Chinese for English speakers Office · Lesson 1

How do you ...?

Chinese 怎么 — 你怎么写'柏灵'呢? (How do you write 'Bolin'?) — versatile 'how' question word.

Conversation

  1. Muri Muri

    柏灵，我喜欢写汉字。

    Bó líng, wǒ xǐ huan xiě hàn zì.

    Bolin, I like writing Chinese characters.

    Tip: 写 <xiě> = write 汉字 <hànzì> = Chinese character

  2. Muri Muri

    你怎么写“柏灵”呢？

    nǐ zěn me xiě Bólíng ne?

    How do you write you name?

    Tip: 怎么 <zěnme> = how, in which way

  3. Bolin Bolin

    “柏”是德国柏林的“柏”。

    Bó shì dé guó bó lín de bó.

    "Bo" as in "bolin", in Germany

    Tip: 柏林 <Bólín> = Berlin 德国 <Déguó> = Germany In Chinese, spell your name by giving examples of the sounds

  4. Bolin Bolin

    “灵”是“灵活”的“灵”

    líng shì línghuó de líng.

    "Ling" as in "ling", in the word "flexible".

    Tip: 灵活 <línghuó> = flexible, nimble

Common questions

Quick answers about this lesson's grammar and vocabulary.

What does 怎么 mean?

'How'. 怎么写 (how to write), 怎么读 (how to read), 怎么去 (how to go). Universal 'how' question.

How do you ask 'how to spell ...?' in Chinese?

Chinese doesn't have an alphabet, so 'spell' = 怎么写 (how to write). For pinyin: 怎么拼?

Chinese characters vs pinyin?

汉字 (Chinese characters), 拼音 (pinyin, Romanized). Both used: characters for writing, pinyin for pronunciation.

Test yourself

Pick the English translation for each line from this lesson. Wrong answers are pulled from other Chinese lessons.

4 quick questions on what you just heard.

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