Little Mandarin: Learn Chinese through culture and real life

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Coffee or tea?

In Lesson 16, we’re learning how to talk about drinks in Mandarin with the verb 喝.

You’ll learn useful drink words like 水, 咖啡, 茶, 牛奶, 果汁, 可乐, 啤酒, 红酒, 热水, and 奶茶.

We’ll also learn how to use 一杯 to say things like 一杯咖啡, 一杯茶, and 一杯水.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to say simple sentences like 我喝咖啡, 我不喝茶, and even a longer sentence like 我早上七点喝一杯热水.

Culture note: in China, 茶 usually means real tea leaves, or sometimes flowers — not just a tea bag.

And don’t miss the bonus episode for this lesson: Top 20 Most Useful Measure Words in Mandarin.

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This bonus episode is a simple verb list for beginners: 20 of the most useful verbs in Mandarin, with the Chinese first and the English translation right after.

No long explanations, no example sentences — just a clean and useful review you can come back to anytime.

It’s a good episode to replay, save, and use as a quick verb foundation alongside the main lessons.

If you’re preparing for class, reviewing before an exam, or just want a stronger base in everyday Mandarin, this is a very good place to start.

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In Lesson 15, we’re learning how to attach time to action in Mandarin.

You’ll learn a few very useful daily verbs like 起床, 去公司, 吃饭, 回家, and 睡觉, and more importantly, the sentence structure behind them:

subject + time + action

We’ll also look at one key difference between English and Chinese: English usually uses a preposition like at, while Mandarin often just puts the time directly before the action.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to say simple sentences like 我七点起床 and 我九点去公司 much more naturally.

And don’t miss the bonus episode for this lesson, where I’ve prepared a list of the top 20 most useful verbs in Mandarin.

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In Lesson 14, we’re learning how to place time in context in Mandarin with four very useful words: 上午, 中午, 下午, and 晚上.

You’ll learn how to say things like eight in the morning, twelve at noon, three in the afternoon, and seven in the evening, and connect these expressions with the time phrases from the last lesson.

We’ll also look at why this matters so much in spoken Chinese: everyday Mandarin usually prefers a 12-hour system, and one official time zone stretches across the whole country.

There’s also a small character note on 午, and why sometimes learning Chinese characters becomes much easier once you start seeing the shape, not just memorising the strokes.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to place time much more naturally in Mandarin and sound much more precise when you talk about the day.

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In Lesson 13, we’re learning how to tell the time in Mandarin.

You’ll learn the key words 点, 分, 半, 刻, and 小时, and how to use them to say things like three o’clock, five thirty, seven fifteen, and eight forty-five.

We’ll also look at one important distinction: 点 is for clock time, while 小时 is for duration.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to ask 几点了？, tell the time much more naturally, and understand why spoken Mandarin time expressions often sound so clear and rhythmic.

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In Lesson 12, we’re learning how to say where you are in Mandarin with one very useful structure: 在 + place.

You’ll learn how to say things like I’m at home, I’m at the coffee shop, I’m at school, and I’m in Paris, as well as how to ask Where are you?

We’ll also look at a useful cultural detail: when Chinese describes location, it often moves from big to small — something you can clearly see in the way addresses are written, and also in expressions like 我在巴黎的咖啡馆.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to talk about where you are much more naturally in Mandarin.

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In Lesson 11, we’re learning how to say what you like, don’t like, and love in Mandarin.

You’ll learn how to use 喜欢, 不喜欢, and 爱 to talk about your preferences in a much more natural way — whether that’s coffee, tea, films, music, cities, food, or rainy days.

We’ll also look at an important cultural difference: why 爱 in Mandarin often feels stronger and heavier than English I love, and why 喜欢 is usually the more natural choice in everyday conversation.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to say what you like, what you don’t like, and make your Mandarin sound much more personal.

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This episode is your Stage 1 recap in the Essential Mandarin series on Little Mandarin Season 2.

In Lesson 10, we’re putting everything from Episodes 1 to 9 together and using it for one very practical task: introducing yourself in Mandarin.

You’ll review how to say your name, nationality, age, family, and birthday, and learn how to combine those pieces into a short, clear self-introduction that actually works in real conversation.

We’ll also look at one useful cultural detail: in Mandarin, self-introductions are often shorter than learners expect. Usually, you say enough to start the conversation, and then let it continue naturally.

By the end of this episode, you should be able to give a simple mini self-introduction in Mandarin with much more confidence.

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This bonus episode is a quick and practical review of personal pronouns in Mandarin: 我, 你, 他, 她, 它, and their plural forms.

You’ll learn how to use these pronouns in simple real-life sentences, and how they work with 是 and 不是 to help you build clearer, more natural Mandarin.

We’ll also look at one very useful detail: in spoken Mandarin, 他, 她, and 它 all sound the same — tā — and the plural forms 他们, 她们, and 它们 all sound the same too.

By the end of this short bonus episode, you’ll feel much more confident using Mandarin pronouns in everyday sentences.

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This episode is part of the Essential Mandarin series on Little Mandarin Season 2, designed to take you from complete beginner to real-life everyday Mandarin.

In Lesson 9, we’re learning how to use 是 and 不是 to say who someone is, what they are, and what they are not.

You’ll learn how to build simple but essential sentences like 我是老师, 他是医生, and 她不是我妹妹, and start turning the vocabulary you already know into real Mandarin sentences.

We’ll also look at an important beginner insight: why 是 in Mandarin matters, but is not used as often as English to be — especially when Mandarin is describing qualities rather than identity.

And if you want a quick extra review of personal pronouns like 我, 你, 他, 她, and 它, there’s also a separate bonus episode for that.

By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to identify people and things much more clearly in Mandarin — and understand one of the most important early grammar patterns in the language.