It’s very nice to meet you!
How are you able to speak Chinese?
I am a Chinese dish.
Am I not your dish (your type)?
You are my dish (my type)!
I like you.
I like you a lot.
Okay, let’s learn some new words.
很 hěn
“very”
很 hěn
很 高 兴 hěn gāo xìng
“very happy”
高 兴 gāo xìng
“happy”
“pleased”
高 兴 gāo xìng
认 识 rèn shi
“to know”
“to be acquainted with”
认 识 rèn shi
你 nǐ
“you”
我 wǒ
“me”
她 tā
“she”
他 tā
“he”
汉 语 Hàn yǔ
“Mandarin Chinese”
汉 语 Hàn yǔ
中 国 Zhōng guó
“China”
中 国 Zhōng guó
说 shuō
“speak”
“talk”
or “say”
说 汉 语 shuō Hàn yǔ
“speak Chinese”
说 汉 语 shuō Hàn yǔ
菜 cài
“cuisine”
“dish”
中 国 菜 Zhōng guó cài
“Chinese cuisine”
美 国 菜 Měi guó cài
“American cuisine”
喜 欢 xǐ huan
“like”
我 喜 欢 说 汉 语 wǒ xǐ huan shuō Hàn yǔ
“I like to speak Chinese”
她 喜 欢 中 国 菜 tā xǐ huan Zhōng guó cài
“She likes Chinese cuisine”
It’s very nice to meet you!
How are you able to speak Chinese?
I am a Chinese dish.
Am I not your dish (your type)?
You are my dish (my type)!
I like you.
I like you a lot.
Now it’s time for some new phrases and sentences.
Let’s start with the simple but useful one!
When you first meet someone,
how do you tell him/her
“very happy to meet you”?
Well, remember the vocab that we’ve learned in the vocab section?
“very”
很 hěn
“happy”
高 兴 gāo xìng
“to know”
认 识 rèn shi
“you”
你 nǐ
So we just simply put them all together
and it becomes a phrase!
很 高 兴 认 识 你 hěn gāo xìng rèn shi nǐ
“Very happy to meet you”
Simple isn’t it?
Now let’s move on to our next point
会 huì
“able”
“have ability to do something”
And here’s the formula
Subject + 会 (huì) + do something
Subject + is able + to do something
So if you wanna tell someone you’re able to speak Chinese,
you can say
（我）会（说）（汉语） wǒ huì shuō Hàn yǔ
“I am able to speak Chinese.”
Some more example?
Wanna tell people you are able to cook?
You can say
（我）会（做菜） wǒ huì zuò cài
“I am able to cook.”
One more example
（他）会（开车） tā huì kāi chē
“He is able to drive.”
The next one that we are going to learn is
是 (shì) and 不是 (bú/bù shì)
是 (shì) means “to be”
and 不是 (bú/bù shì)
means “not to be”
Here comes the formula
Subject + 是 (shì) + and you put a Noun
Subject + 不是 (bú/bù shì) + Noun
To help you have a more solid idea
of when and how to use it,
let me help you with some examples.
Let’s say,
you have a friend who is Chinese
and you want to tell another person his nationality.
In this instance, you can introduce him by saying
（他）是（中国人） tā shì zhōng guó rén
“He is Chinese.”
Another example
（你）不是（老师） nǐ bú（bù）shì lǎo shī
“You are not a teacher.”
What if you want to tell someone
the food you’re eating is Chinese food?
In Chinese you can say
（这）是（中国菜） zhè shì zhōng guó cài
“This is Chinese food.”
Next, we’re going to learn a word
that is very commonly used in Chinese language,
which is 的（de）.
的 de
What does 的 (de) mean exactly
and how do we use it?
Let me help you to understand
by giving you some examples.
我 (wǒ)：I, me
我的 (wǒ de)：my, mine
你 (nǐ)：you, you
你的 (nǐ de)：your, yours
他 (tā)：he, him
他的 (tā de)：his, his
她 (tā)：she, her
她的 (tā de)：her, hers
它 (tā)：it, it
它的 (tā de)：its, its
我们 (wǒ men)：we, us
我们的 (wǒ men de)：our, ours
他们 tā men
他们 (tā men)：they, them
他们的 (tā men de)：their, theirs
Alright, one last point for this lesson.
We are going to take a baby step to start forming questions.
We are learning the word 吗 (ma).
吗 ma
How exactly do we use 吗 (ma)
to form a question?
We add it at the end of the statement to make it a question.
Here’s the formula:
Statement + 吗（ma）?
For example, the statement is
你 是 中 国 人 nǐ shì zhōng guó rén
“You are Chinese.”
And how do we change it into a question?
We simply add the 吗 (ma) at the end of the statement.
So the sentence will be
你 是 中 国 人 吗？ nǐ shì zhōng guó rén ma?
“Are you Chinese?”
Let’s practice together
这 是 你 的 书 zhè shì nǐ de shū
“This is your book”
这 是 你 的 书 吗？ zhè shì nǐ de shū ma?
“Is this your book?”
你 喜 欢 中 国 菜 nǐ xǐ huan zhōng guó cài
“You like Chinese food.”
你 喜 欢 中 国 菜 吗？ nǐ xǐ huan zhōng guó cài ma?
“Do you like Chinese food?”
One more thing that I would like to share with you
before we finish this lesson.
菜 cài
actually has another meaning here,
菜 (cài) can also mean
“type” as in
“He’s my type”
他 是 我 的 菜 tā shì wǒ de cài
“He is my type”
他 是 你 的 菜 吗？ tā shì nǐ de cài ma?
“Is he your type?”
It’s very nice to meet you!
How are you able to speak Chinese?
I am a Chinese dish.
Am I not your dish (your type)?
You are my dish (my type)!
I like you.
I like you a lot.
This is all for our HSK 1 Lesson 1.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Our team will reply to you as soon as we see the comments.
Thank you for learning HSK with ChinesePod.
I’m Sophie.
See you in the next lesson.
Bye for now!