Lesson 1 Part 2-Important Verbs :D

Lesson 1 Part 2
The ten celestial stems (tian1gan1)
jia3 甲 A
yi3 已 B
bing3 丙 C
ding1 丁 D
wu4 戊 E
ji3 己 F
geng1庚 G
xin1 辛 H
ren2 任 I
gui3 癸 J

Jia3 Mang2 ma? (Are you) busy?
Yi3 Hen3 mang2. (I am) busy (here "hen", which means "very" literally, is just a confirmation of the fact and is not used as emphasis to just how busy. it is like saying "yes, busy."


Verbs:
ma (neutral) at the end of a statement turns it into a question.
hao ma =Are (you) well? or more literally, "Okay?"{remember, h is a hard h, not an English h but like the spanish pronunciation of the letter j ("jota"/hhhhhota)}?
Mang2 ma? = (Is she) busy?
Lei4 ma?=Tired?
E4 ma? =Hungry? {sounds like "Uh ma?" :D}
Ke3 ma? = Thirsty?
Jin3zhang1 ma? =Nervous? {remember, the pronunciation of "zh" is a "j" with the tip of your tongue raised, making it sound like a j with a hint of an r...}
Shu1fu1 ma? = Comfortable? {remember, the pronunciation of "sh" is also with the tip of your tongue raised, giving it a hint of an r sound...)
Leng3 ma?= Cold?
Re4 ma? = Hot?
Gao1 ma? = (is she) tall?

Bu4=no, before other fourth tones, shifts to di'er tone (2nd tone).
tai4=too; very; soooooo ___ :D
bu tai=not very
Practice:
Hao3 ma? Bu2 tai4 hao3. (Well?/Okay?) (I am) Not very well.
Mang2 ma? Bu2 tai4 mang2. Not very busy.

More detailed in another lesson is the negative questions with ma (neutral).
Ni3 bu2 lei4 ma?= Aren't you tired?

hai = neutraling adverb.
hai2 hao3=(I'm) Okay, so-so. "fine"

Jin1tian1=today
Zuo2tian1=yesterday
ming2tian1=tomorrow (must include a helping verb like "hui4".)
Jintian jiu3yue4 ba1 hao4. Today (is the) 8th of September.
Zuo2 tian1 qi1 hao4. Yesterday (was the) 7th. (literally "Yesterday 7 day")

Xian4zai4=now.
Zuo2tian1 bu4 shu1fu, jin1tian1 hao3 le. Yesterday, (I did) not feel well, (but) today good (okay).
Wo xian4 zai4 bu2 e4 le! (I now not hungry!)=I'm not hungry anymore!
Jin1tian1 re4 le!=Today (it's) hot!
NOTE: "le" is assotiated with the new situation, not the original state. :)

End of Lesson 1.
-Denaz