Basic Grammar: all 87 lessons free
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不要 / 别……了 — Stop That
「不要／别……了」— 别哭了、别玩儿手机了
别哭了, 别喝了, 别玩儿手机了: 不要 or 别 before the verb, 了 at the end, and something that is already happening has to stop. Without 了, it is a rule.
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Memory hook
不要 / 别 + V (O) + 了 = stop … · without 了 = don't (rule)
Stop, and don't
Four stops, then four rules. Hear the 了 on the stops — and its absence on the rules.
Tap any line to hear it
Stop, or don't停下，还是别做
No pressure — just making it stick.
宝宝，别____，妈妈在这儿。
Bǎobao, bié ____, māma zài zhèr.
Baby, stop crying — mummy's here.
Your mother says it at dinner. Which reply is the right one?
No talking in class.
Tap the tiles in order — it checks itself when the sentence is complete. Tap a placed tile to take it back.
Your sentence
请____乱扔垃圾！
Qǐng ____ Luàn rēng lājī!
Please don't litter!
Your turn — say it
别喝了！
That's enough drinking!
别抽烟____，对身体不好。
Bié chōuyān ____, duì shēntǐ bù hǎo.
Stop smoking — it's bad for you.
Finish each stop or rule 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
0/5Stop that, in pictures看图说「别……了」
No pressure — just making it stick.
Four things the deck tells people to stop. Match each picture, then say 别……了.
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
别玩儿手机了，吃饭！
Put the phone down — dinner!
Please don't spit!
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
上课的时候，别说话。
No talking in class.
This lesson's characters
别 itself, the game you are told to stop, and the talking you are told not to do.
don't; other; to part
会two ideas joined
A knife 刂 beside 另, which itself began as a bone being cut apart: to separate. From separating came 'other' — 别人, other people — and 'to part' — 告别, to say goodbye. Then, in speech, 别 became the quick 不要: don't, in one syllable. 别哭了 is a knife that cuts the crying off.
to swim; to roam
形meaning + sound
Water 氵 and a streaming banner 斿 for the sound: to move through water — to swim, 游泳 — and, on land, to roam — 旅游, to travel. 游戏, 'roaming play', is a game, and 打游戏 is to play video games: roaming a screen. 别打游戏了 — come back from the roaming.
to speak, to say
形meaning + sound
Speech 讠 and 兑 for the sound: to speak. 说话 is to talk, 再说一遍 is say it again, 听说 is 'I hear that'. 上课的时候别说话 is the teacher's rule; 别说了 — stop talking — is the friend's. And 说 with a different reading, shuì, once meant to persuade — a job speech has always had.
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
- Answer the deck honestly: 我的家人经常叫我别……了. Then say the sentence in their voice. You will hear that it is love, not anger.
- Read the two great signs aloud until they are automatic — 请不要随地吐痰，请不要乱扔垃圾 — and then spot them on your next walk through a Chinese city.
- Feel the 了: 别喝 is a rule, 别喝了 is a hand on the glass. Say both, and notice which one you would rather hear.