Qualities: Vocabulary for conditions, states, and descriptive qualities

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Pinyin is the standard romanisation used to show Mandarin pronunciation using the Latin alphabet. You’ll often see tone marks on the vowels to show the four tones (plus the neutral tone), for example mā / má / mǎ / mà / ma. “Numbered pinyin” shows the same tones using a number after the syllable instead of tone marks, for example ma1 / ma2 / ma3 / ma4 / ma (sometimes written as ma5 for the neutral tone). Numbered pinyin is handy when you can’t easily type tone marks, while tone-mark pinyin is usually easier to read once you’re used to it.

白

• Pinyin: bái
• Numbered pinyin: bai2
• English translation: white

干

• Pinyin: gān
• Numbered pinyin: gan1
• English translation: dry

干净

• Pinyin: gān jìng
• Numbered pinyin: gan1 jing4
• English translation: clean

好看

• Pinyin: hǎo kàn
• Numbered pinyin: hao3 kan4
• English translation: good-looking

好听

• Pinyin: hǎo tīng
• Numbered pinyin: hao3 ting1
• English translation: pleasant to hear

坏

• Pinyin: huài
• Numbered pinyin: huai4
• English translation: bad, broken

渴

• Pinyin: kě
• Numbered pinyin: ke3
• English translation: thirsty

老

• Pinyin: lǎo
• Numbered pinyin: lao3
• English translation: old

累

• Pinyin: lèi
• Numbered pinyin: lei4
• English translation: tired

冷

• Pinyin: lěng
• Numbered pinyin: leng3
• English translation: cold

忙

• Pinyin: máng
• Numbered pinyin: mang2
• English translation: busy

热

• Pinyin: rè
• Numbered pinyin: re4
• English translation: hot

要

• Pinyin: yào
• Numbered pinyin: yao4
• English translation: to want, to need

有

• Pinyin: yǒu
• Numbered pinyin: you3
• English translation: to have, there is/are

有名

• Pinyin: yǒu míng
• Numbered pinyin: you3 ming2
• English translation: famous

在

• Pinyin: zài
• Numbered pinyin: zai4
• English translation: at, in, on

真

• Pinyin: zhēn
• Numbered pinyin: zhen1
• English translation: really

真的

• Pinyin: zhēn de
• Numbered pinyin: zhen1 de5
• English translation: really, truly

最好

• Pinyin: zuì hǎo
• Numbered pinyin: zui4 hao3
• English translation: best

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