Five Common Mistakes That Beginners Should Be Aware of - Chinese Grammar - Elementary Chinese

Even though it's totally ok to make mistakes, it's better if you could be aware of the common mistakes. In this video, I will talk you through five common Chinese mistakes that beginning students are making.
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[@ShuoshuoChinese]

It seems that I made many English mistakes in a video talking about "mistakes" 🤣🤣🤣 Let me know what are them here I will try not make the same mistakes next time :P

[@martinphipps2]

*what they are

[@martinphipps2]

I think at one point you said "this mistakes" rather than "these mistakes".

[@erlebach123]

Shuo, your English is excellent! There are only very few mistakes (or just slight imperfections) in the video: "I do wish there is someone": "I do wish there was someone" would sound more natural. "mistakes that Chinese beginners are usually making" should be "mistakes that Chinese beginners usually make", and similar phrases with "are making" occur twice more in the video (overuse of present continuous tense is a very common mistake for English learners - I also made that mistake a lot for many years until native English speakers made me aware of it) "you are xenophobia" should be "you are xenophobic" or "you are a xenophobe" "my home is closed to my work": "closed" should be "close" (you said it right, it was only a typo on the screen) "I won't go through all the way of how to use 和": should be "all the ways" instead of "all the way". "I made a whole video talk about filler words": better say "I made a whole video talking about filler words" or "I made a whole video about filler words" "These are all the content of today's video" should be "This is all the content ..." or "These are all the contents..." As I mentioned, your English is excellent, but since you asked for the little mistakes that viewers have noticed, here you are. 😉

[@AshinAsia]

I don't notice any English mistakes, it's not an English lesson after all! haha You explain things perfectly, and in almost native sounding English - certainly better than many English speakers!! The only time I would notice a mistake is if a meaning was changed because of it, and we do that in native English all the time. (when typing fast, I often forget to negate a word in the sentence, which changes the whole meaning!) Of this type of language teachers/youtube online, you are definitely amongst the best channels on youtube, if not the best. When I meet new Mandarin learners and we discuss youtube channels, I've never once met a serious learner who doesn't watch your films. Thanks ShuoLaoshi

[@xing4337]

🤣🤣

[@JoshHibberd]

The beginning of the video you talk about making mistakes and how it's okay. This is so important for people to hear. There are others that expect perfection before attempting to talk, which is discouraging. Whereas you are encouraging. This is what learners with self doubt actually need to hear so thank you. Very well said.

[@djbslectures]

对！

[@samaval9920]

Perhaps Yangzi means housing or residence in general.?

[@samaval9920]

@@djbslecturesFangzi!!

[@brett4756]

Really good! You don't just teach language, you also teach understanding, which is rare and phenomenal! ❤

[@ionamygdalon2263]

I think your brave decision to leave the medical profession and become a language teacher was the best thing you could do, Not only for yourself but also for us ( students ) I have had many foreign language teachers in my life as I love learning foreign languages. And you are honestly exceptional in your ability/ talent of teaching a foreign language !! Well done and keep going :D

[@retto1155]

One day, when I get myself a decent collection of savings, I can't wait to attend one of your classes. I love the way you speak, and I'm looking forward to the day when I can speak like you :)

[@ramadhuwaraha397]

Shuo, I’d like to point a small correction in your intro in English. It should be Chinese native teacher who lives in Bangkok, not Chinese native teacher living in Bangkok. That is the correct way to say it using proper English grammar. Your videos are awesome.

[@ThaiIsland]

I really like your style of teaching, thank you teacher Shuo!

[@lanxuan7892]

Love your lessons so much, thanks for what you are doing for us

[@trtlphnx]

I Get so much out of Your Lessons!!! I lived in China for 3 1/2 years and you are spot on, Sweetie... Thansk for your unique approach!!!

[@ayoubchqaf2561]

Best teacher in the world .thank you for your hard work .

[@jirenuniverse116]

Thanks shuo shuo, even tho I lived in China before, I sometimes make these mistakes you mentioned hahaha, I'm polishing my chinese grammar so I can express myself better in coming interviews

[@martinphipps2]

Ah. I finally got through this video. I deserve a gold star for perseverance. :)

[@Owenroberts0]

Only have class 3 days a week, thanks for the listening practice on my off days!

[@sinfuldavy0]

I want to return the favour. This was such a good lesson and I have learned a lot. You use the word xenophobia at timestamp 4:19. The word should be xenophobic. Also the word close should be used instead of closed when talking about distance. My home is close to work, for example

[@LightKnight_Age_Of]

I thought she said "xenophobia" out of style or sth. She had a hand gesture with it too. :p

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

谢谢！

[@seth1455]

I was trying to work out what "my home is closed to my work" meant, as it doesn't make sense Now I know

[@theaustraliankidd]

Sure you've heard of him, but go check out 马思瑞 He has a lot of videos that help English learners. You could definitely benefit from learning about the soft T ending. You over enunciate the T sound pretty heavily. For example: Glottal stop on the word "that", or "what".

[@SonicCloud7]

老师好♥。我的回答：Right now I rent a house in Beijing, I still haven't started a family. My household only consist of me. 老师我感觉您永远做出来最好的视频。说起您的视频，我希望有一天可以加入您的课。

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

你的回答很好，谢谢你！

[@SonicCloud7]

@@ShuoshuoChinese 哇哦😄🙂🙃🙂😉666！

[@salvalallavorweb4328]

哈罗说说！我叫马塞尔，I started learning Chinese this February and I discovered your videos, which I love. I have a question or doubt that maybe you have already covered in one of your videos: is there a difference between 你别着急 and 别担心？ The second one is "don't worry", but the first one....too? The context of this phrase is the answer given to a guy that apologized for being late because of a traffic jam. Greetings from Barcelona. Marcel

[@sunsothol2710]

我跟你喜欢学中文 因为你解释很清楚，谢谢你。

[@bryanye4080]

the correct order is "我喜欢跟你学中文，因为你解释得很清楚，谢谢你。“ sb. 喜欢跟 sb. do sth.

[@AnastasiaKhomenko]

Thank you so much for your useful videos Shuo!With your videos, learning Chinese is a pleasure :)

[@lutchbizin6420]

Thank you, great lesson. I love it! I'm curious about your Thai. Do you find it difficult? I love the way Thai sounds.

[@learnchinesein10minutes90]

Language learning is fun if one is taught the right way!

[@lightphasermusic]

眼鏡很適合你啊！But what about replacing the 和 with 而 or 並 in your last example, would that be correct to use?

[@erlebach123]

Another great video, thank you, Shuo! 👍 Can one also say 我害怕要下雨了 instead of 恐怕要下雨了 ? What structure/words can one use in Chinese for AND to link two whole sentences A and B in "If A and B, then C"? For example, "If the weather is good AND I'm not busy, then I'll go for a walk".

[@Kotsuyosama]

害怕means scared about something, so "害怕下雨" literally means "scared about raining"😂. If you just want to use the expression of "I am afraid that...", “恐怕...” will be the best one. As for the AND in Chinese, as Miss Shuo mentioned, usually "然后" is a good word to connect two sentences. So the translation will be "如果天气不错，然后我又不太忙的话，我就会去散会儿步。". Besides, "再加上" is also useful to connect two parts. For example, if someone says "I had a nightmare last night, and I didn't have my breakfast this morning, that's why I looked so exhausted. ". That person can say "我昨晚做噩梦了，再加上今早没吃早饭，所以我看起来特别累"

[@erlebach123]

@@Kotsuyosama Thank you very much for the very clear and helpful answer! 👍

[@yentioe3761]

恐怕means you are afraid of something unexpected coming up. For example 我恐怕下个星期要搬去美国了。

[@igorgoga7985]

Can you pls make more stories to follow and learn new words but with your kind of humour and fun

[@xing4337]

你讲得很好

[@supperman8514]

I first thought 并且 when u said to think but wonder if it can be used or not. 然后 sounds more natural.

[@martinphipps2]

Wow. This video is difficult enough to be worth my while but it is hard to get through because I have not actively been studying Chinese for a while. I have been speaking a lot of Chinese though.

[@kenneth6001]

你的频道的内容很有趣我越来越有兴趣而且你教中文的方法很幽默， 你的脾气显得很好

[@emiliolopez6280]

Great video thank you

[@jspihlman]

Speaking of making mistakes, the sentence should be "unless you are xenophobic" not "xenophobia." You're English is so good and rarely incorrect, but I just wanted to point that out. Thanks for enlightening me to mistakes I was making!

[@Ισαβέλα-ψ7τ]

you used the wrong word for your second sentence. it’s “your” not “you’re “ . “you’re “ means “you are”, and “your” shows ownership. i hope this helps you. (:

[@nikred280]

Practice make perfect..its ok to do mistake

[@heilong79]

It is better to change ones own understanding of English and not be so rigid, for example at 7:30 you could say 'My home and work are very close' or 'My home and work are very close to one another' as opposed to My home is close to my work which bear less resemblance to the Chinese someone is trying to say, I think if a student does not think this way then they will have a very hard time unless they can marry Chinese and English in an understandable way.

[@popoolos478]

thank you!!!

[@iamclarity]

Awesome video! Hey, I was wondering about the second tone! I noticed many native speakers will oftentimes use a flat tone (like a third tone) when the 2nd tone comes toward the end of a sentence, and also if the 2nd tone is the last character in a word. Could you do a video on this?

[@Laowhining]

So glad I came across your channel, you're an amazing teacher. 谢谢你的分享

[@sylvialucero5074]

In the last example can you also use 还有？Or is 然后 more appropriate?

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

Yes you can use 还有 for “and” if you have more than two points. But in that specific case which is shown in this video, use 然后 is better

[@youbeenchased]

Another great video. Thanks gorgeous :)

[@kingarthur1217]

What is the difference between the yang and me endings at 2:06

[@kenchua6891]

Hi Shuoshuo, thanks for a super useful lesson! In your last example, can er² qie³ also be used to connect two sentences?

[@martinphipps2]

We can use 然後 instead of 和. You said so in the video I watched yesterday. EDIT: Nevermind. You said 然後 in this video too.

[@djbslectures]

谢谢

[@annamariaveres762]

Sorry, just... Could someone tell me if 那 can be used for linking 2 sentences? I know you can say it the beginning of a sentence, but here...?

[@venisiachou3828]

hello, can I request you to make a video about 网络流行语. For example like：yyds & tmd and etc.., how to use these and how to put it on a sentences. Thank you.

[@venisiachou3828]

because ive seen a lot of native chinese in mainland china use this kind of words but I got confused with the meaning

[@seth1455]

what does yyds & tmd mean ?

[@yentioe3761]

They are dirty words. Please do not learn 🤭

[@fred5784]

How are you doing with keeping safe from Covid? I hear things are getting bad in Thailand.

[@jarethozb07]

Speaking of mistakes, In your English subtitles it says "my home is CLOSED to my work" and this should be close. It's not a big deal because everyone will understand what it really means but the literal meaning of "CLOSED" would be .... none of my employers, colleagues or customers may enter my home, it is Closed to them. Where as if your house is close to your work this means they are close to each other i.e there is not a lot of distance between the two.

[@decideonline]

Could I use 家族 instead of 家人? If not, how is 家族 used?

[@yentioe3761]

家族 is usually used for group. For example chrysanthemum, aster, sunflower, knapweed They belong to family of daisy. 他们属于雏菊家族。

[@claratsai612]

6:56 small correction: my home is *close to my work

[@yuri1976]

Teacher, I kinda don't understand how to use 才 It says its equivalent is "Until" I know how to use until but not 才 because the app I'm using only shows translations

[@yentioe3761]

才is a supportive word. Can be used in such a situation. A: 你是傻子 You're silly. B: .你才是傻子。 That's you, silly! I can't understand the entire meaning of this sentence until watching your video. 直到看完你的视频，我才明白这整句的意思。 Not...until = 直到...才

[@malleusmalafatorum]

Teacher, I don't understand how to use 反正 at all, please make a video about that

[@yentioe3761]

反正 = anyway For example 让他大喊大叫吧！反正没人会听到他的声音。 Just letting him screaming, no one will hear him anyway.

[@JustinK0]

2:30 be afraid 𝚘̶𝚏̶ that

[@-aleksandra99-29]

Even though me and my friends from uni have been learning Chinese for 3 years, some of them still think 恐怕、怕、害怕 means the same, I guess it's very difficult to change one's habits 😂

[@benthelearner6104]

Hum... What do you mean by Phrase and Sentence... In French it is the same word (Phrase) for both Phrase and Sentence.

[@seth1455]

a phrase in English is an expression / saying it could be a sentence or it could be just part of a sentence, depends on the context of the conversation

[@egal7065]

A sentence has a subject and the action they perform, a phrase is either only subject or only the predicate.

[@nikred280]

Wo danshen..wo meiyou ziji jiaren

[@MobaileSeven]

我爱你

[@flat-earther]

I'm renting an apartment in Beijing now, I don't have my own family yet and I live alone in my apartment.

[@martinphipps2]

"My home and my office are close together."

[@Andrew36597]

我本来恐怕你句子的意思是”I rented a family in Beijing” 我就想了：“啊，北京连有那样的公司，我都不知道🤔”

[@wawawuu]

I like your outspokenness against racism/xenophobia and other ugly shit.

[@Malins2000]

For the last example - can I use 但是 in between? Like: 我是美国人，但是卸载我住在中国。

[@yentioe3761]

You can use “而” which means "and" 我是美国人，而我现在住在中国

[@Malins2000]

@@yentioe3761 thank you :)

[@lucyanakumala1951]

说老师，我有一个问题。“还有”的意思是啥呢？可以换“然后现在。。。”个“还有现在。。。”吗？谢谢！~

[@yentioe3761]

例如， 1. 我还有2粒苹果。“still have” 2. 他的爸爸是位医生，妈妈是位律师，还有他的哥哥是位老师。 “plus”

[@lucyanakumala1951]

@@yentioe3761 多谢！！

[@readmer857]

老师，你看好漂亮

[@anthonyaguirre6101]

👍👍👍

[@sisterhahaha9895]

Thank you for the video! Can I say 我的家跟我公司很近？

[@knightcrawley4996]

we can understand, but almost we use the "离", it sounds more accurate.

[@MarkusBlue]

Hahahahha the joke about the tattoo😂😂😂

[@coda-n6u]

Small correction, "Even though *it* is a video about...", this should be, "Even though *this* is a video about..."

[@普通话-o4y]

I'm currently renting an apartment in Beijing, i still have no family of my own, I'm just alone at home。 正确的吗？

[@pramodkapali3541]

Now I live at beijing apartment .I still have no family members. My house or home have only one person that is me . Maybe my translation is little weird .

[@Gblau95]

然后 would be like although

[@nikred280]

Ñayang! Name zuo

[@noahallard1313]

你好说说中文，在9:39我可以"而/而且“吗?

[@knightcrawley4996]

you can use "而" in this sentence, it means a transition, but don't use "而且" in this sentence, if you do, the the whole sentence meaning will be wrong. A correct way of "而且" in sentence:我是美国人，而且我住在美国。 in this sentence, "you live in America" is related to "you are a America", you can link them up. There is a transition between "you are a American" and "you live in China", so we use "而" not "而且".

[@noahallard1313]

@@knightcrawley4996 太谢谢了! so 而且 has to be used with scentences that relate to each other?

[@ssrm67]

6:13 "Right now I am in Beijing in a rented apartment/house. I don't have a family, my home has just me in it."

[@LightKnight_Age_Of]

You cannot use "hé" to link two clauses*

[@TulekBehar]

Pointing out to mistakes. 用中文怎么说老师

[@franciscusmagister]

I'm still not quite sure I understand the distinctions. but at least I know how to make the teacher really mad - just try to join 2 sentences with he ! ;)

[@DomArmstrong]

*Xenophobia ✖️ Xenophobic ✔️ 👼

[@luizychoe5018]

wooooow

[@earthmoon1906]

a。请问，您是我们学院的老师吗？ b。恐怕不是，我是学生 Any mistakes here?

[@yentioe3761]

Yep. You can say so...It's correct.

[@runningbetweenspaces]

Answer: No I'm at Beijin Airport, I don't have any family here. My family is me alone.

[@ekstasiqX]

没关系

[@ashleybennett4418]

Close, not closed.

[@nikred280]

I use ranhou rather than he

[@RhianAnise]

翻译：Right now I rent a place in Beijing, I still don’t have my own family. My family is only me alone.

[@ZhuoAo]

Does the sentence can be translated as: "I'm living in Beijing on rent. I have not married yet, so I live by myself" ?

[@sekharshaw2637]

Now i rent a flat in beijing , still my family are not there, ,i am the only person who live in my house

[@mireillefalcadi5462]

I am renting a house in Beijing right now, I don't have any family members, it is just me.

[@ailtonks]

why cant say 你可以这说 if for this is only 这? thanks

[@リヴァイのハイヒール]

i think when you say 这in chinese instead of 这样 it is more likely mean here（这里）but not this For example, 放这=put here 坐这=sit here so这说sounds a bit weird 样is required because you are refering to something

[@ailtonks]

@@リヴァイのハイヒール yes hahaah maybe when you study dont stay weird but for chinese people its weird only 这, but thanks for help me

[@ekaterinaslobodyan1383]

老师，可能我说：“ 我是美国人，也现在我住在中国。” ？

[@osuwari]

也 is an adverb and must be followed by a verb. You can just say 现在我住在中国 without anything between the clauses other than the comma.

[@hahahahaha3553]

老师，我可以说(Can I say)：“我是美国人，但(means but)现在(我)住在中国”吗？

[@yentioe3761]

You can use “而” 我是美国人，而我现在住在中国

[@sunfirefire45]

Could I say 我是美国人，但是现在住在中国？

[@ssrm67]

4:16 "unless you are xenophobic", not "unless you are xenophobia".

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

🤣谢谢

[@ssrm67]

7:21 "My home is close to my office." "My home is closed to my work" has a very very different meaning.

[@_3942]

Should be “I wish there WAS someone to point out my mistakes” 😊

[@ashleybennett4418]

Xenophobic is the adjective form of xenophobia

[@josephguyevanshilaire2446]

也可以这样说吗 ：我是美国人，并且现在我住在中国 。???

[@hahahahaha3553]

Yes, correct

[@pangeaproxima9446]

You're so beautiful.

[@ngockhuatmy3344]

我的家里公司很近！对吗？

[@kylin3197]

恐怕 = lest?

[@lbb2rfarangkiinok]

唯恐，生怕， 生恐，省得 seem to all be a bit closer to "lest", particularly the last two, i would say.

[@राजनगोंगल]

👍👍👍