Vocabulary of Unit 3

名字 míngzi refers to a person's given name or full name. In Chinese, the family name (姓 xìng) always comes before the given name. 字 zì refers to a single written character.

同学 tóngxué literally means "to study together". It refers to a classmate or fellow student, and implies a relationship between people who study together. 学生 xuéshēng, on the other hand, is the general term for "student" or "pupil", with no notion of a bond between peers.

同学 tóngxué is also used as a honorific title, such as Mr., Mrs. or teacher. In that case it is usually preceded by the family name 王同学 Wáng tóngxué the student Wang.

请问 qǐngwèn is a polite expression made up of 请 ("please") and 问 ("to ask"). It is used at the start of a sentence to ask a question politely, like in English "excuse me, could you tell me...".