S: Wǒ shì Stuart. Lesson 71.
M: 第七十一课,dì qī shí yī kè.
S: More times and dates – very important. ML, wher are we going the evening of the day after tomorrow?后天晚上我们去哪儿?hòu tiān wǎnshàng wǒmen qù nǎr?
M: To see a movie. 后天晚上我们去看电影 hòu tiān wǎnshàng wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng.
S: See a movie. 看一部电影 kàn yí bùdiànyǐng. What time does it start? 几点开始 jí diǎn kāishǐ?
M: 八点差十分. bā diǎn chà shí fēn.
S: Get the time, everybody? 八点差十分. bā diǎn chà shí fēn.
M: Duì le. Ten to eight. 八点差十分. bā diǎn chà shí fēn.
S: Now try to catch the word for ‘month’. A clue, January, the 1st month, is literally ‘one month’, in Chinese.
M: Tian na! I forgot! 我忘了!wǒ wàngle. The day after tomorrow is January the 1st. 后天是一月一号 hòu tiān shì yī yuè yī hào. I have something to do. 我有事wǒ yǒu shì.
S: Is January 2nd Ok? 一月二号, 行不行?yī yuè èr hào, xíng bù xíng.
M: yī yuè èr hào. Xing.
S: Did you catch the word for ‘month’? Listen again. January is …
M: 一月 yī yuè
S: February is ….
M: 二月èr yuè
S: Now, you at home say ‘March’
M: Duì le. 三月sān yuè. Actually, if we are just saying the month, with no date, we can add a little 份, FEN, fen. So March is 三月份 sān yuè fèn.
S: And what is April?
M: Méi cuò. 四月份 sì yuè fen.
S: And December?
M: Duì le. 十二月份 shí èr yuè fen. So yuè YUE yuè, 4th tone, means ‘month’.
S: Now let’s put a date in. January 1st is 一月一号 yī yuè yī hào.
M: January 2nd is 一月二号yī yuè èr hào.
S: So what is January 3rd?
M: Duìle. 一月三号yī yuè sān hào.
S: You’ve probably guessed by now that the hào HAO hào, 4th tone, in yī hào or èr hào here means ‘date’.
M: And if jí diǎn means ‘what time’, what does 几号jǐ hào mean?
S: Duìle. What date?’ So what does this mean: 今天是几号? jīntiān shì jǐ hào?
M: Duì le. What’s the date today? Jīntiān shì jǐ hào?
S: Pretend it’s April 13th. yī èr sān sì. Aha! Jīntiān shìsì yuè shí sān hào. Jīntiān shì sì yuè shí sān hào.
M: Hěn hǎo. Which brings us to homework time.
S: Your homework. Ask yourself, Jīntiān shì jǐ hào?
M: Then answer, 今天是一月一号 January 1st Jīntiān shì yī yuè yī hào.
S: And continue right through to December 31st, shí èr yuè sān shí yī hào.
M: Stuart, nǐ kāiwánxiào! That’s 365 questions and answers. Too many, 太多了tài duō le!
S: 366 – for a leap year! Zài jiàn.