǒ xìng Wáng. 我姓王。 My surname is Wáng. 6. A: Tā xìng shénme? 他姓生么？ What is his surname? B: Tā xìng Mǎ. 他姓马。 His surname is Mǎ. 7. A: Shéi xìng Hú? 谁姓胡？ Whose surname is Hú? B: Tā xìng Hú. 他姓胡。 Her surname is Hú. Xìng is a verb, "to be surnamed." It is in the same position in the sentence as shì, "to be." Wǒ shì Wáng Dànián. I am Wáng Dànián. Wǒ xìng Wáng. I am surnamed Wáng Notice that the question word shénme, "what," takes the same position as the question word shéi, "who." Nǐ shì shéi? You are who? Nǐ xìng shénme? You are surnamed what? Shénme is the official spelling. However, the word is pronounced as if it were spelled shémma, or even shénma (often with a single rise in pitch extending over both syllables).

8. A: Tā shì shéi? 他是谁？ Who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Xiānsheng. 他是马先生. He is Mr. Mǎ. 9. A: Tā shì shéi? 他是谁？ Who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ xiānsheng. 他是马明理先生。 He is Mr. Mǎ Mínglǐ. After the verb shì, you may have the full name alone, the surname plus title, or the full name plus title. Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ Tā shì Mǎ Xiānsheng. Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ Xiānsheng. Xiānsheng, literally "first-born," has more of a connotation of respectfulness than "Mr." Xiānsheng is usually applied only to people other than oneself. Do not use the title Xiānsheng (or any other respectful title, such as "Professor") when giving your own name. If you want to say "I am Mr. Jones," you should say "Wǒ xìng Jones. " When a name and title are said together, logically enough it is the name which gets the heavy stress: Wáng xiānsheng . You will often hear the title pronounced with no full tones: Wáng xiānsheng. Sometimes, a westernized Chinese married woman may refer to herself as Wáng tàitai. "Mrs. Wáng" or Wáng Dànián tàitai "Mrs. Wáng Dànián."

10. A: Wáng Xiānsheng, tā shì shéi? 王先生，他是谁？ Mr Wáng, who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ Xiānsheng. 他是马明里先生。 He is Mr. Mǎ Mínglǐ. 11. A: Xiānsheng, tā shì shéi? 先生，他是谁？ Sir, who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Xiānsheng. 他是马先生。 He is Mr. Mǎ. 12. A: Xiānsheng, tā shì shéi? 先生，他是谁？ Sir, who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Tàitai. 他是马太太。 She is Mrs. Mǎ. 13. A: Wáng Xiānsheng, tā shì shéi? 王先生，他是谁？ Mr. Wáng, who is she? B: Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ Tàitai. 他是马明理太太。 She is Mrs. Mǎ Mínglǐ. When you address someone directly, use either the name plus the title alone. Xiānsheng must be translated as "sir" when it is used alone, since "Mr." would not capture its respectful tone. (Tàitai, however, is less respectful when used alone. You should address Mrs. Mǎ as Mǎ tàitai.)

14. A: Wáng Xiānsheng, tā shì shéi? 王先生，他是谁？ Mr. Wáng, who is she? B: Tā shì Mǎ Xiáojie. 他是马小姐。 She is Miss Mǎ. 15. A: Tā shì shéi? 他是谁？ Who is he? B: Tā shì Mǎ Mínglǐ Tóngzhì. 他是马明理同志。 He is Comrade Mǎ Mínglǐ. 16. A: Tóngzhì, tā shì shéi? 同志，他是谁？ Comrade, who is she? B: Tā shì Fāng Baǒlán. 他是方宝兰。 She is Fāng Baǒlán. 17. A: tóngzhì, tā shì shéi? 同志，塌是谁？ Comrade, who is she? B: tā shì Fāng Bǎolán Tóngzhì. 他是方宝兰同志。 She is Comrade Fāng Bǎolán.

See the Background Notes on Chinese personal names and titles.

The verb shì "to be" expresses identity. Chinese verbs and nouns do not indicate person, number, or tense. The pronoun tā means either "he," or "she." In Chinese changing a question into a statement does not alter word order. Xìng means "to be surnamed." It can also be used as a noun, "surname." People do not use titles, such as xiānsheng etc. when referring to themselves. When addressing someone directly, use the name plus xiānsheng, or xiānsheng alone. xiānsheng means "Mr." when used with a name. It means "sir" when used alone. The title Tóngzhì, "Comrade," is applied to all regardless of sex or marital status.

About Chinese personal names and titles A Chinese personal name consists of two parts: a surname and a given name. There is no middle name. The order is the reverse of ours: surname first, given name last. The most common pattern for Chinese names is a single-syllable surname followed by a two-syllable given name: The first version of each example is in Pinyon system pf romanization. The versions in parenthesis are conventional spellings from other romanization system. Máo Zédōng (Mao Tse-tung) Zhōu Enlái (Chou En-lai) Jiǎng Jièshí (Chiang Kai-shek) Sòng Qìnglíng (Soong Ch'ing-ling --- Mme Sun Yat-sen) Sòng Mĕilíng (Soong Mei-ling--Mme Chiang Kai-shek) It is not uncommon, however, for the given name to consist of a single syllable: Zhŭ Dĕ (Chu Teh) Lín Biāo (Lin Piao) Hú Shì (Hu Shih) Jiang Qĭng (Chiang Ch'ing—Mme Mao Tse-tung) There are a few two-syllable surnames. These are usually followed by single-syllable given names: Sīmă Guāng (Ssu-ma Kuang) Ōuyáng Xiū (Ou-yang Hsiu) Zhūgĕ Lìàng (Chu-ke Liang) But two-syllable surnames may also be followed by two-syllable given names: Sīmă Xiāngrú (Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju) An exhaustive list of Chinese surnames includes several hundred written with a single character and several dozen written with two characters. Some single-syllable surnames sound exactly alike although written with different characters, and to distinguish them, the Chinese nay occasionally have to describe the character or "write" it with a finger on the palm of a hand. But the surnames that you are likely to encounter are fever than a hundred, and a handful of these are so common that they account for a good majority of China’s population. Given names, as opposed to surnames, are not restricted to a limited list of characters, Men's names are often but not always distinguishable from women's; the difference, however, usually lies in the meaning of the characters and so is not readily apparent to the beginning student with a limited knowledge of characters. Outside the People's Republic the traditional system of titles is still in use. These titles closely parallel our own "Mr.," "Mrs.," and "Miss." Notice, however, that all Chinese titles follow the name — either the full name or the surname alone — rather than preceding it. The title "Mr." is Xiānsheng. Mă Xiānsheng Mă Mínglĭ Xiānsheng The title "Mrs." is Tàitai. It follows the husband's full name or surname alone. Mă Tàitai Mă Mínglĭ Tàitai The title "Miss" is Xiăojiĕ. The Ma family's grown daughter, Défēn, would be Mă Xiăojiĕ Mă Défēn Xiăojiĕ Even traditionally, outside the People's Republic, a married woman does not take her husband's name in the same sense as in our culture. If Miss Fang Băolán marries Mr. Ma Mínglĭ, she becomes Mrs, Mă Mínglĭ, but at the same time she remains Fāng~Băolán, She does not become Mă Băolán; there is no equivalent of "Mrs. Mary Smith." She may, however, add her husband's surname to her own full name and refer to herself as Mă Fāng Băolán. At work she is quite likely to continue as Miss Fāng. These customs regarding names are still observed by many Chinese today in various parts of the world. The titles carry certain connotations, however, when used in the PRC today: Tàitai should not be used because it designates that woman as a member of the leisure class. Xiăojiĕ should not be used because it carries the connotation of being from a rich family. In the People's Republic, the title "Comrade," Tóngzhì is used in place of the titles Xiānsheng, Tàitai, and Xiăojiĕ. Mă Mínglĭ would be: Mă Tóngzhì Mă Mínglĭ Tóngzhì The title "Comrade" is applied to all, regardless of sex or marital status. A married woman does not take her husband's name in any sense. Mă Mínglĭ' s wife would be: Fāng Tóngzhì Fāng Băolán Tóngzhì Children may be given either the mother's or the father's surname at birth. In some families one child has the father's surname, and another child has the mother's surname. Mă Mínglĭ's and Fāng Băolán's grown daughter could be Mă Tŏngzhì Mă Dĕfēn Tóngzhì Their grown son could be Fāng Tóngzhì Fāng Zìqiáng Tóngzhì Both in the PRC and elsewhere, of course, there are official titles and titles of respect in addition to the common titles we have discussed here. Several of these will be introduced later in the course. The question of adapting foreign names to Chinese calls for special consideration. In the People's Republic the policy is to assign Chinese phonetic equivalents to foreign names. These approximations are often not as close phonetically as they might be, since the choice of appropriate written characters may bring in non-phonetic considerations. (An attempt is usually made when transliterating to use characters with attractive meanings.) For the most part, the resulting names do not at all resemble Chinese names. For example, the official version of "David Anderson" is Dàiwĕi Āndésēn. An older approach, still in use outside the PRC, is to construct a valid Chinese name that suggests the foreign name phonetically. For example, "David Anderson" might be An Dàwèi. Sometimes, when a foreign surname has the same meaning as a Chinese surname, semantic suggestiveness is chosen over phonetic suggestiveness. For example, Wáng, a common Chinese surname, means "king," so "Daniel King" might be rendered Wáng Dànián. Your instructor will give you a Chinese name to facilitate conversation.

Substitution Drill. After the teacher gives the stimulus, you (the student) place it in the indicated structured pattern. (T) Mǎ Mínglǐ (S) Tā shi Mǎ Mínglǐ. ⻢明理 他/她是⻢明理 Mǎ Mínglǐ He is Mǎ Mínglǐ. Response Drill. After the teacher gives the cue, you place it in the indicated structured pattern. (T) Nǐ shi shéi? Wáng Dànián (S) Wǒ shi Wáng Dànián. 你是谁？ 王大年 我是王大年 Who are you? Wáng Dànián I am Wáng Dànián Nǐ shi shéi? Hú Měilíng Wǒ shi Hú Měilíng. 你是谁？ 胡美玲 我是胡美玲 Who are you? Hú Měilíng I am Hú Měilíng Response Drill. (T) Tā shi shéi? Mǎ xiānsheng (S) Tā shi Mǎ xiānsheng. 他是谁？ 马先生 他是马先生 Who is he? Mr. Mǎ He is Mr. Mǎ. Response Drill. After the teacher gives the cue in English, you translate it into Chinese and place it in the indicated structured pattern. (T) Tā shì shéi? Mr. Wáng (S) Tā shì Wáng xiānsheng. 他是谁？ 王先生 他是王先生。 Who is he? Mr. Wáng He is Mr. Wáng. Transformation Drill. After the teacher gives the stimulus, transform it into the structured pattern shown. (T) Tā shì Fāng Bǎolán. (S) Shéi shì Fāng Bǎolán? 她是方宝 兰。 谁是方宝 兰？ She is Fāng Bǎolán. Who is Fāng Bǎolán? Response Drill. Answer the teacher's questions using the cues and pattern shown. (T) Shéi shì Mǎ tóngzhì? Tā (S) Tā shì Mǎ tóngzhì. 谁是马同志？ 他 他是马同志。 Who is comrade Mǎ? He is comrade Mǎ. Response Drill. Respond to questions according to cues, using the pattern shown. (T) Shéi xìng Mǎ? He (S) Tā xìng Mǎ. 谁姓 他 他姓马。 Whose surname is Mǎ? His surname is Mǎ. Response Drill. Respond to the questions with cued surnames using the pattern shown. (T) Tā xìng shénme? Mǎ (S) Tā xìng Mǎ. 她姓什么？ 马 她姓马。 What is her surname? Her surname is Mǎ.