Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Echo: 嗨,大家好,我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: Hi and I am Dave. Welcome to chineseclass101.com Elementary series, season 2. Today’s lesson is Rules of the Road and in this lesson, you will learn
Echo: A few Chinese adverbs and the lesson in responsibility.
Dave: And humility.
Echo: Right.
Dave: With us today, you will learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons.
Echo: We will also provide you with cultural insights
Dave: And tips you won’t find in a textbook.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
Dave: This conversation takes place
Echo: In a parking lot.
Dave: The conversation is between
Echo: A father and a son.
Dave: And the speakers are a family. So
Echo: They will be speaking casually.
Dave: Before we listen to the conversation, if you don’t already have one, stop by chineseclass101.com and sign up for a free life time account.
Echo: Right.
Dave: You can sign up in less than 30 seconds. Okay let’s get to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A:爸爸,我准备好了! (bàba, wǒ zhǔnbèi hǎo le!)
B:记住,开车要很小心! (jìzhu, kāichē yào hěn xiǎoxīn!)
A:知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
B:马路相当危险! (mǎlù xiāngdāng wēixiǎn!)
A:知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
B:安全带非常重要! (Ānquán dài fēicháng zhòngyào!)
A:知道了。 (Zhīdàole)
B:还有...... (hái yǒu ......)
A:还有,车钥匙也非常重要。爸,给我钥匙。 (hái yǒu, chē yàoshi yě fēichángzhòngyào. bà, gěi wǒ yàoshi.)
Dave: One more time, a bit slower.
A:爸爸,我准备好了! (bàba, wǒ zhǔnbèi hǎo le!)
B:记住,开车要很小心! (jìzhu, kāichē yào hěn xiǎoxīn!)
A:知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
B:马路相当危险! (Mǎlù xiāngdāng wéixiǎn!)
A:知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
B:安全带非常重要! (Ānquán dài fēicháng zhòngyào!)
A:知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
B:还有...... (hái yǒu ......)
A:还有,车钥匙也非常重要。爸,给我钥匙。 (hái yǒu, chē yàoshi yě fēichángzhòngyào. bà, gěi wǒ yàoshi.)
Dave: One more time with English.
Echo: 爸爸,我准备好了! (bàba, wǒ zhǔnbèi hǎo le!)
Dave: Dad, I am ready!
Echo: 记住,开车要很小心! ((jìzhu, kāichē yào hěn xiǎoxīn!))
Dave: Now remember when driving a car, you want to be very careful.
Echo: 知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
Dave: I know.
Echo: 马路相当危险! (Mǎlù xiāngdāng wéixiǎn!)
Dave: The Street can be really dangerous.
Echo: 知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
Dave: I know.
Echo: 安全带非常重要! (Ānquán dài fēicháng zhòngyào!)
Dave: Wearing your seatbelt is extremely important.
Echo: 知道了。 (zhīdao le.)
Dave: I know.
Echo: 还有...... (hái yǒu ......)
Dave: Furthermore.
Echo: 还有,车钥匙也非常重要。 (hái yǒu, chē yàoshi yě fēichángzhòngyào. bà, gěi wǒ yàoshi.)
Dave: And another thing. The car keys are also incredibly important.
Echo: 爸,给我钥匙。 (Bà, gěi wǒ yàoshi.)
Dave: Dad, give me the keys. You know, I had a conversation just like this when I first started to drive.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Echo: 真的吗? (Zhēn de ma?)
Dave: Yeah but I think my dad was more nervous than I was. I was just excited to get behind the wheel and go.
Echo: So how did it go?
Dave: It only lasted about 2 minutes.
Echo: Oh poor Dave.
Dave: No poor dad. I think he almost had a heart attack.
Echo: Yeah actually for myself, I have had a license for two years but I never drive in Beijing. It’s too dangerous.
Dave: Well driving your own car in Beijing doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Echo: Yeah but our vocabulary section does.
Dave: That’s right. So let’s get right to it.
And now the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 记住 (jìzhù)
Dave: To remember.
Echo: 小心 (xiǎoxīn)
Dave: Careful.
Echo: 相当 (xiāngdāng)
Dave: Quiet.
Echo: 非常 (fēicháng)
Dave: Extremely.
Echo: 重要 (zhòngyào)
Dave: Important.
Echo: 准备 (Zhǔnbèi)
Dave: To be ready.
Echo: 安全带 (ānquándài)
Dave: Seatbelts.
Echo: 钥匙 (yàoshi)
Dave: Keys.
Echo: 钥匙 (yàoshi)
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: And the first phrase is 记住。 (Jì zhù.)
Dave: To remember.
Echo: 记住。 (Jì zhù.)
Dave: To remember.
Echo: 你记住了没有? (Nǐ jì zhùle méiyǒu?)
Dave: Do you remember?
Echo: 你记住了没有? (Nǐ jì zhùle méiyǒu?)
Dave: Do you remember?
Echo: The next one is 小心。 (Xiǎoxīn)
Dave: To be careful.
Echo: 小心。(Xiǎoxīn)
Dave: Third tone followed by first tone.
Echo: 游泳要小心。 (Yóuyǒng yào xiǎoxīn.)
Dave: When swimming, you want to be careful.
Echo: Okay next one 相当。 (Xiāngdāng)
Dave: Quite or considerably.
Echo: 相当。 (Xiāngdāng)
Dave: Both first tones and this is our first adverb of the lesson.
Echo: 他的女朋友相当能干。 (Tā de nǚ péngyǒu xiāngdāng nénggàn.)
Dave: His girlfriend is quite capable.
Echo: 他的女朋友相当能干。 (Tā de nǚ péngyǒu xiāngdāng nénggàn.)
Dave: His girlfriend is quite capable.
Echo: And 能干 (Nénggàn) is capable.
Dave: Right.
Echo: 非常。 (Fēicháng)
Dave: Extremely.
Echo: 非常。 (Fēicháng)
Dave: Extremely.
Echo: Yeah its first tone and second tone.
Dave: Right.
Echo: And this is also an adverb 你非常厉害。 (Nǐ fēicháng lìhài.)
Dave: You are extremely awesome.
Echo: 你非常厉害。 (Nǐ fēicháng lìhài.)
Dave: You are extremely awesome.
Echo: 重要。 (Zhòngyào)
Dave: Important.
Echo: 重要。 (Zhòngyào)
Dave: Both fourth tone, important.
Echo: Right 带好重要物品。 (Dàihǎo zhòngyào wùpǐn.)
Dave: Take all the important things.
Echo: 带好重要物品。 (Dàihǎo zhòngyào wùpǐn.)
Dave: Take all the important things.
Echo: 准备。 (Zhǔnbèi)
Dave: To be ready.
Echo: 准备。 (Zhǔnbèi)
Dave: To be ready. This is a very useful piece of vocabulary.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Let’s hear it in a sentence.
Echo: 准备好了吗? (Zhǔnbèi hǎole ma?)
Dave: Are you ready?
Echo: 准备好了吗? (Zhǔnbèi hǎole ma?)
Dave: Are you ready?
Echo: Dave 你准备好了吗? (Nǐ zhǔnbèi hǎole ma?)
Dave: Yes next one.
Echo: Okay 安全带。 (Ānquán dài.)
Dave: Seatbelt.
Echo: 安全带。 (Ānquán dài.)
Dave: Seatbelt. So the first two characters are the word for safety.
Echo: 安全。 (Ānquán)
Dave: Followed by the word for belt.
Echo: 带。 (Dài)
Dave: Which also can mean take as we heard in an earlier sentence.
Echo: Yeah 带,安全带。 (Dài, ānquán dài.)
Dave: So for example
Echo: 一定要系安全带。 (Yīdìng yào xì ānquán dài.)
Dave: You definitely want to buckle your seatbelt.
Echo: 一定要系安全带。 (Yīdìng yào xì ānquán dài.)
Dave: You definitely want to buckle your seatbelt. Okay let’s move on to the next one.
Echo: 钥匙。 (Yàoshi)
Dave: Keys.
Echo: 钥匙。 (Yàoshi)
Dave: Keys. Now these can be any kind of keys. House keys, car keys any kind.
Echo: Right 我的钥匙丢了。 (Wǒ de yàoshi diūle.)
Dave: I lost my keys. And I have…
Echo: Yeah?
Dave: Many, many times.
Echo: So 你的钥匙丢了? (Nǐ de yàoshi diūle?)
Dave: Yes all the time. Not anymore because now I have a chord that I hang around my neck with all of my valuables on it.
Echo: Ah!
Dave: Yeah phone, keys, wallet. I look a little silly but I haven’t lost anything since.
Echo: It’s very useful ah!
Dave: Yeah and it also has a little tag that says if I am lost and someone finds me to please return me to Paddington Station.
Echo: That’s cute. All right and with that interesting piece of information, let’s go over to the grammar section.

Lesson focus

Dave: It’s grammar time. Okay the grammar focus of this lesson is Chinese adverbs expressing degree.
Echo: Right like 非常。 (Fēicháng)
Dave: Extremely.
Echo: 很。 (Hěn)
Dave: Very.
Echo: And 相当。 (Xiāngdāng.)
Dave: Quite. So in Chinese, there are many types of adverbs.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Some express time, some express scope and some express tones of speech and other things like that.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Some common adverbs in English include almost, nearly, to, enough, hardly, completely, very and extremely.
Echo: Right. In the dialogue, we saw an example of this 安全带非常重要。 (Ānquán dài fēicháng zhòngyào.)
Dave: Right. Wearing your seatbelt is incredibly important. Adverbs of degree tell us about the intensity or degree of an action and adjective or another adverb.
Echo: Here the adverb 非常 (Fēicháng) is modifying the adjective 重要。 (Zhòngyào)
Dave: So in Chinese grammar, the adverb is usually placed before the verb or adjective. For example
Echo: 他很幽默。 (Tā hěn yōumò.)
Dave: He is very funny.
Echo: 他很幽默。 (Tā hěn yōumò.)
Dave: He is very funny.
Echo: And the adverb 很 (Hěn) is modifying the adjective 幽默。 (Yōumò)
Dave: Now right now, we want to point out that in Chinese, you do not need to use the verb to be.
Echo: 是。 (Shì)
Dave: The adverb is already functioning as to be.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Okay let’s take a look at another example.
Echo: 你非常漂亮。 (Nǐ fēicháng piàoliang.)
Dave: You are extremely pretty.
Echo: 你非常漂亮。 (Nǐ fēicháng piàoliang.)
Dave: You are extremely pretty.
Echo: And the adverb here is 非常. (Fēicháng) It is modifying the adjective 漂亮。 (Piàoliang)
Dave: Okay and now let’s do another example.
Echo: 相当。他相当厉害。 (Xiāngdāng. Tā xiāngdāng lìhài.)
Dave: He is quite awesome.
Echo: 他相当厉害。 (Tā xiāngdāng lìhài.)
Dave: He is quite cool.
Echo: So here the adverb is 相当 (Xiāngdāng) and it is modifying the adjective 厉害。 (Lìhài.)
Dave: So we’ve taught you three adverbs.
Echo: 非常。 (Fēicháng)
Dave: Extremely.
Echo: 很。 (Hěn)
Dave: Very.
Echo: And 相当。 (Xiāngdāng)
Dave: Quite which is the least intense of the three.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Okay other examples about verbs expressing degree are
Echo: 特别。 (Tèbié)
Dave: Especially.
Echo: 他们特别聪明。 (Tāmen tèbié cōngmíng.)
Dave: They are especially smart.
Echo: 他们特别聪明。 (Tāmen tèbié cōngmíng.)
Dave: They are especially smart.
Echo: And 太 (Tài)
Dave: Too.
Echo: 你太胖了。 (Nǐ tài pàngle)
Dave: You are too fat.
Echo: 你太胖了。 (Nǐ tài pàngle)
Dave: You are too fat.
Echo: Yeah. 真。 (Zhēn)
Dave: Really.
Echo: 你真可爱。 (Nǐ zhēn kě'ài.)
Dave: You are really cute.
Echo: 你真可爱。 (Nǐ zhēn kě'ài.)
Dave: You are really cute.
Echo: Yeah.

Outro

Dave: Okay that about wraps it up. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation.
Echo: Right. The voice recording tool.
Dave: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center.
Echo: Record your voice with a click of a button
Dave: And then play it back just as easily.
Echo: Right. So you record your voice and then listen to it.
Dave: Compare it to the native speakers
Echo: And adjust your pronunciation.
Dave: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast.
Echo: 非常快。 (Fēicháng kuài.)
Dave: And that’s about it for today. From Beijing, I am Dave.
Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: And we will see you next week.
Echo: Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
Dave: See you then.

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