Key sentences 1
Learning Chinese: key sentences of Unit 1
To build automatic reflexes and be able to express yourself in Chinese without having to search for words, it is beneficial to learn sentences by heart. Rather than learning the entire dialogue/text of the unit, we have selected these key sentences in order to optimize your learning. So you need to know them well.
Feel free to repeat them out loud: this helps to memorize them while working on pronunciation and helping you internalize the structures of the Chinese language.
Then you should be able to translate them orally and in writing, first from Chinese into English, then from English into Chinese.
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我们怎么走？ Which way do we go? / How do we get there?
→ THE question for asking the way. 怎么 goes before the verb, exactly where the answer will go: no inversion. You can also put the destination first: 火车站怎么走？
从这里往前面走。 From here, walk straight ahead.
→ The complete pattern for a route: 从 (where you start from) + 往 (where you are heading) + the verb, in that order. The opposite of English, which puts the direction after the verb.
不往左，往右走。 Not to the left, to the right.
→ After 往, you use 左 and 右 bare, without 边. The negation 不 applies to 往 and comes before it.
我们坐公交车去火车站。 We go to the train station by bus.
→ Serial verbs: 坐 (to take a means of transport), then 去 (to go), in the actual order of the actions. The means of transport is introduced not by a preposition but by a verb, placed before the verb of movement.
我们坐几站？ How many stops do we ride?
→ 站 serves both as a noun (station) and as a classifier for counting the stops traveled. Typical answer: 三站，十分钟。
你坐我旁边。 Sit next to me.
→ The locative goes after the place or the person, and the 的 is dropped when the whole phrase is short: 我旁边 rather than 我的旁边.
右边有一家超市。 On the right, there is a supermarket.
→ Structure: place + 有 + thing. You start from the place (known) to announce what is there (new). 家 is the classifier for stores and businesses.
饭店在书店的后面。 The restaurant is behind the bookstore.
→ The reverse of the previous one: thing + 在 + place, where you start from the object (known) to say where it is. Compare with 右边有一家超市。
星期天晚上回去。 On Sunday evening, we're going back.
→ 回去: you go back, moving away from the place where you are speaking; 回来 if you are moving closer to the person you are talking to. The choice is always made from the point of view of the person you are talking to.
上海，我来了！ Shanghai, here I come!
→ A very lively exclamation, to reuse with any place: 北京，我来了！ The 了 marks the change of situation: this is it, I'm arriving.