Learn how to ask, "Why?"
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| 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 |
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