课程 → Level 1 · 入门 → 课 9
Level 1 · Lesson 9 我学汉语
I'm learning Chinese
我学汉语。汉语很难,不容易。我不学英语。
Your first full transitive sentence: subject, verb, object — and the names of the languages.
听 · Listen
对话
Anna, do you study Chinese?
I study Chinese. I'm very happy about it!
Is Chinese hard?
Chinese is hard — it isn't easy.
I don't study Chinese — I study English.
Is English easy?
English is hard too. You study Chinese, I study English — we're classmates!
Not bad at all!
讲解 · Explanation
我学汉语。
Here is the backbone of the language: subject, then verb, then object — the same order as English. 我 does the studying, 学 is the studying, 汉语 is what gets studied. Compare it with 我是学生 from before: 是 only links two nouns, while 学 is a real action taken on an object. And 学 never changes shape — 我学, 你学, 他学, 我们学 are all just 学, because Chinese verbs have no endings at all.
我不学英语。汉语很难,不容易。
不 goes immediately before the verb, exactly as it did before 是: 不学, 不是, 不忙. Nothing else in the sentence moves, so 我学英语 becomes 我不学英语 and stops there. The adjectives behave the same way: 汉语很难 in the positive, 汉语不难 in the negative. 学, 难 and 容 all carry a rising tone, so 不 keeps its own falling tone in front of them: bù xué, bù nán, bù róngyì — unlike bú lèi and búcuò, where the next syllable falls.
汉语、中文、英语
Two endings name languages. 语 yǔ is the tongue you speak, 文 wén the writing you read, and each attaches to a short name for the people or the country: 汉语 is the language of the 汉 people, 英语 the language of 英国 Britain, 中文 the language of 中国 China. In practice 汉语 and 中文 both mean 'Chinese' and you will hear them used for each other; 汉语 is the usual word in a classroom, 中文 the usual word when the writing is in view.
生词 · Vocabulary
| 词 | Meaning | 注 · Note |
|---|---|---|
| 学 | to study, to learn | takes an object: 学汉语 |
| 汉语 | Chinese (the Han language) | the classroom word |
| 中文 | Chinese (language and writing) | |
| 英语 | English | |
| 难 | hard, difficult | 不难 is bù nán |
| 容易 | easy | second syllable falls: róngyì |
练习 · Practice
用一用 · Use it
我学汉语。汉语很难,我很高兴。不错!
Say aloud what you study: 我学汉语. Then say what you do not study: 我不学 …. Then judge it — 汉语很难 or 汉语不难, 英语很容易 or 英语不容易 — and ask a friend back with 你呢? Four short sentences, and every one of them is subject first, verb second.