Learn a colloquial phrase that doesn't mean what it literally is
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brendan: You’re listening to Chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and funniest way of learning Chinese. I’m Brendan. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: And we’re coming at you from Beijing today with Lower Intermediate Series, Season 1, Lesson 16 – “That filthy, filthy cat.”. Well, it’s one of the best things about having a pet is getting to blame things on the pet. You know, like “I didn’t make the mess, it was the cat. Filthy, filthy cat.”. |
| Echo: And though this conversation takes place in an office between two colleagues, they’re speaking casual mandarin. |
| Brendan: Now, we’re going to take you to the dialogue in a minute, but before we do that, a reminder. If you want to make sure that you remember all of the vocabulary that we cover in these lessons, we’ve got flashcard tools in our online premium Learning Center. They’re a really good way of reviewing the vocabulary you’ve learned and making sure that it sticks. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| Brendan: Let’s go to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:你的西服怎么回事？(nǐ de xīfú zěnmehuíshì?) |
| B:是猫干的。(Shì māo gān de.) |
| A:脏死了。那是。。。(Zāng sǐ le. Nà shì...) |
| B:呃。。我已经洗掉大部分了。(E.. wǒ yǐjīng xǐdiào dàbùfēn le.) |
| A:你真应该把它拿去干洗。(Nǐ zhēn yīnggāi bǎ tā náqù gānxǐ.) |
| B:对，但是没有时间啊。(Duì, dànshì méiyǒu shíjiān ā.) |
| A:你不能穿这件衣服去见客户吧。(Nǐ bù néng chuān zhè jiàn yīfu qù jiàn kèhù ba.) |
| B:那我不穿衣服？(Nà wǒ bù chuān yīfu?) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:你的西服怎么回事？(nǐ de xīfú zěnmehuíshì?) |
| B:是猫干的。(Shì māo gān de.) |
| A:脏死了。那是。。。(Zāng sǐ le. Nà shì...) |
| B:呃。。我已经洗掉大部分了。(E.. wǒ yǐjīng xǐdiào dàbùfēn le.) |
| A:你真应该把它拿去干洗。(Nǐ zhēn yīnggāi bǎ tā náqù gānxǐ.) |
| B:对，但是没有时间啊。(Duì, dànshì méiyǒu shíjiān ā.) |
| A:你不能穿这件衣服去见客户吧。(Nǐ bù néng chuān zhè jiàn yīfu qù jiàn kèhù ba.) |
| B:那我不穿衣服？(Nà wǒ bù chuān yīfu?) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:你的西服怎么回事？(nǐ de xīfú zěnmehuíshì?) |
| A:What happened to your suit. |
| B:是猫干的。(Shì māo gān de.) |
| B:The cat did it. |
| A:脏死了。那是。。。(Zāng sǐ le. Nà shì...) |
| A:That's filthy. Is that… |
| B:呃。。我已经洗掉大部分了。(E.. wǒ yǐjīng xǐdiào dàbùfēn le.) |
| B:I washed most of it off. |
| A:你真应该把它拿去干洗。(Nǐ zhēn yīnggāi bǎ tā náqù gānxǐ.) |
| A:You really need to go get that dry cleaned. |
| B:对，但是没有时间啊。(Duì, dànshì méiyǒu shíjiān ā.) |
| B:Yeah. But there wasn't time. |
| A:你不能穿这件衣服去见客户吧。(Nǐ bù néng chuān zhè jiàn yīfu qù jiàn kèhù ba.) |
| A:You can't see the client like that. |
| B:那我不穿衣服？(Nà wǒ bù chuān yīfu?) |
| B:So I should go naked? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: So, Brandon, you used to have a cat, right? |
| Brendan: Yes, and I used to have a job where I had to wear a suit and sue customers… |
| Echo: Yes? |
| Brendan: And, actually, this was before I got the cat. |
| Echo: Ok. |
| Brendan: There was one time when I was wearing this shirt |
| Echo: Really? |
| Brendan: This was a very fine shirt… |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: I liked this shirt. My boss should’ve saw me wearing this shirt and didn’t think any of it, and then I turned around and apparently there was this huge stain on the back of the shirt that I haven’t noticed. |
| Echo: Really? |
| Brendan: And, my boss basically lost it, just started panicking immediately because I was there in the middle of a bunch of clients wearing this. |
| Echo: Oh no. |
| Brendan: Really grubby shirt. |
| Echo: Poor Brandon. |
| Brendan: Yes, it was, it was not a job I was really cut out for, I think. Anyway, we’ve got some vocabulary that’s broadly on that theme. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 洗掉 (xǐdiào) |
| Brendan: “Wash off” |
| Echo: 脏 (zāng) |
| Brendan: “Dirty” |
| Echo: 恶心 (ěxīn) |
| Brendan: “Disgusting” |
| Echo: 干洗 (gānxǐ) |
| Brendan: “Dry clean” |
| Echo: 客户 (kèhù) |
| Brendan: “Client” |
| Echo: 西服 (xīfú) |
| Brendan: “Suit” |
| Echo: 衬衫 (chènshān) |
| Brendan: “Shirt” |
| Echo: 洗衣机 (xǐyījī) |
| Brendan: “Washing machine” |
| Echo: 裁缝 (cáiféng) |
| Brendan: “Tailor” |
| Echo: 裁缝 (Cáiféng) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: All right. So, we’ve got these words about dirt and filth and also clothing and washing clothing. Now, let’s take a look at some sample sentences that you can see these words kind of behaving in their native environment. |
| Echo: Let’s see the first word 洗掉。(Xǐ diào.) |
| Brendan: “To wash off” or “wash something off”. |
| Echo: 洗掉，我把衣服上的东西洗掉了。(Xǐ diào, wǒ bǎ yīfú shàng de dōngxī xǐ diàole.) |
| Brendan: “I wash the stuff off my clothes.” |
| Echo: 我把衣服上的东西洗掉了。(Wǒ bǎ yīfú shàng de dōngxī xǐ diàole.) |
| Brendan: Probably best not to ask exactly what that stuff was. |
| Echo: It’s usually dirty, I can guarantee. |
| Brendan: Yes, this, I mean, this might’ve been nice stuff that he was washing off, we don’t know. It’s best not to ask. |
| Echo: Next one is 脏。(Zàng.) |
| Brendan: “Dirty” |
| Echo: 把你的脏衣服脱了。(Bǎ nǐ de zàng yīfú tuōle.) |
| Brendan: “Take your dirty clothing off.” |
| Echo: You may want to say that like to your children. 把你的脏衣服脱了。(Bǎ nǐ de zàng yīfú tuōle.) because they’re really 恶心。(Ěxīn.) |
| Brendan: “Disgusting”. |
| Echo: 恶心 (Ěxīn) |
| Brendan: “Gross” |
| Echo: 哟，真恶心，你西服怎么了？(Yō, zhēn ěxīn, nǐ xīfú zěnmeliǎo?) |
| Brendan: “Oh, gross. What happened to your suit?” |
| Echo: 哟，真恶心，你西服怎么了？(Yō, zhēn ěxīn, nǐ xīfú zěnmeliǎo?) |
| Brendan: And, if enough people are telling you that your stuff is gross, is 恶心,(Ěxīn,) you’re probably going to want to see professional help in the form of dry cleaning. |
| Echo: 干洗 (Gānxǐ) |
| Brendan: “Dry cleaning” |
| Echo: 干洗。快把这些衬衫拿去干洗吧。(Gānxǐ. Kuài bǎ zhèxiē chènshān ná qù gānxǐ ba.) |
| Brendan: “Go get those shirts dry cleaned.” |
| Echo: 快把这些衬衫拿去干洗吧。(Kuài bǎ zhèxiē chènshān ná qù gānxǐ ba.) |
| Brendan: And you’re doing this possibly as is the person in our dialogue, in advance of a meeting with a client. Don’t be like me, show up wearing clean clothing. |
| Echo: 客户 (Kèhù) |
| Brendan: “Client” |
| Echo: 你下午不见客户吗？(Nǐ xiàwǔ bùjiàn kèhù ma?) |
| Brendan: “Aren’t you going to see a client this afternoon?” |
| Echo: 你下午不见客户吗？(Nǐ xiàwǔ bùjiàn kèhù ma?) |
| Brendan: And, unfortunately, in today’s day and age, there are still these expectations. If you’re going to go see a client, you have to be wearing clean clothes, you probably have to have something tighter under neck, like a [unintelligible 00:05:40] and you’re probably going to have to wear a suit. |
| Echo: 西服 (Xīfú) |
| Brendan: Specifically a business suit. Clown suits will not do. |
| Echo: 你应该穿西服去见客户。(Nǐ yīnggāi chuān xīfú qù jiàn kèhù.) |
| Brendan: “You should wear a suit to see your client.” |
| Echo: 你应该穿西服去见客户。(Nǐ yīnggāi chuān xīfú qù jiàn kèhù.) |
| Brendan: This actually, this almost reminds me of when I was starting out at that job, because I, I didn’t know to tie a tie, I was totally useless, and so people were like giving me this advice as if to a small child, you know “You should wear a shirt, not a T-shirt. A real shirt, a grownup shirt.” |
| Echo: 衬衫 (Chènshān) |
| Brendan: “Shirt” |
| Echo: 衬衫，去换一件新的衬衫。(Chènshān, qù huàn yī jiàn xīn de chènshān.) |
| Brendan: “Go change into a new shirt.” |
| Echo: 去换一件新的衬衫。(Qù huàn yī jiàn xīn de chènshān.) The next word is a very very useful one. 洗衣机。(Xǐyījī.) |
| Brendan: “A washing machine” |
| Echo: 我太感谢发明洗衣机的那个人了。(Wǒ tài gǎnxiè fāmíng xǐyījī dì nàgè rénle.) |
| Brendan: Yes, thank Kevin for whoever was that invented the washing machine. |
| Echo: 把这些衣服放进洗衣机里。(Bǎ zhèxiē yīfú fàng jìn xǐyījī lǐ.) |
| Brendan: “Put these clothes in the washing machine.” |
| Echo: 把这些衣服放进洗衣机里。(Bǎ zhèxiē yīfú fàng jìn xǐyījī lǐ.) And last word is 裁缝。(Cáiféng.) |
| Brendan: Right, which is “a tailor”. |
| Echo: 裁缝。他是个有名的裁缝。(Cáiféng. Tā shìgèyǒumíngde cáiféng.) |
| Brendan: “He’s a famous tailor.” |
| Echo: 他是个有名的裁缝。(Tā shìgè yǒumíng de cáiféng.) |
| Brendan: Yes, this is for times when even washing your clothes, even dry cleaning them won’t do it. And you need somebody to bring out a niddle and thread and start making alterations. That’s when it’s time to call a tailor. |
| Echo: Right. 裁缝。(Cáiféng.) |
| Brendan: So, we’ve got this vocab, we’ve learned words like “disgusting” and “dirty”, and in the dialogue we actually saw a way of really emphasizing those. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: And that’s the grammar point for today. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| C: It’s grammar time. |
| Brendan: So, you may have noticed in the dialogue, we had this, this word that we don’t usually hear. |
| Echo: 死了 (Sǐle) |
| Brendan: That doesn’t mean what you think it means. On its own that means “dead”. |
| Echo: To die |
| Brendan: Or “to die”. But if you have it after an adjective, something like say “stinky” 死了. (Sǐle.) |
| Echo: 臭死了。(Chòu sǐle.) |
| Brendan: Then what it really means is something’s smelly to death. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: Or, extremely smelly. |
| Echo: Or like 脏死了。(Zàng sǐle.) |
| Brendan: “Extremely dirty”. Yes, “dirty to death” if you want to do it literally. So, what it’s doing in these contexts is it’s emphasizing whatever that adjective is. And it’s not just emphasizing it a little bit. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: You know, “Man, that shirt is dirty to death.” |
| Echo: Let’s hear some sample sentences. 这猫臭死了。(Zhè māo chòu sǐle.) |
| Brendan: “This cat ricks.” |
| Echo: 这猫臭死了。你坏死了。(Zhè māo chòu sǐle. Nǐ huàisǐle.) |
| Brendan: Now, this is actually kind of playful. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: I mean, it’s here… |
| Echo: Especially if a woman says that to her boyfriend. |
| Brendan: Yes, it’s just like “Oh, you’re naughty.” |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: It’s “Oh, you’re a stinker.” or something like that. |
| Echo: Right. And usually the grog will say this in this tone 你坏死了，哼。(Nǐ huàisǐle, hēng.) |
| Brendan: Yes, “You’re naughty.” |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: Something like that. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: So, this is actually, it’s a very straight forward pattern, you take an adjective, after it you add: |
| Echo: 死了 (Sǐle) |
Outro |
| Brendan: And you’re just really emphasizing that adjective about as much as you possibly can. We’re just about done for today, but before we go, a reminder. If you would like to practice anything you learned in this or any other lesson, we’ve got professional tutors standing by, waiting to talk to you. It’s a really good way to practice your Chinese and get a real concrete idea of how well you can do with it in real life. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: If you have any questions about that service, about this lesson or about anything else… |
| Echo: You can always write to us at contactus@Chineseclass101.com or leave a comment on the site. |
| Brendan: And we look forward to hearing from you. From Beijing, I’m Brandon. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
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