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 M: 大家好！我是ML!
S: dajia hao! Wo shi Stuart.
M: Pencil and paper ready? Hao! 请，Please, qǐng, say the Chinese out loud with us. We’ll repeat most things.
S: First, let’s hear the dialogue of the last lesson. But we’ll change one or two words. Listen carefully.
M: 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 zhòng le.
S: Shide, wo de xingli ye tai zhòng le. Wo de xingli ye tai zhòng le.
M: Tin a, oh dear, his luggage is too heavy. ta de xingli tai zhòng le.
S: But last lesson my xingli was tài chén, too heavy. Xianzai it’s tài zhòng. Zhòng shi shenme yisi? What does zhòng mean？ Zhòng shi shenme yisi?
M: Xingli tài zhòng, hé xingli tài chén. 一样，yíyàng, the same, yíyàng, YI YANG, yíyàng, 2nd tone, 4th tone, yíyàng.
S: Ah, so chén and zhòng both mean ‘heavy’, but chén is a bit more colloquial. Now the dialogue again, no repetition, and faster.
M: Ready. Stuart, ni de xingli tai duo le.
S: Wo tongyi. Wode xingli tài duo le.
M: Ni de xingli yě tai zhong le.
S: Shide, wo de xingli tai chen le. Wo de xingli tai chen le.
M: 很好!
S: We’re STILL at the airport. Women hai zai jichang. Now mimic this short chat.
M: 我们走吧。我打车, wo da che.
S: 好，你打车。Ni da che, 我打电话, wo da dianhua.
M: wo da che. Wo da che. Dǎ DA DA dǎ, means to ‘hit’, dǎ. Chē CHE CHE chē chē. Say it chē, chē, 1st tone, che, means ‘vehicle’. But when we say “da che”, it doesn’t mean “hit a vehicle”, it means ‘get a taxi’. Wo da che, I’ll get a cab.
S: This is very common in Chinese. One word, like dǎ, can have several different meanings. For example, I also said, Wo da dian hua. Wo da dianhua. Diàn DIAN DIAN diàn, electricity, or electric. Diàn. Huà HUA HUA, hua, words. Guess what electric words means. Yes, telephone, dianhua. Another compound word. Da dianhua. Hit the phone? Well, kind of, it means ‘make a telephone call’. Da dianhua.
M: And usually we put the common classifier gè GE gè in front of it. Dǎ ge dianhua. Listen and repeat. Stuart, 我去打车。Wo qu da che. 你去哪儿？ni qu na’er?
S: Wo qu da ge dianhua. Wo qu da ge dianhua.
M: Hao, ni qu da ge dianhua. Ni qu da ge dianhua.
S: Follow everything? 非常好。
M: Stuart’s finished phoning. 车来了, chē lái le. The taxi’s here. Che lai le.
S: Na hen hao. Che lai le. And here’s the driver.
Taxi Driver: 你们去哪儿？nimen qu na’er?
M: 我们去友谊宾馆, wo men qu youyi binguan. We’re going to the Friendship Hotel. Youyi bin’guan.
TD: 没问题。No problem. Méi wèntí.
S: Maybe we’re finally leaving the jichang!
M: We’ll see in the next lesson. Zaijian.

 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.