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Beginner
是 (shì) means 'to be' and is used to say what something or someone is. The pattern is: Subject + 是 + Noun.
的 (de) connects an owner to the thing they own, similar to English's apostrophe-s: [owner] 的 [thing]. Common pronouns: 我 (wǒ, I), 你 (nǐ, you), 他 (tā, he), 她 (tā, she).
不 (bù) negates most verbs and adjectives — place it directly before the word being negated. (没 is used instead of 不 to negate 有 "to have," covered in a later lesson.)
Add 吗 (ma) to the end of a statement to turn it into a yes/no question — word order doesn't change. For other questions, use words like 什么 (shénme, what), 哪里 (nǎlǐ, where), 谁 (shéi, who) in the position where the answer would go.
Chinese numbers 1-10 (一二三四五六七八九十) are the base for all others. 11-99 combine these logically: 11 is 十一 (ten-one), 20 is 二十 (two-ten), 35 is 三十五 (three-ten-five).