Chinese in five ideas
1. Characters, one syllable each
Every character is one syllable, and most words are two of them. 中国 (zhōngguó, China) is 中 "middle" + 国 "country". Learning a character pays off in every word it appears in.
2. Tones change the word
Each syllable has a tone, and the tone is part of the word: mā, má, mǎ and mà are four different words. Pinyin marks the tone over the vowel.
3. Verbs never change
我去 (I go), 他去 (he goes), 我们去 (we go) — the verb is always 去. Time words carry the tense instead: 明天我去 "tomorrow I go".
4. The order is the one you know
Subject, verb, object: 我喝茶 "I drink tea". To ask, add 吗 at the end: 你喝茶吗？
5. Counting needs a measure word
Between a number and a noun goes a measure word: 一个人 (one person), 三本书 (three books). 个 is the all-purpose one when you are unsure.
Practise it with someone
Your Chinese partner writes to you first — about their own day, with photographs from wherever they are — and what you got wrong comes back struck through, with the right version beside it. Every word is tappable.