S: Dàjiāhǎo! Wǒshì Stuart. Today we’ll learn something more about fruit, plus a few other things.
M: Stuart, apples are what color? Píngguǒ shì shénme yánsède? 苹果是什么颜色的?
S: It’s red. Píngguǒ shì hóngsède.
M: 橙子是什么颜色的?
S: It’s orange. Chéngsède.
M: What about bananas? 香蕉呢?Xiāngjiāone?
S: Yellow. Huángsède. 黄色的。
M: What color are kiwi fruit? 猕猴桃是什么颜色的?míhóutáo shì shénme yánsède?
S: Green. Lǜde.
M: And grapes? 葡萄呢?
S: Purple. 紫的。Zǐde.
M: Great!
M: Now let’s look at the new stuff. I asked, ‘Píngguǒ shì shénme yánsède?’ Literally, apples are what color? 苹果是什么颜色的?
S: Yánsè, YAN SE, second tone fourth tone, 颜色,color. I answered, 苹果是红色的. The apple is red. Píngguǒ shì hóngsède.
M: Hóng, HONG, second tone, 红,means red. And ‘sè’ alone also means color, just the same as ‘yánsè’. 苹果是红色的. 苹果是红颜色的. Yíyàng.
S: Or you can simply answer, hóngde. Red. 红的, which is the shortest form. Hóngde, hóngsède, hóng yánsède, all are ok.
M: Something是什么颜色的?What is the color of something? Besides color, similarly we can ask, ‘苹果是什么味道的?’ What is the taste of apple? Wèidào, taste, 味道。
S: I could answer, píngguǒ shì tiánde. The apple is sweet. 苹果是甜的。
M: Good.
M: Now let’s go back to our text. Then I asked Stuart, 橙子是什么颜色的?What color are oranges? Chéngzi shì shénme yánsède?
S: Orange. Chéngsède. Chéngsède.
M: Now listen carefully. If ‘形状’,xíngzhuàng, XING ZHUANG, second tone fourth tone, 形状means shape, what does the following sentence mean? "橙子是什么形状的?" Chéngzi shì shénme xíngzhuàngde?
S: Duìle, it means ‘what is the shape of the orange? Shape, xíngzhuàng。
M: It’s round. 橙子是圆的。Chéngzi shì yuánde. Yuán, YUAN, second tone, 圆,round.
S: So, if ‘square’ in Chinese is fāng, FANG, first tone, 方,how do we say, ‘this table is square’ in Chinese? Remember, ‘table’ is zhuōzi.
M: 非常好!这张桌子是方的。Zhèizhāng zhuōzi shì fāngde.
S: We’ve still got several colors left. Let’s look at them now.
M: They are yellow, green, and purple. 黄色,绿色,和紫色。Yellow is ‘huángsè’, 黄,HUANG, second tone. And green is ‘lǜ’, LV, 绿,fourth tone.
S: zǐ, purple, 紫,ZI, third tone, zǐ.
M: And with that we come to the end of this lesson. We’ll see you next time.
S: Zàijiàn!