Lesson 8: What is Your Name?

你好！ Finally we're getting back to the language.  Are you ready?

Today we will learn how to introduce ourselves.  It's quite simple.  Here is what you say:

我叫(your name)。
(wo3 jiao4_____.)

That's it!  Just two words followed by your name.  As we already know, 我(wo3) means "I."  叫(jiao4) simply means "to be called" and is a verb.

If you want to look at the second character based on its radicals, you can observe the 口(kou3) or mouth on the left of it.  You use your mouth to call someone, so it makes sense to have this radical there!

Literally, you are saying, "I am called _____."  Simple, right?

If you want to ask someone their name say this:

你叫什么名字？
(ni3 jiao4 shen2 me5 ming2 zi5?)

This is a little bit more complex, but let's break it down.  We already know that 你(ni3) means "you" and that 叫(jiao4) means "to be called."  什么(shen2 me5) means "what," so can you guess what 名字(ming2 zi5) means?  Name!  That's right!

You are literally saying, "You are called what name?"

Hopefully that makes sense.  Here is a good video you can look at. Try to understand as much as you can.  Good luck and 再见！