Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

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.

Grammar

Chinese Grammar Made Easy - Unlock This Lesson’s Grammar Guide

Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Comments

Hide