Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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This practice works best alongside a lesson: to really get this grammar, book one and your teacher explains it and practises it with you.
……，好吗？ — OK With You?
疑问句「……，好吗？」
我们晚上吃火锅，好吗？ Make the plan, add a comma and 好吗, and it becomes a question that leaves the other person room to say no.
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Memory hook
plan，好吗？ = …, OK?
Leave room for a no
Three from the deck, then the ones you will use. Hear the pause before 好吗 — that pause is the politeness.
Tap any line to hear it
OK with you?好吗？
No pressure — just making it stick.
我们晚上吃火锅，____？
Wǒmen wǎnshàng chīhuǒguō, ____?
Hotpot tonight, OK?
You would love to. Which reply?
I'll give it to you tomorrow, OK?
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
我们晚上吃披萨，好吗？——____，我不想吃披萨。
Wǒmen wǎnshàng chī pīsà, hǎo ma? — ____, wǒ bù xiǎng chī pīsà.
Pizza tonight, OK? — No, I don't feel like pizza.
Your turn — say it
我们坐这里，好吗？
Shall we sit here?
不要哭了，我们去公园，____？
Bú yào kū le, wǒmen qù gōngyuán, ____?
Don't cry — let's go to the park, OK?
Finish each proposal or its reply.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Plans, in pictures看图提计划
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four plans from the deck. Match each picture, then propose it with 好吗.
Tap a picture, then choose its word. Picked wrong? Tap that picture and choose again. Match all the cards to finish.
Your turn — say it
我们晚上吃火锅，好吗？——好啊！
Hotpot tonight, OK? — Sure!
Get me a milk tea, OK?
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
Your turn — say it
不行，我们吃披萨吧。
No — let's have pizza.
This lesson's characters
Three from the evening plans: the film, the pot, and tomorrow.
shadow; image (电影 film)
形meaning + sound
景, a view, with three fine strokes 彡 beside it — the shading a view casts: a shadow. 电影, 'electric shadows', is the cinema: the first Chinese audiences saw moving shadows on a wall and named them honestly. 我们一会儿去看电影，好吗？ — shall we go and watch some shadows?
pot, wok
形meaning + sound
Metal 钅 and 呙 for the sound: a metal cooking pot. 火锅, the fire-pot, is a pot kept boiling on the table; 锅 alone is the wok every Chinese kitchen turns on. 我们晚上吃火锅，好吗？ — the most agreeable plan in the language. 背锅, to carry the pot, is to take the blame — a later lesson.
bright; tomorrow
会two ideas joined
Sun 日 and moon 月 side by side: all the light there is — bright. 明天, the bright day, is tomorrow; 明白 is to understand, to see clearly; 聪明 is clever. 我明天给你，好吗？ — I'll give it to you when the light comes back.
Take these with you
Everything worth taking away. Tap any line to hear it.
Words 生词
Characters 汉字
Before you go课后回顾
- Turn three decisions today into proposals: say the plan, pause, 好吗. Listen for how much more willingly people say yes.
- Practise the two answers until they are reflexes: 好啊 with a smile, 不行，我们……吧 with a better idea. A no with a plan is never rude.
- Count your question tails now: 吗, 呢, 是不是, 好吗. Four ways to end a sentence with a question, each with its own temperature.