{"id":10856,"date":"2019-11-21T08:54:06","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T08:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/spoken-chinese\/lesson-070-how-long-have-you-been-studying-chinese\/"},"modified":"2019-11-21T08:54:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T08:54:06","slug":"lesson-070-how-long-have-you-been-studying-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/lesson-070-how-long-have-you-been-studying-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 070 How Long Have You Been Studying Chinese?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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YJ: Welcome to Chinese Studio. Wo shi Yajie.
Cam: Hello, everybody, Da4 jia1 hao3. Wo3 shi4 Cam. YJ, can you do me a favor?
YJ: Sure! What is it?
Cam: Well, you see, all my Chinese friends know I’m studying Chinese, so they often ask me the same question- ‘how long have you been studying Chinese’? But I don’t know how to answer that in Chinese!
YJ: well, you’ll figure it out in today’s Chinese Studio.<\/p>\n

Key Words of the Day<\/strong>
How long have you been studying Chinese? \u4f60\u5b66\u6c49\u8bed\u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4\u4e86\uff1f\u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4 means ‘how long’. \u5b66  to “study”, \u5df2\u7ecf, already. \u624d, only. All in today’s Chinese Studio.<\/p>\n

YJ: How long have you been studying Chinese? \u4f60\u5b66\u6c49\u8bed\u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4\u4e86(ni3 xue2 han4 yu3 duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1 le)? ni3 means you. Xue2, second tone, means to study. And Han4 yu3 means Chinese language.
Cam: So xue2 han4 yu3 means to study Chinese.
YJ: Good. And\u591a\u957f (duo1 chang2) means how long.
Cam: \u591a\u957f (duo1 chang2)
YJ: Right. duo1 chang2 is a general term that can be applied to either length or duration. Here we can say \u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4(duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1), literally means how long time.  \u65f6\u95f4(shi2 jian1), time.
Cam: duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1, ‘how long’.
YJ: Correct. Put all phrases together, ni3 xue2 han4 yu3 duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1 le? How long have you been studying Chinese? Remember, the ending \u4e86(le) is a particle word, meaning the completion of an action.
Cam: ni3 xue2 han4 yu3 duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1 le?<\/p>\n

Conversation1:<\/p>\n

Cam: Actually I’ve been studying Chinese for a year. I know a year is yi4 nian2. Can I give my answer by replacing ‘duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1’ with yi4 nian2? This would be ‘Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 yi4 nian2 le’.
YJ: very good, Cam! But usually we’d like to put in some adverbs in front. For instance: \u5df2\u7ecf(yi3 jing1) means already. yi3, the third tone, and jing1, first tone.
Cam: yi3 jing1.
YJ: So Cam, if you want to say “I’ve been studying Chinese already for a year.”, you may say it in this way\u6211\u5b66\u6c49\u8bed\u5df2\u7ecf\u4e00\u5e74\u4e86(Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 yi3 jing1 yi4 nian2 le)\u3002
Cam: Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 yi3 jing1 yi4 nian2 le\u3002<\/p>\n

Conversation2:<\/p>\n

YJ: and there is another adverb for you to choose from. It’s  \u624d(cai2) ,second tone, means ‘only’. So when you want to say “I’ve been studying Chinese o<\/em>nly for a year.” then you can say ‘Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 cai2 yi4 nian2’.
Cam:  Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 cai2 yi4 nian2’. But YJ, wher is the particle word ‘le’?
YJ: Good question. Actually here le can’t be used together with\u624d(cai2) which means ‘only’. So it’s Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 cai2 yi4 nian2’. I’ve been studying Chinese o<\/em>nly for a year.
Cam: Wo3 xue2 han4 yu3 cai2 yi4 nian2’.<\/p>\n

Conversation3:<\/p>\n

Cam: YJ, there is another question I often heard – how long have you been in Beijing? Can I use the sentence pattern we’ve just learned ?
YJ: Surely you can. You just need to replac xue2 han4 yu3 with lai2 bei3 jing1. ‘\u6765\u5317\u4eac(lai2 bei3 jing1)’ means to ‘be in Beijing’. 
YJ: So the question would be: \u4f60\u6765\u5317\u4eac\u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4\u4e86(ni3 lai2 bei3 jing1 duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1 le)\uff1fHow long have you been in Beijing?
Cam: ni3 lai2 bei3 jing1 duo1 chang2 shi2 jian1 le\uff1f<\/p>\n

Conversation4:<\/p>\n

Key Words Reminder
How long have you been studying Chinese? \u4f60\u5b66\u6c49\u8bed\u591a\u957f\u65f6\u95f4\u4e86\uff1f \u5df2\u7ecf, already. \u624d, only.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n