Bloggen

Lesson 010 The Luggage Is Too Heavy.

 M: 大家好！我是ML!
S: dajia hao! Wo shi Stuart.
M: Pencil and paper ready? Hao! 请，Please, qǐng, repeat the Chinese out loud with us.
S: First some tone practice. Remember the four tones, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th.
M: flat, up, down and up, down. Let’s try ba BA BA ba. Ready, bā bá bǎ bà. Again, bā bá bǎ bà. 很好，非常好。
S: ML, let’s try something else. Instead of 1st tone to 4th, why not 4th to 1st. You do it with ba.
M: 没问题，no problem, mei wenti. Here goes. Bà bǎ bá bā. All together, bà bǎ bá bā. Once more, bà bǎ bá bā.
S: Great. That calls for a break! Then maybe we leave this jichang!
M: At last we’re going to leave the 机场。But, 天啊，too much luggage! Stuart, 你的行李太多了! Ni de xingli tai duo!
S: 是的，我的行李太多了! wode xingli tai duo le!
M: Ni de xingli tai duo le. Tài TAI tài, means “too”, as in ‘too much’. Duo DUO, duō, means many or much. Tài duō, ‘too many’, or ‘too much’. Xingli tai duo le.
S: The little LE on the end doesn’t have any real meaning. It’s just a colloquial habit.
M：Right. Stuart, 你的行李太多了! Ni de xingli tai duo le!
S: 没问题，no problem, mei wenti. 我来拿, wo lai na. I’ll get it. Wo lai na. OOH! 太重了！tai zhong le! Wo de xingli tai zhong le.
M: Guessed what tai zhong means? 对了，dui le. Too heavy, tai zhong. Zhòng ZHONG zhong, 4th tone, zhòng. 他的行李太重了. His luggage is too heavy. Ta de xingli tai zhong le.
M: So much luggage! Now, you guys at home, follow and repeat this short dialogue. Stuart, 你的行李太多了. Ni de xingli tai duo le.
S: Wo tongyi. 我的行李太多了. Wode xingli tài duo le.
M: 你的行李也太重了。 Ni de xingli yě tai zhong.
S: Shide, wo de xingli ye tai zhong. Wo de xingli ye tai zhong.
M: Did you hear a new word? Listen. Ni de xingli tai duo le. Ni de xingli yě tai zhong le. I’m sure you did. It’s yě YE ye, 3rd tone, yě. Can you guess what it means? A clue. Too much luggage, and also too heavy. Guessed? Right. Yě yě means ‘also, or ‘as well’.
S: So, can you say, ‘Ok, you go, and I’ll also go’. Remember how to say ‘go’? Right, zǒu ZOU zǒu, or qù QU qù. So try to say ‘Ok, you go, and I’ll also go’. …..
M: Did you say，Hao, ni zou, wo ye zou. Or, Hao, ni qu, wo ye qu. Hen hao!
S: Ok, ML, it’s time for us to go now. 我们也走。We’ll also go. So, until next time, Zai jian.
M: Zai jian.

Continue Reading →

Chinese language vocabulary 汉语词汇 8 Words for Popular in Mandarin

I’ve often pondered about how many words really exist in Mandarin for “popular” and so I’ve done my research and come up with what seems to be a pretty definitive list. For the purposes of this post, there is a distinction made between “popular” (known by many people) and universal (“affecting everyone/everything”), the latter of which is commonly translated as 普遍 pǔbiàn or 普及 pǔjí. I also left out 大众的 dàzhòng de and 民间的 mínjiān de, which are ideally conceptualised as “used by the people”, a little different to the essential meaning of “popular” in my opinion, but worthy of mentioning nonetheless. And now, onto the list…

Continue Reading →

Lesson 008 Revision of Expressions at the Airport

 S: Hi everybody, Woshi Stuart. dajia hao!
M: Woshi ML. 大家好！
S: Pencil and paper ready? Hao! Don’t forget to say the Chinese out loud with us.
M: This lesson is a quick revision of what we learnt this week, with a few new things. 现在我们开始。Now we start. Xianzai, ‘now’, xianzai.
S: Xianzai XIAN ZAI, xianzai. women kaishi, we start.
M: I ask Stuart if he’s tired. Listen for the little 吗 MA, ma, at the end, which makes a question. Stuart, 你累吗？nǐ lèi ma?
S: 是的，我很累. Yes, I’m very tired. Shi de, wǒ hěn lèi.
M: 好, 我们走吧. Ok, we’ll go. Hao, women zou ba.
S: Hao, women zou. Women zou.
S: We’re still here at the airport, and we need to practice YOURS or YOUR and MY and MINE, and WHERE, THERE and HERE.
M: Stuart, where’s your luggage? 你的行李在哪儿？ni de xingli zai nǎr?
S: 我的行李在那儿。Wo de xingli zai nàr.
M: nǐ, you. Nǐ de NI DE nǐ de, your, or yours.
S: 我的 wode, mine, or my. 我的. Just add the little de DE, very useful word.
M: 你的行李在哪儿？Nide xingli zai nar? xingli XINGLI is luggage. Xingli. Zài nǎr? Where?
S: There. Zài nàr.
M: Where is your passport? Stuart, 你的护照在哪儿？Got it? Huzhao passport. Ni de huzhao zai nǎr?
S: 我的护照在这儿. zai zher.
M: 他的护照在这儿。 His passport is here. zai zher, here.
S: And now for a word meaning “and”.
M: 你的行李和护照在哪儿?
S: Wo de xingli zai nàr. Wo de huzhao zai zhèr.
M:和 HE Hé, ‘and’. xingli he huzhao, luggage and passport.
M: 天啊! We’re still at the 机场, airport. 我们走吧。Let’s go.
S: Hao, women zou. 天啊,我忘了！Oh dear, I’ve forgotten, tian na, tian na, oh dear. You say it at home, pretend you are in a panic. Tian na, wo wang le, I’ve forgotten. Wo wang le.
M: wo wang le. Wàng WANG wàng. 4th tone, means forget. 忘了, wàngle. The little le LE le, after a verb makes it past tense. The le has no distinct tone here.
S: Where’s the washroom? Remember the word for wash hands room? Right. 洗手间.洗手间在哪儿? Xishoujian zai nǎr?
M: Xishoujian zai nàr. It’s over there.
But, Stuart,你忘了吗？have you forgotten, ni wang le ma? 我们还在机场. We’re still at the airport. Women hai zai jichang.
S: 我知道， I know. Wo zhidao. Wo zhidao. I know. ZHI DAO, know, zhīdào. Wo zhidao.
M: 你知道吗? Ni zhidao ma? Do you know?
S: Shi de, wo zhidao.
M: So, let’s go. 我们走吧。Women zou ba.
S: 好主意。Hǎo zhúyì. Good idea, hao zhuyi。
M: So, now we go. Xianzai women zou. See you next lesson!
S: Zaijian.

Continue Reading →

Never make these mistakes in Chinese 19

         Rénmín men duì zhè xīnshēng shìwù biǎoxiàn le jídà de xìngqù hé rè qíng.
False: 人民们对这新生事物表现了极大的兴趣和热情。
         Rénmín duì zhè xīnshēng shìwù biǎoxiàn le jídà de xìngqù hé rè qíng.
True: 人民对这新生事物表现了极大的兴趣和热情。

Continue Reading →
1 … 1,376 1,377 1,378 1,379 1,380 … 1,697