Mandarin Chinese
普通话
Sino-Tibetan · China, Taiwan, Singapore
Endangerment: Safe — Spoken by all generations and learned naturally by children.
你好，很高兴认识你。
The North Wind and the Sun
北风和太阳正在争论谁的力气更大。 这时，一个穿着暖和外套的旅人沿着路走了过来。 他们约定，谁先让旅人脱下外套，就算谁的力气更大。 北风使出全身力气使劲地吹，可是风吹得越猛，旅人就把外套裹得越紧。 最后，北风只好放弃了。 接着，太阳暖暖地照了出来，旅人马上就把外套脱了下来。 所以，北风不得不承认，太阳比它的力气更大。
- There are four tones, so the same 'ma' can mean 'mom (妈)' or 'horse (马)' depending on the pitch.
- The word order is subject-verb-object. '我吃饭 (I eat rice)' goes 'I-eat-rice'.
- Verbs don't change form for tense or person. Instead, words like '了' are added to show something is finished.
- Mainland China uses simplified characters with fewer strokes, and pronunciation is written in romanized pinyin (拼音).