Learn how to phrase questions in Chinese by taking a verb and its negative together
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 14 in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio today by my co-host, the outstanding Echo. |
| Echo: Da jia hao! It’s Echo. |
| Frank: Today’s lesson is about ordering your drink. |
| Echo: Important. |
| Frank: Very important stuff. We’ve got a dialogue between a waitress and a customer. |
| Echo: They are in a café. |
| Frank: The waitress is speaking politely. |
| Echo: And both of them are speaking casual speech. |
| Frank: Exactly. Let’s go ahead and listen to the dialogue and then we’ll translate it for you. |
| Echo: Yeah. But before we do… |
| Frank: Before we do, we want to remind you to head up to ChineseClass101.com, check out that voice recording tool. |
| Echo: Yeah, |
| Frank: You could actually record your own voice and compare it to a native Mandarin speaker and see how you’re doing |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| Frank: It’s awesome stuff. Let’s go ahead and listen to that dialogue right now. |
| Echo: Let’s go. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 服务员:您想喝什么？(FÚWÙYUÁN: Nín xiǎng hē shénme?) |
| 张飞:有没有红茶？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Yǒu méiyǒu hóngchá?) |
| 服务员:有。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Yǒu.) |
| 张飞:请给我一杯。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi.) |
| 服务员:好。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Hǎo.) |
| Frank: One more time, a little slower. |
| 服务员:您想喝什么？(FÚWÙYUÁN: Nín xiǎng hē shénme?) |
| 张飞:有没有红茶？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Yǒu méiyǒu hóngchá?) |
| 服务员:有。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Yǒu.) |
| 张飞:请给我一杯。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi.) |
| 服务员:好。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Hǎo.) |
| Frank: Okay, we’re back. Echo, this is really a great stuff here. |
| Echo: Right. Because when you ordered drinks, there are no picture menu for it. |
| Frank: That’s right. Now as I mentioned last time, the big menus have a little pictures for the food… |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: …but not the drinks. So you got to know your stuff. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: We’re here to teach it to you. Let’s go ahead and do that. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| 服务员:您想喝什么？(FÚWÙYUÁN: Nín xiǎng hē shénme?) |
| Frank: What do you want to drink? |
| 张飞:有没有红茶？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Yǒu méiyǒu hóngchá?) |
| Frank: Have you got any black tea? |
| 服务员:有。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Yǒu.) |
| Frank: Yes, we have. |
| 张飞:请给我一杯。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Qǐng gěi wǒ yī bēi.) |
| Frank: Please bring me a cup. |
| 服务员:好。(FÚWÙYUÁN: Hǎo.) |
| Frank: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Okay, Echo. In the States, we’ve got like Lipton tea and that kind of thing and they’re technically called black teas. We used this in the dialogue. We say, “Can I have some black tea?” But literally translated, what are they asking for? |
| Echo: 红茶。(Hóngchá.) |
| Frank: Exactly. It means red tea. We just want to flag it for you so that you’re aware of it. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Let’s go on to the vocab now. |
| Echo: Let’s go. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now the vocab section. |
| Echo: 喝(hē) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To drink. |
| Echo: 喝(hē) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 喝(hē) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 有沒有(yǒu méiyǒu) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To have. |
| Echo: 有(Yǒu) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 有(Yǒu)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 有没有(yǒu méiyǒu) |
| Frank: To have or not to have. |
| Echo: 有没有(yǒu méiyǒu) |
| Echo: 红茶(hóngchá) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Black tea. |
| Echo: 红茶(hóngchá) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 红茶(hóngchá) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 杯(bēi) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: A cup. |
| Echo: 杯(bēi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 杯(bēi) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay. That’s the core vocab. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: It’s important that you have it and we wanted to move beyond it. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: We want to give you a little bit more. This way, you can go into a restaurant and order anything you want. So the way that you ask to drink something, “I would like to drink…” |
| Echo: 我想喝。(Wǒ xiǎng hē.) |
| Frank: Thank you. One more time. |
| Echo: 我想喝。(Wǒ xiǎng hē.) |
| Frank: Means, “I would like to drink.” Then you could put anything you want after that, anything from coke to beer. Let’s go ahead and run through a list of these things and you can flag your favorites and memorize them. |
| Frank: Black tea. |
| Echo: 紅茶(hóngchá) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝红茶。(Wǒ xiǎng hē hóngchá.) |
| Echo: 綠茶(lǜchá) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Green tea. |
| Echo: 綠茶(lǜchá) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝绿茶。(Wǒ xiǎng hē lǜchá.) |
| Frank: Coffee. |
| Echo: 咖啡。我想喝咖啡。(Kāfēi. Wǒ xiǎng hē kāfēi.) |
| Echo: 牛奶(niúnǎi) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Milk. |
| Echo: 牛奶(niúnǎi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝牛奶。(Wǒ xiǎng hē niúnǎi.) |
| Echo: 啤酒 (píjiǔ)[natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Beer. |
| Echo: 啤酒(píjiǔ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝啤酒。(Wǒ xiǎng hē píjiǔ.) |
| Echo: So Frank, 你想喝啤酒吗?(Nǐ xiǎng hē píjiǔ ma?) |
| Frank: At the moment, I can go for a coke though, Coca Cola. |
| Echo: 可口可乐(kěkǒu kělè) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝可口可乐。(Wǒ xiǎng hē kěkǒukělè.) |
| Frank: Diet coke. |
| Echo: 健怡可樂(jiànyí kělè) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝健怡可乐。(Wǒ xiǎng hē jiàn yí kělè.) |
| Frank: Sprite. |
| Echo: 雪碧(xuěbì) [natural native speed]. 我想喝雪碧。(Wǒ xiǎng hē xuěbì.) |
| Frank: Orange juice. |
| Echo: 橙汁(chéngzhī) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝橙汁。(Wǒ xiǎng hē chéngzhī.) |
| Frank: Water |
| Echo: 水(shuǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 我想喝水。(Wǒ xiǎng hē shuǐ.) |
| Echo: But it’s complex. You got to be careful of it because it depends on if you want a cup of water or you want a bottle of water. |
| Frank: Very good point. That introduces the measure point on these things. So if you wanted a cup of water, you would say… |
| Echo: 一杯水。(Yībēi shuǐ.) |
| Frank: And if you wanted a bottled water…. |
| Echo: 一瓶水。(Yī píng shuǐ.) |
| Frank: It’s also worth noting that if you ask for a cup of water here in China, you’re going to get hot water. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: It’s usually boiled and then brought to the table. That brings us right to our grammar section. Let’s get on to it. |
| Echo: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time! |
| Frank: In our previous lesson, we taught you how to say “to have”. |
| Echo: 有(Yǒu.) |
| Frank: We also taught you how to say “not to have”. |
| Echo: 没有(méiyǒu) |
| Frank: We taught you how to ask a question using these words as in, “Do you have a boyfriend?” |
| Echo: 你有男朋友吗？(Nǐ yǒu nán péngyǒu ma?) |
| Frank: But it’s taking the question marker… |
| Echo: 吗(Ma) |
| Frank: …at the end of the sentence. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: In today’s lesson, we’re teaching you another way to ask that question, “to have or not to have”. We’re taking the positive and negative forms of that verb… |
| Echo: 有没有(yǒu méiyǒu) |
| Frank: …and just sticking them right together like that, and that’s how you ask the question. Let’s use some sample sentences. Do you have a boyfriend? |
| Echo: 你有没有男朋友？(Nǐ yǒu méiyǒu nán péngyǒu?) |
| Frank: Do you have a beer? |
| Echo: 有没有啤酒？(Yǒu méiyǒu píjiǔ?) |
| Frank: Do you have coffee? |
| Echo: 有没有咖啡？(Yǒu méiyǒu kāfēi?) |
| Frank: Have you got a coke? |
| Echo: 有没有可乐？(Yǒu méiyǒu kělè?) |
| Frank: Do you have a diet coke? |
| Echo: 有没有健怡可乐？(Yǒu méiyǒu jiàn yí kělè?) |
| Frank: Do you have orange juice? |
| Echo: 有没有橙汁？(Yǒu méiyǒu chéngzhī?) |
| Frank: Like any producer so once and off, we have Fanta. |
| Echo: 有没有芬达？(Yǒu méiyǒu fēn dá?) |
| Frank: What we really want to know is if you guys have become premium subscribers yet. Head on up to ChineseClass101.com, check out all of the great features that come with being a premium subscriber to our service. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: You’ve got the downloadables, the PDFs, the voice recording tool, tests, all kinds of great stuff. |
| Echo: Subscribe now. |
| Frank: Absolutely! We’ll see you there. But for now, from Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| Frank: …and we’ll see you next time. 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
Comments
HideWhat'll it be -- coffee? tea? beer? distilled sorghum firewater? Weigh in with your preferred restaurant orders in the comments.
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 有没有橙汁？
robert
Hello Tony,
Good to hear from you again! I'm glad to hear that you found the lessons helpful. 😄 Sure, I'll try to make it more convenient for all the students.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi Ngai, Sorry, am not sure if that's your given name (more often seen Lam as a family name). But thanks a lot for your response. The explanation and the links really helped with "ba" (third tone). Am travelling, so I was only able to call up the first link, but the grammar point was very well explained. I will get to the second link as soon as I can. By the way, I also find a learn from the responses you and your colleagues make to students' comments. but just a gentle encouragement to you and your colleagues to please try to keep adding the Pinyin forms in your responses. Am guessing the people learning spoken Chinese only are in the minority, but there would be a few of us. thanks.
Hello Tony,
Thank you for your comment. The 把 bǎ structure is used to place the object before the verb. You can often see it in requests but its use is not limited to requests.
You may check out these two lessons for a more detailed explanation:
https://www.chineseclass101.com/lesson/elementary-lesson-46-living-in-denial/
https://www.chineseclass101.com/lesson/elementary-lesson-s2-19-getting-lost-in-the-chinese-kitchen/
Let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi,
I would be grateful for an explanation on a sentence construction that puzzles me. The phrasing "gei wo yi bei X" or "qing gei wo yi bei X" are nice and easy. But, in earlier lessons with a teacher and textbook, I was introduced to the word "ba" (third tone) before requests. This may be the wrong construction, but it goes something like "ba gei wo yi bei ...". Or more broadly, ba + verb , with a request. The teacher could not give me a clear explanation of why/when "ba" is used and textbooks didn't help either. My question is phrased all in Pinyin because my learning focus is spoken Chinese only. Today's drink requests subject matter made me think about the "ba" mystery. Thanks in advance.
Hello Kanyalux,
Yes you can use 要, it also means 'to want', the tone is stronger than that of 想.
Let us know if you have any questions. 😄
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Can I say "你要喝什么？” instead of 想 ?
Hi 卫力，
不用谢。
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
多谢！
Chinese is so logical! Yes, 先喝 not 先喜欢。 Thanks also for the Shakespeare translation!
卫力
卫力，你好：
我喜欢先喝水和冰茶。
For the meaning, first to drink, not first to like, so we put 先 before 喝.
The translation for "to be or not to be" depends on the meaning of the whole paragraph.
Shakespeare's can be translated as 生存或毁灭(shēngcún huò huǐmiè).
Suppose the real verb is 生存（to be alive), and use the word with opposite meaning毁灭（to be dead）.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
大家好，
当我去饭馆的时候，我先喜欢喝水和冰茶。当我在很好的饭馆的时候，我想喝白的葡萄酒。 晚饭完, 我喝咖啡。（Dāng wǒ qù fànguǎn de shíhòu, wǒ xiān xǐhuān hē shuǐ hé bīng chá. Dāng wǒ zài hěn hǎo de fànguǎn de shíhòu, wǒ xiǎng hē bái de pútáojiǔ. Wǎnfàn wán, wǒ hē kāfēi.）When I go to a restaurant, I first like to drink water and iced tea. When I am in a good restaurant, I like to drink white wine. After dinner, I drink coffee. 对不对？错不错？
Speaking of the 有没有 structure, 我有一个问题。 How would Shakespeare’s “to be or not to be” be translated into Chinese? I know it’s not 是不是。
再见，
卫力
Hello Dennis,
1. 健怡可乐 is probably the most used one.
Actually it's not original chinese, it's a translation from diet coke.
健怡可乐 is printed on the bottle, so maybe it's the correct one.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
你们好！ Hello, all!
有两个问题! I have two questions.
第一个， 健怡可乐或减怡可乐？ First, which form of jian do you use? I have heard both used, but I want the best one.
地两个， 应该用健怡或健肥/可乐？Second, should I use 怡 or 肥? I have heard both in equal amounts.
谢谢！Thanks!
你好laderon,
两种说法都没问题。You can certainly say it with or without 喝, they mean the same.
Chloe
Team ChineseClass101.com
大家好！
When I want to say "I like tea/coffee/ etc" should I add the verb 喝？
我喜欢喝咖啡
我喜欢喝茶
但是我可以说：
我喜欢咖啡
我喜欢茶
谢谢！！！！
@Renato,
You can say 好，谢谢 or 不，谢谢。
An Bo/ChineseClass101.com
Hi, im leaving here one doubt i have had while i was studying yesterday, if, for example, the waiter asks to me something like do you want coffee ? （你要咖啡吗 ？） what shoul i answer to him ? how can i say yes please or no thanks, it is something like 对谢谢， 不谢谢 ？
Thank you so much !
I'm using a mac, with the 14.0.835.202 version of google chrome.
:grin:
Hi Ulysse,
Could you please provide us more detail of the browser and version you're using? We'll look into the problem for you :wink: