TASC Chinese cheat sheet

Mandarin has four main lexical tones (high, rising, dipping, falling) plus a neutral tone; changing the tone changes the word, e.g., mā 'mother' vs mǎ 'horse'.

Third-tone sandhi: a third tone before another third tone is pronounced as second tone; 不 bù becomes bú before fourth tone; 一 yī becomes yí before fourth tone and yì before first/second/third tone.

Yes/no questions end in 吗 ma and keep statement word order; 呢 ne asks a follow-up; 吧 ba marks suggestion or assumption.

Time expressions: 差 chà means 'to/before the hour' (差五分八点 = 7:55); 过 guò means 'past' (八点过五分 = 8:05).

Measure words pair with noun classes: 个 general, 本 books, 张 flat sheets, 条 long things, 只 animals/some objects, 件 clothing/matters.

Negation markers: 不 bù negates present/future or habitual; 没(有) méi(yǒu) negates past/completed actions and possession; 别 bié gives negative commands.

Sequencing markers 先...然后...最后 and 一边...一边 signal order and simultaneous actions; listen for what happens next or at the same time.

Decision rule: if an option repeats a word from the audio but changes the relationship (time, place, person, or cause), it is a literal-match distractor, not the answer.

A character's radical often gives a semantic category (氵 water, 扌 hand, 讠 speech); a phonetic component hints at pronunciation, e.g., 妈 mā contains 马 mǎ.

Pinyin tone-mark placement: mark a, o, or e first; if none, mark the second vowel in iu/ui; otherwise mark the single vowel; ü after j/q/x is written u.

Basic sentence order is Subject + Time + Place + Verb + Object; 把 bǎ moves a definite object before the verb and requires a result/complement after it.

Aspect markers: 了 le marks completion or change of state; 过 guo marks experience; 着 zhe marks an ongoing state or accompanying action.

是...的 shì...de focuses on time, place, manner, or agent in an action already known to have happened (我是昨天来的 = I came yesterday).

Connector pairs: 因为...所以 (because...therefore), 虽然...但是 (although...but), 不但...而且 (not only...but also), 如果...就 (if...then).

两 liǎng is used before measure words for 'two'; 二 èr is used in counting, dates, and ordinal numbers (二月, 第二).

Decision rule for main-idea questions: reject options that are only details, only repeat a keyword, or are broader/narrower than the passage's central point.

Mandarin syllables consist of an initial (optional) and a final; the final carries the tone, and the tone contour must be produced clearly to distinguish words.

Contrast zh/ch/sh (retroflex) with z/c/s (flat alveolar); contrast n (nasal) with l (oral lateral); contrast -n (alveolar nasal) with -ng (velar nasal).

Third-tone sandhi and 一/不 tone changes apply in connected speech, not only in isolated words.

Sentence-final particles carry mood: 吗 ma = yes/no question, 呢 ne = follow-up, 吧 ba = suggestion/assumption, 啊 a = softening or exclamation.

For picture description, a reliable order is location → main person/object → action → likely reason or result.

Repair phrases include 对不起，我没听清; 请再说一遍; 我的意思是...; these keep the task moving after a misunderstanding.

Pause at phrase boundaries (after subject, time phrase, or clause), not inside a word or between a number and its measure word.

Decision rule for short-answer speaking: answer the question directly in the first sentence, then add one reason or example; a delayed answer risks being scored as off-topic.

Stroke order rules: top-to-bottom, left-to-right; horizontals before verticals; outer frame before inner content; closing bottom stroke last.

Chinese punctuation: 。 full stop, ， comma, ？ question, ！ exclamation, 、 list separator, ： colon, “” quotation marks.

的 de links modifiers to nouns; 地 de links adverbs to verbs; 得 de follows a verb to introduce a complement (跑得快).

Formal register uses 您 nín for polite 'you'; informal register uses 你 nǐ; 请 qǐng softens requests in both.

Paragraph structure: topic sentence with the main point, supporting sentences with reasons/examples/details, and a final sentence that concludes or restates.

Cohesive devices: 首先/其次/最后 for sequence, 因此 for result, 然而 for contrast, 例如 for example.

A complete clause normally needs a subject and predicate; Chinese allows subject omission when context is clear, but formal writing should avoid ambiguous fragments.

Decision rule for revision: check every pronoun (这/那/它/他们) has a clear antecedent; if two nouns could be the antecedent, replace the pronoun with a noun.