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🎥 Speaking Mandarin:
🧾 Intro / Reflection
Passed the Silver 1 test! This week mainly focused on talking about the past, building on time markers and sequencing words to expand sentences with more detail. The big idea was just adding depth, especially for past events. Mandarin past tense is pretty simple, you add “le” after verbs to show you did something, and “guo” for things you’ve done/experienced more than once.
The test went fairly smoothly, though I made a couple mistakes; forgot to use guo, had some pinyin spelling errors, and slipped up in a few paragraph responses. But overall, past tense in Mandarin isn’t too tough, so the week went well.
Next week I’ll be adding more depth to conversations, comparisons, opinions, and building on why.
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📚 What I Learned This Rank
✅ Silver 1
| Category | Covered |
|---|---|
| What happened in your day | ✅ |
| Retell basic events | ✅ |
| Past events | ✅ |
| Weekend plans | ✅ |
| Past tense | ✅ |
| Time markers | ✅ |
| Sequencing words | ✅ |
📅 Scenario:
📝My Mandarin notes
🧩 1. Grammar Structures (Silver 1)
Past events in Mandarin (there’s no “-ed” like in English; context + particles show past):
- le → shows a completed action.
- Wǒ chī le mǐfàn. = I ate rice.
- zuótiān / shàng ge xīngqī → past time markers (“yesterday,” “last week”) tell you it’s past.
- Zuótiān wǒ qù le shāngdiàn. = Yesterday I went to the store.
Time markers:
- zuótiān = yesterday
- shàng ge xīngqī = last week
- shàng ge yuè = last month
- jīntiān = today
- míngtiān = tomorrow (future, but useful contrast)
Sequencing words:
- xiān = first
- ránhòu = then
- jiēzhe = after that
- zuìhòu = finally
Daily routine verbs:
- qǐchuáng = get up
- xǐ zǎo = shower
- shuā yá = brush teeth
- chī fàn = eat (a meal)
- hē shuǐ = drink water
- shàngxué = go to school
- shàngbān = go to work
- xiūxí = rest
- shuìjiào = sleep
Common activities:
- mǎi dōngxī = buy things
- qù gōngyuán = go to the park
- kàn diànyǐng = watch a movie
- tīng yīnyuè = listen to music
- kàn shū = read a book
- dǎ diànnǎo yóuxì = play computer games
Food & drink basics:
- mǐfàn = rice
- jīròu = chicken
- miàntiáo = noodles
- píngguǒ = apple
- chá = tea
- shuǐ = water
🧩 3. Sentence Templates
Use these to build stories:
- Time + Subject + Verb (+ le) + Object.
- Zuótiān wǒ qù le gōngyuán. = Yesterday I went to the park.
- Xiān… ránhòu… zuìhòu… (sequence)
- Xiān wǒ chī le mǐfàn, ránhòu qù le shāngdiàn, zuìhòu shuìjiào.
- Shàng ge xīngqī + activity
- Shàng ge xīngqī wǒ kàn le yí gè diànyǐng.
✅ Silver Mandarin Test Results
📘 Silver 1 Mandarin Test (Pinyin only)
Part 1: Translation to Mandarin (pinyin)
Translate into pinyin. Try to keep word order natural.
- Yesterday I ate noodles, then I drank tea.
- Last weekend I went to the park and played basketball.
- After that, I met my friend and we watched a movie.
- Two days ago, I bought fruit at the supermarket.
- I have been to Beijing once.
Part 1: Translation
- ✅ zuotian wo chi le mian tiao, ran hou he le cha
✔ Correct. - ❌ shang ge xinqi → should be shàng ge xīngqī (missing “ng” in xīng).
✔ wo qu le gongyuan da lanqiu is good. - ✅ ran hou, wo he pengyou kan le dianying
✔ Perfect. - ❌ lian tian qian → should be liǎng tiān qián (two days ago).
✔ Rest is fine. - ✅ wo qu le beijing yici
✔ Good! Even better would be: wo qu guo Beijing yí cì (since “have been” = guo, not le).
Part 2: Fill in the blank
Choose the correct word(s) to complete the sentence. Write in pinyin.
- Wǒ ___ (chī / chī le / chī guo) jī fàn zuótiān.
- Shàng ge xīngqī liù wǒ qù gōngyuán, ___ (rán hòu / jīntiān) wǒ mǎi le yì bēi kāfēi.
- Tā ___ (kàn le / kàn guo) nà gè diànyǐng liǎng cì.
- Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒ ___ (shuì jiào / shuì jiào le) hěn wǎn.
- Wǒ qù chāoshì mǎi píngguǒ, ___ (hòu lái / míngtiān) wǒ huí jiā.
Part 2: Fill in the blanks
- chi le ✅
- ran hou ✅
- kan le ❌ → should be kan guo (since it says “two times”).
- shui jiao le ✅
- hou lai ✅
Part 3: Free Response (short story)
Write 5–6 sentences in pinyin about what you did yesterday or last weekend.
👉 Use at least:
- 1 time word (zuótiān, shàng ge xīngqī, etc.)
- 2 sequencing words (rán hòu, hòu lái, zhī hòu)
- 2 verbs in past tense (le / guo).
Part 3: Free response
Your story is really solid, but let’s polish:
Original (yours):
zuotian wo he pengyou wan youxi, ran hou women qu canguan chi le fan. zhi hou ta hui jia, wo qu le shangdian mai shuiguo. jintian wo zuole zaofan hou lai, wo shang ban le. wu dian wo xia ban le ran hou wo he pengyou qu na ge shangdian, yin wei ta meiyou qu guo. ba dian, we hui jia le.
Corrections & suggestions:
- zhi hou → use hòu lái or rán hòu here. Zhī hòu is more formal/written, less used in daily chat.
- jintian wo zuole zaofan → spacing: jīntiān wǒ zuò le zǎofàn.
- we hui jia le → typo: wǒmen huí jiā le.
- yin wei ta meiyou qu guo is excellent usage of guo!
Polished version:
👉 Zuótiān wǒ hé péngyǒu wán yóuxì, rán hòu wǒmen qù cānguǎn chī le fàn. Hòu lái tā huí jiā, wǒ qù le shāngdiàn mǎi shuǐguǒ. Jīntiān wǒ zuò le zǎofàn, hòu lái wǒ shàng bān le. Wǔ diǎn wǒ xià bān le, rán hòu wǒ hé péngyǒu qù nà gè shāngdiàn, yīnwèi tā méi yǒu qù guo. Bā diǎn, wǒmen huí jiā le.
✅ Evaluation
- Past tense markers: You used le often, and even used guo correctly in the last story → ✔
- Time markers: Used zuotian, shang ge xingqi, liang tian qian, jintian, wu dian, ba dian → ✔
- Sequencing: Used ran hou, hou lai, zhi hou → ✔ (just replace zhī hòu with a more natural choice in speaking).
- Vocabulary: Solid basic set for Silver 1 → ✔
👉 You definitely pass Silver 1 🎉
🎯 Next Steps / Goals
Onto Silver 2! Expressing opinions, simple emotions, preference comparisons, basic agreement and disagreements.
📚 Resources I Used
- ChatGPT (for sentence practice + explanations + tests)
- YouTube (for pronunciation + listening)
- Google Translate (for fast checks)
- My language language learning structure (coming soon)
🌍 Bonus Resources You Might Like
- 🧠 Duolingo – decent for language base, I personally don’t like it.
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👉 Language progress