Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

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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