We will use our own Kenyan families as examples, because family is important everywhere! We have three main goals: first, learn to count to 100 in Chinese; second, ask someone how old they are — 'duō dà le'; and third, introduce your family members. These are fun and useful skills! Let's get started!
Let's quickly review numbers 1 to 29! We've learned them before, so this will be a fun refresher. First, remember the building blocks: numbers 1 to 10. Repeat after me: yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí. For 11 to 29: the pattern is simple. 11 to 19 is shí plus a number, like shí yī for 11. 20 to 29 is èrshí plus a number, like èrshí yī for 21. 25 is èrshí wǔ — èrshí (20) plus wǔ (5). You're ready to count all the way to 29. Let's keep going!
Let's learn how to ask someone's age in Chinese. To say 'How old are you?', you say 'Nǐ duō dà le?' Listen: Nǐ means 'you', duō dà means 'how big', and le is a particle. Literally 'You how big?' but it means 'How old are you?' For the answer, you say 'Wǒ [number] suì le.' For example, if you are 12 years old, say 'Wǒ shí'èr suì le.' If you are 35, say 'Wǒ sānshíwǔ suì le.' Notice 'suì' means 'years old', and 'le' shows a change of state. In our Kenyan context, you can ask a jamaa (a friend or elder) 'Nǐ duō dà le?' But always greet them first with 'Nǐ hǎo' to be polite. Let's recap: To ask age, say 'Nǐ duō dà le?' To answer, say 'Wǒ [number] suì le.' Practice with a partner!
Great work everyone! We're going to put everything together and learn how to introduce our family members using a full sentence. At this example. It combines the number of people and their ages. First: 'Wǒ jiā yǒu sì kǒu rén' – 'My family has 4 people.' Then it tells us the ages: 'Bàba sìshí suì' – 'Father is 40 years old.' 'Māma sānshíwǔ suì' – 'Mother is 35 years old.' 'Dìdi bā suì' – 'Little brother is 8 years old.' 'Wǒ shí'èr suì' – 'I am 12 years old.' So you can describe the whole family in one sentence. Remember, in Kenya you can use familiar terms like 'Baba' for father and 'Mama' for mother. You could say 'Baba sìshí suì' just like in the example. You know how to combine the number of family members and their ages into a clear description. Practice making your own sentences!
Great job, everyone! Let's quickly look back at everything we learned. First, we learned numbers from 30 to 100 in Chinese. Remember, 三十 (sān shí) is 30, 四十 (sì shí) is 40, all the way up to 一百 (yī bǎi) for 100. Then we learned how to ask someone's age: 你多大了? (Nǐ duō dà le?) — and how to answer with our age. Done practicing those questions! We also introduced our family members: 爸爸 (bàba) for dad and 妈妈 (māma) for mom. You can now talk about your family in Chinese! We ended with this thoughtful Kenyan quote: 'Families are the roots of our communities.' Next time we'll learn about pets — 宠物 (chǒng wù)! See you next class!
