Learn how to ask about how much something costs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Echo: Da jia hao. |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com Season 1, Lesson 10 in our Beginner Series. I'm your host, Frank Fradella and I'm joined in the studio today by the outstanding Echo. |
| Echo: 谢谢.(Xièxiè.) |
| Frank: Today's lesson is a dialogue about buying something. |
| Echo: And that it takes place in a store maybe. |
| Frank: Yeah, maybe the Chinese market. If you've got somebody buying something and getting some change. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: The exciting part is we're going to teach you some numbers today. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Let's get to it. |
| Echo: But before we do as usual. |
| Frank: Oh, yes, before we do, as usual, we want to mention the PDF transcripts. There's a lot of stuff coming at you today, there's a lot of numbers at you today and you're going to want to see what they look like. So make sure you become a premium subscriber. Download those transcripts and get your eyes on them. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Let's head over to the dialogue now. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 马丽:这个多少钱？(MǍ LÌ: Zhège duōshao qián?) |
| 服务员:三块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Sān kuài.) |
| 马丽:给您十块。(MǍ LÌ: Gěi nín shí kuài.) |
| 服务员:找您七块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Zhǎo nín qī kuài.) |
| 马丽:谢谢，再见。(MǍ LÌ: Xièxie, zàijiàn.) |
| English host: And now once more, a little slower. |
| 马丽:这个多少钱？(MǍ LÌ: Zhège duōshao qián?) |
| 服务员:三块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Sān kuài.) |
| 马丽:给您十块。(MǍ LÌ: Gěi nín shí kuài.) |
| 服务员:找您七块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Zhǎo nín qī kuài.) |
| 马丽:谢谢，再见。(MǍ LÌ: Xièxie, zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: Hey, we're back. |
| Frank: We are back. Okay, pretty simple exchange. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Here's the money. Here's your change. Let's get on with it. |
| Echo: And numbers, my favorite part. |
| Frank: Is that really? |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: You know what, when I was coming up, I had a really hard time with numbers, so I'm really glad we're covering it early. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Let's go ahead and do this. |
| 马丽:这个多少钱？(MǍ LÌ: Zhège duōshao qián?) |
| Frank: How much is this one? |
| 服务员:三块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Sān kuài.) |
| Frank: 3 yuan. |
| 马丽:给您十块。(MǍ LÌ: Gěi nín shí kuài.) |
| Frank: Here is 10 yuan. |
| 服务员:找您七块。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Zhǎo nín qī kuài.) |
| Frank: Here is 7 yuan in change. |
| 马丽:谢谢，再见。(MǍ LÌ: Xièxie, zàijiàn.) |
| Frank: Thank you. Goodbye. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Frank: Okay, great stuff. Now, let's go over the vocabulary word by word so we can really drill down on this. |
| Echo: Yes. 多少(duōshǎo) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: How much. |
| Echo: 多少(duōshǎo) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 多少(duōshǎo) [natural native speed]. 钱(qián) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Money. |
| Echo: 钱(qián) [slowly - broken down by syllable].钱(qián) [natural native speed]. 三(sān) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: 3. |
| Echo: 三(sān) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 三(sān) [natural native speed].块(kuài) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: A dollar, a kuai. |
| Echo: 块(kuài) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 块(kuài) [natural native speed]. 给(gěi) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To give. |
| Echo: 给(gěi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 给(gěi) [natural native speed]. 十(shí) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Ten (10). |
| Echo: 十 (shí)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 十(shí) [natural native speed]. 十(shí) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To give back. |
| Echo: 找(zhǎo)[slowly - broken down syllable]. 找(zhǎo) [natural native speed]. 找(zhǎo) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: 7. |
| Echo: 七(qī)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 七(qī) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay, Echo, we're back. And I got to tell you, I think we're short changing people here. I do. We said we were going to talk about numbers, but we only gave them three of them. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| Frank: I think we should give them the first ten at least. Let's go ahead and do this. I'll have you say the numbers one after the other and I'll identify them and give them the tones, this way they can remember them a little better. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| Frank: One. |
| Echo: 一.(yī.) |
| Frank: First tone. |
| Echo: 一(yī) |
| Frank: Two. |
| Echo: 二.(èr.) |
| Frank: Post fourth tone. |
| Echo: 二(èr) |
| Frank: Three. |
| Echo: 三(sān) |
| Frank: First tone. |
| Echo: 三.(sān.) |
| Frank: Four. |
| Echo: 四.(sì.) |
| Frank: That was fourth tone. |
| Echo: 四.(sì.) |
| Frank: Five. |
| Echo: 五.(wǔ.) |
| Frank: Third tone. |
| Echo: 五.(wǔ.) |
| Frank: Six. |
| Echo: 六.(liù.) |
| Frank: Again fourth tone. |
| Echo: 六.(liù.) |
| Frank: Seven. |
| Echo: 七.(qī.) |
| Frank: First tone. |
| Echo: 七.(qī.) |
| Frank: Eight. |
| Echo: 八.(bā.) |
| Frank: First tone. |
| Echo: 八.(bā.) |
| Frank: Nine. |
| Echo: 九.(jiǔ.) |
| Frank: Third tone. |
| Echo: 九.(jiǔ.) |
| Frank: And ten. |
| Echo: 十.(shí.) |
| Frank: Second tone. |
| Echo: 十.(shí.) |
| Frank: We're going to give you one more chance with echo to count along. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Echo, just give us 1 through 10 straight through and see if folks can keep up with you. |
| Echo: 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十.(Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí.) |
| Frank: Let's do that a bit faster. |
| Echo: 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十.(Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí.) |
| Frank: Now, if you've been counting backwards, you're going to be counting us down into the grammar section which I know you love so much. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
Lesson focus |
| Frank: Let's head over there now. Our first grammar point today is … |
| Echo: …多少.(…Duōshǎo.) |
| Frank: Which means how much or how many and this is actually two adjectives stuck together. |
| Echo: Yes and the first character is 多(Duō) which means much or many. And the second one is 少(Shǎo) which means little or few. |
| Frank: Let's hear a few sample sentences using those adjectives, too many. |
| Echo: 太多了.(Tài duōle.) |
| Frank: Too few. |
| Echo: 太少了.(Tài shǎole.) |
| Frank: I don't have much money. |
| Echo: 我的钱不多.(Wǒ de qián bù duō.) |
| Frank: Separately, these adjectives mean a lot … |
| Echo: … 多.(Duō.) |
| Frank: Or little. |
| Echo: 少.(Shǎo.) |
| Frank: When you put them together, you're actually asking the question, is it a lot or is it little. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| Frank: Let's hear some sample sentences using that as a question. How much money? |
| Echo: 多少钱?(Duōshǎo qián?) |
| Frank: How much is this? |
| Echo: 这个多少钱?(Zhège duōshǎo qián?) |
| Frank: How many do you want? |
| Echo: 你要多少?(Nǐ yào duōshǎo?) |
| Frank: Now speaking of money, we learned about measure words in our last lesson. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: We used the most common measure word. |
| Echo: 个.(Gè.) |
| Frank: For example, I want one. |
| Echo: 我要一个.(Wǒ yào yīgè.) |
| Frank: In this lesson, we're talking about money, so we use the measure word … |
| Echo: 块.(Kuài.) |
| Frank: This literally means a piece. |
| Echo: 块.(Kuài.) |
| Frank: One Chinese dollar is literally a piece of money. |
| Echo: 一块钱.(Yīkuài qián.) |
| Frank: One piece money. |
| Echo: 一块钱.(Yīkuài qián.) |
| Frank: We need the measure word here because money is countable. For example, 3 dollars. |
| Echo: 三块钱.(Sān kuài qián.) |
| Frank: 8 dollars. |
| Echo: 八块钱.(Bā kuài qián.) |
| Frank: 10 dollars. |
| Echo: 十块钱.(Shí kuài qián.) |
| Frank: Now if you've already asked how much something is or it's clear that you're talking about money, you don't need to say … |
| Echo: 钱.(Qián.) |
| Frank: You can just say 1 dollar. |
| Echo: 一块.(Yīkuài.) |
| Frank: 5 dollars. |
| Echo: 五块.(Wǔ kuài.) |
| Frank: 6 dollars. |
| Echo: 六块.(Liù kuài.) |
| Frank: The last thing we want to mention is the way that Mali handed over her money. She said … |
| Echo: 给. 给您十块。(Gěi. Gěi nín shí kuài.) |
| Frank: We just wanted to highlight this for you since it's very different from what people say in English. In America, we'd say, here's 10 bucks. In Chinese we're saying … |
| Echo: 给你十块.(Gěi nǐ shí kuài.) |
| Frank: Giving you 10 dollars. It's not formal. It's just a different way of expressing the same idea. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Kind of like, here you go, here's 10 bucks. And now we're giving you a great suggestion. Head up to ChineseClass101.com and sign up for your lifetime account. |
| Echo: Yes, 这个多少钱.(Zhège duōshǎo qián.) |
| Frank: How much is it? Absolutely free and it only takes a few second to sign up. |
| Echo: 哦，不要钱.(Ó, bùyào qián.) |
| Frank: That's right, not a thing. |
| Echo: Great. |
| Frank: So head on up there. We'll see you there. But for now from Beijing in our studio, I'm Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| Frank: And we'll see you next time. 再见.(Zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: 再见.(Zàijiàn.) |
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Comments
HideToday's lesson eases you into the experience of buying things in China by presenting a situation where things for sale have got a definite price. That isn't always the case, as we'll see in a future lesson -- but we'll come to that later. In the meantime, what are some of your shopping experiences, in China or abroad?
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
my favorite phrase is 你要多少?
robert
你好 Claudia！
You don't have to sign up for that. Your account is, by default, a Free Lifetime Account, after that your 7-day free premium trial ends. 😉
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
Did you see my question?
How do I sign up for lifetime account?
How do I sign up for the life time account?
你好 Tom！
谢谢 (Xièxie) for your question. You can access your Word Bank by clicking on Vocabulary -> Word Bank.
Let us know if you have any more questions.
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
how do i see words from my word bank.
Hi Claudia,
Thank you for your message.
After you click on the [play] button in the lesson's page you'll see that this icon changes to a [pause] button while the audio is playing. You can click on this [pause] button to pause the audio. It's either in the lower grey menu where the audio track is shown or, alternatively, in the upper menu on the left of the lesson's title.
Let us know if you have any questions.👍
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello!
How can I make the dialogue stop so I can answer myself?
Hi Carol
The word 找 [zhǎo] in this lesson means 'to give back', like how it's explained in the audio by Frank, and it's a special verb used in Chinese for giving back the change: 找5块钱。（to give back 5 kuai.)
找 also means 'to look for', 'to search', but it's not the case in this lesson.
给 [gěi] can have 2 basic functions, one means 'to give', the other means 'to (someone)''.
The 1st 'to give' function is close to 找 as 'to give back', but the way to use it has some difference from English, like Frank said in the lesson:
'We just wanted to highlight this for you since it's very different from what people say in English. In America, we'd say, here's 10 bucks. In Chinese we're saying …
给你十块.(Gěi nǐ shí kuài.)
Giving you 10 dollars. ... It's just a different way of expressing the same idea.
It's necessary to see many more examples of 给 and 找 to understand how to use them, since they are some special phenomenons in Chinese.
Thanks for learning with us.
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
In the dialogue for lesson 10, why is the word "zhao" used instead of "gei"?
Hi Kevin,
Thank you for your positive feedback!
Hope to see you often at ChineseClass101.com :)
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team Chineseclass101.com
Guys another great lesson
Hi Grecia,
Thank you for your question.
There are two meaning for 找。
找您七块 means “Here is 7 yuan in change”.
And another use, it means "search for".
你在找什么？ ＝What are you looking for?
If you have any further question, please let us know.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Can you please explain to me the meaning of this sentence:
找您七块
In the english translation it means "Here is 7 yuan in change"
But in the vocab section
找 means "to search for"
so, I'm confused, why does the translation for 找 doesn't make any sense with the overall translation of the sentence?
Hello 卫力，
It's my pleasure.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello Donald,
Yes , I suggest you master all the vocabulary characters and grammers to go further study.
It's true that it's boring to study the same lesson for several days.
And I don't know how much time you can study Chinese everyday and how fast you can master them, so it's hard to give you a daily time table.
But reviewing will help you remeber it efficiently. I suggest you can learn like followings:
Day 1: Lesson 1
Day 2: Lesson 1,2
Day 3: Lesson 2,3
Day 4: Lesson 1,3,4
Day 5: Lesson 2,4,5
Day 6: Lesson 3,5,6
Day 7: Lesson 1,4,6
Point: To review the lesson on the next day, two days later and three days later ...4D...5D...until you can completely master it. And if 3 lessons one day is hard for you, you can break them all into 2 days.
Make sure the character and it's meaning will be in your mind if you hear it!
I hope it can help you.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好， Cho 老师，
好的。 I'm still a far ways off from thinking in a Chinese way. Thank you for all your corrections!
卫力。
你好，卫力
As learning Chinese, it's hard to tell the long sentence right or wrong.
Actually most of the time, they are 80% right.
Sometime I can understand what you mean but we don't use it like that, so I'd rather correct it to make it sounds like more chinese.
I don't want to use all my money:
我不想用掉所有的钱(I don't want to spend all my money)
I think good things are expensive things：
我想好的东西一定是贵的（Here, the second "东西" can be omitted ） 。＝我想好的东西一定很贵。
一定：means "must be ", to show one's speculation.
If you have any question, please let us know.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Should I absolutely complete all of the lesson and be able to recognize and write characters before I go to the next lesson. Do you have a daily
Recommended study time daily?