Mandarin · Chapter 4 · Lesson 12 · Grammar primer
Requests and imperatives
Grammar for HSK 1.
The short version
Reduplicate the verb to take the edge off
Bare Mandarin imperatives are blunt, and 请 (qǐng) is only the first layer. Saying the verb twice softens it into 'have a quick look' or 'give it a try': 看看 (kàn kàn), 听听 (tīng tīng), 试试 (shì shi), 等等 (děng děng). Stack all three tools for real deference: 请 (qǐng) plus reduplicated verb plus 吧 (ba).
你看看这个。 Nǐ kàn kan zhè ge.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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10-question session
One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 24 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.
Lesson 12 of 12 in this chapter