Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dave: Hi everybody, Dave Lyons here and welcome to chineseclass101.com. This is lesson 2 in season 2 of the elementary series, Hunting for Bargains in China.
Echo: 没错,大家好,我是Echo. (Méi cuò, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: With us, you will learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons.
Echo: Right. We also provide you with cultural insights
Dave: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. In this lesson, you will learn how not to go shopping in China.
Echo: Not to go shopping.
Dave: Yeah well really what not to do when you go shopping or what to watch out for.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
Dave: Okay. So the dialogue in this lesson takes place in a home.
Echo: 在家里。 (Zài jiālǐ.)
Dave: And it’s a conversation between a husband and his overly thrifty wife.
Echo: 老公和老婆。 (Lǎogōng hé lǎopó.)
Dave: And our speakers are speaking casual Mandarin like always.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
Dave: Okay but before we go to the dialogue, if you don’t already have one, stop by chineseclass101.com and sign up for your free life time account.
Echo: Right. You can sign up in less than 7 seconds.
Dave: And I think the record is actually 4.5. Okay so let’s get back to the lesson and listen to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A:老公,给你买的靴子,打五折。 (lǎogōng, gěi nǐ mǎi de xuēzi, dǎ wǔ zhé.)
B:真便宜。嗯?怎么这么紧? (zhēn piányi. en? zěnme zhème jǐn?)
A:哦,他们只有42的。 (ò, tāmen zhǐyǒu sìèr de.)
B:什么?你知道我穿44的。 (shénme? nǐ zhīdào wǒ chuān sìsì de.)
A:打五折呢,这么便宜,谁不想买? (dǎ wǔ zhé ne, zhème piányi, shéi bù xiǎng mǎi?)
Dave: One more time, a bit slower.
A:老公,给你买的靴子,打五折。 (lǎogōng, gěi nǐ mǎi de xuēzi, dǎ wǔ zhé.)
B:真便宜。嗯?怎么这么紧? (zhēn piányi. en? zěnme zhème jǐn?)
A:哦,他们只有42的。 (ò, tāmen zhǐyǒu sìèr de.)
B:什么?你知道我穿44的。 (shénme? nǐ zhīdào wǒ chuān sìsì de.)
A:打五折呢,这么便宜,谁不想买? (dǎ wǔ zhé ne, zhème piányi, shéi bù xiǎng mǎi?)
Dave: One more time with English.
Echo: 老公,给你买的靴子,打五折。 (lǎogōng, gěi nǐ mǎi de xuēzi, dǎ wǔ zhé.)
Dave: Husband, I bought these shoes for you, they were 50% off.
Echo: 真便宜。嗯?怎么这么紧? (zhēn piányi. en? zěnme zhème jǐn?)
Dave: That’s really cheap. Hah! Why are they so tight?
Echo: 哦,他们只有42的。 (ò, tāmen zhǐyǒu sìèr de.)
Dave: Oh they only had size 42.
Echo: 什么?你知道我穿44的。 (shénme? nǐ zhīdào wǒ chuān sìsì de.)
Dave: What? Do you know I am a size 44?
Echo: A:打五折呢,这么便宜,谁不想买? (dǎ wǔ zhé ne, zhème piányi, shéi bù xiǎng mǎi?)
Dave: 50% off. They were so cheap. Who wouldn’t buy them?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dave: I have never had anyone buy my shoes for me.
Echo: 哦,真的吗? (Ó, zhēn de ma?) Why not?
Dave: Who does that? Don’t you need to try them on?
Echo: Well it’s pretty common in China between lovers.
Dave: Really!
Echo: Uhoo…
Dave: I mean, is it only wives buying it for husbands or does it go both ways?
Echo: Either way, you didn’t know that?
Dave: No I never heard about that.
Echo: Hah!
Dave: I mean it’s crazy. Who buys shoes for other people? That’s just wrong. Let’s get to our vocab section.
And now the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 鞋 (xié)
Dave: Shoes.
Echo: 靴子 (Xuēzi)
Dave: Boots.
Echo: 打折 (Dǎzhé)
Dave: Discount.
Echo: 运动鞋 (Yùndòng xié)
Dave: Sneakers.
Echo: 号 (Hào)
Dave: Size.
Echo: 紧 (Jǐn)
Dave: Tight.
Echo: 松 (Sōng)
Dave: Loose.
Echo: 鞋带 (Xié dài)
Dave: Shoelaces
Echo: 穿 (Chuān)
Dave: To wear.
Echo: 穿 (Chuān)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Dave: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Echo: The first word we will look at is 鞋。 (Xié.)
Dave: That’s shoes.
Echo: Right. 鞋。 (Xié.)
Dave: Now if you are like me, you need to try new shoes before buying them. So you may need to tell people please don’t buy me shoes.
Echo: 请别给我买鞋。 (Qǐng bié gěi wǒ mǎi xié.)
Dave: Let’s hear that again.
Echo: 请别给我买鞋。 (Qǐng bié gěi wǒ mǎi xié.)
Dave: Right. In China, you may actually need to tell people this.
Echo: What’s wrong with buying shoes for your loved ones?
Dave: Well they might not fit. Like in the dialogue, you could end up saying, these boots are too tight.
Echo: 这双靴子太紧了。 (Zhè shuāng xuēzi tài jǐnle.)
Dave: These boots are too tight.
Echo: 这双靴子太紧了。 (Zhè shuāng xuēzi tài jǐnle.) but what if it’s a good deal.
Dave: Yes people might tell you, there was a great discount.
Echo: 打折。 (Dǎzhé)
Dave: And that’s our next word, discount.
Echo: 打折。 (Dǎzhé)
Dave: Which can be used for specific discount. For example, a 50% discount.
Echo: 打五折。 (Dǎ wǔ zhé.)
Dave: Okay Echo, what about a 10% discount?
Echo: 打九折。 (Dǎ jiǔ zhé.)
Dave: Okay. This one is a bit tricky. Let’s listen to it again.
Echo: 打九折。 (Dǎ jiǔ zhé.)
Dave: So 10% discount is literally 90% of the price.
Echo: Right 打九折。 (Dǎ jiǔ zhé.)
Dave: So that’s what we are saying. The price is now 90% of the original price.
Echo: Right. How about 打三折。 (Dǎ sān zhé.)
Dave: Ah that’s a great deal. That’s 30% of the original price, 70% off.
Echo: Right. 打三折。 (Dǎ sān zhé.) And the number goes in the middle 打三折。 (Dǎ sān zhé.)
Dave: Okay and last but not least, if you are buying shoes, you need to tell the salesperson how they fit.
Echo: Exactly and we have two words here.
Dave: Tight.
Echo: 紧。 (Jǐn.)
Dave: Tight.
Echo: 紧。 (Jǐn.)
Dave: And loose.
Echo: 松。 (Sōng.)
Dave: Loose.
Echo: 松。 (Sōng.)
Dave: So you can say for example, the size 44 is too tight.
Echo: 四四的太紧了。 (Sìsì de tài jǐnle.)
Dave: Or size 46 is too loose.
Echo: 四六的太松了。 (Sìliù de tài sōngle.)
Dave: Okay. So that about wraps this up for the vocab section. Let’s move on to grammar. It’s grammar time. Okay here comes the grammar section. If you remember last week’s lesson, you remember we learned how to use the word what

Lesson focus

Echo: 什么。 (Shénme)
Dave: As the indeterminate object.
Echo: Right.
Dave: As in anything or everything.
Echo: 什么。 (Shénme.)
Dave: So the last example we left you with was I forgot everything.
Echo: 我什么都忘了。 (Wǒ shénme dōu wàngle.)
Dave: Ah I forgot everything.
Echo: 我什么都忘了。 (Wǒ shénme dōu wàngle.)
Dave: So hopefully this is all review.
Echo: Right. Hopefully you guys didn’t forget it.
Dave: Yeah especially since our grammar point today is using the word who
Echo: 谁。 (Shéi)
Dave: In just the same way.
Echo: 谁。 (Shéi)
Dave: In the dialogue, we heard this question
Echo: 谁不想买? (Shéi bùxiǎng mǎi?)
Dave: Which means, who wouldn’t buy it?
Echo: 谁不想买? (Shéi bùxiǎng mǎi?)
Dave: This is a rhetorical question but it really means everyone would want to buy it.
Echo: 谁都想买。 (Shéi dōu xiǎng mǎi.)
Dave: Another example is
Echo: 谁不喜欢打折。 (Shéi bù xǐhuān dǎzhé.)
Dave: Which we can translate as everyone likes a discount.
Echo: 谁不喜欢打折。 (Shéi bù xǐhuān dǎzhé.)
Dave: Or who doesn’t like a discount.
Echo: Hmm I have a harder one for you Dave.
Dave: Go ahead, try me!
Echo: 谁给我买鞋我爱谁。 (Shéi gěi wǒ mǎi xié wǒ ài shéi.)
Dave: Oh I see. This one explains a lot.
Echo: 谁给我买鞋我爱谁。 (Shéi gěi wǒ mǎi xié wǒ ài shéi.)
Dave: So that’s, whoever buys me shoes, I like whoever.
Echo: Dave, that’s bad translation.
Dave: Yeah but that is what it means. The word
Echo: 谁 (Shéi)
Dave: Isn’t being used as a question but as a standing for the concept of anyone or everyone.
Echo: 谁给我买鞋我爱谁。 (Shéi gěi wǒ mǎi xié wǒ ài shéi.)
Dave: Whoever buys me shoes, I love them.
Echo: 我爱谁。 (Wǒ ài shéi.)
Dave: That’s right. Now that’s not really serious when we say that, whoever buys you shoes, people love them.
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: But there is something a little closer to the truth and that’s
Echo: 谁给我钻戒我跟谁结婚。 (Shéi gěi wǒ zuànjiè wǒ gēn shéi jiéhūn.)
Dave: So can you figure out what that means? Let’s listen to it again.
Echo: 谁给我钻戒我跟谁结婚。 (Shéi gěi wǒ zuànjiè wǒ gēn shéi jiéhūn.)
Dave: That’s right. It’s, whoever buys me a diamond ring
Echo: 我跟谁结婚。 (Wǒ gēn shéi jiéhūn.)
Dave: I will marry them.
Echo: Yeah women love 钻戒。 (Zuànjiè.)
Dave: Is it really all that easy?
Echo: No.

Outro

Dave: No. That’s too bad. That just about does it for today but before we go, we want to tell you about one of the many ways here at chineseclass101 that you can improve your Chinese particularly your pronunciation.
Echo: Right. Using our voice recording tool.
Dave: Yes the voice recording tool is in the premium learning center.
Echo: Right. Record your voice with a click of a button.
Dave: And then play it back just as easily.
Echo: So you record your voice and then listen to it.
Dave: And compare it to native speakers.
Echo: Right and adjust your pronunciation.
Dave: Which is especially helpful if you happen to be overseas and you are not living here in China where you can practice your pronunciation with native speakers every day.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
Dave: Okay. Thanks for listening. From Beijing, I am Dave Lyons.
Echo: 我是Echo. 网上见吧。 (Wǒ shì Echo. Wǎngshàng jiàn ba.)
Dave: See you then.

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