What will I learn in Chinese Beginner 1?

Chinese Beginner 1 is designed for students with no prior Chinese knowledge or experience.

At the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Read, pronounce, and use the pinyin writing system
  • Produce and identify the 4 tones of Mandarin Chinese 
  • Greet someone and ask how they are 
  • Introduce yourself (or someone else) 
  • Tell someone where you are from or where someone else is from
  • Use the numbers from 1 to 100 
  • Ask someone their job and describe your own job or that of a family member
  • Say the date of your birthday
  • Name the days of the week and the months of the year
  • Say your nationality and ask about the nationality of others
  • Tell time
  • Talk about your favorite passtime(s) and ask others about theirs
  • Talk about something you did in the past, something you do in general, and something you will do in the future
  • Make plans with someone (ex: weekend activity)

The primary topics covered are:

  • Alphabet
  • Greetings
  • Numbers 1-100
  • Telling time
  • Family
  • Professions
  • Dates (days/months)
  • Question pronouns
  • Sharing and asking about basic biographical information
  • Likes and dislikes
  • Hobbies

The grammatical topics covered are:

  • Simple verbs 
  • Question pronouns 
  • Word order
  • Simple adverbs
  • Measure words
  • Numbers
  • Modifiers
  • Alternative questions
  • Affirmative + negative questions
  • Simple conjugations
  • Modal verbs
  • Verb + object as detachable compound