Welcome to Lesson 2 to learn Mandarin online in Unit 2 of SKMLifestyle’s Chinese Language course. In the previous lesson, I introduced you to the 20 characters from the 100 most common Mandarin Chinese characters list. In order to learn Chinese fast, in this lesson, we’ll learn another 20 new and basic Chinese characters.
I sincerely hope you are not rushing with the lessons. I am already keeping the lessons simple and manageable to ensure you a comfortable learning. Again, I’d emphasize that you keep revising all the lessons (check out all lessons from Unit 1 and Unit 2).
20 characters of 100 most common mandarin Chinese characters list
Here is the list of another 20 most frequently Mandarin Chinese characters. Look and at them with a peaceful mind, and again, write them on a plain paper with pen or pencil. You’ll get them soon.
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| Arrive | 到 | Dào |
| Assumption | 以 | Y ǐ |
| Speak | 说 | Shuō |
| Time | 时 | Shí |
| ‘.’ | 了 | Le |
| After/behind | 后 | Hòu |
| Since | 自 | Zì |
| Doing something | 着 | Zhe |
| Just/only | 就 | Jiù |
| Can | 会 | Huì |
| Born | 生 | Shēng |
| Yes | 能 | Néng |
| Should | 得 | Dei |
| In | 于 | Yú |
| Of | 之 | Zhī |
| Through | 过 | Guò |
| As | 作 | Zuò |
| Inside | 里 | L ǐ |
| Want | 要 | Yào |
| Out | 出 | Chū |
Example of “I want” in Chinese
How do you say “I want” something in Chinese? Well, this is really a very important phrase –in any language. If you come to China, you’d always be looking something, say food, drinks, etc. Let me teach you now – how to say “I want something” in Mandarin Chinese.
In the previous lesson, we learnt that 我 (Wǒ) means “I” and 不 (Bù) means “No”. In this lesson, I have just introduced you to a new character 要 (Yào) which means “want”. If you have to say, “I want”, you can just say 我要 (Wǒ Yào). Similarly, if you don’t want something, you’d say, 我不要 (Wǒ Bù Yào). Moreover, in Lesson 1 of Unit 1, I told you that “something” is called 东西 (Dōng Xī). So if you want to say “I want something”, you’d say, 我要东西 (Wǒ Yào Dōng Xī). If you wish to say, “I don’t want something”, you’d say, 我不要东西 (Wǒ Bù Yào Dōng Xī).
In this example, “thing” can be replaced any object (dog, cat, food, drinks, etc.). I’ll give you more examples in the coming lessons.
Remember that there is no substitute of memorizing the important Mandarin Chinese characters. Whatever method you follow; you need to remember the characters – you just can’t ignore them. That’s why I’m putting up the most important Chinese characters in one place. Take your time, and mug them – slowly, but surely. I’ll give you more tips in the coming lessons for connecting these characters and deriving the new words.
That’s all in Lesson 2 of the Chinese Language course.
You can head to the next lesson of the Chinese Language course or go through the previous lesson again.
Feeling confident about the lessons? Cool! Try the Chinese Language Proficiency Test and see how much you now you know Mandarin Chinese. Be brave enough to not look at the answers before evaluating the questions (and of course deciding the answers). 🙂
With the 100 most common mandarin Chinese characters list in hand, I hope now it’s easier to learn Mandarin online.
If you have any question about the basic Chinese words or Chinese language course, feel free to post in our forum so that others could also contribute and learn. For regular updates like us on Facebook, or follow on Twitter!
If you enjoy to learn Chinese language, or find the write-ups useful, don’t forget to buy me a beer!
Happy mandarin Chinese learning.
Last updated: Wednesday, March 14, 2018