Level 2 · Lesson 7

我学习汉语
I study Chinese

我学习汉语，我说汉语，也写中文。

说, 读, 写 and 学习 — and why 说话 can never take a language after it.

听 · Listen

对话
 王老师 —  安娜，你学习什么？ 
Anna, what do you study?  
 安娜 —  我学习汉语。 
I study Chinese.  
 王老师 —  你说汉语吗？ 
Do you speak Chinese?  
 安娜 —  我说汉语，也说英语。 
I speak Chinese, and I speak English too.  
 王老师 —  很好。学生说话，老师听。 
Very good. The student talks, the teacher listens.  
 安娜 —  我读，您听。 
I'll read, you listen.  
 王老师 —  你也写中文吗？ 
Do you write Chinese as well?  
 安娜 —  我写名字。中文很难，老师！ 
I write my name. Chinese is hard, teacher!  

讲解 · Explanation

我学习汉语。我说汉语。我读中文，也写中文。

学习 xuéxí is the two-syllable partner of 学 xué from lesson 1-09; they mean the same thing, and 学习 simply sounds a little fuller. 说 shuō is the mouth, 读 dú is reading aloud, 写 xiě is the hand. Each takes the thing directly, with no little word in between: 说汉语, 读中文, 写名字.

老师说话。学生说话。

话 huà means 'words, speech', and 说话 is already 说 plus its object — 'to speak words', that is, to talk. Because the object slot is taken, a language can never follow it. Say 我说汉语 for 'I speak Chinese', never 我说话汉语. Use 说话 when there is no language to name at all: 他说话, 老师说话.

我不说英语。他不写中文。

不 bù still sits directly in front of the verb — 不说, 不读, 不写 — exactly as it did with 是 and 吃. With 说话 the negation goes in front of the whole pair, 不说话, because 说话 is one unit. And listen to the tone of 不: it is bù shuō, bù dú, bù xiě — but bú kàn and bú shì, because 不 changes from fourth tone to second whenever a fourth tone follows it.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
说	to speak, to say	说汉语, 说英语
话	words, speech	说话 shuōhuà = to talk
读	to read, read aloud
写	to write	写名字 = write your name
学习	to study, to learn	the fuller form of 学

练习 · Practice

我______汉语。 Which one means 'I speak Chinese'?

老师______。 Which one means 'The teacher is talking' (no language named)?

老师，我不______话。 Teacher, I'm not talking.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'She doesn't write Chinese.'

说、话、读、写、学习 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

我学习汉语。我说……，我读……，我写……。

Say the four verbs about yourself, out loud and in order: 我学习汉语，我说汉语，我读中文，我写名字。 Then negate one of them honestly — 我不写中文 — and turn the whole thing into a question for a classmate: 你学习汉语吗？你说英语吗？