A crash Chinese course by NBC's Al Roker

This is a clap during the Beijing Olympics and in this crash class you will find something you may already be familiar with, say, Pinyin (tone) and still can learn something new:



wǒ shì ...(我是...) =wǒ jiào... (我叫) =My name is...
wǒ shì:
wǒ jiào:
Obviously, it's just a way to introduce. wǒ(我) means 'I','me', shì(是) is just 'is','am', or 'are' in English.

wǒ yào(我要)...=I want...

As you can see or guess, yào(要) means 'want'. For example, you can say: wǒ yào nà (that) běn shū=I want that book. Here, 'běn(本)' just plays the role similar to 'piece' as in 'a piece of paper'.

tīng bù dǒng(听不懂)=I don't understand.

Actually this is different from I don't know. Say if some is speaking Chinese and you have absolutely no idea what she is talking about, you should say 'tīng bù dǒng(听不懂)', as Al in the clap. In fact, some of my American friends find this a useful way to refuse to answer questions:)
wǒ è le(我饿了)= I am hungry.

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