Learn how to ask, "Why?"
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Introduction |
| Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Chinese Season 1, Lesson 17 - Why? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask and answer the question ‘why’ in Chinese. |
| Body |
| Eric: Here's the formal way to ask 'Why are you late?' in Chinese. |
| Cho: [Normal] 你为什么迟到？(nǐ wèishénme chídào ?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning 'you' |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the pronoun meaning 'why' |
| Cho: [Normal] 为什么 [Slow] 为什么(wèishénme) |
| Eric: Last is the verb meaning 'be late' |
| Cho: [Normal] 迟到 [Slow] 迟到(chídào) |
| Eric: Listen again to the formal question meaning 'Why are you late?' |
| Cho: [Slow] 你为什么迟到？ [Normal] 你为什么迟到？ |
| Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to say, 'I missed the train.' |
| Cho: [Normal] 我没赶上火车。(Wǒ méi gǎnshàng huǒchē .) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning 'I' |
| Cho: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我 (wǒ) |
| Eric: Next is the adverb meaning 'not' |
| Cho: [Normal] 没 [Slow] 没(méi) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning 'catch up' |
| Cho: [Normal] 赶上 [Slow] 赶上(gǎnshàng) |
| Eric: Last is the noun meaning 'train' |
| Cho: [Normal] 火车 [Slow] 火车(huǒchē) |
| Eric: Listen again to the formal response meaning 'I missed the train.' |
| Cho: [Slow] 我没赶上火车。 [Normal] 我没赶上火车。 |
| Eric: Here's a question meaning 'Why do you leave so early?' |
| Cho: [Normal] 你为什么那么早走？(nǐ wèishénme nàme zǎo zǒu ?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning 'you' |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你(nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the pronoun meaning 'why' |
| Cho: [Normal] 为什么 [Slow] 为什么(wèishénme) |
| Eric: Next is the adverb meaning 'so' |
| Cho: [Normal] 那么 [Slow] 那么(nàme) |
| Eric: Next is the adjective meaning 'early' |
| Cho: [Normal] 早 [Slow] 早(zǎo) |
| Eric: Last is the verb meaning 'to leave' |
| Cho: [Normal] 走 [Slow] 走(zǒu) |
| Eric: Listen again to the question, 'Why do you leave so early?' |
| Cho: [Slow] 你为什么那么早走？ [Normal] 你为什么那么早走？ |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning, 'In order to catch the train.' |
| Cho: [Normal] 为了赶火车。(wèile gǎn huǒchē .) |
| Eric: First is a preposition meaning 'for' |
| Cho: [Normal] 为了 [Slow] 为了(wèile) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning 'catch up' |
| Cho: [Normal] 赶 [Slow] 赶(gǎn) |
| Eric: Last is the noun meaning 'train' |
| Cho: [Normal] 火车 [Slow] 火车(huǒchē) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response, 'In order to catch the train.' |
| Cho: [Slow] 为了赶火车。 [Normal] 为了赶火车。 |
| Cultural Insight |
| Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Cho: Because we’ve learned how to say both “why” and “not” in Chinese, you might think you know how to say “Why not?” as well, right? Well, technically it can be Wèishénme bù? But that’s actually not natural Chinese. Although it makes sense, people don’t usually say it, and will say something different depending on the situation. So just remember to be careful about using it! |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson! |
| Cho: 再见 |
Comments
HideListeners! Why are you studying Chinese?
Hello Byron,
Thank you for your comment. 赶 means to catch up, 上 is a result complement indicating the result or outcome of the action, i.e. being able to catch up the train.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
What is the difference between 赶 and 赶上?
Hello robert groulx,
Thank you for your comment. We hope you enjoy the lessons.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you forv the lesson transcript
赶(gǎn)v Last is the noun meaning 'train'
robert
Hi Eva-Britt,
Thank you for taking your time to leave us a comment. It's a very good question ?
我没赶上火车。 (Wǒ méi gǎnshàng huǒchē.) I missed the train.
To use 不(bù) instead of 没(méi), we have to change the structure a tiny bit, and there's a subtle nuance in the meaning:
我赶不上火车。 (Wǒ gǎnbùshàng huǒchē.) I didn't catch the train in time.
Looking forward to seeing you often here.
Olivia
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi! In the sentence "I missed the bus", would it be possible to use 'bu' instead of 'mei'?
Hi, Efrem,
You are amazing!
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
因为我可以学习文化，和不同的人说话。
Because it's awesome 因為中國畫師無邊功德