[Fat1Fared]

Mandarin Lesson 2=Who, what, where and when?

The great thing about Mandarin is that, unlike English, it is consistent.
So whereas in English we would say.
What is that?
That is <object>.

Mandarin is not so pointlessly convoluted. You just fill in blanks with Mandarin.
That is what?
That is <object>.

Key vocab

Who=Shei=Second tone.

What=Shen'me=Second + Neutral (Not with this has a little ' marker, this highlights that the shen and the me should be spoken as they are one word so instead of saying Shen Me, she-nm-ee.)

Where=Nar=Third tone.

When=Shen'me shihou=Second, Natural, Second, Neutral. (Note, this literally means what time=There are many other words for when and this one can only be used as a question or an indefinite, it cannot be used as a statement. For now we will just work on the questionn)

Sub + be-verb + Question/Object
Ta Shi Shei?
He is who?
Ta shi Tom

Ta zuo shen'me?
He does what?
Ta zuo shengyi
He does business. (Or He is a businessmen/women)

Ta zai Nar?
He at Where?
Ta zai Jia
He at home.
(Note, in Mandarin you only use Be-verbs when stating what something is. Therefore, you do not need to say he is at home, you just say, he at home.)

Shen'me shihou is the odd one out because it is a time word. In Chinese Timewords must ether come before the subject or directly after it. Unlike in English they are not allowed to jump about.

Time + Subject + Verb + Object
Shen'me shihou Ta Hui Jia
When he return home.

Subject + Time + Verb + Object
Ta shen'me shihou hui jia?
When he return home?
(Note as return (hui) is a verb already, you do not need 'does/do' here. In Mandarin, unless stating two actions, you only need the one verb. So When does he return home is literally just, when he return home? Note how we keep losing words during translation? Well, that is just how easy Mandarin is compared to English. )

For now, where you put the time-marker makes no different whichever pattern you use, but i would recommend using the second pattern as it is closer to English and so easier to remember.

Grammar=Verb + Ing =/= Zai + Verb

Note=Zai in Mandarin means both 'at and ing.

So last time you learnt the nucleus grammar, but that is pretty useless for actually existing anything unless one likes sounding like a slightly similar three year old. So now lets learn how to tell someone we are doing something. Zai is the Mandarin version of 'ing' and when placed before a verb it shows your listener that you are doing the verb. (Note, like with English, it is not actually a present tense marker, so it does not actually express the action is happening now. Many English and Mandarin teachers alike do not understand this point and often end up confusing students.)

In contrast to English, Zai comes directly before the verb, not after it. Also note, unlike English again, when expressing an action-verb, you do not need a 'be-verb'.
So, "I am running" in Mandarin is "I running".

Question

Zuo=Do
Wo=I
Ni=You
Ta=He/She/It (yep, spoken Mandarin only has one third-person pronoun.)

Sub + Zai + Verb + Question (Object) <no be-verb needed>
Ni zai zuo shen'me?
You doing What? (What are you doing?)

Answer

Sub + Zai + Verb + Object (Note it is exactly the same pattern, just what=object=)
Wo zai kai che
I driving car (Not Kai-means to start a device, driving in Mandarin is literally, I starting car.)

Wo zai pao bu.
I running track. (I am running on a track. Note, as the track here is an object, not a place, you do not need 'on'.)

Wo zai zuo shi.
Wo doing work. (Note Shi means things, but it is general things like tasks, chores, housework and other such mundane task.)

That is it for Mandarin and 'ing'. (Well for now. ;) ) Seriously, that is as difficult as it gets, so can you use this pattern to answer my question?

Nimen zai zuo shen'me?