Learn to ask, "How are you?"
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| Introduction |
| Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Chinese Season 1, Lesson 4 - Asking How Someone Is. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask and answer the question “How are you?” in Chinese. |
| Body |
| Eric: Here's the informal way to ask "How are you?" in Chinese. |
| Cho: [Normal] 最近怎么样？(zuìjìn zěnme yàng?) |
| Eric: First is an adverb meaning "recently, lately" |
| Cho: [Normal] 最近 [Slow] 最近 (zuìjìn) |
| Eric: Last is the phrase meaning "how’s it going" |
| Cho: [Normal] 怎么样 [Slow] 怎么样(zěnmeyàng) |
| Eric: Listen again to the informal question meaning "How are you?" |
| Cho: [Slow] 最近怎么样？ [Normal] 最近怎么样？ |
| Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to ask, "How are you?" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你好吗？(Nǐ hǎo ma?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning "good" |
| Cho: [Normal] 好 [Slow] 好(hǎo) |
| Eric: Last is the question marker... |
| Cho: [Normal] 吗 [Slow] 吗(ma) |
| Eric: Listen again to the formal question meaning "How are you?” |
| Cho: [Slow] 你好吗？ [Normal] 你好吗？ |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning "I'm fine." |
| Cho: [Normal] 我很好。(wǒ hěn hǎo。) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I" |
| Cho: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我(wǒ) |
| Eric: Next is the adverb meaning "very,” “very much" |
| Cho: [Normal] 很 [Slow] 很(hěn) |
| Eric: Last is the adjective meaning "good" |
| Cho: [Normal] 好 [Slow] 好(hǎo) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I'm fine." |
| Cho: [Slow] 我很好。 [Normal] 我很好。 |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning, "Not so well." |
| Cho: [Normal] 不太好。(bú tài hǎo.) |
| Eric: First is a negative adverb meaning "not" |
| Cho: [Normal] 不 [Slow] 不(bù) |
| Eric: Next is the adverb meaning "a lot, much, too" |
| Cho: [Normal] 太 [Slow] 太(tài) |
| Eric: Last is the adjective meaning "good" |
| Cho: [Normal] 好 [Slow] 好(hǎo) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "Not so well." |
| Cho: [Slow] 不太好。 [Normal] 不太好。 |
| Cultural Insight |
| Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Cho: In China, when asking a friend how they’re doing, the question “最近怎么样？” which means “How are you?" is more commonly used than 你好, which means “good day.” Also, we use some casual phrases like 嘿！(hēi) to greet and 拜拜 (bàibài) to say "bye" to friends. |
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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