xiǎo péng yǒu，kuài lái zhè lǐ
lái dào zhōng wén de tiān dì
tīng gù shì、wán yóu xì
kuài kuài lè lè dì xué xí
wǒ men yī qǐ lái nǔ lì
hàn zì biàn dé hǎo róng yì
zài zhè lǐ ，wǒ hé nǐ
biān wán biān xué xiào xī xī
xué xí
xué xí zhōng wén，
xué xí zhōng wén，hǎo yǒu qù！
xiǎo péng yǒu，nǐ hǎo！
Welcome to another lesson of Little Chinese Learners.
Thank you for submitting your homework.
Let’s hear one of your classmates read this book out loud.
That was awesome!
So you’ve learned to introduce yourself in Mandarin.
Next, let’s learn to introduce our family members...
and no one is more important in the family than...
Mom…
ok, maybe Dad…
so let’s learn to say Mom and Dad in Chinese.
To call Mom in Chinese, we say...
mā mā
Mom
mā mā
It sounds similar to Mama or Mommy in English, right?
Let’s try it.
mā mā
Great!
mā mā
Ooh… looks like it’s time for another Mandarin Secret.
The hint of this secret is….
Mom vs Horse.
Hmm… that’s an interesting one.
This secret is similar to another secret we saw earlier.
Do you remember how we said speaking Mandarin is a lot like singing
because the Chinese language has tones just like musical notes?
These tones are quite important
so let’s take a closer look at the four tones we learned last time.
The first tone, yī shēng，
is a high, flat tone.
It sounds like this.
dā
In English, we use a similar tone when we say
Umm…
The second tone, èr shēng，
has a rising tone
so you might notice a slight tilt of your head upwards when you say this tone.
It sounds like this.
dá
It’s similar to when we say
“What” in English.
The third tone, sān shēng，
is a little trickier -
it follows a checkmark sign
by falling down first before going back up.
It sounds like this.
dǎ
In English, we use a similar tone when we say
Well…
The fourth tone, sì shēng，
has a falling tone.
It sounds so heavy that it must fall to the ground.
It sounds like this.
dà
And yes, we have something similar in English
and it’s my kids’ favorite word –
NO!
So why are tones important?
Well, do you remember how to say Mom in Chinese?
mā mā
which has the first flat tone.
But if you are not careful and you end up using the third tone
mǎ
you would be calling your Mom a horse.
Yikes! Don’t worry.
We’ll practice many times so we don’t end up upsetting our moms.
Next, let’s learn to say "Dad" in Mandarin.
bà bà
Dad
bà bà
If you think Dad sounds a little like the number eight bā,
you’d be totally right.
They have the same sound but the number
bā has the first flat tone
whereas bà bà has the fourth falling tone.
bà bà
Now you try it.
bà bà
Fantastic!
bà bà
That’s how we call moms and dads
but there are lots of moms and dads in the world
so we better learn to tell people which one is ours.
wǒ de mā mā
My mom
wǒ de bà bà
My Dad
You already know wǒ which means me
and you know mā mā means mom
while bà bà means dad.
The new character de is the Chinese word we use
to tell a friend that something belongs to us.
For example,
wǒ de
means “mine”.
nǐ de
means “yours”.
tā de
means “his or hers”.
xiǎo tiān de
means “belonging to xiǎo tiān”.
Let’s practice.
wǒ de mā mā
My Mom
wǒ de mā mā
Can we try that together?
wǒ de mā mā
Fantastic!
Now, let’s try saying “your Dad”.
nǐ de bà bà
Your Dad
nǐ de bà bà
Let’s try it.
nǐ de bà bà
Great job!
nǐ de bà bà
Alright! Do you remember our Animal Friends
lǎo shǔ、xiǎo niú、xiǎo hǔ、xiǎo tù and xiǎo lóng？
They want to introduce us to their bà bà mā mā
so let’s go see them!
lǎo shǔ de bà bà zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
lǎo shǔ de mā mā zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
kòu kòu kòu
kòu kòu kòu，kòu kòu kòu
lǎo shǔ de bà bà，lǎo shǔ de mā mā，
nǐ men yǒu méi yǒu zài jiā？
wǒ men dōu zài jiā。
xiǎo niú de bà bà zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
xiǎo niú de mā mā zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
kòu kòu kòu
kòu kòu kòu，kòu kòu kòu
xiǎo niú de bà bà，xiǎo niú de mā mā，
nǐ men yǒu méi yǒu zài jiā？
tā men dōu bù zài jiā。
xiǎo hǔ de bà bà zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
xiǎo hǔ de mā mā zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
kòu kòu kòu
kòu kòu kòu，kòu kòu kòu
xiǎo hǔ de bà bà，xiǎo hǔ de mā mā，
nǐ men yǒu méi yǒu zài jiā？
wǒ men dōu zài jiā。
xiǎo tù de bà bà zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
xiǎo tù de mā mā zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
kòu kòu kòu
kòu kòu kòu，kòu kòu kòu
xiǎo tù de bà bà，xiǎo tù de mā mā，
nǐ men yǒu méi yǒu zài jiā？
tā men dōu bù zài jiā。
xiǎo lóng de bà bà zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
xiǎo lóng de mā mā zài jiā ma？wǒ men qù kàn tā。
kòu kòu kòu
kòu kòu kòu，kòu kòu kòu
xiǎo lóng de bà bà，xiǎo lóng de mā mā，
nǐ men yǒu méi yǒu zài jiā？
wǒ men dōu zài jiā。
Welcome back.
Now that we’ve learned bà bà mā mā.
let’s help some baby animals find their bà bà mā mā.
xiǎo jī
xiǎo jī de bà bà zài nǎ lǐ？
Where is xiǎo jī de bà bà?
xiǎo jī de mā mā zài nǎ lǐ？
Where is xiǎo jī de mā mā?
xiǎo xióng
xiǎo xióng de bà bà zài nǎ lǐ？
Where is xiǎo xióng de bà bà?
xiǎo shī zǐ
xiǎo shī zǐ de bà bà zài nǎ lǐ？
Where is xiǎo shī zǐ de bà bà?
xiǎo zhū
xiǎo zhū de bà bà zài nǎ lǐ？
xiǎo zhū de mā mā zài nǎ lǐ？
máo máo chóng
máo máo chóng de mā mā zài nǎ lǐ？
ooh that’s a tricky one!
xiǎo yā
xiǎo yā de bà bà zài nǎ lǐ？
xiǎo yā de mā mā zài nǎ lǐ ？
Culture gem alert! Culture gem alert!
It’s the ducks we just saw!
These are called Mandarin ducks because they are found mostly in East Asia.
In Chinese, we call them yuān yāng.
If you look closely,
you will notice that yuān yāng bà bà
and yuān yāng mā mā
look quite different from each other
but unlike other ducks,
yuān yāng are believed to spend their whole life together.
That’s why mandarin ducks are frequently featured in Chinese art,
poems, and stories to symbolize love and marriage.
In modern days, many shops and restaurants will use yuān yāng
to indicate the pairing of two different things
like yuān yāng guō,
where you can have two different flavored hot pots at once,
Or yuān yāng chá,
which is a mixture of different teas or even a mixture of tea and coffee,
and yuān yāng huā
because of the different color petals found in a single flower.
For today’s homework, take this worksheet and color in the Mandarin ducks.
Cut out mā mā and bà bà
from the bottom and paste them next to the right duck!
For the second part of today's homework,
look at this picture featuring Huā Huā’s family.
Send me a recording where you introduce Huā Huā’s bà bà and mā mā
including their names and how old they are.
As an example, I have a picture of Xiǎo Tiān’s family here
and this is how I would introduce them.
Xiǎo Tiān de bà bà jiào Scott。
Xiǎo Tiān de bà bà sì shí èr suì。
Xiǎo Tiān de mā mā jiào Jenny。
xiǎo tiān de mā mā sān shí bā suì。
Got it? I can’t wait to see your homework.
If you have any questions, send me a message or leave a comment below.
One of our teachers will try to respond to you very soon.
That’s it for our lesson of the day.
Until next time, zài jiàn！