Mandarin Chinese Syntax
&
Spelling using „Pinyin“
• Words are never modified
– No conjugation, declination, masculine, feminine, singular, plural
• Meaning is determined by
– Word order
– Particles
– Prepositions
• No strict categories (verb, noun, etc.)
– „gei“ can mean „to give“ (verb), „for“ (preposition)
Pinyin
• The phonological system of standard Mandarine in can be
represented by:
• 20 consonant letters
b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
z
c
s
zh
ch
sh
y
w
r
» “y” and “w” are used for “i” and “u” if they appear at the beginning of a
syllable: e.g. 'ya [ia]' 'wa [ua]'. Or they are added when 'i' and 'u' are
independent syllables, e.g. 'yi [i]', 'wu [u]‘
• 6 vowel letters
– a, o, e, i, u, ü