Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. This is the last of our three-part series reviewing level 2 of our course. Like in our last lesson, we will listen to a couple of dialogues both at normal and slowed-down speeds that will review the vocabulary taught so far in the course.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. This is the second of our three-part series reviewing level 2 of our course. Like in our last lesson, we will listen to a couple of dialogues both at normal and slowed-down speeds that will review the vocabulary taught so far in the course.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host, Adam. As we did in level 1, we will reserve the last three lessons of the course for review. So the next few lessons will each feature a couple of dialogues, which only use vocabulary that has been previously taught. We will listen to each dialogue first at normal speed followed by a slowed down version.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our structured course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are our native Mandarin speakers, Raphael and Kirin, who will be helping us out.
Adam: That’s literally asking “Nearby has which place?”
Kirin: 你好，你可以给我介绍附近有哪些好玩的地方吗?
Raphael: 在这个问题的中间，今天我们的第一个新的单字. 玩. 第二声.
Adam: And that when combined with 好 gives us “to have fun.” Similarly if we wanted to say “not fun” we’d say.
Raphael: 不好玩.
Kirin: 你好，你可以帮我介绍这附近有哪些地方好玩的吗?
Adam: “Hello, can you introduce to me some fun places nearby?”
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 你比较想看哪一些地方?
Raphael: 你觉得这个问题是什么意思?
Adam: That’s literally asking “You more want look what kind places?”
Kirin: 你比较想看哪一些地方?
Adam: As in “what kind of places do you prefer to look for?”
Kirin: 你比较想看哪一些地方?
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 我们这附近有博物馆，书局还有公园.
Raphael: 这里我们有两个新的地方. 第一个是博物馆. 第二声，第四声跟第三声.
Adam: and that means “museum.”
Raphael: 博物馆.
第二个地方是书局. 第一声跟第二声.
Adam: and that means “bookstore.”
Raphael: 书局.
Kirin: 我们这附近有博物馆，书局还有公园.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 那我能在什么地方买到便宜的东西?
Raphael: 这些单字我们都学过了. 你知道这个问题的意思吗?
Kirin: 那我能在什么地方买到便宜的东西?
Adam: The literal meaning here is “That I can at what place buy more cheap things?”
Kirin: 那我能在什么地方买到便宜的东西?
Adam: As in, “Then what places can I buy cheaper things at?”
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 哦，这样你应该去我们当地的夜市看看.
Raphael: 这个句子有两个新的单字. 第一个是当地. 第一声跟第四声.
Adam: and that means “local”.
Raphael: 然后第二个新的单字是另外一个地方. 夜市. 两个第四声.
Adam: And this is a very popular place in many parts of Asia, especially here in Taiwan. There are two characters there – the first comes from the word for “night” while the second one we’ve seen before in
Raphael: 城市
Adam: and on its own means “city” or “market” so together
Raphael: 夜市.
Adam: means “night market.”
Kirin: 哦，这样你应该去我们当地的夜市看看.
Adam: “Ah, in this case you should go to our local night markets and have a look.”
Adam: Great. As always, please consult the complete word for word transcripts, available to Premium subscribers, if you have trouble with any of the extra Chinese being used within the lesson, as you will find it all nicely translated for you there. Then join us again next time for our next lesson.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host, Adam along with our native Mandarin speakers Raphael and Kirin coming to you from Taiwan.
Adam: So the first part there is a modification of the term usually used when asking questions like this. In the past, we’ve heard.
Raphael: 请问.
Adam: Here we have.
Raphael: 请问一下.
Adam: So this is more like asking “Can I take just a moment of your time to ask you this question?”
Kirin: 请问一下, 这附近的邮局在哪里?
Raphael: 这个人在找一个地方. 你知道是什么样的地方吗?
这个地方叫邮局. 两个第二声.
Adam: And that means “post office.”
Kirin: 请问一下, 这附近的邮局在哪里?
Adam: May I ask, where is the post office around here?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 先直走.
Raphael: 直走是什么意思?
Adam: That means “go straight.”
Kirin: 先直走.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 再过一个红绿灯.
Raphael: 第一个字，我们之前学过了. 过.
Adam: Previously, we taught you how it can be used to form a present perfect tense, such as in.
Raphael: 这个字我们之前学过了.
Adam: The meaning also extends from passing or crossing time, to just passing or crossing in general. So here the woman literally says “Again pass a” or in this case “then pass a”
Kirin: 再过一个红绿灯.
Raphael: 红绿是两个颜色的意思.
Adam: And they are in fact the colors – red and green.
Raphael: 然后这里我们有今天的第二个新的单字.
灯. 第一声.
Adam: And that means “light.” So can you guess what a “red green light” is referring to? It’s, of course, a “traffic light.”
Kirin: 再过一个红绿灯.
Adam: Then go past the traffic light.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 邮局就在银行的隔壁.
Raphael: 这里我们有另外一个新的地方.
银行. 两个都是第二声.
Adam: And that means “bank.”
Kirin: 邮局就在银行的隔壁.
Raphael: 在这个句子的后面，我们还有一个新的单字.
隔壁. 第二声跟第四声.
Adam: And this means “beside” as in “next door to.”
Kirin: 邮局就在银行的隔壁.
Adam: The post office is right next to the bank.”
Raphael: 然后这个男人问.
Kirin: 哪一家银行的隔壁?
Adam: Here you may notice that she’s using the measure word for commercial establishments that we taught you back in lesson 56.
Raphael: 你觉得这个问题是什么意思?
Adam: So she’s asking “Next to which bank?”
Kirin: 哪一家银行的隔壁?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 我不确定.
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的单字. 确定. 两个第四声.
Adam: Back in lesson 94, we taught you the word 一定.
Raphael: 你记得 一定 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “definitely.” Here we have something similar.
Raphael: 确定.
Adam: which means “to be certain.” So by saying
Kirin: 我不确定.
Adam: He’s saying “I’m not certain” or “I’m not sure.”
Kirin: 我不确定.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 可是他就在一家银行跟便利商店的中间.
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的地方.
便利商店. 便利是两个第四声. 商店是第一声跟第四声.
Adam: We’ve actually seen the first character of the first word before.
Raphael: 是 方便 的 便. 你记得 方便 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “convenient.” So here the 便利 refers to “convenient”, while the 商店 refers to a “store.” So when you put the two together you get “convenience store.”
Raphael: 便利商店.
Kirin: 可是他就在一家银行跟便利商店的中间.
Adam: So let’s look at what we do know from this sentence. “But it’s just at a bank with a convenience store”
Raphael: 然后在这个句子的后面我们有另外一个新的单字.
中间. 是 中学 的 中 还有 房间 的 间.
中学是什么意思?
Adam: That you – may remember – means “middle school.” So the 中 character means “middle.” We then have 间 from 房间 which means “room” or “space.” So together, “middle space” is the term used for “in the middle” or “between.”
Kirin: 可是他就在一家银行跟便利商店的中间.
Adam: But it’s right between a bank and a convenience store.
Adam: Great, so I hope you can see where this is leading. We only have a few more lessons left in level 2 of our series. Our philosophy here is for you to understand every word that is used in every lesson. So please use the Complete word for word transcripts available on our website to premium subscribers if required, to translate any Chinese that you don’t understand. Then join us again for our next lesson.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百一十五课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. Joining me today are Raphael and Kirin who will be helping us out.
Adam: Notice again how the 好 here is being used to mean “very.” This is an especially common usage in Taiwan. So that gives us “It’s very boring here.”
Kirin: 这里好无聊.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 都没有什么事可以做了吗?
Raphael: 这些单字我们已经都学过了. 你知道是什么意思吗?
Adam: Let’s break it down into bits.
Kirin: 都没有.
Adam: “This literally means “all not have” which translates into “There is nothing at all.”
Kirin: 什么事可以做?
Adam: “What is there for us to do?” So by asking.
Kirin: 都没有什么事可以做了吗?
Adam: She is asking “Isn’t there anything for us to do?”
Kirin: 都没有什么事可以做了吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 为什么你不听音乐?
Raphael: 你记得 听音乐 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “to listen to music.”
Raphael: 所以这个问题的意思是什么?
Kirin: 为什么你不听音乐?
Adam: He’s asking “Why don’t you listen to some music?”
Kirin: 为什么你不听音乐?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 我现在不想听音乐.
Raphael: 这个句子很简单. 你觉得是什么意思?
Adam: “I don’t want to listen to music now.”
Kirin: 我现在不想听音乐.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 那我们出去走走吧.
Raphael: 这些单字我们也都学过了.
Adam: The literal meaning here is “In that case, we go out walk walk.” Note that “那” is short for “那么.” There are a couple of other points worth noting here. 走on its own means “to leave” or “to walk.” Do you remember what happens when we repeat an instance of a verb like this? The meaning changes to “take a walk.” We then have the 吧 particle added at the end, which is usually indicative of a suggestion.
Kirin: 那我们出去走走吧.
Adam: “In that case, Let’s go out for a walk.”
Kirin: 那我们出去走走吧.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 你想要去哪里?
Raphael: 这个问题也是很简单.
Adam: “Where would you like to go?”
Kirin: 你想要去哪里?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 逛街好不好?
Raphael: 这里我们有今天的下一个单字. 逛街. 第四声跟第一声.
Adam: And that means “to go window shopping.”
Kirin: 逛街好不好?
Adam: “Let’s go window shopping, ok?” We haven’t used this form of a question in sometime; so make note of that as well.
Kirin: 逛街好不好?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 当然好, 走吧.
Raphael: 当然 什么意思?
Adam: That means “of course”, so he’s saying “Of course that’s okay.” However, he seems to be a little sarcastic about it.
Kirin: 当然好, 走吧.
Adam: The last part 走吧 uses the suggestion particle “吧” to suggest that they get going.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百一十四课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are Kirin and Raphael, who will be helping us out. Today’s conversation continues where we left off in our last lesson between a waiter and a customer in a restaurant. The host has just led the customer to his seat. Now before we begin, let me ask Raphael how do you say “waiter”?
Raphael: 服务员. 第二声跟第四声跟第二声.
Adam: Great, and how do you say “customer” or “guest”?
Raphael: 客人. 是 不客气 的 客. 还有 家人 的 人.
Adam: That literally means “guest person.” So we’ll be using these two words when explaining today’s dialogue.
Adam: That means “menu.” So that gives us “This is menu as well as”
Raphael: 我们今天的第一个新的单字是 开水. 第一声跟第三声.
Adam: There are two characters there. The second is easier to explain – it means “water.”
Raphael: 水.
Adam: We saw the first character a couple of lessons ago in the form of
Raphael: 打开.
Adam: That meant “to open” or “turn on.” Here the 开 is the same character but has a different meaning when attached to water. In many parts of Asia you don’t want to be drinking just any water, so in restaurants they offer you boiled water, which is safe to drink and is called.
Raphael: 开水.
Kirin: 这是菜单和开水.
Adam: “Here’s the menu and some boiled water.”
Kirin: 这是菜单和开水.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 你们先看一下, 喝杯水.
Raphael: 这些单字我们都学过了. 先 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “first.”
Raphael: 看一下 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “take a moment to look at”
Raphael: 所以你觉得这个句子什么意思?
Kirin: 你们先看一下.
Adam: “You can first take a look.” Here, she is referring to the menu.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 喝杯水.
Raphael: 你觉得 喝杯水 是什么意思?
Adam: That literally means “drink cup water”
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 等一下我再回来帮你们点餐.
Raphael: 你觉得 等一下再回来 是什么意思?
Adam: That literally means “Wait a moment I again come back.” As you can see from these conversations, pronouns are commonly left out since they are derived from context. So she’s saying “I’ll be right back.” Followed by
Kirin: 帮你们点餐.
Adam: The literal meaning there is “help you order dish.” However, as has been mentioned before, “help” is used differently in Chinese than it is in English. So the meaning here actually becomes “I’ll order a dish for you”, as in the waiter will take the order from the customer.
Kirin: 等一下我再回来帮你们点餐.
Adam: I’ll be back in a moment to take your food order.
Kirin: 等一下我再回来帮你们点餐.
Raphael: 然后这个客人回答.
Kirin: 好. 谢谢你.
Adam: Ok. Thank you.
Kirin: 好. 谢谢你.
Adam: We then hear a narrator say:
Kirin: 几分钟后.
Raphael: 你记得这个句子是什么意思吗?
Adam: It means “A few minutes later.”
Kirin: 几分钟后.
Raphael: 然后这个服务员问.
Kirin: 请问, 可以帮你们点餐了吗?
Raphael: 这些单字我们都学过了. 你知道这个句子问的是什么意思吗?
Adam: That’s literally asking: “May I ask, can I take your order now?”
Kirin: 请问, 可以帮你们点餐了吗?
Adam: In other words, “May I take your order?”
Kirin: 请问, 可以帮你们点餐了吗?
Raphael: 然后这个客人回答.
Kirin: 我要两份饺子跟两碗酸辣汤.
Raphael: 所以他们点两种菜. 第一个是饺子. 第三声跟第五声.
Adam: And that means “dumplings.” In this case, the guest wants two orders of dumplings.
Kirin: 我要两份饺子.
Adam: Note the measure word being used here. 份 which we saw used in the past for newspapers. It’s also used here to indicate “portions” as in “two orders of dumplings.
Kirin: 两份饺子.
Raphael: 然后他另外一种菜点的是什么呢?
Kirin: 两碗酸辣汤.
Raphael: 你记得 汤 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “soup.” So what kind of soup do you think this is?
Raphael: 酸辣汤. 酸 是第一声. 辣 是第四声.
Adam: The first character means “sour.” While the second character means “spicy.” So together that’s literally “sour and spicy soup,” which is better known in English as “hot and sour soup.”
Kirin: 酸辣湯.
Adam: Now how many soups does the guest want?
Kirin: 两碗酸辣汤.
Adam: So here we have another new measure word, which in this case is for bowls.
Raphael: 碗. 第三声.
Kirin: 我要两份饺子跟两碗酸辣汤.
Adam: “We would like two orders of dumplings along with two bowls of hot and sour soup.”
Kirin: 我要两份饺子跟两碗酸辣汤.
Raphael: 然后这个服务员问.
Kirin: 这样就好了吗?
Raphael: 这些单字我们也都学过了. 你觉得是什么意思呢
Adam: She’s literally saying “this kind only ok?” which is how she asks “Is that everything?”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百一十三课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host Adam, along with Raphael and Kirin who will be helping us out today. Today’s lesson reviews lesson 53 of our series, so I highly recommend you listen and / or review that lesson first, before continuing on with today’s class. Today’s lesson features a conversation that takes place as a man enters a restaurant and is greeted by the hostess.
Adam: That you may remember means “welcome” and is what you often here when visiting stores in Chinese communities.
Kirin: 欢迎光临.
Raphael: 然后她继续问.
Kirin: 请问几位?
Adam: So here the lady is asking a question “how many”
Raphael: 位. 位 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s a measure word for people. So she’s asking how many people are in the man’s party.
Kirin: 请问几位?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答. 两位.
Adam: So hopefully you can figure this out. “Two people.”
Raphael: 两位. 然后这个女人问.
Kirin: 你需要到吸烟区吗?
Adam: So here she’s asking a question. The first part is literally “Do you need arrive”. That’s followed by a new term.
Raphael: 我们今天的第一个新的单字是 吸烟. 两个都是第一声.
Adam: This is the word used for “smoking.”
Raphael: 吸烟
Adam: We then have another new character after that.
Raphael: 区. 第一声.
Adam: This means “area.” So together
Raphael: 吸烟区.
Adam: refers to “smoking area.”
Kirin: 你需要到吸烟区吗?
Adam: “Do you need a smoking area?”
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答. 不需要.
Adam: Easy enough. No, I don’t.
Raphael: 不需要. 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 那么请在这里稍等我一下.
Adam: The first character there is similar to a character we’ve studied before.
Raphael: 小.
Adam: That means “small.” Here however, we have:
Raphael: 稍. 第一声.
Adam: which has a similar meaning and means “a little.” It is commonly used in such situations with
Raphael: 等一下. 你记得 等一下 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “Wait a moment.”
Raphael: 所以你觉得 稍等一下 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “Wait a small moment.” We wouldn’t normally say that in English, but in Chinese, this format is commonly used to say “Give me a moment.”
Kirin: 那么请在这里稍等我一下.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 我请人帮你带位.
Adam: The first part literally means “I invite person help you take”. The last character 位 is the same character used earlier to mean people, but here it has a different meaning of “seat.” So she’s actually saying “I’ll ask someone to take you to your seat.”
Kirin: 我请人帮你带位.
Adam: As has been shown in the past, saying “I’ll help you do something” in Chinese has the same meaning as “I’ll do for you.” So make note of that.
Kirin: 我请人帮你带位.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 这边请.
Adam: Here too we have seen all these characters before, but now you get to see how else they can be used. The literal meaning is “Over here please.” As in “Please sit here.”
Adam: That means “hot.” Here the 好 character is being used in the same manner that we’d normally use 很. So 好热 here means “very hot.”
Kirin: 这里好热.
Adam: “It’s very hot here.”
Kirin: 这里好热.
Raphael: 然后她继续问.
Kirin: 你可以把冷气打开吗?
Raphael: 这个句子有三个新的单字. 第一个是把. 第三声.
Adam: That means “to grasp” or “take hold of.”
Raphael: 然后第二个新的单字是冷气. 这两个字我们以前学过了. 你记得 冷 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That’s the opposite of 热 and means “cold.”
Raphael: 然后 气 是 天气 的 气.
Adam: So the literal meaning of these two characters is “cold weather” and that’s what is used to say “air conditioner.”
Kirin: 冷气.
Adam: Now this is a term that is only used in Taiwan. In mainland China, they use a different term for “air conditioner.”
Kirin: 空气调节.
Adam: The first part there uses two characters that we’ve also seen before. 空 on its own you may remember means “free time.” However it combines with a lot of other characters to form new terms. Here it’s combining with the 气 from 天气 to form “air” or “atmosphere.” The second word also has two characters
Raphael: 调节. 两个第二声.
Adam: which combine to form a meaning of “adjust” or “regulate.” So together
Kirin: 空气调节
Adam: has a meaning similar to its English counterpart “air regulate.” In other words, “air conditioner.”
Kirin: 空气调节.
Adam: Now that’s quite long, so to make it simpler, this is often reduced to:
Kirin: 空调
Adam: So back to our dialogue here we have
Kirin: 你可以把冷气打开吗?
Adam: From what we know so far, that’s “Can you reach up to the air conditioner and.”
Raphael: 然后我们下一个新的单字是
打开. 第三声跟第一声.
Adam: And that means “to open” something. In Chinese “open” is also often used to mean “turn on.” This term commonly combines with the 把 character in this way to mean “to physically reach out and turn on” an object.
Kirin: 把冷气打开.
Adam: So the lady is asking “Can you turn on the air conditioner for me?”
Kirin: 你可以把冷气打开吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 其实冷气坏掉了.
Raphael: 你记得 其实 是什么意思吗? 我们不久前学过了.
Adam: That means “Actually.” So he’s saying “Actually, the air conditioner is”
Raphael: 我们下一个新的单字是 坏掉. 两个都是第四声.
Adam: There are two characters there. The first one on its own means “bad”, while the second one means “to fall.” When you put the two together you get the term “to become bad” which is how we say something has “broken.”
Kirin: 其实冷气坏掉了.
Adam: “Actually, the air conditioner is broken.” The 了 particle here indicates a change in situation as in “the air conditioner is now broken” whereas at some point before it wasn’t.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 所以我们只能用电风扇.
Adam: The 只能 here literally means “only can” which means we have no choice but to.
Raphael: 用 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s the verb “to use.” So that gives us “So we have no choice but to use.”
Adam: That means “electric” and you’ll find it in front of a lot of electric appliances such as television, telephone, etc. Here it’s referring to an electric fan.
Raphael: 电风扇.
Adam: So the sentence here translates to “So we have no choice but to use a fan.”
Kirin: 所以我们只能用电风扇.
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 现在好热.
Adam: So she’s repeating what she stated earlier “It’s very hot now.”
Kirin: 现在好热.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 你居然没有冷气!
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的单字. 居然. 第一声跟第二声.
Adam: So here’s another good word to know. It means “unexpectedly.”
Kirin: 你居然没有冷气!
Adam: While you wouldn’t say “You unexpectedly have no air conditioner” in English, you can loosely translate it to “Wow, you really don’t have an air conditioner.” The speaker is obviously disappointed at this unexpected turn of events.
Kirin: 你居然没有冷气!
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 之前觉得不舒服.
Adam: The first word there is a modification of a word we studied before. Previously, we taught you.
Raphael: 以前
Adam: which meant “Before” or “in the past.” Here he’s using
Raphael: 之前
Adam: which also means “in the past” but a more recent past.
Kirin: 之前觉得不舒服.
Adam: So “in the recent past I felt”
Raphael: 不舒服. 这里我们还有一个新的单字. 舒服. 第一声跟第二声.
Adam: And this means “comfortable.” However, in this case he’s saying “In the past he felt uncomfortable.”
Kirin: 之前觉得不舒服.
Adam: Notice the absence of any pronouns here, since they are derived from context.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 现在比较能适应了.
Adam: So you might be able to figure out the first part of that sentence. “Right now more able.”
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第一百一十一课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are Raphael and Kirin, who will be helping us out.
Adam: Note how the 会 character is used to indicate future tense.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 因为我想要带小孩去公园玩.
Raphael: 这些单字我们也都学过了. 带 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s the verb “to take.”
Raphael: 小孩 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “child.” In this context, it can be a single child or multiple children.
Raphael: 公园 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “park.”
Raphael: 那 玩 是什么意思?
Adam：That we saw a few lessons ago means “fun”.
Raphael: 所以你觉得这个句子是什么意思呢?
Adam: That gives us “Because I would like take children go park fun.” Which translates into “Because I would like to take the children out to the park for some fun.”
Kirin: 因为我想要带小孩去公园玩.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 我听说会下雨.
Adam: So here we have a term that we’ve seen in recent lessons. “I heard that there will be.”
Raphael: 这里我们有今天的第一个新的单字. 下雨. 第四声跟第三声.
Adam: There are two characters there. The second character refers to “rain”, while the first one 下 we’ve seen before in many contexts. Here it can be thought of as meaning “down”, as in “falling” so together this can refer to “falling rain.”
Kirin: 我听说会下雨.
Adam: I heard that it’s going to rain.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 所以记得要带雨伞.
Raphael: 记得 是什么意思?
Adam: We’ve been hearing this verb in our most recent lessons. It means “to remember.” That’s followed by the 要 character which I’m sure you’ve noticed has many meanings. Let’s take a moment to look at some of these meanings. Before, we’ve seen it mean “to want” such as in.
Raphael: 我要买这个.
Adam: We’ve also seen it mean “to be doing something” such as in the question
Raphael: 你要去哪里?
Adam: In today’s example, it has the meaning of “have to.”
Kirin: 所以记得要带雨伞.
Adam: So the man is saying “So remember you have to bring.”
Raphael: 然后我们今天的第二个新的单字是, 雨伞. 是下雨的雨，还有 伞. 第三声.
Adam: And that’s the word for “umbrella.” “So remember to bring an umbrella.”
Kirin: 所以记得要带雨伞.
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 如果下雨, 我们会待在家里.
Raphael: 这些单字我们也都学过了. 如果 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “if.” So that gives us “if it rains, we will”
Raphael: 你觉得 待在家里 是什么意思
Adam: That means “stay at home.” Again, don’t confuse
Raphael: 带.
Adam: “To take or bring” with
Raphael: 待
Adam: “To stay.” So back to our sentence, we have “If it rains we’ll stay at home.”
Kirin: 如果下雨, 我们会待在家里.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 我不想让小孩生病.
Raphael: 让 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “to let.” So the first part of this sentence is “I don’t want to let the kids”
Raphael: 然后我们有另外一个新的单字. 生病. 第一声跟第四声.
Adam: We saw the 生 character in our last lesson, meaning “to be born.” Here it has a more general meaning of “life.” Followed by 病 which means “illness.” Together, these two characters produce the term “to be sick.”
Kirin: 我不想让小孩生病.
Adam: I don’t want to let the children become sick.
Adam: Great, so hope that made sense to you. If not, you can use the “Complete” word for word transcripts available to Premium subscribers which translates all the Chinese used within the lesson to make sure you’re keeping up. Then join us again next time for our next lesson.
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第一百一十课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are Raphael and Kirin, who will be helping us out.
Adam: So right off the bat we have our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 自己. 第四声跟第三声.
Adam: And that means “self.” So together
Kirin: 你自己
Adam: means “You yourself.” Similarly you could say:
Kirin: 我自己.
Adam: to say “I myself.” Getting back to our sentence here
Kirin: 你自己住吗?
Raphael: 你知道这里的 住 是什么意思吗?
Adam: It’s the verb “to live” which we’ve seen before. So that gives us “Do you live by yourself?”
Kirin: 你自己住吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答
Kirin: 不.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 我跟我家人一起住.
Raphael: 这些单词我们已经都学过了. 你知道是什么意思吗?
家人 是什么意思?
Adam: That literally means “house people” or “family.” This sentence uses another construction worth knowing. “I with my family together live.” The “with” and “together” characters are often used together in this way.
Kirin: 我跟我家人一起住.
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 你不想自己一个人住吗?
Raphael: 想 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “to think or to want.” So she’s asking “Don’t you want to live by yourself?”
Kirin: 你不想自己一个人住吗?
Adam: The 一个人 emphasizes the living alone as a single person part.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 不太想.
Raphael: 你记得 不太 是什么意思吗?
Adam: “Not too” or “not very.”
Kirin: 不太想.
Adam: So together, this means “I don’t really want to.”
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 因为一般人在结婚前都跟家人一起住. 这是中国的文化.
Adam: So this looks like a long, complicated sentence, but we have actually studied most of these words before.
Raphael: 今天的下一个新的单字是 一般. 第四声跟第一声.
Adam: You’ll notice that the first character there is the character for “one” while the second character on its own refers to “manner” or “way.” Together 一般 is used to mean “generally.” The 都 character after it means “all” is and is often combined with 一般 to mean “all people in general.” We then have
Raphael: 结婚前.
你记得 “结婚” 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “marriage.” The 前 character after it comes from the word 以前, which means “before.” So together
Raphael: 结婚前.
Adam: means “before marriage.”
Raphael: 那中国文化 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s made up of two words we’ve studied separately – it means “Chinese culture.”
Kirin: 因为一般人在结婚前都跟家人一起住. 这是中国的文化.
Raphael: 所以你现在应该要知道这个句子的意思.
Adam: “Because generally before marriage, people live with their family. This is Chinese culture.”
Adam: Great, so hopefully that made sense to you. As always you can test if it does by listening to the podcast review for this lesson available to premium subscribers, which happens to be our longest one so far, as it uses a little longer and more involved conversation that builds on this one.
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇九课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are Raphael and Kirin, who will be helping us out.
Adam: That means “to have heard of.” So she’s asking “Did you hear…”
Kirin: 姐姐 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “older sister.” That’s followed by a couple of new words.
Raphael: 刚. 第一声.
Adam: This is another way to say “just.”
Raphael: 我们另外还学过一个字. 生. 第一声.
Adam: And that on its own means “to be born.”
Kirin: 你听说我姐姐刚生了小孩吗?
Raphael: 你记得 小孩 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “child.” So together we have “You heard my older sister just born child?”
Kirin: 你听说我姐姐刚生了小孩吗?
Adam: which means “Did you hear, my older sister just had a child?”
Kirin: 你听说我姐姐刚生了小孩吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答
Kirin: 恭喜你!
Adam: So here’s a new word you may hear if you make it big.
Raphael: 恭喜. 第一声和第三声.
Adam: And this means “Congratulations.”
Kirin: 恭喜你!
Adam: So by adding the 你 at the end she’s saying “Congratulations to you.”
Kirin: 恭喜你!
Raphael: 然后他继续说
Kirin: 你当阿姨了!
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的字. 当. 第一声.
Adam: And that in this context means “to become.”
Raphael: 你记得 阿姨 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “aunt.”
Kirin: 你当阿姨了!
Adam: So that gives us “You have become an aunt.”
Kirin: 你当阿姨了!
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答
Kirin: 谢谢你. 他是昨天晚上七点五十五分出生的.
Kirin: 这些单词我们已经都学过了. 我觉得你应该要知道是什么意思.
Kirin: 谢谢你. 他是昨天晚上七点五十五分出生的.
Adam: Let’s look at the literal translation. “Thank you. She is yesterday evening 7 o’clock fifty five minutes born.”
Kirin: 谢谢你. 他是昨天晚上七点五十五分出生的.
Adam: Notice how times are described here, right after the subject. Word order is very important in Chinese. For more examples, listen to the podcast review available to premium subscribers that follows this lesson.
Raphael: 然后这个男人问.
Kirin: 他多重啊?
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的字. 重. 第四声.
Adam: That means “heavy.”
Raphael: 所以你觉得这个问题是什么意思?
Kirin: 他多重啊?
Adam: That’s asking “How heavy is he?”
Kirin: 他多重啊?
Adam: The “he” here, of course, is referring to the baby which could also be a “she or an “it”, depending on how you want to refer to it.
Kirin: 他多重啊?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答
Kirin: 他三千公克重.
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的字. 公克第一声和第四声.
Adam: You may remember that sometime back we introduced you to the measurement.
Kirin: 公里
Adam: That meant “kilometer” which measured distance. Here we have
Kirin: 公克
Adam: which measures weight and happens to be the measure for “gram.”
Kirin: 他三千公克重.
Raphael: 三千 是多少?
Adam: That means “3000.” So the baby here measures 3000 grams or 3 kilograms.
Kirin: 他三千公克重.
Adam: Notice that 重 is added to the end to clarify that we’re talking about the baby’s weight.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答
Kirin: 听起来像个健康的小孩.
Adam: So this sentence reviews a construction we saw back in lesson 99. There we had the expression.
Kirin: 我才想起来.
Raphael: 你记得这个句子是什么意思吗?
Adam: That meant “I just thought of.” The 起来 can be added to many verbs to indicate the beginning or continuing of an action. So back to our sentence here.
Kirin: 听起来.
Adam: can mean “I hear.” That’s followed by the verb 像, which we saw a couple of lessons ago which means “seems to be.” That’s followed by another word we’ve seen recently.
Raphael: 健康 是什么意思?
Adam: And that means “healthy.”
Kirin: 听起来像个健康的小孩.
Adam: So together we have a meaning of “From what I hear, that seems to be a healthy kid.”
Kirin: 听起来像个健康的小孩.
Raphael: 然后他继续说
Kirin: 他的父母亲一定很兴奋!
Raphael: 你记得 父母 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “parents.” Now here we have an extra character added to it.
Raphael: 亲. 第一声.
Adam: This adds a bit of intimacy or respect to the parents. So you can use either term.
Raphael: 父母父母亲.
Adam: So let’s look at the rest of the sentence.
Kirin: 他的父母亲一定很兴奋!
Raphael: 一定 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “definitely.”
Raphael: 在后面我们还有一个新的单词. 兴奋. 第一声跟第四声.
Adam: And that means “excited.”
Kirin: 他的父母亲一定很兴奋!
Adam: So that should be easy to figure out from the literal meaning.
Adam: So hopefully that made sense to you. As you may have noticed, our conversations have become a little more complicated in recent lessons; so it is important to keep up. We have tried to provide many tools on our website for Premium subscribers to allow you to do just that, so be sure to check them out, then join us again next time for our next lesson.
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇八课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive series teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host Adam along with Raphael and Kirin who are our native Mandarin Chinese speakers. The dialogue used in today’s lesson is a continuation from our last lesson. If you remember, a woman was showing her son’s picture to a man. She then commented how he was much taller and thinner now. This lesson also reviews some of the vocabulary learned back in lesson 48.
Adam: The literal meaning here is “I see out come.” As in “What I see has now come out.” This is an expression used to say “I see that.”
Kirin: 我看出来了.
Raphael: 然后他继续问.
Kirin: 他是怎么减肥的?
Adam: So here we have “He is how.” That’s followed by our first new term.
Raphael: 减肥. 第三声和第二声.
Adam: That’s made up of two characters. The first means “to decrease” while the second refers to “fat” and together this is the term “to lose weight.”
Kirin: 他是怎么减肥的?
Adam: How did he lose weight?
Kirin: 他是怎么减肥的?
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 他只吃健康食品.
Adam: So the first part is “He only eats.” We then have our next new word.
Raphael: 健康. 第四声和第一声.
Adam: which means “healthy.” So that gives us “He only eats healthy”, followed by 食品.
Raphael: 你记得是什么意思吗?
Adam: We saw that in lesson 82 and that means “food products.”
Kirin: 他只吃健康食品.
Adam: He only eats healthy food.
Kirin: 他只吃健康食品.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 并且做很多的运动.
Adam: So let’s look at the first term there.
Raphael: 并且. 第四声和第三声.
Adam: That’s another way to say “Furthermore.” Previously we saw
Raphael: 而且.
Adam: So just like in English you can say “as well, furthermore, additionally”, in Chinese you also have different terms to say these. The middle part of the sentence is 做很多的 which means “do a lot of” followed by our next new word.
Raphael: 运动. 两个第四声.
Adam: which means “exercise” or “sports.” So that gives us “As well, do a lot of exercise.”
Kirin: 并且做很多的运动.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 那么我也应该那样做.
Raphael: 这些单词我们已经都学过了. 应该 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “should.” The next part is
Kirin: 那样做.
Adam: We know that 那 means “that” while the 样 we’ve seen before in 怎么样? meaning “what kind.” So that gives us “that kind do” or “do it that way.”
Kirin: 那么我也应该那样做.
Adam: Then I should also do it that way.
Kirin: 那么我也应该那样做.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 再找一个好一点的健身房.
Adam: So the first part is “Again look for a.” That’s followed by 好一点的.
Raphael: 你觉得 好一点的 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “a little good”, followed by our next new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 健身房. 健. 健康 的 健. 第四声. 身. 第一声. 房. 第二声.
Adam: The three characters there mean “healthy body room.”
Raphael: 你觉得是什么意思?
Adam: That means “gym.”
Kirin: 再找一个好一点的健身房.
Adam: And also look for a good gym.
Kirin: 再找一个好一点的健身房.
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 好主意.
Adam: So there’s another new word here.
Raphael: 主意. 第三声和第四声.
Adam: And that means “idea.”
Kirin: 好主意.
Adam: So this is a good expression to know. Good idea!
Kirin: 好主意.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 身体健康很重要.
Adam: So let’s look at the first word there.
Raphael: 身体. 身. 健身房 的身. 还有 体. 第三声.
Adam: That means “body.” So “a healthy body is very.”
Kirin: 你记得 重要 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “important.” So the lady is giving some advice here.
Adam: So this is a little tougher lesson than we’ve given in the past with lots of new vocabulary. Again, use the sentence breakdowns, podcast reviews and the other tools available to premium subscribers on our website to help you break it down as we move towards level 3 of our course.
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇七课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. With me today are our native Chinese speakers Raphael and Kirin.
Adam: That means “son.” You may remember that the 还 character means “still” or “additionally” so that gives us a literal translation of “You still remember I son?”
Kirin: 你还记得我儿子吗?
Adam: As in “Do you still remember my son?”
Kirin: 你还记得我儿子吗?
Adam: Notice how she’s saying 我儿子 and not 我的儿子 since the 的 particle is often left out when describing something very close to the speaker so usually family members are referred to in this way.
Raphael: 然后她继续说.
Kirin: 这是他的近照.
Adam: So we have a new word here.
Raphael: 近照. 两个第四声.
Adam: This word is made up of two characters we’ve seen before. The 近 comes from 最近 which means “recently.” And the 照 comes from 照片 which means “photograph.” So together that gives us “recent photograph.”
Kirin: 这是他的近照.
Adam: This is a recent photograph of him.
Kirin: 这是他的近照.
Raphael: 然后这个男人问.
Kirin: 真的吗?
Adam: Easy enough. “Really?”
Kirin: 真的吗?
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 我真不敢相信这就是他.
Adam: So we have a couple more new words here for you.
Raphael: 敢. 第三声.
Adam: This character means “to dare.” That’s then followed by another new word.
Raphael: 相信. 第一声和第四声.
Adam: The 就 particle in the sentence adds precision – think of it as meaning “none other” here. So that gives us a literal translation of “I really don’t dare to believe that this is none other than him.” Or simply “I can’t believe that’s really him”.
Kirin: 我真不敢相信这就是他.
Adam: So you can see how the 敢 adds more emphasis to the not believing.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 和上次我看到他相比.
Adam: So we actually know most of these words from before. The first character 和 we’ve learned before as meaning “and.” It is also used in the context of “with.” Similarly we’ve also taught you 跟 which also has both meanings of “and” as well as “with.” So here we have “With last time I met he.” That’s followed by a new term 相比 which is a first tone and a third tone and that means “to compare to.”
Kirin: 和上次我看到他相比.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 他长大了不少.
Adam: “He has really grown up.” So the meaning here is “He has really grown up since the last time I saw him.”
Kirin: 和上次我看到他相比. 他长大了不少.
Adam: We’ll be giving you more practice later with the 比 compared to character.
Kirin: 和上次我看到他相比. 他长大了不少.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 他现在很高.
Raphael: 现在 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “right now.” There is another new character at the end.
Raphael: 高. 第一声.
Adam: And that means “tall.” So that gives us “He is very tall now.”
Kirin: 他现在很高.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 而且好像也瘦了很多.
Adam: So there are a few new words in there starting with.
Raphael: 而且. 第二声和第三声.
Adam: That means “Also.” We then have 好像. The 像 is a fourth tone and together this term means “seems to be” or “appears to be.” The last new character of this sentence is
Raphael: 瘦. 第四声.
Adam: And that means “thin.”
Kirin: 而且好像也瘦了很多.
Raphael: 很多 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “many” or in this case “a lot.” So the literal translation of this sentence is “As well appears to be also thin a lot.” In other words, “As well, he also seems to be much thinner.”
Kirin: 而且好像也瘦了很多.
Raphael: 然后这个女人回答.
Kirin: 是的. 他小时候比现在胖多了.
Adam: So there’s another new term here made up of characters we already know. 小时候. That literally means “small time” but here refers to “when he was small.” We then have our comparison term again.
Raphael: 比. 第三声.
Adam: Followed by another new character towards the end.
Raphael: 胖. 第四声.
Adam: This means “fat.”
Kirin: 是的. 他小时候比现在胖多了.
Adam: So this sentence is saying “He was fatter as a child than he is now.” The 比 construction requires some explanation. It’s A compared to B followed by what you’re comparing. So in this case it’s “When he was a child compared to now fatter.”
Kirin: 他小时候比现在胖多了.
Adam: For more examples of this construction, listen to the podcast review available to premium subscribers on our website.
Adam: So lots of new material there. Take your time with it and understand it. If you’re a premium subscriber, take advantage of the sentence breakdowns and other tools available to help you understand this material. You’ll need it for upcoming lessons which will build upon these concepts.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇六课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. My name is Adam, along with our native Mandarin speakers. Today’s lesson builds upon what was taught in lesson 46 of our series.
Adam: So there are a couple of verbs there that we need to know about first. What does 帮 mean? That’s the verb “to help.” So that gives us “Can you help me?” We then have the verb 找, which is the verb “to look for.” You may remember that adding 到 to the end of a verb completes the action. So the person is asking “Can you help me finish looking” or “Can you help me find this.” We then have our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 地址. 第四声和第三声.
Adam: And that means “address.”
Kirin: 你可以帮我找到这个地址的地方吗?
Adam: “Can you help me find this address’ place”. In other words, “Can you help me find where this address is located?”
Kirin: 你可以帮我找到这个地址的地方吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 你走错路了.
Raphael: 错 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “wrong.” Do you remember what 路 means? That means “road.” So together this gives us “You took the wrong road.”
Kirin: 你走错路了.
Adam: So if you remember 走路 literally means “to go on the road” as in “to go on foot.” Here we have 走错路 meaning “to go on the wrong road.”
Kirin: 你走错路了.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 这里不是和平路. 是太平路.
Adam: So there are two names of roads being used there. “Heping Road” and “Taiping Road.”
Adam: So if you look at the literal meaning here, it’s “I look wrong?” As in “Did I make a mistake?”
Kirin: 我看错了吗?
Adam: Notice how the 了 particle is added to many of these statements to indicate a change in situation. As in the speaker is making a statement that has just been discovered, thereby changing the situation.
Kirin: 我看错了吗?
Raphael: 然后她继续问.
Kirin: 那么我怎么能找到和平路?
Raphael: 这些单词我们已经都学过了. 你觉得是什么意思?
Adam: Let’s look at the literal translation. “In that case, I how can find Heping Road?”
Kirin: 那么我怎么能找到和平路?
Adam: In that case, how do I find Heping Road?
Kirin: 那么我怎么能找到和平路?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 和平路在城市的另外一边.
Raphael: 你记得 城市 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “city.” So that gives us “Heping Road is on the city’s.” We then have a new direction term for you. There are two parts to it.
Raphael: 另外. 两个第四声.
Adam: The 另 means “another”, while the 外 character we’ve seen before meaning “outside.”
Raphael: 一边 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “one side.” So together this gives us “another outside one side.”
Raphael: 所以你觉得 另外一边 是什么意思?
Adam: It means “the other side.”
Kirin: 和平路在城市的另外一边.
Adam: Heping Road is on the other side of the city.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇五课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host Adam. Today’s lesson builds upon what was taught in our last lesson by continuing a conversation we started then.
Let’s first review the dialogue from our last lesson.
Adam: So there are a couple of terms here that we need to be familiar with. What does the following mean?
Kirin: 回来.
Adam: That means “to come back.” How about this one?
Kirin: 太晚了.
Adam: That’s an expression meaning “too late.” So that gives us a literal translation of “You come back too late.”
Kirin: 你回来得太晚了.
Adam: which, of course, means “You’re back quite late.”
Kirin: 你回来得太晚了.
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: Easy enough. “Yes.”
Kirin: 是的.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 我们在动物园待了一天.
Adam: So here we have a place from our last lesson. “We at zoo.” That’s followed by the verb 待. Don’t confuse that with 带 from our last lesson, meaning “to bring.” Here, the 待 is the first tone version, meaning “to stay.” We saw both these versions previously in lesson 88. So the ending here is “stayed one day.”
Kirin: 我们在动物园待了一天.
Adam: which is how we would say “We stayed all day at the zoo.”
Kirin: 我们在动物园待了一天.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 孩子们玩得很高兴.
Adam: So here we have a new verb for you.
Raphael: 玩. 第二声.
Adam: and is the verb “to play” or “to have fun.” So this gives us “The children played very”
Raphael: 高兴 是什么意思?
Adam: We saw that way back when in the phrase
Kirin: 很高兴认识你.
Raphael: 这个句子是什么意思?
Adam: That’s the phrase “Happy to meet you.” So that gives us a literal translation of “Children played very happy.”
Kirin: 孩子们玩得很高兴.
Adam: which is how you would say “The children had a great time.”
Kirin: 孩子们玩得很高兴.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 他们都不想回来了.
Raphael: 你觉得这个句子是什么意思?
Adam: Hopefully, you figured it out. The literal meaning is “They all not want come back”, which means “None of them wanted to come back.”
Kirin: 他们都不想回来了.
Raphael: 然后这个女人问.
Kirin: 他们最喜欢什么动物?
Adam: So here again is another sentence that you should be able to figure out if you’ve been keeping up. “They most like what animal?”
Kirin: 他们最喜欢什么动物?
Adam: as in “What was their favorite animal?”
Kirin: 他们最喜欢什么动物?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 他们喜欢可爱的猴子，可怕的狮子，还有大象.
Adam: As you may guess, we have some new animals to teach you here. Let’s look at the first couple of words. They like.
Raphael: 你记得 可爱 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “cute.” Followed by our first new animal
Raphael: 猴子. 第二声和第五声.
Adam: and that’s the word for “monkey.” We then have another adjective.
Raphael: 可怕. 第三声和第四声.
Adam: This is an extension of the character 怕, which we saw back in lesson 93. It means “scary.” So what animal is scary here?
Raphael: 狮子. 第一声和第五声.
Adam: and that’s the word for “lion.” We then have our last animal of the lesson.
Raphael: 大象. 两个第四声.
Adam: The 大 character of course means “big”; so together this is the word for “elephant.”
Kirin: 他们喜欢可爱的猴子，可怕的狮子，还有大象.
Adam: “They liked the cute monkeys, the scary lions as well as the elephants.”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇四课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. Today’s lesson progresses you further by utilizing some of the teaching phrases we learned in our last lesson. So I hope you’re keeping up. With me today are our native Chinese speakers Raphael and Kirin who will help us out with today’s lesson.
Adam: We saw that in lesson 93. It means “to plan.” Many verbs in Chinese also function as nouns, however. So the literal translation here is “You today have what plans?”
Kirin: 你今天有什么计划吗?
Adam: as in “Do you have any plans today?”
Kirin: 你今天有什么计划吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 是的.
Raphael: 是的 是什么意思?
Adam: That we’ve seen a few times in recent lessons, and is a common way to say “Yes.”
Kirin: 是的.
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 我想要带孩子们去动物园.
Raphael: 带 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s the verb “to bring.” So that gives us “I want to bring”, followed by our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 孩子. 第二声和第五声.
Adam: That means “child.” By adding the plural suffix 们 at the end that specifies that we are talking about children here and not just one child, in the same way that 我 becomes 我们 and 你 becomes 你们 to indicate plural form. So where does he want to bring the children?
Kirin: 我想要带孩子们去动物园.
Adam: So there’s a new place to add to our vocabulary. It’s made up of two parts.
Raphael: 动物. 两个第四声. 还有 公园 的园.
Adam: The first part means “animal”, while the second part on its own refers to “garden.” We previously saw it used in the word for “park.” So can you guess what place “an animal garden” is? It’s of course, a “zoo.”
Kirin: 我想要带孩子们去动物园.
Adam: So he’s saying “I would like to take the children to the zoo.”
Raphael: 然后这个女人问.
Kirin: 你们最近没去那儿吗?
Raphael: 你记得 最近 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “recently.” So this question literally translates into “You recently didn’t go there?”
Kirin: 你们最近没去那儿吗?
Adam: As in “Didn’t you go there recently?”
Kirin: 你们最近没去那儿吗?
Raphael: 然后这个男人回答.
Kirin: 去过一次了.
Adam: So here we have the 过 – present perfect particle that we taught you sometime back. So he’s saying “Have gone one time.”
Kirin: 去过一次了.
Adam: As in “Yes, we have been there once before.”
Raphael: 然后他继续说.
Kirin: 但是他们非常喜欢看动物, 所以我们还要去.
Raphael: 非常喜欢 就是 很喜欢 的意思. 那 所以 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “so.” So that gives us “But they really like to see animals so we.” That’s followed by another term.
Kirin: 还要去.
Adam: The 还 can be added to many verbs to mean “to additionally perform” the action. The 要 also can vary in meaning. Depending on context, it can mean “to want,” “will do” or “have to.” So in this case, the sentence translates into “But they really like to see the animals, so we will go again.”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇三课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, along with one of our native Chinese speakers Kirin. Welcome to our structured course teaching Mandarin Chinese. About 13 lessons ago we taught you some new teaching phrases that we’ve been using in our lessons. The idea here is to slowly increase the amount of Chinese being used in each lesson. So today we’ll do a review of some of the sentences we taught you recently, while teaching you a few more.
Usually we start each lesson with a dialogue which is played twice. The first time is at normal speed. So let’s begin today’s lesson by learning how to say “normal rate of speech.”
Kirin: 正常语速.
Adam: So there are two new words there.
Kirin: 正常. 第四声和第二声.
Adam: That refers to “normal.” Previously, we taught you 平常 and 经常 meaning “usually” and “often”, respectively. The 正 refers to “main” or “correct” while the 常 refers to” the rate of frequency.”
Kirin: 正常.
Adam: The second word is also made up of two characters.
Kirin: 语速. 第三声和第四声.
Adam: We’ve seen the 语 before in 语言 meaning “language.” The second character is a new one meaning “speed.”
Kirin: 语速.
Adam: So together
Kirin: 正常语速
Adam: refers to “the normal rate of speech.” So if I wanted to say “let’s first listen to today’s dialogue at normal speed”, we’d say:
Kirin: 让我们先听一次今天正常语速的对话.
Adam: The second time we listen to the dialogue, it’s a slower version. So for that, we first need to learn the word for “slow”, which is 慢: fourth tone. So “a slower rate of speech” would be:
Kirin: 慢语速的.
Adam: So how would we say: “Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a slower speed?”
Kirin: 让我们再听一次今天慢语速的对话.
Adam: Now the reason we play it back slower is to allow you to repeat after the speaker. Now, previously we taught you that if I want you to repeat after me, I could say 请跟我说. Literally that means “Please with me speak.” The character 跟 meaning “with” also means “follow.” However, to make it more precise – that we want you to follow after the speaker and not speak together with the speaker – we can modify this to
Kirin: 跟着
Adam: which means “to follow after.”
Kirin: 跟着.
Adam: How do you say “to repeat one time?”
That you may remember is 重复一遍. So let’s try and put this all together to say “Please repeat once after the speaker.” In this case, we’ll refer to the speaker as the teacher.
Kirin: 请跟着老师重复一遍.
Adam: We are now ready for the translation and explanation portion of the lesson. At this point, we begin with each line, and break it down and translate it for you. How do you say “The first line is”?
Kirin: 第一句是.
Adam: Note the dialogues feature a man and a woman. How do we refer to “this man”?
Kirin: 这个男人.
Adam: And this woman?
Kirin: 这个女人.
Adam: How would you say “ask”?
Kirin: 问. 这个单词我们已经学过了. 是 问题 的 问.
Adam: So to say “The man asks” we’d say:
Kirin: 这个男人问.
Adam: Do you remember how to say “reply”?
Kirin: 回答.
Adam: So after the man asks a question, we can say “And then the woman replies.”
Kirin: 然后这个女人回答.
Adam: Now sometimes one of the speakers may have more to say; which in Chinese becomes “Continues to say.”
Kirin: 继续说.
Adam: So hopefully you’re getting the hang of all this. Let’s do a quick recap of some of the phrases we’ll be using from here on.
“Let’s first listen to today’s dialogue at normal speed.”
Kirin: 让我们先听一次今天正常语速的对话.
Adam: Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a normal speed.
Kirin: 让我们再听一次今天正常语速的对话.
Adam: Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a slower speed.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇二课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our structured course teaching Mandarin Chinese. Today’s lesson builds upon the vocabulary taught in lessons 41 and 42 and continues a conversation we introduced in our last lesson. If you remember, a lady was getting help from a gentleman on how to find a nearby park.
Let’s first review the dialogue from our last lesson.
Adam: That you may remember means “far.” The 离 character which we saw sometime back is a way to say “from.” So she’s asking “Is it far from here?”
Kirin: 离这儿远吗?
Adam: She then asks another question.
Kirin: 走路去能到吗?
Raphael: 你记得 走路去 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “to go on foot.” So she’s literally asking “On foot go can arrive?” Or simply – “Can I get there on foot?”
Kirin: 走路去能到吗?
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 公园离这儿大概有三公里左右.
Adam: So we should be able to figure out the first part of this sentence. “Park from here around has three.” We then have our first new word of this lesson.
Raphael: 公里. 第一声和第三声.
Adam: And that means “kilometer.” So you should be able to figure out this sentence as “The park is around 3 kilometers or so from here.”
Kirin: 公园离这儿大概有三公里左右.
Adam: The man then adds some advice.
Kirin: 最好坐车去.
Raphael: 最好 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “best.” The next part is
Kirin: 坐车去.
Adam: We’ve seen the 车 character before used in different forms of transportation. On its own it just refers to “a vehicle” or “a car.” So here he’s saying “take a car.”
Kirin: 最好坐车去.
Adam: “It would be best if you took a car there.”
Kirin: 最好坐车去.
Adam: The woman then replies with.
Kirin: 不用了.
Adam: Previously, we learned 用 as the verb “to use.” So here, while the literal translation means “there’s no use,” this expression is commonly used where we might say “there’s no need” in English.
Kirin: 不用了.
Adam: So she’s saying “There’s no need to take a car.” So why is that?
Kirin: 天气这么好.
Raphael: 你记得 天气 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “weather.” So here she’s saying “The weather is so good.”
Kirin: 天气这么好.
Adam: She then continues:
Kirin: 我想要边走边看这里的景色.
Adam: So there are a couple of words there that need translation for this sentence to make any sense. We’ve seen 边 before in 左边 and 右边 meaning “left side” and “right side”, respectively. So 边 on its own means “side.” The last word of the sentence is a new one.
Raphael: 景色. 第三声和第四声.
Adam: And that refers to “the view” or “scenery.” So knowing that, can you figure out the meaning of this sentence?
Kirin: 我想要边走边看这里的景色.
Adam: The literal meaning is “I would like side go side look here’s scenery.” And that’s how she says “I would like to take a look at the scenery here while walking.”
Kirin: 我想要边走边看这里的景色.
Adam: So on one side she’s walking while on the other side she’s looking at the scenery.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百〇一课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host Adam. Today’s conversation features a woman on the street; who is lost so she approaches a man walking by.
Adam: So this is what the lady uses to get the man’s attention. “Excuse me, sir.”
Kirin: 对不起，先生.
Adam: She then continues.
Kirin: 我听说这里附近有一个很好的公园.
Adam: So the first part of the sentence are all words we’ve seen before.
Raphael: 听说 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “To hear of.”
Raphael: 你记得 附近 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “nearby.” So that gives us “I heard that near here there is a very good.” That’s followed by our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 公园. 第一声和第二声.
Adam: And that means “Park.”
Kirin: 我听说这里附近有一个很好的公园.
Adam: I heard that there’s a very good park near here.
Kirin: 我听说这里附近有一个很好的公园.
Adam: The man then replies with.
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: Hopefully, you remember that from a few lessons ago that this is a way to answer “Yes.”
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: He then asks her a question.
Kirin: 请问你是来旅游的吗?
Adam: There’s a new word in there.
Raphael: 旅游. 第三声和第二声.
Adam: And that refers to travel as a tourist.
Kirin: 请问你是来旅游的吗?
Adam: So this is asking “May I ask, are you here as a tourist?”
Kirin: 请问你是来旅游的吗?
Adam: To which the woman replies.
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: Yes, she is. She then adds.
Kirin: 我是第一次来这个地方.
Raphael: 你记得 地方 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “place.” So that gives us “I am first time come this place.” Or simply “This is my first time here.”
Kirin: 我是第一次来这个地方.
Adam: She then asks.
Kirin: 请问从这里到那个公园怎么走?
Adam: You can probably figure out the meaning from the literal definition. “May I ask, from here to that park how go?”
Kirin: 请问从这里到那个公园怎么走?
Adam: Or simply, “May I ask – how do you get to that park from here?”
Kirin: 请问从这里到那个公园怎么走?
Adam: The man then responds with.
Kirin: 其实很简单.
Adam: So this sentence starts off with a new term.
Raphael: 其实. 两个第二声.
Adam: This is a common term to mean “Actually” or “In fact.”
Kirin: 其实很简单.
Adam: And at the end of the sentence there’s another new word.
Raphael: 简单. 第三声和第一声.
Adam: And that means “simple” or “easy.”
Kirin: 其实很简单.
Adam: It’s actually quite simple. He then says.
Kirin: 就在医院的后面.
Adam: So in recent lessons we’ve seen 就是, and in our last lesson we also 就在, which we have here as well. The 就 particle adds some precision to the statement; so we’re saying it “will be located.” We then have our last new word of this lesson.
Raphael: 医院. 第一声和第四声.
Adam: And that means “hospital.” So where is the park again?
Kirin: 就在医院的后面.
Raphael: 后面 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “behind.” So the park is behind the hospital.
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Kirin: 上网学中文第一百课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to the 100th lesson of our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host Adam. Congratulations on making it this far! Today’s lesson builds upon what was taught in lesson 40 of our series and involves two people sitting in a restaurant.
Adam: Hopefully, you can figure out the meaning there of “What do you want to eat?”
Kirin: 你想吃什么?
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 请等一下.
Adam: We saw the verb 等 in our last lesson.
Raphael: 等 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s the verb “To wait.” Here, the man says.
Kirin: 请等一下.
Adam: We saw 一下 way back in lesson 17. Do you remember what it means? It means “a short time” or “a moment.” So this is a useful expression meaning “Please wait a moment.”
Kirin: 请等一下.
Adam: So why does the man want the woman to wait?
Kirin: 我想先去洗手间.
Adam: So the literal meaning here is “I want first go” followed by our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 洗手间. 两个第三声. 一个第一声.
Adam: And that’s another way to say “Washroom” or “Restroom.” The literal meaning of the three characters is
Kirin: 洗
Adam: meaning “to wash.”
Kirin: 手
Adam: Meaning “hand” and
Kirin: 间
Adam: which we’ve seen before in 房间 meaning “room.” So putting the three characters together gives us “Wash hand room” or “Washroom.”
Kirin: 洗手间.
Adam: Previously, we learned
Kirin: 厕所
Adam: meaning “toilet”; so here you have another word to add to your ever expanding vocabulary. So back to our dialogue the man said.
Kirin: 请等一下. 我想先去洗手间.
Adam: meaning “Please wait a moment, I want to first go to the washroom.”
Kirin: 请等一下. 我想先去洗手间.
Adam: He then asks.
Kirin: 请问，你知道洗手间在哪儿吗?
Raphael: 这些单词我们都学过了. 这个句子是什么意思?
Adam: “May I ask, do you know where the washroom is?”
Kirin: 请问，你知道洗手间在哪儿吗?
Adam: To which the woman replies.
Kirin: 向前走.
Adam: The first character there is a fourth tone and means “towards”; that’s followed by 前, which we’ve seen before from 前面 meaning “front” or “ahead”, followed by 走, which we know means “to go.” So together this gives us “Towards front go” or simply “Go up front.”
Kirin: 向前走.
Adam: In lesson 40 we taught you
Kirin: 先直走.
Adam: meaning “First go straight”, whereas the term taught here is used for closer distances. The woman then continues.
Kirin: 右边的第二个门就是.
Adam: So again, if you are keeping up with your direction words, you should recognize the first part “On the right, second”. That’s followed by our next new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 门. 第二声.
Adam: And that means “door.”
Kirin: 右边的第二个门就是.
Adam: The last part we also learned recently. 就是 can mean “precisely”, but it’s used a lot more commonly in the Chinese language. So in English this translates to “It’s the second door on your right.”
Kirin: 右边的第二个门就是.
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 谢谢. 等我回来再点菜.
Adam: Let’s look at the first part. “Thanks” followed by
Kirin: 等我回来.
Adam: Again, we should recognize this from our last lesson “Wait I come back.” In other words, “Wait for me to return.”
Kirin: 等我回来再点菜.
Adam: The last part 再点菜 literally means “again order dish”; so the entire sentence is “Wait for me to come back then we can order.”
Kirin: 等我回来再点菜.
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 没问题. 我们有的是时间.
Adam: “No problem”, followed by another useful expression. The 有的是 means “to have plenty of.”
Raphael: 你记得 时间 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “time.” So together that gives us “We have plenty of time.”
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第九十九课.
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. Today’s lesson builds upon what was taught in lesson 39 of our series.
Adam: That means “trouble or bother.” Previously, we saw it used as a verb, whereas here it’s being used as a noun.
Kirin: 我有一个麻烦.
Adam: So this can be used to say “I have a small problem.”
Kirin: 我有一个麻烦.
Adam: The man then asks.
Kirin: 怎么了?
Adam: This is another way to ask “What happened?” or “What is happening?”
Kirin: 怎么了?
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 我才想起来.
Raphael: 才 是什么意思?
Adam: We saw that recently meaning “just.” That’s followed by
Kirin: 想起来.
Adam: The 想起 is two third tones. 想 on its own means “to think.” Here, 想起 is a variant of 想 and means “to recall.” The 来 at the end on its own means “come” and combines with the 起 to indicate that the action has just begun. So
Kirin: 我才想起来.
Adam: In this case means “I just thought of” or “I just remembered.”
Kirin: 我才想起来.
Adam: So what did she just think of?
Kirin: 我的钥匙忘在朋友家了.
Adam: So that brings us to our next new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 钥匙. 第四声和第五声.
Adam: And that means “key.”
Kirin: 我的钥匙忘在朋友家了.
Raphael: 你记得 忘 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That is the verb “to forget”; so together that gives us “My key forgot in friend house.” Note how some words are omitted. So instead of saying 我朋友的家 she is just saying 朋友家.
Kirin: 我的钥匙忘在朋友家了.
Adam: The man then asks.
Kirin: 那怎么办?
Adam: Hopefully, you remember this expression. “In that case, what to do?”
Kirin: 那怎么办?
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 没关系.
Adam: Here’s another common expression. “That’s okay.”
Kirin: 没关系.
Adam: So why is that OK?
Kirin: 我可以在邻居家等我丈夫回来.
Adam: So there are a few new words in there.
Raphael: 邻居. 第二声和第一声.
Adam: And that means “neighbor.” We then have a new verb.
Raphael: 等. 第三声.
Adam: meaning “to wait” and lastly a new family member.
Raphael: 丈夫. 第四声和第五声.
Adam: which is how we refer to “husband.” Now that’s the term used in Northern parts of China. In Southern parts you may hear a different term for “husband.”
Raphael: 老公.
Adam: So let’s see if we can piece together the lady’s sentence.
Kirin: 我可以在邻居家等我丈夫回来.
Raphael: 你记得 回来 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That means “To come back.” So together there’s a literal definition of “I can in neighbor house wait I husband come back” or simply “I can wait at my neighbor’s house for my husband to come back.”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第九十八课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host, Adam. Today’s lesson builds upon lesson 38 of our series, so it’s highly recommended that you review that lesson before going on to today’s lesson.
Adam: So the first part should be easy. “I want to buy a.” That’s followed by.
Raphael: 我们第一个新的单词是 份. 第四声.
Adam: And that’s a measure word for “copies.” Copies of what you ask? Well that takes us to our next new word which is
Rahpael: 报纸. 第四声和第三声.
Adam: And that means “newspaper.” The two characters there refer to “inform” and “paper”, respectively, and together with the measure word we get “A copy of a newspaper.”
Kirin: 一份报纸.
Adam: So the entire sentence is “I want to buy a newspaper.”
Kirin: 我想买一份报纸.
Adam: The woman then continues.
Kirin: 但是我没带零钱.
Raphael: 但是 是什么意思?
Adam: That you may remember means “But.”
Raphael: 带 是什么意思?
Adam: And that is the verb “to bring.” So she’s saying “But I didn’t bring”
Kirin: 零钱.
Raphael: 这些字我们以前都学过了.
Adam: The two characters there are the character for “zero” and the character for “money.” The meaning here is more towards the remnant of money as in what’s left of your money, which is the term for “change” as in the coins you may have in your pocket.
Kirin: 但是我没带零钱.
Adam: But I didn’t bring any change.
Kirin: 但是我没带零钱.
Adam: She then asks.
Kirin: 你有吗?
Adam: Easy enough, I hope. “Do you have any?”
Kirin: 你有吗?
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 让我看看.
Raphael: 这些单词我们也都学过了.
Adam: The literal meaning here is “Let me look look.” You may remember from lesson 57 that together 看看 means “to take a look.” So that gives us “Let me take a look.”
Kirin: 让我看看.
Adam: The man then continues.
Kirin: 我只剩下一点儿.
Raphael: 你记得 剩下 的意思是什么吗?
Adam: That means “to have left over.” So that gives us “I only have left over a little”, or simply “I only have a little left over.”
Kirin: 我只剩下一点儿.
Adam: You may have noticed that Raphael uses of the Northern Chinese dialect when saying this phrase.
Kirin: 我只剩下一点儿.
Adam: He then continues.
Kirin: 我觉得不够.
Adam: So that gives us “I feel not” followed by our next new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 够. 第四声.
Adam: And that means “enough.”
Kirin: 我觉得不够.
Adam: I feel it’s not enough.
Kirin: 我觉得不够.
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 不重要.
Adam: So here we have our last new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 重要. 两个第四声.
Adam: And that means “important.” So she’s saying “Not important.”
Kirin: 不重要.
Adam: She then ends off with.
Kirin: 我可以下次再买.
Adam: Literally, that’s “I can next time again buy” or “I can buy it again next time.”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第九十七课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host, Adam. Today’s lesson builds upon lessons 36 and 37 of our series.
Adam: So this question features an interesting construction that differs slightly from its English counterpart.
Kirin: 帮我买.
Adam: The literal translation is “help me buy”, which is how it’s used in this conversation. However, it can also mean “buy for me”; so be careful with that. So what does the man need help buying?
Kirin: 一条领带.
Adam: We saw the measure word 条 a couple of lessons ago as part of the word for “noodles.”
Kirin: 面条.
Adam: Do you remember what it describes? It describes long, thin objects like noodles or in this case a tie.
Raphael: 我们今天的第一个新单词是 领带. 第三声和第四声.
Adam: So as you can see, depending on the item being described, not all clothes are described using 件, here 条 is used.
Kirin: 你可以帮我买一条领带吗?
Adam: Can you help me buy a tie?
Kirin: 你可以帮我买一条领带吗?
Adam: To which the woman replies.
Kirin: 当然可以.
Adam: Of course I can.
Kirin: 当然可以.
Adam: The woman then continues.
Kirin: 你喜欢什么颜色?
Raphael: 这些单词我们都学过了. 这个句子是什么意思?
Adam: Literally, that’s “You like what color?” or simply “What color do you like?”
Kirin: 你喜欢什么颜色?
Adam: The man then continues.
Kirin: 有很多颜色可以选择.
Adam: There are many colors can
Raphael: 选择. 第三声和第二声.
Adam: And that’s the verb “to choose.” So that gives us “There are many colors to choose from.”
Kirin: 有很多颜色可以选择.
Adam: The man then continues.
Kirin: 我还真不知道哪种颜色比较好.
Raphael: 这些单词我们也都学过了. 让我们看看你还记得不记得.
Adam: The 还真 literally means “still really.” That’s followed by
Raphael: 不知道 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “don’t know.”
Raphael: 哪种 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “which kind?”
Raphael: 比较好 的意思是什么?
Adam: And that means “better.” So together that gives us
Kirin: 我还真不知道哪种颜色比较好.
Adam: I still really don’t know which type of color is better.
Kirin: 我还真不知道哪种颜色比较好.
Adam: The woman then asks.
Kirin: 那么这条蓝色的怎么样?
Raphael: 你觉得这个句子的意思是什么?
Adam: That is asking “In that case, what do you think of this blue one?”
Kirin: 那么这条蓝色的怎么样?
Adam: She then adds.
Kirin: 跟你的外套颜色一样.
Raphael: 外套 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “jacket.” So the literal translation here is “with your jacket color”, followed by our next new word.
Raphael: 一样. 第二声和第四声.
Adam: And that means “same.” So when you want to say that two items are the same, you say “item B with item A same.” In this case, we have “with your jacket color same.”
Kirin: 跟你的外套颜色一样.
Adam: In other words, “It’s the same color as your jacket.”
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Kirin: 上网学中文第九十六课.
Adam: Hello, and welcome to our progressive course teaching Mandarin Chinese. I’m your host, Adam. Today’s lesson builds upon lessons 36 and 37 of our series; so you’re encouraged to review those lessons before listening to today’s lesson.
Adam: That you may be able to figure out as “haven’t met.” The verb 见, however, also extends to mean “see” so that gives us “I haven’t seen before.”
Kirin: 我以前没见过你这件衬衣.
Adam: So the last part begins with 这件. This is a different 件 which you may remember from lesson 66 as a measure word for clothing. So this means he is describing an item of clothing. So what item is this?
Raphael: 我们今天的第一个新的单词是 衬衣. 第四声和第一声.
Adam: and that means “shirt.” So he’s saying “I’ve never seen this shirt before.”
Kirin: 我以前没见过你这件衬衣.
Adam: He then asks.
Kirin: 是新的吗?
Adam: Easy enough “Is new?” As in “Is it new?”
Kirin: 是新的吗?
Adam: To which the woman replies.
Kirin: 我上个周末才买的.
Adam: So we’ve seen the first few words before. “I last weekend.”
Raphael: 然后我们今天的第二个新的单词是 才. 第二声.
Adam: That’s a new particle, which in this case can be thought of as meaning “just.” That’s followed by the verb “to buy.”
Kirin: 才买的.
Adam: So that gives us “I just bought it last weekend.”
Kirin: 我上个周末才买的.
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 很好看!
Raphael: 很好看 是什么意思?
Adam: That you may remember means “Looks great.”
Kirin: 很好看!
Adam: He then asks.
Kirin: 你是为了生日宴会买新衣服吗?
Raphael: 我们下一个新的单词是 为了. 第四声合第五声.
Adam: That’s the 为 from 因为 meaning “because” or “for.” So the first part translates to “You are for the purpose of” followed by:
Kirin: 生日宴会.
Adam: The first word, you should remember, means “birthday”, while the second word is.
Raphael: 宴会. 两个第四声.
Adam: And that refers to a “banquet” or “formal party.” So together that gives us “a formal birthday party.”
Kirin: 你是为了生日宴会买新衣服吗?
Adam: The literal meaning here is “You are for the purpose of birthday party buy new clothes?” or “Did you buy new clothes for a birthday party?”
Kirin: 你是为了生日宴会买新衣服吗?
Adam: To which she responds.
Kirin: 不是.
Adam: Easy enough. “No.”
Kirin: 不是.
Adam: So why did she buy it then?
Kirin: 我就是喜欢.
Adam: You may have noticed the particle 就 turn up in a lot of recent lessons. That’s because it does get used all over the place in regular speech. Here it’s back to meaning a variant of “only”, giving us a meaning of “I only is 喜欢.
Raphael: 喜欢 是什么意思?
Adam: That you may remember is the verb “to like.” So that gives us “I only is like.”
Kirin: 我就是喜欢.
Adam: which is a way to say “I just like it.”
Kirin: 我就是喜欢.
Adam: Now getting back to the expression
Kirin: 就是
Adam: This is an expression that is often mixed in with day to day speech. Just like in English you may hear people use “you know”, mixed in with their regular speech, you may hear 就是 commonly intermixed in day to day dialogue.
Adam: Do you remember what that means? That, literally, meant, “My stomach is hungry.” Here we have.
Kirin: 我很饿了.
Adam: which more directly means “I am hungry.” Note again the change in situation particle 了 being used to indicate that she wasn’t hungry before but now she is.
Kirin: 我很饿了.
Adam: The woman then continues.
Kirin: 这个面条看上去很好吃.
Adam: So here we have our first new word of the day.
Raphael: 面條. 第四声和第二声.
Adam: There are two characters there – the first being for noodles, while the second is a measure word for long, thin objects. So when you refer to noodles by themselves you use these two characters together giving us
Kirin: 面条.
Adam: So what about these noodles?
Kirin: 这个面条看上去很好吃.
Raphael: 你记得 看上去 是什么意思吗?
Adam: We saw this term recently being used to mean “appear to be.”
Raphael: 很好吃 是什么意思?
Adam: And that we also saw recently meaning “delicious.” So that gives us “These noodles appear to be delicious.”
Kirin: 这个面条看上去很好吃.
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 是很好吃.
Adam: So he agrees that they are tasty.
Kirin: 是很好吃.
Adam: He then continues with.
Kirin: 再来一点炒面怎么样?
Adam: So here we have a new term made up of characters we’ve seen before.
Kirin: 再来一点.
Adam: The literal translation here is “Again come a little.” And that’s what is used to say “a little more.”
Kirin: 再来一点炒面怎么样?
Adam: That’s followed by our next food dish of the lesson.
Kirin: 炒面.
Adam: Now back in lesson 83 we saw the dish 炒菜. Do you remember what that meant? It meant “fried vegetables.” So what do you suppose 炒面 means? It means “Fried noodles.” And, of course, you’ll see that often when ordering Chinese food in most places around the world. He then adds a question at the end.
Raphael: 怎么样 是什么意思?
Adam: That’s a question asking “How about?” So he’s asking “how about a little more fried noodles?”
Kirin: 再来一点炒面怎么样?
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 那就再来一点汤和小菜吧.
Adam: So there’s another food item mentioned in there.
Raphael: 汤. 第一声.
Adam: And that means “soup.” At the end of the sentence we have 小菜 which translates into “a little dish.” Or in this case, “a side dish.”
Kirin: 那就再来一点汤和小菜吧.
Adam: Notice as well, the particles being used in the beginning of the sentence. We have the 那 meaning “in that case” and the 就 meaning “then.” We also have the “吧” at the end, that we saw in lesson 57 indicating a suggestion. So that gives us a complete translation of “in that case, a little more soup and side dish.”
Kirin: 那就再来一点汤和小菜吧.
Adam: To which the man replies.
Kirin: 太多了.
Raphael: 你觉得 太多了 是什么?
Adam: That means “Too much!”
Kirin: 太多了.
Adam: He then adds.
Kirin: 来一点汤就行了.
Adam: So there’s one new character in there.
Kirin: 行.
Raphael: 第二声.
Adam: And that’s another way to say “alright” or “okay.” The 就 particle here is back to meaning “only” so that gives us a literal translation of “A little more soup only alright.”
Kirin: 来一点汤就行了.
Adam: In other words, “A little more soup is enough.”
Kirin: 来一点汤就行了.
Adam: Now just as a side note here, the 行 character we talked about is most commonly heard when someone wants to say something is not okay to do in which case you may hear:
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Kirin: 上网学中文第九十四课.
Adam: Hello, I’m your host, Adam. Today’s lesson builds upon what was taught in lesson 34 of our course which was two people conversing in a restaurant.
Adam: Literally means “good eat dish” which is how you say that a dish is delicious.
Kirin: 这个菜单上有很多好吃的菜.
Adam: This menu has many delicious dishes.
Kirin: 这个菜单上有很多好吃的菜.
Adam: The man then replies.
Kirin: 想吃什么就点什么.
Adam: Here we have words that we’ve seen before. There are three verbs in there. “To want,” “to eat” and “to order.” The 就 particle in this case functions as a “then”; so that gives us a literal translation of “Want eat what then order what”
Kirin: 想吃什么就点什么.
Adam: which ends up meaning “Whatever you want to eat, go ahead and order it” or simply “Order whatever you want.”
Kirin: 想吃什么就点什么.
Adam: Order whatever you want to eat.
Kirin: 想吃什么就点什么.
Adam: For more examples of this construction, take a look at the Podcast review that accompanies this lesson. The man then continues.
Kirin: 我请客.
Adam: Here we have two characters 请客 that we’ve seen before in different contexts. Previously, we defined 请, as meaning “please.” Here it’s meaning “invite.” The 客 we’ve seen before in 不客气 meaning “you’re welcome” or more literally “don’t be polite.” The 客, on its own, refers to “guest”, so the literal meaning here is “I invite guest”, which is the expression to say “it’s my treat.”
Kirin: 我请客.
Adam: The woman then replies.
Kirin: 这不公平.
Adam: So here we have a new term.
Kirin: 公平.
Raphael: 第一声和第二声.
Adam: And that means “fair.” But here she said
Kirin: 这不公平.
Adam: As in “this is not fair.”
Kirin: 这不公平.
Adam: The woman then explains why.
Kirin: 上次你已经请过了.
Raphael: 上次 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “last time.” We then have another new word.
Kirin: 已经.
Raphael: 第三声和第一声.
Adam: And that means “already.” Can you figure out the rest?
Kirin: 上次你已经请过了.
Adam: “Last time you already treated me.” Notice the present perfect tense particle 过 that we learned recently being used here.
Kirin: 上次你已经请过了.
Adam: She then continues.
Kirin: 这次该我请了.
Raphael: 该是 应该 的该. 应该 是什么意思?
Adam: 应该, you may remember, means “should” or “ought to.” Here the short form is being used giving us “This time should I treat.” The extra 了 particle at the end is used to signify a change in situation. So she wants to change the situation so that she is treating him this time.
Kirin: 这次该我请了.
Adam: So that gives us “This time I should treat.” The man then replies.
Kirin: 好吧.
Adam: This means “okay.” The extra neutral particle 吧 is added to give a suggestive tone similar to how we might say “Ok then.”
Kirin: 好吧.
Adam: The man then adds.
Kirin: 下次一定让我请客.
Raphael: 这里我们还有一个新的单词.
Kirin: 一定.
Raphael: 第一声和第四声.
Adam: And that means “Surely” or “definitely.”
Kirin: 下次一定让我请客.
Adam: Literally that’s “Next time definitely let me treat.”
Kirin: 下次一定让我请客.
Adam: To which the woman replies.
Kirin: 好. 一言为定.
Adam: This last sentence is an expression along the lines of “It’s a deal” or “That’s settled then.” The literal translation is something along the lines of “one word becomes decided.” We’ve actually seen some of these characters from other words in the past.
Kirin: 一言为定. 一号的一. 语言的言. 因为的为. 一定的定.
Adam: Again, if that doesn’t make sense to you, check the Complete word for word transcript for this lesson.
Adam: That means “Next month.” So that gives us “Next month I have two”
Kirin: 周的假期.
Raphael: 这个周是 周末 的周. 周末 是什么意思?
Adam: That we saw in our last lesson means “weekend.” The literal definition is the same as in English. The first character is another way to say “week”, while the second character refers to “the end” or “final part.” So here
Kirin: 两周.
Adam: Means “two weeks.”
Kirin: 下个月我有两周的假期.
Adam: And that leads us to our first new word of the lesson.
Raphael: 假期. 第四声和第一声.
Adam: That means “vacation.” If you remember, in lesson 33 we learned
Kirin: 渡假
Adam: which meant “to go on holiday.” So the 假 is the same character meaning “vacation”, while the 期 refers to “period of time”; so together
Kirin: 假期
Adam: means “vacation.”
Kirin: 下个月我有两周的假期.
Adam: “Next month, I have two weeks vacation.” He then continues.
Kirin: 我正在计划要到哪里去.
Adam: So there are a couple of new terms in there.
Raphael: 正在. 两个第四声.
Adam: This is usually added before verbs when you are in the process of doing that action. So in this case it can mean “currently doing.”
Kirin: 我正在计划要到哪里去.
Adam: We then have our next new word of the day.
Raphael: 计划. 两个第四声.
Adam: And that is the verb “to plan.”
Kirin: 我正在计划要到哪里去.
Adam: The last part
Kirin: 要到哪里去.
Adam: Literally, means “want arrive where go”, which literally means “where to go.”
Kirin: 我正在计划要到哪里去.
Adam: “I’m in the middle of planning where to go.” The woman then says.
Kirin: 有很多地方可以去.
Raphael: 很多 是什么意思? 我们在第三十四课学过了.
Adam: That means “many.” We then have another new word.
Raphael: 地方. 第四声和第一声.
Adam: And that means “place.” So together that gives us “There are many places you can go.”
Kirin: 有很多地方可以去.
Adam: She then adds.
Kirin: 你真幸运.
Raphael: 这个句子我们学过了. 你记得是什么意思吗?
Adam: We saw that in lesson 33 and it’s an expression saying “You’re really lucky.”
Kirin: 你真幸运.
Adam: She then asks.
Kirin: 你要跟谁去?
Adam: That literally asks “You want with who go?” or “Who are you going with?”
Kirin: 你要跟谁去?
Adam: To which the man replies.
Kirin: 我当然和我太太一起去.
Raphael: 当然 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “Of course.”
Raphael: 太太 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “Wife”; so together we have “I will of course go with my wife.”
Kirin: 我当然和我太太一起去.
Adam: He then says.
Kirin: 但是她最怕坐飞机.
Raphael: 这个句子有一个新的字. 怕. 第四声.
Adam: That’s the verb “to be afraid of.” The literal translation of this sentence is: “But she most afraid take plane” or simply “But she’s scared of flying.”
Kirin: 但是她最怕坐飞机.
Adam: He then ends off with.
Kirin: 所以我们只好去近一点的地方.
Raphael: 所以 是什么意思?
Adam: That means “So.” There’s another term in there
Kirin: 只好
Adam: which literally means “only good” which means “have to” or “be forced to.”
Kirin: 去近一点的地方.
Adam: And that literally means “go near a little place.”
Move your mouse pointer over (or touch, from your mobile device) any Chinese words or phrases to get a translation.
Kirin: 上网学中文第九十一课.
Adam: Hello, I’m your host, Adam, along with our native Chinese speakers. Let’s get started with today’s lesson which builds upon lesson 31 of our series.
Adam: Now Raphael is going to help with some of the explanations here using some of the phrases we learned in our last lesson. If you have trouble understanding what he says, you can consult the complete word for word transcripts available to Premium subscribers on our website.
Raphael: 第一句是…
Kirin: 今天我太晚去上班.
Raphael: 这些字我们都学过了. 上班 是什么意思 ?
Adam: We saw that in lesson 31, meaning “To start work.”
Raphael: 晚上 的 晚 是什么意思?
Adam: That, you may remember, means “late.” So the literal translation here is “Today I too late go start work.”
Kirin: 今天我太晚去上班.
Adam: As in “I went to work too late today.” The man then asks.
Kirin: 为什么? 出了什么事了?
Adam: So the first part we should know is asking “Why?” That’s followed by a new expression.
Kirin: 出了什么事了?
Adam: The 出 is another particle that has a varied meaning based on context. Here it has a meaning of “occur.” There’s another new character in there.
Raphael: 事. 第四声.
Adam: And that means “matter.” So together we have a literal definition of “Occur what matter?”
Kirin: 出了什么事了?
Adam: Or simply “What happened?”
Kirin: 出了什么事了?
Adam: Sometimes you may also hear this reduced to:
Kirin: 什么事?
Adam: As in “What’s happening?” The woman then explains.
Kirin: 今天的交通特别差.
Adam: So there’s another new word there for us.
Raphael: 交通. 两个第一声.
Adam: And that’s another word to mean “traffic.” Way back in lesson 32 we learned a couple of other terms.
Kirin: 堵车. 塞车.
Adam: And here we have another one.
Kirin: 交通.
Adam: So what about the traffic?
Kirin: 今天的交通特别差.
Adam: So there are a couple of other words to look at there.
Raphael: 特別. 第四声和第二声.
Adam: And that means “special.”
Raphael: 你记得 特价 是什么意思吗?
Adam: That you may remember from lesson 69 means “special price” or “sale price.”
Raphael: 我们还有一个新的字. 差. 第四声.
Adam: And that means “poor”, “not good,” or in this case, “bad.” Giving us “Today’s traffic was especially bad.”
Kirin: 今天的交通特别差.
Adam: To which the man replies.
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: Since there is no specific word for “Yes” or “no” in Chinese, there are many expressions used to express agreement or disagreement, and this is one of them. This one is the verb “to be” and can be used in place of “Yes.”
Kirin: 是的.
Adam: He then continues.
Kirin: 城市里的交通一直是个问题.
Raphael: 这些字我们以前都学过了. 你记得 城市 是什么意思吗?
Adam: We saw it a couple of lessons ago. It means “City.” The 里 character attached to it means “inside” giving us “The traffic inside the city.”
Raphael: 一直 是什么意思?
Adam: That, you may remember, means “always” or “continuously.” And at the end we have 问题, meaning “problem.” The
Kirin: 是个问题
Adam: is short for 是一个问题 and means “is a problem.” So together that gives us “The traffic in the city is always a problem.”
Kirin: 城市里的交通一直是个问题.
Adam: He then adds.
Kirin: 也许下次你坐地铁去会比较好.
Adam: So here we have a couple more new words for you.
Raphael: 也许. 两个第三声.
Adam: And that means “maybe” or “perhaps.” So that gives us “Maybe next time you.”
Kirin: 坐地铁去.
Adam: So the new word here is
Raphael: 地铁. 第四声和第三声.
Adam: And that means “subway” or “metro.” You can see the construction used here to express “to take the subway.”
Kirin: 坐地铁去.
Adam: She then continues the line by saying
Kirin: 会比较好
Adam: which literally means “will be better.”
Kirin: 也许下次你坐地铁去会比较好.
Adam: Perhaps next time, taking the subway would be better.
Kirin: 也许下次你坐地铁去会比较好.
Adam: The woman then ends off by saying.
Kirin: 或许我可以早一点走.
Adam: So our last new word here is
Raphael: 或许. 第四声和第三声.
Adam: And that’s another way to say “Or.” We’ve seen the last character of the sentence
Kirin: 走
Adam: in
Kirin: 走路
Adam: which means “to go on foot.” So 走, on its own, is also used to mean “to leave.”
