Chinese grammar is easy! In English, we might say I eat, He eats, or She ate. But in Chinese, the verb always stays the same. For example, 吃 (chī) is used no matter who the subject is or whether things happened today or yesterday.
我吃。
Wǒ chī.
I eat.
你吃。
Nǐ chī.
You eat.
她吃。
Tā chī.
She eats.
When you pronounce zh, ch, sh, and r, curl your tongue back and up against the roof of your mouth.
When a 3rd tone is followed by another 3rd tone, the first syllable becomes a 2nd tone.
你
nǐ
you
你很高兴。
Ní hěn gāoxìng.
You are happy.
我
wǒ
I / me
我也吃鱼。
Wó yě chī yú.
I also eat fish.
Remember that tone changes like this usually aren’t written in pinyin, but we’re writing them here just to be clear!
You already know that 他们不吃 means They don’t eat and 他不去 means He doesn’t go. We can also use 不 before adjectives, in which case 很 (hěn) is no longer needed.
他们很高兴。
Tāmen hěn gāoxìng.
They are (very) happy.
他们不高兴。
Tāmen bù gāoxìng.
They are not happy.
我很忙。
Wǒ hěn máng.
I am (very) busy.
我不忙。
Wǒ bù máng.
I am not busy.