Jīntiān nǐhǎo ma? In this lesson, you'll learn how to answer that all important question that you'll be asked frequently – 你从哪儿来？Nǐ cóng nǎr lái? – Where are you from?
No matter how good your Chinese is, most people in China will know you're not a native speaker. As such, this is one of the first questions someone new you meet will ask you. You can answer this simply with the country you're from – 我从英国来 Wǒ cóng Yīngguó lái – I'm from the UK. Or, you can also answer by using the nationality form – 我是英国人 Wǒ shì Yīngguórén – I'm British.
This time we'll be going over the second way of talking about where you're from, and nationalities in Chinese.
Resources for further reading:
Let's get started...
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Chinese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
巴西人
Brazilian
澳大利亚人
Australian
加拿大人
Canadian
智利人
Chilean
中国人
Chinese
哥伦比亚人
Colombian
葡萄牙人
Portuguese
法国人
French
德国人
German
美国人
American
英国人
British
日本人
Japanese
威尔士人
Welsh
爱尔兰人
Irish
苏格兰人
Scottish
你从哪儿来？
Where are you from?
我从英国来。
I'm from the UK.
我是英国人。
I'm British.
How'd you do? How do you feel answering this question now? Many of these words have some similarity in pronunciation to their English counterparts. But the spelling and pronunciation can be a bit tricky so don't forget to practice! Jiāyóu!
Here are a few recommended Chinese lessons to try next!
回头见！Huítóu jiàn!
Lin Ping: Rocket Chinese
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!