Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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第 — First, Second, the Nth Time
「第」表示顺序——第一次、第二天、第几名
第一家蜜雪冰城, 我的第一个女朋友, 这是我第一次吃火锅: 第 in front of a number turns how-many into which-one — and 第一次 is where every good story begins.
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Memory hook
第 + number + measure word + noun / verb
Firsts
Four from the deck, then a trip day by day. Hear 第 in front of every number.
Tap any line to hear it
Which one in line排第几
No pressure — just making it stick.
这是我____吃火锅。
Zhè shì wǒ ____ Chīhuǒguō.
This is my first time eating hotpot.
He won. Which reply?
This is my second time in China.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
她是我的____女朋友。
Tā shì wǒ de ____ Nǚpéngyou.
She was my first girlfriend.
Your turn — say it
这是我第一次吃火锅。
This is my first time eating hotpot.
____天，我们去了长城。
____ Tiān, wǒmen qù le Chángchéng.
Day one, we went to the Great Wall.
Put each thing in order with the right piece.
Tap a word to fill the next gap; tap a filled sentence to clear it. Every word is used once.
Word bank
0/5Firsts, in pictures看图说第一次
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four firsts from the deck. Match each picture, then say 我第一次…… about it.
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
你第一次来中国的时候，感觉怎么样？
How did it feel the first time you came to China?
Day one, we went to the Great Wall.
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
这是我第二次来中国。
This is my second time in China.
This lesson's characters
第 itself, the 次 it most often counts, and the 名 that ranks the winner.
ordinal prefix — the -th
形meaning + sound
Bamboo 竹 on top, because books were bamboo slips kept in order; 弟, younger brother, underneath — the one who comes next — lending the sound. 第 is order itself: 第一 first, 第二 second, 第几 which-th. The ordering of brothers and the ordering of slips, in one character that now numbers every lesson in this course.
a time; order, sequence
会two ideas joined
欠, a figure with the mouth open, beside two strokes: the old sense was 'to fall short, to come second' — hence sequence, and hence the times something happens. 一次 once, 第一次 the first time, 下次 next time, 每次 every time. 这是我第二次来中国 counts the visits with it.
name; place (in a ranking)
会two ideas joined
Evening 夕 and a mouth 口: in the dark you cannot see who is coming, so you call out your name. 名字 is a name; 有名 is famous, 'has a name'; and in a race the places are names read out — 第一名, first place. 他是第几名？ — which name was called for him?
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
- Tell your last trip in 第s: 第一天……第二天……第三天……. Three days, three sentences, and you have the shape every Chinese traveller uses.
- Prepare two firsts with feelings — 我第一次吃火锅的时候，太辣了 — because you will be asked, and the story is the point.
- Notice the one syllable that does all the work: 一次 is a count, 第一次 is a story. Keep the measure word, add 第, and any number becomes a place in line.