Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chris: Hello everyone, and welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am Chris.
Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是Echo。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
Chris: And this is lower beginner, season 1, lesson 1.
Echo: Catching up with a friend in China.
Chris: Yeah. Today you are going to learn how to find out what a friend of yours is been up to if you haven’t seen them for a long, long time.
Echo: Exactly. The conversation is between two friends who run into each other on the street.
Chris: Yeah. It’s going to be natural, casual Chinese. So you will be able to use this almost immediately.
Echo: Okay, time for the dialogue now.
DIALOGUE
A: 好久不见!(Hǎojiǔ bújiàn!)
B: 是呀,你最近怎么样?(Shì ya, nǐzuìjìn zěnmeyàng?)
A: 我挺好的,你呢?(Wǒtǐng hǎo de, nǐne?)
B: 还是老样子。(Hái shì lǎoyàngzi.)
A: 哪天我们聚聚?(Nǎtiān wǒmen jùju?)
B: 好,好好聊聊。(Hǎo, hǎohǎo liáoliao.)
Chris: One more time a bit slower.
A: 好 久不见!(Hǎojiǔ bújiàn!)
B: 是呀,你最近怎么样?(Shì ya, nǐzuìjìn zěnmeyàng?)
A: 我挺好的,你呢?(Wǒtǐng hǎo de, nǐne?)
B: 还是老样子。(Hái shì lǎoyàngzi.)
A: 哪天我们聚聚?(Nǎtiān wǒmen jùju?)
B: 好,好好聊聊。(Hǎo, hǎohǎo liáoliao.)
Chris: Now with the English translation.
Echo: 好久不见!(Hǎojiǔ bújiàn!)
Chris: Long time no see.
Echo: 是呀,你最近怎么样?(Shì ya, nǐzuìjìn zěnmeyàng?)
Chris: Yeah how have you been?
Echo: 我挺好的,你呢?(Wǒtǐng hǎo de, nǐne?)
Chris: I am good. How about you?
Echo: 还是老样子。(Hái shì lǎoyàngzi.)
Chris: Same old, same old.
Echo: 哪天我们聚聚?(Nǎtiān wǒmen jùju?)
Chris: How about we get together some day?
Echo: 好,好好聊聊。(Hǎo, hǎohǎo liáoliao.)
Chris: Okay let’s talk then.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Chris: So Echo, I hear stuff like this almost every other day in Beijing.
Echo: Yeah.
Chris: Uh-huh. All my friends go away on business trips and holidays and vacations.
Echo: Right. So when they come back they will ask you, Chris, 你最近怎么样 (Nǐ zuìjìn zěnme yàng)?
Chris: Exactly, yeah. It’s...
Echo: Super useful.
Chris: Super useful, it’s the word I was looking for. Yes. Okay, so let’s go through the vocab for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 好久。(hǎojiǔ)
Chris: Long time.
Echo: 好 久, 好久, 最近。(Hǎo jiǔ, hǎojiǔ, zuìjìn.)
Chris: Recently.
Echo: 最 近, 最近, 怎么样?(Zuì jìn, zuìjìn, zěnme yàng?)
Chris: How is it.
Echo: 怎 么 样, 怎么样, 挺 的。 (Zěn me yàng, zěnme yàng, tǐng de.)
Chris: Pretty or quite.
Echo: 挺 的, 挺的, 还。 (Tǐng de, tǐng de, hái.)
Chris: Still.
Echo: 还, 还, 老样子。(Hái, hái, lǎo yàngzi.)
Chris: Same old, same old.
Echo: 老 样 子, 老样子, 哪天。(Lǎo yàng zi, lǎo yàngzi, nǎ tiān.)
Chris: Some day.
Echo: 哪 天, 哪天, 聚聚。 (Nǎ tiān, nǎ tiān, jù jù.)
Chris: To get together.
Echo: 聚 聚, 聚聚, 好好。(Jù jù, jù jù, hǎohǎo.)
Chris: Nicely.
Echo: 好 好, 好好, 聊聊。(Hǎo hǎo, hǎohǎo, liáo liáo.)
Chris: To chat.
Echo: 聊 聊, 聊聊。(Liáo liáo, liáo liáo.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Chris: So Echo, let’s take a closer look at how to use some of these words and phrases.
Echo: Okay.
Chris: The first word we are going to look at is
Echo: 好久。(Hǎojiǔ.)
Chris: And this is “long time.”
Echo: 好久。(Hǎojiǔ.)
Chris: Long time. If you meet a friend you haven’t seen for ages, the first thing you might want to say is...
Echo: 好久不见。(Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn.)
Chris: Long time no see.
Echo: 好久不见。(Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn.)
Chris: And that’s literally “long time”...
Echo: 好久。(Hǎojiǔ.)
Chris: “No see.”
Echo: 不见。(Bùjiàn.)
Chris: And this is a little bit of Chinglish, I think, Echo.
Echo: I think so, too.
Chris: Yeah. It’s kind of crept into English, I think.
Echo: Very useful.
Chris: Yeah, in both languages.
Echo: Yes.
Chris: Okay if you want to know more about what your friends have been doing, you can use these two words.
Echo: 最近。(zuìjìn.)
Chris: And
Echo: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng). 最近 (zuìjìn)
Chris: “Recently.”
Echo: 最近 (zuìjìn). 怎 么样?(zěnme yàng?)
Chris: “How is it.”
Echo: 怎么样?(Zěnme yàng?)
Chris: And we put these two together to make...
Echo: 最近怎么样?(Zuìjìn zěnme yàng?)
Chris: Which is “how have you been lately?”
Echo: 最近怎么样?(Zuìjìn zěnme yàng?)
Chris: And this is a more casual way of greeting people, right?
Echo: Yeah, it’s very casual and actually you only want to use this to people you know.
Chris: Okay.
Echo: Yeah. Like your friends or your colleagues. Don’t ever use it with strangers.
Chris: How about someone like my boss. Is that okay?
Echo: You can use it too just in some like casual situations.
Chris: I guess you got to be friends with your boss.
Echo: Yeah.
Chris: Okay, and what’s the next one?
Echo: To answer questions like 最近怎么样?(Zuìjìn zěnme yàng?) You can say something like same old, same old.
Chris: Okay.
Echo: 老样子。(Lǎo yàngzi.)
Chris: “Same old, same old.”
Echo: 老样子。(Lǎo yàngzi.)
Chris: “Same old, same old.”
Echo: 我们都是老样子。(Wǒmen dōu shì lǎo yàngzi.)
Chris: We are both same old, same old.
Echo: 我们都是老样子。(Wǒmen dōu shì lǎo yàngzi.)
Chris: We are both same old, same old. Okay, you can ask your friends to get together with you sometime. How do we say that, Echo?
Echo: We can ask them to 聚聚。(Jù jù.)
Chris: “To get together.”
Echo: 聚聚。(Jù jù.)
Chris: To get together. Or, and when people get together, they always...
Echo: 聊聊。(Liáo liáo.)
Chris: Which is “to chat.”
Echo: 聊聊。(Liáo liáo.)
Chris: To chat. The last thing we are going to look at is if you want to meet with your friends, but you are not sure when you are going to be free, what can we say then?
Echo: We can use this word, 哪天(Nǎ tiān).
Chris: This literally means “which”
Echo: 哪 (Nǎ)
Chris: And “day.”
Echo: 天 (Tiān)
Chris: And you can put them together to make
Echo: 哪天。(Nǎ tiān.)
Chris: “Some day.”
Echo: So Chris, 哪天 我们一齐聚聚?(Nǎ tiān wǒmen yīqí jù jù?)
Chris: I’d love to.
Echo: Okay.
Chris: Shall I give you a call? I think I have a couple of seconds free in next week. So that’s, let’s get together some day.
Echo: 哪天 我们一齐聚聚?(Nǎ tiān wǒmen yīqí jù jù?)
Chris: Let’s get together some day.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
Chris: Or
Echo: 哪天去咖啡厅聊聊。(Nǎ tiān qù kāfēi tīng liáo liáo.)
Chris: Let’s go chat in a café some day.
Echo: 哪天去咖啡厅聊聊。(Nǎ tiān qù kāfēi tīng liáo liáo.)
Chris: Let’s go chat in a café some day. Okay, I guess that’s all the vocab we are going to cover today. How about we look at some grammar.
Echo: Okay, let’s go.

Lesson focus

Chris: Today’s grammar point is focusing on the structure.
Echo: 挺 的。(Tǐng de.)
Chris: Which is “quite” or “pretty.”
Echo: Umm that’s right, 挺 的。(Tǐng de.)
Chris: Yeah, and we see this in the sentence in the dialogue, which is...
Echo: 我挺好的,你呢?(Wǒ tǐng hǎo de, nǐ ne?)
Chris: And the guy is just saying, I am pretty good, how about you?
Echo: 我挺好的,你呢? (Wǒ tǐng hǎo de, nǐ ne?)
Chris: I am pretty good, how about you? So we’ve learned one way of saying “very,” right?
Echo: Yeah, before, right. 很 (hěn).
Chris: And now we have
Echo: 挺的。(Tǐng de.)
Chris: So they are kind of the same but different.
Echo: Yes they are different.
Chris: And how are they different?
Echo: Okay, very good question. 很 (Hěn) and 挺的 (Tǐng de) pretty much mean the same thing, like, for instance, if I say 我很好 (Wǒ hěn hǎo) and 我挺好的 (Wǒ tǐng hǎo de), they both mean, “I am pretty good.” However, 我挺好的 (Wǒ tǐng hǎo de) is way more casual, it’s way more colloquial. So you want to use this with your friends. Yeah, you don’t want to say 我很好 (Wǒ hěn hǎo) all the time to your friends. It sounds a little bit, you know, like, too formal.
Chris: It’s a bit boring as well if you are just saying the same thing over and over again so.
Echo: Yeah, so use 挺的 (Tǐng de) with your friends.
Chris: And you can liven up your conversation with them.
Echo: Yeah, exactly.
Chris: With these two little words. Okay, why don’t you give us some more examples?
Echo: Okay. 不好意思, 我挺忙的。(Bù hǎoyìsi, wǒ tǐng máng de.)
Chris: Sorry, I am quite busy.
Echo: 不好意思, 我挺忙的。(Bù hǎoyìsi, wǒ tǐng máng de.)
Chris: Sorry I am quite busy.
Echo: 他们挺累的。(Tāmen tǐng lèi de.)
Chris: They are very tired.
Echo: 他们挺累的。(Tāmen tǐng lèi de.)
Chris: They are very tired.
Echo: 今天挺冷的。(Jīntiān tǐng lěng de.)
Chris: It’s very cold today.
Echo: 今天挺冷的。(Jīntiān tǐng lěng de.)
Chris: It’s very cold today.
Echo: So 挺的 (Tǐng de) is a very simple structure.
Chris: Yeah, but there is a couple of things people have to remember when they are using this.
Echo: Right. There are two tips, actually, we want to give people. The first one is, you always want to put the adjective in between 挺 (Tǐng) and 的 (De). So it’s always like 挺好的(Tǐng hǎo de), 挺累的(tǐng lèi de), 挺忙的(tǐng máng de), 挺冷的(tǐng lěng de). It’s always going between 挺 (tǐng) and 的 (de).
Chris: So and the other thing is that you never forget to add the 的 (de) at the end of the sentence or else it’s going to sound really strange.
Echo: Yeah, don’t forget. It’s a 挺 的 (tǐng de) structure. So you don’t want to forget anyone, any part.
Chris: So, Echo, is there some more examples you could give us?
Echo: I always have more examples.
Chris: Excellent.
Echo: 这个挺无聊的。(Zhège tǐng wúliáo de.)
Chris: This is boring.
Echo: 这个挺无聊的。(Zhège tǐng wúliáo de.)
Chris: This is boring.
Echo: 老师挺焦急的。(Lǎoshī tǐng jiāojí de.)
Chris: The teacher is pretty worried.
Echo: 老师挺焦急的。 (Lǎoshī tǐng jiāojí de.)
Chris: The teacher is pretty worried.
Echo: 妈吗挺高兴的。(Mā ma tǐng gāoxìng de.)
Chris: Mother is very happy.
Echo: 妈吗挺高兴的。(Mā ma tǐng gāoxìng de.)
Chris: Mother is very happy. Okay, the grammar point we have today...
Echo: 挺 的。(Tǐng de.)
Chris: It’s a structure you will hear all the time. It’s one of those little things that’s going to make a big difference to your spoken Mandarin.
Echo: 没错 (méi cuò).

Outro

Chris: That just about does it for today.
Echo: Okay. So time for little bit advertisement.
Chris: Okay.
Echo: So, if you like our podcasts, then like our Facebook page, too.
Chris: You can get lesson updates on our Chinese word of the day and news on the Facebook.
Echo: That’s right. We have everything there.
Chris: Just search for ChineseClass101.com and like our fan page.
Echo: And if you like a lesson or a series on ChineseClass101.com
Chris: You can let us know by clicking the like button next to the lesson or series.
Echo: That’s right. For now though, from Beijing.
Chris: I am Chris.
Echo: 我是 Echo。(Wǒ shì Echo.)
Chris: Thanks for listening, and we will see you on the site.
Echo: 拜拜, 下次见。(Bàibài, xià cì jiàn.)

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