The Personal World: Talking About Yourself and Others
What this domain asks you to do
The Personal World section tests whether you can exchange information about yourself, your family, friends, daily routine, school life, hobbies, and future plans. You need vocabulary for family members (爸爸, 妈妈, 哥哥, 姐姐, 弟弟, 妹妹), ages and birthdays (几岁, 生日), school subjects (中文, 数学, 英文, 科学), time expressions (早上, 下午, 晚上, 周末, 每天), and feelings and opinions (喜欢, 不喜欢, 觉得, 有意思, 无聊).
Grammar you must control
Possession uses 的: 我的姐姐. Measure words matter: 个 for people, 只 for animals, 本 for books, 门 for school subjects. Adjectives normally follow 很 in statements (我很喜欢中文), but 很 is not used before comparison (我比姐姐高). Question forms include 吗, 什么, 谁, 几, 哪儿, 怎么, and 为什么.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing 的 / 得 / 地. 的 links a possessor or adjective to a noun; 得 follows a verb for degree; 地 links an adverb to a verb.
- Confusing 二 and 两. Use 两 before measure words (两个人), 二 in counting and phone numbers.
- Dropping the measure word after numbers.
- Answering a question with the wrong person. If the prompt asks about 你妹妹, do not describe yourself.
- Writing English word order inside Chinese sentences, e.g. placing time expressions at the end rather than before the verb.
Worked example
Prompt: 你周末常常做什么？
Model answer: 我周末常常和朋友去打篮球。有时候我在家做作业，晚上看电视。
Notice the time word 周末 and 晚上 come before the verb, the measure word is absent only because no number is used, and 和朋友 precedes the verb phrase. A rule of thumb: time first, then place, then manner, then verb - 我星期天在学校跟同学一起打球.
Building range
To reach the higher bands, vary sentence openings and add reasons with 因为…所以… and opinions with 我觉得….