Chinese has lots of words that are made up of the exact same sounds.
But in many cases, they can be differentiated by their tones.
And while this is second nature to a native speaker... learners who are new to Mandarin often struggle to recall the correct tones and end up saying a different word than they intend.
In this video we look at 5 such mistakes and help you avoid them in future conversations!
Want to Master Chinese Tones?
Summary of this video lesson
hán yǔ 韩语: Korean language
hàn yǔ 汉语: Chinese language
Dialogue 1: “Can you teach me Chinese?”
Customer:
nǐ kě yǐ jiāo wǒ hán yǔ ma？
你可以教我韩语吗？
Can you teach me Korean?
Waitress:
bù hǎo yì si, wǒ bù huì hán yǔ.
不好意思，我不会韩语。
Sorry, I can't speak Korean.
Customer:
a!？
啊!？
Uh!?
nǐ shì zhōng guó rén.
你是中国人。
You're Chinese.
nǐ bù huì hán yǔ!?
你不会韩语!?
You can't speak Korean!?
Waitress:
wǒ yào xiū xi！
我要休息！
I need a break!
The Correct Tones
Customer:
nǐ kě yǐ jiāo wǒ hàn yǔ ma？
你可以教我汉语吗？
Can you teach me Chinese?
Waitress:
kě yǐ.
可以。
Yes, I can.
gǒu 狗: dog
gòu 够: enough
Dialogue 2: “I have eaten enough” / "I ate enough"
Customer:
wǒ chī gǒu le.
我吃狗了。
I ate (the) dog.
Waitress:
shén me!? nǐ chī gǒu le!?
什么!? 你吃狗了!?
What!? You ate (the) dog!?
The Correct Tones
Customer:
wǒ chī gòu le.
我吃够了。
I ate enough.
Waitress:
hǎo de.
好的。
That's good.
wěn nǐ 吻你: kiss you
wèn nǐ 问你: ask you
Dialogue 3: “May I ask you..?”
Customer:
hēi! wǒ kě yǐ wěn nǐ ma？
嘿! 我可以吻你吗？
Hey! May I kiss you..?
Waitress:
a!？
啊!？
Huh!?
bǎo ān，zhè lǐ yǒu zhuàng kuàng！
保安，这里有状况！
Security guard, we've got a situation here!
The Correct Tones
Customer:
hēi！wǒ kě yǐ wèn nǐ ma？
嘿！我可以问你吗？
Hey! May I ask you..?
Waitress:
kě yǐ, nǐ wèn ba！
可以, 你问吧！
Yes, go ahead and ask.
mài 卖: sell
mǎi 买: buy
Dialogue 4: “I would like to buy coffee beans”
Customer:
nǐ hǎo！ wǒ mài kā fēi dòu.
你好！我卖咖啡豆。
Hello! I (would like to) sell coffee beans.
Waitress:
wǒ men bù xū yào. xiè xiè, zài jiàn！
我们不需要。谢谢，再见！
We don't need it. Thank you and goodbye!
Customer:
a!? wǒ mài kā fēi dòu.
啊!? 我卖咖啡豆。
Huh!? I (would like to) sell coffee beans.
Waitress:
yòu shì tā！
又是他！
It's that guy again!
The Correct Tones
Customer:
nǐ hǎo！wǒ mǎi kā fēi dòu.
你好！我买咖啡豆。
Hello! I (would like to) buy coffee beans.
Waitress:
hǎo de，kā fēi dòu zài zhè lǐ.
好的，咖啡豆在这里。
Ok, the coffee beans are here.
tāng 汤: soup
táng 糖: sugar
Dialogue 5: “Do you have sugar?”
Customer:
hēi！ yǒu tāng ma？
嘿！有汤吗？
Hey! Do you have soup?
Waitress:
bù hǎo yì si， wǒ men méi yǒu tāng.
不好意思，我们没有汤。
Sorry, we don't have soup.
Customer:
a!？
啊!？
Huh!?
kā fēi guǎn méi yǒu tāng!?
咖啡馆没有汤!?
A café that doesn't have soup!?
bù shì ba!？
不是吧!?
Really!?
Waitress:
shì a！ wǒ men méi yǒu tāng.
是啊！我们没有汤。
Right! We don't have soup.
Customer:
zhēn de méi yǒu tāng ma？
真的没有汤吗？
You really don't have soup?
Waitress:
wǒ men zhēn de méi yǒu tāng.
我们真的没有汤。
We really don't have soup.
wǒ yào xiū xi！
我要休息！
I need a break from this!
The Correct Tones
Customer:
hēi！yǒu táng ma？
嘿！有糖吗？
Hey! Do you have sugar?
Waitress:
dāng rán yǒu， gěi nǐ.
当然有，给你。
Sure. Here you are.
Customer:
xiè xiè！
谢谢！
Thank you!
Waitress:
bù kè qì！
不客气！
You're welcome!
Want to Master Chinese Tones?