Reminder: Chinese grammar is quite simple: no gender (masculine/feminine), no number (singular/plural), no conjugation—the words are all invariable. This is why word order is very important and follows a logical pattern.
The negative sentence in Chinese
To negate a sentence, the negation 不 must be added before the verb:
我不好。 I am not well.
WARNING
不 is an adverb, and in Mandarin Chinese, adverbs always come before the verb.
Since this is not an affirmative sentence, the adjective verb does not express comparison. It is therefore unnecessary to add the adverb 很 .
Let’s recall the pattern for negative sentences:
Examples from the dialogue:
我不好！ I’m not well!
我不高兴。 I’m not happy.
Note on the tone of 不
不 is normally pronounced with the 4th tone: . However, when it is followed by another 4th tone, it changes to the 2nd tone: .
Example: 不客气 is pronounced (not ).
The question particle 呢
The question particle 呢 is used to repeat a question that has just been asked. It is placed after a word (usually a pronoun or noun) to redirect the same question to the interlocutor.
Example from the dialogue:
你好吗？ How are you?
我很好，你呢？ I’m fine, and you?
我不好。 I’m not well.
WARNING
呢 is not placed after a complete sentence, only after a word (pronoun, noun, etc.). If it is placed after a sentence, it takes on another meaning ("to be in the process of"), but we will cover this in more detail in a later lesson.
你呢？ ✓ And you?
你好吗呢？ ✗ (incorrect)
The position of family names and titles
In Chinese, when addressing someone politely, you use their family name followed by their title. This is the opposite of French, where we say "Monsieur Dupont" (title + name).
Examples from the dialogue:
白女士 Ms. Bai (not "Nǚshì Bái")
李先生 Mr. Li (not "Xiānsheng Lǐ")
The two most common polite titles are:
- 先生 : Mr.
- 女士 : Ms.
Note
This rule also applies to professional and hierarchical titles. For example, you would say 王老师 "Teacher Wang" (which we will see in the next lesson). In Chinese, the family name always comes first, whether before a polite title or a professional title.
Saying you are delighted: 很高兴认识你
To express that you are delighted to meet someone, the adjective verb 高兴 "to be happy" and the verb 认识 "to know, to meet" are used.
There are two ways to say it, depending on the word order:
1. Classic structure
Example: 很高兴认识你。 Nice to meet you.
In this structure, the subject (我) is often omitted because the context is clear. The full sentence would be: 我很高兴认识你。
2. Inverted structure (for emphasis)
Example from the dialogue:
认识李先生，我也很高兴。 Meeting Mr. Li, I’m also very happy.
In this structure, the act of "meeting someone" (认识 + person) is placed at the beginning of the sentence to emphasize it. It is a bit like saying in French: "Meeting you, I’m also very happy."
To remember
Notice in the dialogue example the use of 也 "also": 认识李先生，我也很高兴。 The adverb 也, as always, comes before the verb (here 高兴) or before another adverb preceding the verb (here before 很). This follows the rule from Lesson 1: an adverb always comes before the verb.
Here is a recap of the two structures from the dialogue:
很高兴认识你。白女士。 Nice to meet you, Ms. Bai.
认识李先生，我也很高兴。 Meeting Mr. Li, I’m also very happy.
