Learn how to use Chinese adjectives and how to negate them
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 2 in our Beginner Series. Today’s dialogue, we’re going to teach you how to say, “How are you doing?” . |
| Echo: How are you? |
| Frank: And how to answer that question as well. Today’s dialogue takes place between two friends. |
| Echo: Maybe in an office. |
| Frank: Exactly. So let’s go ahead and listen to the dialogue. But before we do, we want to remind you to head over to ChineseClass101.com, sign up for your free lifetime account. |
| Echo: It only takes you 20 seconds. |
| Frank: It’s just that easy. Now let’s head on to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 张飞:嗨，马丽。你好吗？(Zhāng fēi: Hāi, mǎ lì. Nǐ hǎo ma?) |
| 马丽:我很好。你呢？(Mǎ lì: Wǒ hěn hǎo. Nǐ ne?) |
| 张飞:我不好。我很忙。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ bù hǎo. Wǒ hěn máng.) |
| 马丽:好的，再见。(Mǎ lì: Hǎo de, zàijiàn.) |
| Frank: Now once more, a little slower. |
| 张飞:嗨，马丽。你好吗？(Zhāng fēi: Hāi, mǎ lì. Nǐ hǎo ma?) |
| 马丽:我很好。你呢？(Mǎ lì: Wǒ hěn hǎo. Nǐ ne?) |
| 张飞:我不好。我很忙。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ bù hǎo. Wǒ hěn máng.) |
| 马丽:好的，再见。(Mǎ lì: Hǎo de, zàijiàn.) |
| Frank: Okay, we’re back! Now we’re going to go through that dialogue one more time, except this time, we’re going to translate it for you. Echo, kick it off. |
| 张飞:嗨，马丽。你好吗？(Zhāng fēi: Hāi, mǎ lì. Nǐ hǎo ma?) |
| Frank: Hi, Ma Li, how are you? |
| 马丽:我很好。你呢？(Mǎ lì: Wǒ hěn hǎo. Nǐ ne?) |
| Frank: I’m good. And you? |
| 张飞:我不好。我很忙。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ bù hǎo. Wǒ hěn máng.) |
| Frank: I'm not good. I'm really busy. |
| 马丽:好的，再见。(Mǎ lì: Hǎo de, zàijiàn.) |
| Frank: Okay, see you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: All right, Echo. |
| Echo: Yeah? |
| Frank: Now, do you think 张飞 (Zhang Fei) here was really busy or was he just kind of give her the brush off? |
| Echo: He is just heartless. |
| Frank: He’s just heartless. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: I think he was busy. I think he is genuinely busy. |
| Echo: No. He could just stop and talk to her for a second, right? |
| Frank: He could had given her a minute obviously. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: All right. I’ll agree with that. Let’s go ahead and do the vocab for this lesson and get into the new words. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| Frank: Let’s do it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 吗(Ma) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Question marker. |
| Echo: 吗(Ma) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 吗(Ma) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 很(Hěn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Very. |
| Echo: 很(Hěn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 很(Hěn) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 不(Bù) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Not. |
| Echo: 不(Bù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 不(Bù) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 忙(Máng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Busy. |
| Echo: 忙(Máng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 忙(Máng) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 好的(Hǎo de) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Okay. |
| Echo: 好的(Hǎo de) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 好的(Hǎo de) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 再见(Zàijiàn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Good bye. |
| Echo: 再见(Zàijiàn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 再见(Zàijiàn) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay we’re back. Echo, what’s the term we’re talk about today? |
| Echo: 你好吗(Nǐ hǎo ma) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: How are you? |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now in our first lesson, we told you that the word for “hello”.. |
| Echo: Ni hao. |
| Frank: ...did not mean, “You good?”. Here, it actually does. When you add the sound at the end of the sentence. |
| Echo: 吗 (ma). |
| Frank: This is actually a question marker. This turns it into... |
| Echo: “How are you?” |
| Frank: Yeah, “How are you? Are you good?”. |
| Echo: 你好吗？(Nǐ hǎo ma?) |
| Frank: Exactly. Now this particular way to ask “how are you”, when would you use this? |
| Echo: We’ll use it in formal situations. |
| Frank: Okay. So like in our first lesson, Zhang Fei and Ma Li had just met. |
| Echo: This may be the second time they met each other. |
| Frank: Perfect time to use this. Now, when they become better friends, they might say.. |
| Echo: 最近好吗？(Zuìjìn hǎo ma?) |
| Frank: How are you recently? |
| Echo: Or, 今天好吗？(Jīntiān hǎo ma?) |
| Frank: How are you today? |
| Echo: Uh-hmm. |
| Frank: So that question marker at the end of the sentence is really important. Let’s have a couple more examples of that. What about, “are you busy?”. |
| Echo: 你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?) |
| Frank: Are you tired? |
| Echo: 你累吗？(Nǐ lèi ma?) |
| Frank: Are you hungry? |
| Echo: 你饿吗？(Nǐ è ma?) |
| Frank: Are you cold? |
| Echo: 你冷吗？(Nǐ lěng ma?) |
| Frank: So hearing this question tag at the end of a sentence just lets you know that there’s a question there and you’re expected to answer that. Okay. What’s the next vocab point we want to talk about today? |
| Echo: 再見(Zàijiàn) |
| Frank: “Goodbye”. Now let’s take a look at these characters individually. The first one.. |
| Echo: 再(Zài) |
| Frank: Means “again”. The second one? |
| Echo: 见(Jiàn) |
| Frank: Means “to see”. So I’ll see you again. |
| Echo: 再见(Zàijiàn) |
| Frank: What’s another way in Chinese to say “Goodbye”? |
| Echo: Between friends, we usually say “Bye-bye. Bye-bye”. |
| Frank: Now you might have thought that was English, but it’s actually not. |
| Echo: No. Perhaps they get tones there. |
| Frank: It’s a transliteration. Exactly. It’s a transliteration of the English term but it’s not actually. |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
| Frank: Right. Let’s take a bite of the vocab right now and head over to grammar. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time! |
| Frank: Today’s grammar point is about adjectives and using them in a sentence, simple sentences like “I am good”. |
| Echo: 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.) |
| Frank: Or “I’m busy”. |
| Echo: 我很忙。(Wǒ hěn máng.) |
| Frank: I’m hungry. |
| Echo: 我很饿。(Wǒ hěn è.) |
| Frank: Or I’m tired. |
| Echo: 我很累。(Wǒ hěn lèi.) |
| Frank: The structure for the sentence is really simple. It’s subject... |
| Echo: 很。(Hěn.) |
| Frank: ...and then the adjective. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Let’s hear those one more time. “I’m good”. |
| Echo: 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.) |
| Frank: “I’m hungry”. |
| Echo: 我很饿。(Wǒ hěn è.) |
| Frank: “I’m tired”. |
| Echo: 我很累。(Wǒ hěn lèi.) |
| Frank: “I’m busy”. |
| Echo: 我很忙。(Wǒ hěn máng.) |
| Frank: So the sentence structure here is just that simple. It’s subject... |
| Echo: 我(Wǒ) |
| Frank: …plus the word for “very”… |
| Echo: 很(Hěn) |
| Frank: …plus the adjective. |
| Echo: 忙(Máng) or something else. |
| Frank: Exactly. 我很忙(Wǒ hěn máng). All right. Now let’s learn how to say those sentences in the negative. “I’m not good”. |
| Echo: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: I’m not busy. |
| Echo: 我不忙。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: “I’m not tired”. |
| Echo: 我不累。(Wǒ bù lèi.) |
| Frank: “I’m not hungry”. |
| Echo: 我不饿。(Wǒ bù è.) |
| Frank: 我不好，我很忙.(Wǒ bù hǎo, wǒ hěn máng.) The sentence structure here is exactly the same, except you’re changing… |
| Echo: 很。(Hěn.) |
| Frank: …with… |
| Echo: 不。(Bù.) |
| Frank: That makes it negative. Let’s have some more sample sentences, like “he’s not tired”. |
| Echo: 他不累。(Tā bù lèi.) |
| Frank: “She’s not good”. |
| Echo: 她不好。(Tā bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: “You’re not hungry”. |
| Echo: 你不饿。(Nǐ bù è.) |
| Frank: “He’s not busy”. |
| Echo: 他不忙。(Tā bù máng.) |
| Frank: So now you know how to use adjectives and build a positive and negative form; positive with… |
| Echo: 很。(Hěn.) |
| Frank: …and negative with… |
| Echo: 不。(Bù.) |
| Frank: Just that simple. |
| Echo: If you are listening at home, there’ something you should know. |
| Frank: That’s right. We do want you to know about those PDF transcripts up on the side of ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Everything is written out for you, the whole dialogue, so become a premium subscriber. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Download those transcripts and play along with a home game. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: That does it for today, Echo. From our studios here in Beijing, we’d like to say… |
| Echo: Something we just learned today. |
| Frank: That’s right! We learned to say 再见(Zàijiàn). |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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