Survival Chinese in a Weekend | Chinese (Mandarin) Grammar

You're flying to China and you have a weekend, not a semester. This path is ruthlessly practical: the smallest toolkit that unlocks the most real transactions — ordering food, buying things, catching a taxi, asking where the bathroom is. You will not learn "correct" Chinese here; you'll learn enough Chinese, in the right order, so a restaurant, a market, and a street corner stop being intimidating. Everything links to a fuller page if you want to go deeper later, but you can survive on what's on this one page.

Here's the whole reframing in one breath: a tiny kit of 要 ("I want"), 多少钱 ("how much"), 在哪儿 ("where"), plus the catch-all measure word 个, covers most of what a traveler needs. Point, say 要 and a number, ask 多少钱, and you're already transacting. Let's assemble the kit.

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Two habits will carry you further than any vocabulary list. First, when you don't know the measure word, use 个 (ge) — it's the default and it's rarely wrong enough to matter. Second, there's no all-purpose word for "yes": to answer a yes/no question, echo the verb. "Are you going?" → 去 ("going") or 不去 ("not going"). Master those two reflexes and you'll be understood everywhere.

Step 1 — You and them: pronouns

Start with the people. A handful of pronouns lets you point at yourself, your companion, and the person serving you.

Personal pronouns — 我 (I), 你 (you), 他/她 (he/she), 我们 (we)

我们两个人。

wǒmen liǎng ge rén.

Two of us. (telling a host your party size — 个 again)

Step 2 — Naming things with 是

To say "this is…" or "I'm…," use the copula 是 (shì). It links two nouns — that's all you need for introductions and pointing things out.

是 the copula — "A is B," for names and identifying things

我是游客，不是本地人。

wǒ shì yóukè, bú shì běndì rén.

I'm a tourist, not a local. (是 / 不是 for identifying)

Step 3 — Numbers and money

Almost every transaction runs on numbers. Learn 0–10 first (the rest is simple arithmetic: 十五 = "ten-five" = 15), then how prices are said. The spoken word for the yuan is usually 块 (kuài), not the textbook 元.

Numbers zero to ten — the base of the whole system
Prices and shopping — reading and saying what things cost
Money, spoken vs written — 块/毛 in speech vs 元/角 on receipts

这个多少钱？

zhège duōshao qián?

How much is this one? (the single most useful shopping question)

一共三十五块。

yígòng sānshíwǔ kuài.

Thirty-five yuan altogether. (块 = spoken 'yuan')

The question word 多少 ("how much / how many") is worth memorizing on its own — see 多少 vs 几.

Step 4 — The measure word you'll use all weekend: 个

Between a number and almost any noun, drop in 个 (ge). One 个 covers people, dishes, cups, tickets, most everyday things. There are dozens of specific measure words, but 个 is the survival default — use it and move on.

个 the default measure word — the catch-all classifier

我要两个包子，一个茶叶蛋。

wǒ yào liǎng ge bāozi, yí ge cháyèdàn.

I'll have two steamed buns and one tea egg. (个 for everything)

Step 5 — The magic verb 要

要 (yào) means "want / will have," and it's the engine of ordering and buying: 要 + [number] + [个] + [thing]. Just point and say it.

要 want / will / must — the all-purpose "I'll have…"

我要一杯热咖啡。

wǒ yào yì bēi rè kāfēi.

I'd like a hot coffee. (杯 'cup' is the natural measure word here, but 个 would still be understood)

老板，我要这个。

lǎobǎn, wǒ yào zhège.

Boss, I'll take this one. (点 at a stall — point and say 要这个)

Step 6 — Asking questions: the words and 在哪儿

Two ways to ask. Add 吗 to any statement for yes/no, or use a question word in the very slot where the answer goes — Chinese doesn't move the word to the front the way English does. The traveler's essentials: 什么 (what), 哪儿 (where), 几点 (what time), 多少 (how much).

Question words overview — asking what / where / when / how much
哪儿 / 哪里 "where" — the traveler's most-used question

洗手间在哪儿？

xǐshǒujiān zài nǎr?

Where's the restroom? (在 + 哪儿 = 'is located where')

地铁站在哪儿？

dìtiě zhàn zài nǎr?

Where's the subway station?

Step 7 — Say no, and answer yes/no

To negate, put 不 (bù) before most verbs, but 没 (méi) before 有 and completed actions. And to answer a yes/no question, echo the verb — don't reach for a word for "yes."

不 vs 没 — the two negators and when to use which
Answering yes/no by echoing the verb — 去/不去, 要/不要

你要不要辣？— 不要，谢谢。

nǐ yào bu yào là? — bú yào, xièxie.

Do you want it spicy? — No thanks. (answer by echoing 要 → 不要)

Step 8 — Be polite: 请 and softeners

A little courtesy opens doors. 请 (qǐng, "please") fronts a polite request, and 麻烦你 ("may I trouble you…") softens asking a favor.

Requests with 请 and 麻烦 — polite ways to ask for things

请给我菜单。

qǐng gěi wǒ càidān.

Please give me the menu. (请 + request)

Openers matter too — a quick 你好 ("hello") and 谢谢 ("thanks") go a long way; see greetings and thanking and replying.

Step 9 — Practice on real situations

Grammar sticks when you use it. Two annotated texts drill exactly the weekend scenarios above — reading them once is worth an hour of tables.

Ordering food (dialogue) — a full restaurant exchange, line by line
Shop and road signs — the characters you'll actually see on doors and streets

服务员，买单！

fúwùyuán, mǎidān!

Waiter, the check please! (the phrase that ends every meal)

Common Mistakes

1. Dropping the measure word after a number. Even in a rush, a number needs 个 (or a specific classifier) before the noun.

❌ 我要两包子。

Wrong — a measure word is required: 我要两个包子.

✅ 我要两个包子。

wǒ yào liǎng ge bāozi.

I'll have two steamed buns.

2. Answering with a word for "yes." There isn't one. Echo the verb.

❌ 你去吗？— 是。

Unnatural — don't say 是. Answer 去 ('going') or 不去 ('not going').

✅ 你去吗？— 去。

nǐ qù ma? — qù.

Are you going? — Yes (going).

3. Negating 有 with 不. "There isn't / I don't have" is 没有, never ❌不有.

❌ 这儿不有厕所。

Wrong — 有 takes 没: 这儿没有厕所.

✅ 这儿没有厕所。

zhèr méiyǒu cèsuǒ.

There's no toilet here.

What's next

That kit will get you fed, watered, and pointed in the right direction. When you're home and want to build real sentences instead of survival phrases, start from the top with Start Here: HSK1 Foundations — and if the tones felt slippery on your trip, Tones & Pinyin First will make sure the next person actually understands your 买 and 卖.

Now practice Chinese

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

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