ဘလော့ဂ်

 M: 大家好！Huānyíng nǐmen dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ, Wǒ shì ML.
S: Dàjiā hǎo. Wǒ shì Stuart. ML, c?
M: We’ll continue learning to tell the time.
S: Hǎo zhúyì.
M: Please, Stuart, could you tell me what time it is now? 请问，现在是几点钟？qǐng wèn, xiànzài shì jí diǎn zhōng?
S: 8:30. Xiànzài shì bā diǎn bàn, bā diǎn bàn.
M: Morning or afternoon? 上午还是下午？shàngwǔ háishì xiàwǔ？
S: Morning. shàngwǔ bā diǎn bàn.
M: And 8:30 pm would really be the evening, 晚上 wǎnshàng.
S: Méi cuò. Xiànzài shìshàngwǔbā diǎn bàn, bú shìwǎnshàng, bú shìwǎnshàng.
M: Hǎo, now we’ll go over the new stuff.
S: And more.
S: Back again! We started with, 请问，现在是几点钟？qǐng wèn, xiànzài shì jí diǎn zhōng?
M: 请问 qǐngwèn. Qǐng QING qǐng, ‘please’. 问 WEN wèn, means to ‘ask’. So qǐngwèn, means, ‘please may I ask’. So, all together, 请问，现在是几点钟？qǐngwèn, xiànzài shì jí diǎn zhōng?
S: 8:30. Xiànzài shì bā diǎn bàn, bā diǎn bàn.
M: Morning or afternoon? 上午还是下午? shàngwǔ háishì xiàwǔ.
S: Morning. shàngwǔ, shàngwǔ. We’ve learnt 早晨 zǎochén, which means ‘early morning’. The morning in general is shàngwǔ.
M: Shàngwǔ. Shàng SHANG literally means ‘on’ shàng. 下 XIA means ‘under’, xià. And 午 WU wǔ, is ‘midday, noon’.
S: So if shangwu is ‘morning’, what is xiàwǔ? Duìle. ‘afternoon’, xiàwǔ.
M: For midday, we say 中午 zhōngwǔ. The zhōng means middle, as in Zhōngguó.
S: And the evening is, 晚上 wǎnshàng.
M: So, let’s quickly say early morning, morning, noon, afternoon and evening.
S: zǎochén, zǎochén.
M: shàngwǔ, shàngwǔ.
S: xiàwǔ, xiàwǔ.
M: zhōngwǔ, zhōngwǔ,
S: wǎnshàng, wǎnshàng.
M: Hén hǎo. And these make it really easy for us to learn to say ‘breakfast’ ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’.
S: Welcome back. Now, guess what we’re saying. Remember, we’re always very hungry, hǎn è.
M: 早晨我们吃早饭 zǎochén wǒmen chī zǎofàn.
S: 中午我们吃午餐zhōngwǔ wǒmen chī wǔcān.
M: 晚上我们吃晚饭 wǎnshàng wǒmen chī wǎnfàn.
S: 很容易 really easy, hěn róngyì.
M: zǎo ZAO zǎo, means ‘early’. Fàn FAN fàn, food. Zǎo fàn, ‘early food’, ‘breakfast’.
S: Wǔcān WU CAN wǔcān. The can is the same can as in Chinese food, zhōngcān, or restaurant, cānguǎn. So, wǔcān, ‘midday food’, ‘lunch’ wǔcān.
M: And 晚饭 WAN FAN wǎnfàn. Wǎn here means evening, wǎnfàn, evening food, meaning, of course, ‘dinner’.
S: Well, that’s enough zhōngwén for today, so, wǒmen xià kè. Zài jiàn.