Learn how to speak of a certain point in time or the frequency of an action
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dave: Hi and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) and thanks again for being here with us for this Elementary series, season 2 Lesson. |
| Dave: And I am Dave. Today is the final podcast in season 2 of our Elementary series. |
| Echo: And the title of today’s lesson is, don’t forget to pay your Chinese bills. |
| Dave: In this lesson, you will learn how to pay for your utilities in China. |
| Echo: And also what happens when you don’t. |
| Dave: The conversation is between two roommates arguing over who needs to pay the electricity bill. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Okay but before we get to the dialogue, just a reminder if you haven’t already. Go to chineseclass101.com and register for a free lifetime account. |
| Echo: Right. It will only take you a couple of seconds. |
| Dave: Okay let’s go on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| B:这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| A:上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| A:哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| B:还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly. |
| A:哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| B:这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| A:上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| A:哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| B:还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: And now with the English translation. |
| Echo: 哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| Dave: Ah the electricity went out. You didn’t pay the electricity bill. |
| Echo: 这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| Dave: Isn’t it your turn to pay? |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: Didn’t I pay last time? |
| Echo: 是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| Dave: I paid last time. I still have the electricity card right here. |
| Echo: 哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| Dave: Oh then, I will go to the bank right now and pay. |
| Echo: 还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: Also pay the water bill and the gas bill. It’s your turn to pay for those. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dave:I remember this happened to me once when all the electricity went out. |
| Echo: So what did you do? |
| Dave: Well since it was at night, all the banks were closed so we couldn’t turn the power back on. |
| Echo: So you had to stay in the dark the whole night? |
| Dave: Well we went out and bought some candles and that helped until the next day. |
| Echo: It turns to be a romantic night? |
| Dave: Well I only had male roommates at that time and none of us had girlfriend. So it wasn’t romantic. |
| Echo: Okay anyway, today’s vocab is good to know because you never know when you need to pay the electricity bill. |
| Dave: That’s right. So let’s go to the vocab section now before anyone’s power goes out. And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 哎呀 |
| Dave: Goodness gracious. |
| Echo: 停电 (āiya) |
| Dave: Electrical blackout. |
| Echo: 次 (cì) |
| Dave: A point in time. |
| Echo: 应该 (yīnggāi) |
| Dave: Should. |
| Echo: 上次 (shàng cì) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 下次 (xiàcì) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 电卡 (diàn kǎ) |
| Dave: Electricity card. |
| Echo: 银行 (yínháng) |
| Dave: Bank. |
| Echo: 水费 (shuǐfèi) |
| Dave: Water bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi) |
| Dave: Gas bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Echo: Okay. The first word is 哎呀 (āiya) |
| Dave: Goodness, goodness gracious. |
| Echo: 哎呀，我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.) |
| Dave: Oh goodness! I forgot. |
| Echo: 哎呀，我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.) |
| Dave: And you might say that because there has been |
| Echo: 停电。 (Tíngdiàn.) |
| Dave: An electrical blackout or a loss of power. |
| Echo: 停电。昨天晚上我家停电了。 (Tíngdiàn. Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle.) |
| Dave: Last night, the power went out in my home. |
| Echo: 昨天晚上我家停电了。次。 (Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle. Cì.) |
| Dave: A point in time. |
| Echo: 我去过3次北京。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng.) |
| Dave: I’ve been to Beijing three times. |
| Echo: 我去过3次北京。应该。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng. Yīnggāi.) |
| Dave: Should. |
| Echo: 应该。你应该说对不起。 (Yīnggāi. Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ.) |
| Dave: You should say, I am sorry. |
| Echo: 你应该说对不起。上次。 (Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ. Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 上次。上次我见你的时候，你还很小。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.) |
| Dave: Last time I saw you, you were still small. |
| Echo: 上次我见你的时候，你还很小。下次。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 下次。下次我一定给你礼物。 (Xià cì. Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù.) |
| Dave: Next time, I will certainly give you a gift. |
| Echo:下次我一定给你礼物。电卡。 (Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù. Diàn kǎ.) |
| Dave: Electricity card. This is an electronic card that you can place into your electric meter. You place money on it in a bank… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: And then use the card to deposit money on the meter in order to buy electricity for your home or office. |
| Echo: Right 电卡。我的电卡找不到了 (Diàn kǎ. Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole) |
| Dave: I can’t find my electricity card. |
| Echo: 我的电卡找不到了。 (Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole.) |
| Dave: Now to pay your bills in China, you have to go personally to the |
| Echo: 银行。 (Yínháng.) |
| Dave: Bank. |
| Echo: 银行。银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng. Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.) |
| Dave: The bank has already closed. |
| Echo: 银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.) |
| Dave: Another bill that you need to pay is. |
| Echo: 水费。 (shuǐfèi) |
| Dave: The water bill. |
| Echo: 水费。这次应该你交水费。 (Shuǐ fèi. Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.) |
| Dave: This time, you should pay the water bill. |
| Echo: 这次应该你交水费。 (Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.) |
| Dave: And finally, the last bill to pay. |
| Echo: 煤气费。 (méiqì fèi) |
| Dave: The gas bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费。这次的煤气费是多少钱？ (Méiqì fèi. Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?) |
| Dave: How much is the gas bill this time? |
| Echo: 这次的煤气费是多少钱？ (Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?) |
| Dave: Okay. That’s it for the vocabulary section. Let’s go on to grammar. |
| It’s grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dave: So the grammar focus for today’s lesson is an easy one. What is it Echo? |
| Echo: 次。 (Cì.) |
| Dave: This is a verbal measuring word for indicating the frequency of an action. |
| Echo: Right. We can use this to tell how many times we’ve taken the bus, been to a place or even watch a movie. |
| Dave: We can also combine this word with three other characters to mean last time. |
| Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.) |
| Dave: And this time. |
| Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.) |
| Dave: Right. So there isn’t much to this. We are going to run through some examples. |
| Echo: Okay. It is important to know that since it’s our time word, we place it at the front of the sentence. |
| Dave: So in our first example |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: Didn’t I pay last time? |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: We place 上次 (Shàng cì) at the beginning of the question. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Okay what’s our next example? |
| Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.) |
| Dave: This time, it’s my fault. |
| Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.) |
| Dave: It does seem like most of the time, it is my fault. I need to look into that. Okay on to our next sentence. |
| Echo: 下次，我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.) |
| Dave: Next time, I will definitely go. |
| Echo: 下次，我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.) |
| Dave: Okay and our next example is a little bit long. So listen closely. |
| Echo: 上次他没来，上上次他也没来，这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.) |
| Dave: Last time, he didn’t come. The time before that, he also didn’t come. This time, he came. |
| Echo: 上次他没来，上上次他也没来，这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.) |
| Dave: Notice how we say the time before last time. |
| Echo: 上上次 (Shàng shàng cì) And by the way, the time after next time should be 下下次。 (Xià xià cì.) |
| Dave: In both cases, they are simply a repetition of the first word |
| Echo: 上。 (Shàng.) |
| Dave: Or |
| Echo: 下。 (Xià.) |
| Dave: Okay next example. |
| Echo: 这次我错了，下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.) |
| Dave: This time I am wrong. Next time, I will be more careful. |
| Echo: 这次我错了，下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.) |
| Dave: I messed up this time. I will be more careful the next time. Okay and for our final example |
| Echo: 你下次什么时候休息，下下次呢？ (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?) |
| Dave: When will you rest next and the time after that. |
| Echo: 你下次什么时候休息，下下次呢？ (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?) |
| Dave: Okay. So to review, we learned three words for a point in time. |
| Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.) |
| Dave: This time. And the best way to remember these words is by constantly repeating them. |
| Echo: Right. And the next way to do that is through our voice recording tool. |
| Dave: That’s right. The voice recording tool will help you to improve your pronunciation dramatically. |
| Echo: Right. Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Dave: And then play it back just as easily. This will help you improve your pronunciation fast and effectively. |
| Echo: Right. You can find the voice recording tool in the premium learning center on chineseclass101.com. |
Outro |
| Dave: Okay that wraps it up for this lesson and for season 2. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: From Beijing, I am Dave. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you soon. |
| Echo: 下次见 (Xià cì jiàn) Bye bye. |
| Dave: See you next time. |
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Comments
HideHow is the billing system in your country?
你好 robert groulx,
You are very welcome. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
雷文特
Team ChineseClass101.com
thanks for the lesson
my favoite phrase is 这次的煤气费是多少钱？
we can use online billing in canada
robert
Hi Douglas,
Yes, I made it wrong. When it's a verb, it reads xing; and when it's a noun, it reads hang.
Sorry for the mistake.
Chloe
Team ChineseClass101.com
Thank you Chloe. That makes it easy to remember. I think you mean the other way around: when it's a verb it's xing.
Douglas
Hi Douglas，
Yes，行 has two. When it's a verb, it reads hang. And when it's a noun, its pronunciation is xing.
Regarding your second question, we're going to launch some new series in Chinese and you can find that kind of lists there.
Cheers,
Chloe
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi Echo,
Is it true that 行 has two pronunciations: xing and hang as in 银行 . I noticed the same with 了了 in 大使来了你就逃不了了. My next question is: has any one put together a list of words that do the same depending on the context.
Thank you. I enjoy learning from you and David.
你好，小熊！
现在在北京的一些老房子里，还是不用电卡或者水卡，不过多数都用。
Echo
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi 小熊，
现在还有一些北京的老房子不用电卡或者水卡，不过多数都用。
Echo
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好，小熊！
对，现在北京的一些老房子还是发账单的，不过多数都改成用卡了。
Echo
Team ChineseClass101.com
我记住在北京需要电费卡，水费卡，什么的。我跟同室常常吵架谁要交费。在广州，我很suprised，不用电卡。每个月他们要发送我一张bill。
Say, I just embedded the Chinese Word of the Day widget at my blog, "My China Connection".
I hope it brings us both more traffic!
Oppss.. forgot to check the e-mail for followups box.
Another great lesson! I like listening to your lessons while I am driving in the car or out of a walk.
Is there a way for people to check their utility balance online or must they rely totally on the meter in the front?
Also, why make a special trip to the bank? Can the bills be paid online as well? That would be more convenient.
圣诞节快乐！