Learn how to navigate complicated washroom situations
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi! 大家好，我是(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: And we are here with absolute beginner season 2, lesson 6. |
| Echo: This Chinese bathroom is occupied. |
| David: Right. The title says it all folks. Other podcasts, they will show you how to ask where the washroom is. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Here we are taking you to the real, real encounters with China. |
| Echo: Right. This conversation takes place in the bathroom. |
| David: Yes and it’s between two strangers who are trying to speak as casually as they can given the circumstances right. So we’ve got a dialogue. We are going to take you there in a moment. Before we take you to the dialogue though, Echo, you had some words of encouragement for people who are thinking of commenting. |
| Echo: Yes if you have a comment or if you have a question or any feedback, you can always leave a comment on the side or write to us at contactus@chineseclass101.com. |
| David: Right. We forward all of the emails to Echo. So she has to deal with it. |
| Echo: Yeah I love to hear from you. |
| David: Yeah we do love to hear from you. For now though, let’s go on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒu rén ma?) |
| B: 有人，稍等！(Yǒu rén, shāoděng!) |
| A: 你快点儿！(Nǐ kuài diǎnr!) |
| B: 稍等！(Shāoděng!) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A: 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒu rén ma?) |
| B: 有人，稍等！(Yǒu rén, shāoděng!) |
| A: 你快点儿！(Nǐ kuài diǎnr!) |
| B: 稍等！(Shāoděng!) |
| David: And now with the English. |
| A: 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒu rén ma?) |
| A: Is there anyone in the bathroom? |
| B: 有人，稍等！(Yǒu rén, shāoděng!) |
| B: There's someone in here, wait a moment. |
| A: 你快点儿！(Nǐ kuài diǎnr!) |
| A: Hurry up. |
| B: 稍等！(Shāoděng!) |
| B: Wait a moment. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: It’s a good dialogue. |
| David: Yes it’s a gritty dialogue. This is |
| Echo: 你快点儿!(Nǐ kuài diǎn er!) |
| David: Yeah. We are going to use that. I have used that. Anyway, we’ve got lot of vocab here obviously. It’s about the washroom. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: This is critical vocab. So why don’t we get right to it? |
| Echo: 好(Hǎo) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: And now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 洗手间(xǐshǒujiān) [natural native speed] |
| David: washroom |
| Echo: 洗手间(xǐshǒujiān) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 洗手间(xǐshǒujiān) [natural native speed] |
| Echo: 厕所(cèsuǒ) [natural native speed] |
| David: bathroom |
| Echo: 厕所(cèsuǒ) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 厕所(cèsuǒ) [natural native speed] |
| Echo: 马桶(mǎtǒng) [natural native speed] |
| David: toilet |
| Echo: 马桶(mǎtǒng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 马桶(mǎtǒng) [natural native speed] |
| Echo: 水龙头(shuǐlóngtóu) [natural native speed] |
| David: water tap |
| Echo: 水龙头(shuǐlóngtóu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 水龙头(shuǐlóngtóu) [natural native speed] |
| Echo: 手纸(shǒuzhǐ) [natural native speed] |
| David: toilet paper |
| Echo: 手纸(shǒuzhǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 手纸(shǒuzhǐ) [natural native speed] |
| Echo: 上(shàng) [natural native speed] |
| David: to get on; on; top |
| Echo: 上(shàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Echo: 上(shàng) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at some of these words and phrases. |
| Echo: The first phrase is 洗手间.(xǐshǒujiān.) |
| David: Washroom. |
| Echo: 洗手间(xǐshǒujiān) |
| David: Washroom. And this is literally to wash. |
| Echo: 洗(Xǐ) |
| David: Hands. |
| Echo: 手(Shǒu) |
| David: Room. |
| Echo: 间(Jiān) |
| David: So the room where you wash your hands. |
| Echo: 洗手间.(Xǐshǒujiān) |
| David: Knowing this, we now know how to ask the crucial question. |
| Echo: 洗手间在哪儿？(Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| David: Where is the washroom? |
| Echo: 洗手间在哪儿？(洗手间在哪儿？) |
| David: Right but this is not the only way to say washroom. |
| Echo: You can also say 厕所.(Cèsuǒ) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 厕所.(Cèsuǒ.) |
| David: So this is a bit closer to toilet. |
| Echo: Yes. So another way to ask for the washroom is 厕所在哪儿？(Cèsuǒ zài nǎ'er?) |
| David: Where is the toilet? |
| Echo: 厕所在哪儿？(Cèsuǒ zài nǎ'er?) |
| David: Where is the toilet? |
| Echo: Yeah so 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān) is a bit nicer. 厕所(Cèsuǒ) is more dirty. |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: But it depends. |
| David: Okay and there is a special verb we use for going to the washroom. |
| Echo: Yeah let’s say 上(Shàng). |
| David: Which literally means to get up on. |
| Echo: 上厕所(Shàng cèsuǒ) |
| David: To go to the washroom. |
| Echo: 上厕所(Shàng cèsuǒ) |
| David: I need to go to the washroom. Now some restaurants won’t have a toilet. So if you just want to wash your hands, you are best of just telling them directly. |
| Echo: 我想洗手.(Wǒ xiǎng xǐshǒu) |
| David: I want to wash my hands. |
| Echo: 我想洗手.(Wǒ xiǎng xǐshǒu) |
| David: I want to wash my hands. |
| Echo: And if you need to go to washroom, you can also say 上厕所(Shàng cèsuǒ). |
| David: Right which we’ve already covered. |
| Echo: 我想上厕所.(Wǒ xiǎng shàng cèsuǒ.) |
| David: That’s I need to go to the washroom. I need to use the toilet right? |
| Echo: Right. So you can put two sentences we just learned together 我想上厕所，洗手间在哪儿？(Wǒ xiǎng shàng cèsuǒ, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| David: I want to go to the toilet, where is the washroom. So that’s really clear. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: And if you were lucky, you are going to find a bathroom with one of these. |
| Echo: 马桶(Mǎtǒng) |
| David: Which is the toilet. |
| Echo: 马桶(Mǎtǒng) |
| David: The beautiful western toilet. |
| Echo: 马桶(Mǎtǒng) |
| David: Yeah. Anyway, one more reminder since this is China. If you go to the washroom, there is something you should take with you. |
| Echo: Yeah 手纸(Shǒuzhǐ) |
| David: Toilet paper. |
| Echo: Don’t forget 手纸(Shǒuzhǐ) |
| David: Which is literally hand |
| Echo: 手(Shǒu) |
| David: Paper. |
| Echo: 纸(Zhǐ) |
| David: Yeah. You have been warned. Let’s get to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Okay, our grammar section today is all about this verb. |
| Echo: 有(Yǒu) |
| David: This means to have |
| Echo: 有(Yǒu) |
| David: To have |
| Echo: 你有手纸吗？(Nǐ yǒu shǒuzhǐ ma?) |
| David: Do you have toilet paper? |
| Echo: 你有手纸吗？(Nǐ yǒu shǒuzhǐ ma?) |
| David: In our lesson though, we see this without talking about objects that belong to people. |
| Echo: Right. We saw this word in this sentence. 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒurén ma?) |
| David: Is there anyone in the washroom? |
| Echo: 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒurén ma?) |
| David: Is there anyone in the washroom? |
| Echo: Right and that in answer, 有人，稍等！(Yǒurén, shāo děng!) |
| David: There is someone here. Please wait. |
| Echo: 有人，稍等！(Yǒurén, shāo děng!) |
| David: We could think about this as possession. It’s as if the washroom has a person but really we are talking about existence. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: As if there is a person. |
| Echo: So in Chinese, we will use 有(Yǒu) to say things exist. |
| David: Right. For instance. |
| Echo: 洗手间有人吗？(Xǐshǒujiān yǒurén ma?) |
| David: Is there anyone in the bathroom? |
| Echo: 洗手间有人吗？这里没有手纸.(Xǐshǒujiān yǒurén ma? Zhèlǐ méiyǒu shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: There is no toilet paper here. |
| Echo: 这里没有手纸.(Zhèlǐ méiyǒu shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: Right. We see this not only with places but also with times. |
| Echo: 今天晚上有派对.(Jīntiān wǎnshàng yǒu pàiduì.) |
| David: There is a party tonight. |
| Echo: 今天晚上有派对.(Jīntiān wǎnshàng yǒu pàiduì.) |
| David: So a quick review. Whenever you want to say there is |
| Echo: We use 有.(Yǒu.) |
| David: There is a washroom. |
| Echo: 有洗手间(Yǒu xǐshǒujiān) |
| David: There is a person. |
| Echo: 有人(Yǒurén) |
| David: There is toilet paper. |
| Echo: 有手纸(Yǒu shǒuzhǐ) |
| David: Or the negative, there is no washroom. |
| Echo: 没有洗手间(Méiyǒu xǐshǒujiān) |
| David: There is no toilet paper. |
| Echo: 没有手纸(Méiyǒu shǒuzhǐ) |
| David: We told you this was a depressing lesson. So this is a bit tricky but you are going to get the hang of it really quickly. |
Outro |
| David: Okay, so that’s our lesson for today. Before we go, we want to tip the hat about one of the more powerful features on chineseclass101.com. |
| Echo: Line-by-Line audio. |
| David: Right. On the site in the Premium learning center, you can click a button and you can hear every line again and again and again. You can listen until every word becomes clear. |
| Echo: 没错.(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So try the Line-by-Line audio at chineseclass101.com. |
| Echo: You will like it. |
| David: For now though, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 再见.(Zàijiàn.) |
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21 Comments
HideQuite often in China, public bathrooms don't have individual stalls, so you don't have to knock. How easy is that!
Hello Khaled,
Thank you for your comment. If you separate the characters, yes 手 shǒu means hand, 纸 zhǐ means paper, but the word 手纸 shǒuzhǐ means toilet paper, not hand paper, it's for use in the toilet.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
You said that shou is hand and zhi is paper. And shouzhi is toelete paper. But i think it should be hand paper
Thank you
你好 robert groulx！
不用谢。(Bú yòng xiè.) = No need for thanks. You're welcome. 😇
谢谢 (Xièxie) for studying with us, it's great to have you here!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
favorite phrase is 今天晚上有派对
robert
Hi Stefanie
There are two most used versions of negation word 'not' in Chinese, 不 and 没， and for the present simple tense, 没 is used for verb ‘有’：
你有橡皮吗？ Do you have a rubber/eraser?
没有。 No.
没 as 'not' is widely used in the present perfect and past simple tenses:
nǐ chī zǎofàn le ma
你吃早饭了吗？ Have you eaten your breakfast?/Did you eat your breakfast?
méi yǒu méi chī
没有。/没吃。 No.
For the present perfect and past simple tenses, 没 has to be used in a negative answer, while using 不 here can vary the meaning.
Please check many other our lessons for further information.
Thanks for learning with us.
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi,
I'm not sure if we covered that in a previous lesson. But so far I thought "bu" can be used as a negating word in front of everything. But here in this example, we use "méi" in front of "yǒu", like 没有 - méiyǒu. Do we use 没 only in front of 有 or are there other exceptions as well?
Hi, christopher lord,
Happy New Year!
Thank you for your comment.
We are so happy you like our lessons.
If you have any question, please let us know.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
I'm actually at upper intermediate level but I have gone through all the lessons from the beginning, and this is a really well-put together course. The friendly boy-girl presenters are fun and the dialogues are useful and well-presented. And concentrating on everyday speech has taught me a number of new expressions. So keep up the good work.
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the suggestion, we've added 稍等 to the vocab list :wink:
稍等 (shāoděng) is more polite than 等一下 (děng yī xià). For instance if a waiter is telling the customer to wait, he should say 稍等 (shāoděng). If you're telling your friends to wait for you, you should say 等一下 (děng yī xià).
Olivia
Team ChineseClass101.com
Is it better to use 稍等 (Shāoděng) or 等一下 (děng yī xià) for wait?
Also, could 稍等 be added to the word list so I can make a flashcard?