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Mythic Mandarin

What colour? Red, white and black

HSK 1 Unit 5: Shopping · Lesson 3 of 5 · About 15 minutes

Preview version — Chinese review in progress.

Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can name colours, say which colour you like, and use 的 to mean the red one or the white one.

Warm-up: do you remember?

Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.

  1. Meaning

    What does 百 mean?

    1. hundred
    2. thousand
    3. to order food
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, hundred.

    百 (bǎi) means hundred.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “cheap”?

    1. 便宜
    2. 水果
    3. 饭店
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 便宜.

    “cheap” is 便宜 (piányi).

  3. Listening

    From an earlier unit. Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    弟弟 dìdi

    1. to finish class
    2. egg
    3. younger brother
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, younger brother.

    You heard 弟弟 (dìdi): younger brother.

New words

  • 颜色yánsècolour
  • 红hóngred
  • 白báiwhite
  • 黑hēiblack

Colours

A colour as a noun often ends in 色 (sè, colour): 红色 red, 白色 white, 黑色 black. To ask, say 什么颜色？

  • 你喜欢什么颜色？

    Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yánsè?

    What colour do you like?

  • 我喜欢红色。

    Wǒ xǐhuan hóngsè.

    I like red.

The red one: colour + 的

Colour + 的 means the one of that colour. It saves repeating the noun.

  • 我要红的。

    Wǒ yào hóng de.

    I'd like the red one.

  • 白的很漂亮。

    Bái de hěn piàoliang.

    The white one is pretty.

  • Not: 我要红。

    But: 我要红的。 Wǒ yào hóng de.

    The one of that colour needs 的.

Characters

  • 红 = 纟

Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.

A present for Mum

Mark chooses clothes for his mother, with Xiaoyu's help.

Listen first

Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.

  1. Listening

    Listen first. Which colour does Mark's mum not like?

    1. red
    2. white
    3. black
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, black.

    马克 says 她不喜欢黑色.

  2. Listening

    Which one does Mark buy?

    1. the red one
    2. the black one
    3. the white one
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, the white one.

    马克 says 我买那件白的.

Show the transcript
Pinyin
Translation

  1. 马克

    小雨Xiǎoyǔ，你nǐ看kàn，这zhè件jiàn红hóng的de漂亮piàoliang吗ma？

    Xiaoyu, look, is this red one pretty?

  2. 小雨

    很Hěn漂亮piàoliang。你Nǐ妈妈māma喜欢xǐhuan红色hóngsè吗ma？

    Very pretty. Does your mum like red?

  3. 马克

    她Tā喜欢xǐhuan红色hóngsè和hé白色báisè。她Tā不bù喜欢xǐhuan黑色hēisè。

    She likes red and white. She doesn't like black.

  4. 小雨

    那Nà件jiàn白bái的de也yě不错búcuò。

    That white one is nice too.

  5. 马克

    好Hǎo，我wǒ买mǎi那nà件jiàn白bái的de。

    OK, I'll buy that white one.

Speak: listen, record, compare

Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.

  • 她喜欢红色和白色。她不喜欢黑色。

    Tā xǐhuan hóngsè hé báisè. Tā bù xǐhuan hēisè.

    She likes red and white. She doesn't like black.

  • 那件白的也不错。

    Nà jiàn bái de yě búcuò.

    That white one is nice too.

  • 好，我买那件白的。

    Hǎo, wǒ mǎi nà jiàn bái de.

    OK, I'll buy that white one.

Practice

  1. Meaning

    What does 颜色 mean?

    1. too, so
    2. to sleep, to go to bed
    3. colour
    Show the answer

    Answer: C, colour.

    颜色 (yánsè) means colour.

  2. Characters

    Which word means “red”?

    1. 百
    2. 红
    3. 穿
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 红.

    “red” is 红 (hóng).

  3. Pinyin

    How do you read 白 (white)?

    1. bái
    2. bāi
    3. bǎi
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, bái.

    白 is read bái. Check the tone mark on every syllable.

  4. Listening

    Listen. What does the word mean?

    Cannot listen? Read it instead

    黑 hēi

    1. black
    2. early
    3. at, in (a place)
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, black.

    You heard 黑 (hēi): black.

  5. Pinyin

    Type the pinyin of 颜色 (colour). Tone marks or tone numbers are welcome.

    Show the answer

    Answer: yánsè

    颜色 is yánsè in pinyin.

  6. Grammar

    How do you say I'd like the black one?

    1. 我要黑。
    2. 我要黑的。
    3. 我黑的要。
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 我要黑的。.

    我要黑的。 Colour + 的: the black one.

  7. In context

    How do you ask someone's favourite colour?

    1. 你喜欢什么颜色？
    2. 你要什么？
    3. 你穿什么？
    Show the answer

    Answer: A, 你喜欢什么颜色？.

    你喜欢什么颜色？: 你喜欢什么颜色: what colour do you like?

  8. Fill the gap

    Complete: I like white.

    我喜欢白＿＿。

    1. 的
    2. 色
    3. 些
    Show the answer

    Answer: B, 色.

    我喜欢白色。 A colour as a noun: 白色.

  9. Your turn

    Type the Chinese for the red one

    Show the answer

    Answer: 红的

    红的: the red one.

Colours around you

Look around and say the colour of five things out loud.

  1. Say what colour you like: 我喜欢…色。
  2. Name three things and their colours: 我的手机是黑色的。

Sentence frames

  • 我的＿＿是＿＿色的。

    Wǒ de ＿＿ shì ＿＿ sè de.

    My ... is ...

Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:

Review and finish

Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.

  • I can name red, white and black.
  • I can ask 你喜欢什么颜色？
  • I say 红的 for the red one.

Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.

Next lesson: This or that? 还是 and 别的