{"id":10571,"date":"2019-11-22T12:21:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/?p=10571"},"modified":"2019-11-22T15:58:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T15:58:57","slug":"lesson-171-the-more-expensive-the-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/th\/lesson-171-the-more-expensive-the-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesson 171 The more expensive, the better."},"content":{"rendered":"
M: Peng2you3men, ni3men hao3! Huan1ying2 shou1ting1 Xian4zai4 Xue2 Han4yu3. Wo3 shi4 ML.<\/p>\n

S: Wo3 shi4 Stuart. Remember what we learnt last lesson? In brief. A ‘present’ is \u793c\u7269li3wu4. Put mei2 you3 at the end of a sentence to make a question. As in, ‘ML, \u4f60\u4e70\u4e86\u793c\u7269\u6ca1\u6709 ni3 mai3le li3wu4 mei2 you3?<\/p>\n

M: And how do we say ‘birthday’? Dui4 le, \u751f\u65e5 sheng1ri4.<\/p>\n

S: And I bet you remember \u5feb\u4e50, meaning ‘happy’, kuai4le4.<\/p>\n

M: So how to say, Wish you happy birthday? Hen3 hao3, \u795d\u4f60\u751f\u65e5\u5feb\u4e50 zhu4 ni3 sheng1ri4 kuai4le.<\/p>\n

S: Now say, The bigger, the better.<\/p>\n

M: Dui4 le. \u8d8a\u5927\u8d8a\u597d yue4 da4 yue4 hao3.<\/p>\n

S: And, The more expensive, the better.<\/p>\n

M: Good. \u8d8a\u8d35\u8d8a\u597d yue4 gui4 yue4 hao3.<\/p>\n

S: Today we’ll learn to ask when someone was born.<\/p>\n

M: Listen carefully for how we say ‘born’. A clue, it’s two characters, and the second one is \u751f, the same sheng1 as in birthday, sheng1ri4.<\/p>\n

S: ML will ask Mrs. Ma when she was born. The Chinese word order is, you are what time born.<\/p>\n

M: \u9a6c\u5973\u58eb\uff0c\u4f60\u662f\u4ec0\u4e48\u65f6\u5019\u51fa\u751f\u7684 ni3 shi4 shen2me shi2hou4 chu1sheng1 de?<\/p>\n

S: Hear how we say born? Dui4 le. \u51fa\u751f CHU SHENG chu1sheng1, ‘to be born’ chu1sheng1. The little de after chu1sheng1 makes the chu1sheng1 refer to the subject. But don’t
worry a<\/em>bout it, just use it when we do, and your subco<\/em>nscious will soon understand it. Now ML asks Mrs. Ma her birth date again.<\/p>\n

M: \u9a6c\u5973\u58eb\uff0c\u4f60\u662f\u4ec0\u4e48\u65f6\u5019\u51fa\u751f\u7684 ni3 shi4 shen2me shi2hou4 chu1sheng1 de?<\/p>\n

Ms. Ma: I was born on March 14th, 1948. \u6211\u662f\u4e00\u4e5d\u56db\u516b\u5e74\u4e09\u6708\u5341\u56db\u53f7\u51fa\u751f\u7684 wo3 shi3 yi1 jiu3 si4 jiu3 nian2 chu1sheng1 de.<\/p>\n

M: In Chinese word order, I was in 1948\uff0cMarch 14th, born. The Chinese always follow the year-month-date order.<\/p>\n

S: And she belo<\/em>ngs to the Year of Rat. \u5979\u5c5e\u8001\u9f20\u3002<\/p>\n

M: Ta1 shu3 lao3shu3. The first shu3, SHU shu3, means ‘belong to’. So, ta1 shu3 lao3 shu3, she belo<\/em>ngs to the rat.<\/p>\n

S: A horse, ma3, belo<\/em>nging to a rat!<\/p>\n

M: And, did you hear how Ms. Ma said 1948? We simply say the four numbers, followed by nian2.<\/p>\n

S: Then the month, yue4, then the date, hao4.<\/p>\n

M: So everybody say, 2002, January 3. Hen3 hao3. \u4e8c\u96f6\u96f6\u4e8c\u5e74\u4e00\u6708\u4e09\u53f7 er4 ling2 ling2 er2 nian2 yi1 yue4 san1 hao4.<\/p>\n

S: Now say, June 21st, 1985. Fei1chang2 hao3. \u4e00\u4e5d\u516b\u4e94\u5e74\u516d\u6708\u4e8c\u5341\u4e00\u53f7 yi1 jiu3 ba1 wu3 nian2 liu4 yue4 er4 shi2 yi1 hao4.<\/p>\n

M: Now everybody say, in Chinese of course, I was born on – and use your own date of birth.<\/p>\n

S: Cheng2gong1 le ma? Succeeded? Sure you did.<\/p>\n

S: And now for a quick finish.<\/p>\n

M: \u4ed6\u662f\u4e00\u4e5d\u56db\u4e5d\u5e74\u51fa\u751f\u7684 ta1 shi4 yi1 jiu3 si4 jiu3 nian2 chu1 sheng1 de.<\/p>\n

S: \u554a\uff0c\u4ed6\u5c5e\u725b\u3002Ta1 shu3 niu2.<\/p>\n

M: He’s an ox person. Ok, That’s all for today. Zai4 jian4.
<\/div>\n