who for Mandarin speakers — pronunciation and common errors

Pronunciation

Mandarin lacks a distinct /w/ phoneme that allows for the lip-rounding found in English /huː/; speakers may produce a sound closer to the labiodental /f/ or the voiceless velar fricative /x/, pronouncing the word like 'hu' (hǔ).

Grammar

Mandarin relative clauses use the particle 的 (de) and precede the noun they modify, leading learners to place the 'who' clause before the subject or omit the relative pronoun entirely in English, producing 'The know me person' instead of 'The person who knows me.'

Collocations

In Mandarin, 'who' (谁 shéi) can be used as an object in situ, causing learners to produce 'You see who?' (你看到谁？ Nǐ kàndào shéi?) instead of the English structure 'Who did you see?'

Examples

• Who is that person standing by the door?
• The manager is looking for the employee who left the office lights on last night.