Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Frank: Hey, everyone.
Echo: Da jia hao!
Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 34 in our Beginner series.
Echo: 第三十四课。(Dì sānshísì kè.)
Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio, as always, by my exceptionally cute co-host, Echo.
Echo: 谢谢。大家好。(Xièxiè. Dàjiā hǎo.)
Frank: Today’s dialogue is between our good friends.
Echo: Yes. They are talking about weather.
Frank: They are talking about the weather, which is actually more interesting than it sounds. Let’s get on to the dialogue now.
Echo: But before we do…
Frank: But before we do, we want to remind you guys to head up to ChineseClass101.com. Sign up for that lifetime account.
Echo: Yes.
Frank: It only takes a couple of seconds. But for now, let’s go ahead and listen to the dialogue.

Lesson conversation

张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.)
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.)
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.)
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.)
Frank: One more time, just a bit slower.
张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.)
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.)
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.)
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.)
Frank: Okay, Echo, we’re back. It’s a beautiful day here in Beijing.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò)
Frank: Not too hot today. A little rainy.
Echo: Not cold.
Frank: Not too cold. Well, you got to be happy for that one. When I first got to Beijing, I was freezing. So I was really happy to really see the weather change here. Let’s go ahead and translate this dialogue line-by-line.
Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.)
张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.)
Frank: Today’s weather today was really good.
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.)
Frank: It's sunny, also it’s very warm.
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.)
Frank: Let’s open the window.
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.)
Frank: All right.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Frank: You know, Echo, it’s almost kind of a cliché to talk about the weather in English because it’s…
Echo: It’s very useful.
Frank: It’s very useful for conversation starters. If you see somebody on the subway or on the street, you want to start a conversation.
Echo: Yes.
Frank: You can talk about the weather.
Echo: Yeah.
Frank: Here’s the vocab to do that.
Echo: Yeah. 天气不错呀。(Tiānqì bùcuò ya.)
Frank: There you go. Let’s get on to the vocab section now.
VOCAB LIST
Male: Now, the vocab section.
Echo: 天气 (tiānqì)[natural native speed].
Frank: Weather.
Echo: 天气(tiānqì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 天气(tiānqì) [natural native speed].
Echo: 阳光(yángguāng) [natural native speed].
Frank: Sunshine.
Echo: 阳光(yángguāng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 阳光(yángguāng) [natural native speed].
Echo: 暖和(nuǎnhuo) [natural native speed].
Frank: Warm.
Echo: 暖和(nuǎnhuo)    
Echo: 打开(dǎkāi)
Frank: To open.
Echo: 打开(dǎkāi)
Echo: 窗戶(chuānghù) [natural native speed].
Frank: Window.
Echo: 窗戶(chuānghù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 窗戶(chuānghù) [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Frank: Okay. In today’s vocab section, we’re going to talk about a lot of words that has to do with the weather. Now, you guys already know a lot of vocabulary that you’re going to need. So we’re going to turn things around a little bit today. Instead of me giving you the English first and then having Echo give you the Chinese, we’re going to play a little game.
Echo: I love games.
Frank: We’re going to let Echo give you the Chinese first, give you a second to work it out and see if you can figure out what we’re talking about, and then I’ll come out with the English after. Ready?
Echo: Sounds great.
Frank: Let’s do it.
Echo: 天气不错。(Tiānqì bùcuò.)
Frank: The weather is not bad.
Echo: 今天天气非常好。(Jīntiān tiānqì fēicháng hǎo.)
Frank: Today’s weather is awesome.
Echo: 昨天天气不好。(Zuótiān tiānqì bù hǎo.)
Frank: Yesterday’s weather was very bad.
Echo: 昨天天气不太好。(Zuótiān tiānqì bù tài hǎo.)
Frank: Yesterday’s weather wasn’t that good.
Echo: 昨天天气太差了。(Zuótiān tiānqì tài chàle.)
Frank: Yesterday’s weather was really poor.
Echo: 听说明天很暖和。(Tīng shuōmíng tiān hěn nuǎnhuo.)
Frank: I hear it will be warm tomorrow.
Echo: 今天太冷了。(Jīntiān tài lěngle.)
Frank: Today’s too cold.
Echo: 中午很热。(Zhōngwǔ hěn rè.)
Frank: At noon, it’s really hot.
Echo: 晚上有点儿凉。(Wǎnshàng yǒudiǎn er liáng.)
Frank: At night, it’s a little cool.

Lesson focus

Frank: Okay. How did you guys do? Like I said, most of the stuff you use to describe the weather, you already knew. But there are a few new vocab words and we’re going to go over them now.
Echo:  好。(Hǎo.)The first one, 差.别昨天天气太差了。差。(Chà. Bié zuótiān tiānqì tài chàle. Chà.)
Frank: It means “poor”.
Echo: We learned 坏(Huài) before.
Frank: That’s right, which means “evil”.
Echo: Evil, bad.
Frank: Right.
Echo: Right.
Frank: But we wouldn’t use this to describe the weather.
Echo: No we won’t. We never say that.
Frank: So you would us this instead?
Echo: You can say 不好(Bù hǎo) or you can say 差。(Chà)
Frank: Awesome. Next?
Echo: 冷(Lěng) [natural native speed].
Frank: Cold.
Echo: Yeah. Cold. It’s like what you said in the beginner of the podcast. We first came to Beijing, it’s really…
Frank: I came in winter. It was so cold.
Echo: 冷。太冷了。(Lěng. Tài lěngle.)
Frank: It was the cold that killed the dinosaurs, Echo. Come on.
Echo: Then we have 热。(Rè.)
Frank: Hot.
Echo: Hot.
Frank: Which I’m also discovering in Beijing.
Echo: 现在北京很热。(Xiànzài běijīng hěn rè.)
Frank: That’s right. In Beijing right now, it’s very warm.
Echo: It’s very hot.
Frank: Yes.
Echo: 现在北京很热。(Xiànzài běijīng hěn rè.). But tonight, it’s a little bit 凉.(Liáng.)
Frank: A little cooler.
Echo: 凉(Liáng)
Frank: Because it rained today. So it really helped mellow out that Beijing heat.
Echo: Yeah, we love it. 晚上有点凉。(Wǎnshàng yǒudiǎn liáng.)
Frank: Tonight, it’s a little cooler. Awesome. That’s our vocab section. Echo, time for grammar.
Male: It’s grammar time.
Frank: Okay, Echo. I’ve got a suggestion for today’s grammar point. It’s about making suggestion. It’s this particle…
Echo: 吧 .(Ba.)
Frank: Now this goes at the end of sentences after a verb, and you use this if you want to make a suggestion or if you want to soften a sentence to make it sound more polite.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.). 吧(Ba) a neuter tone.
Frank: Exactly. Really the best way to illustrate this is to show you some example sentences. Let’s do that.
Echo: 好。(Hǎo.)
Frank: Let’s go.
Echo: 走吧。(Zǒu ba.)
Frank: Let’s eat.
Echo: 吃吧。(Chī ba.)
Frank: Let’s drink.
Echo: 喝吧。(Hē ba)
Frank: Sit down.
Echo: 坐吧。(Zuò ba.)
Frank: Now we’ve taught this before but a way to say that a little more politely would be this way…
Echo: 请坐。(Qǐng zuò.)
Frank: Please sit.
Echo: Yeah. It’s a bit more formal.
Frank: Exactly.
Echo: 请坐。坐吧。(Qǐng zuò. Zuò ba.)
Frank: Really that simple. It’s the verb plus this particle…
Echo: 吧 (Ba)
Frank: …makes it a suggestion. Let’s do that thing. Let’s hear some complex sentences now.
Echo: 好。(Hǎo.)
Frank: How about we eat Korean food?
Echo: 我们吃韩国菜吧。(Wǒmen chī hánguó cài ba.)
Frank: How about we eat Sichuan food?
Echo: 我们吃四川菜吧。(Wǒmen chī sìchuān cài ba.)
Frank: Oh, you know what else this particle is good for? Suggesting a date!
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
Frank: As opposed to just asking out right, you can say, “Hey, let’s go to the movies together.
Echo: Yeah. You don’t even have to ask.
Frank: Exactly. It’s kind of like, “Yeah. Let’s go and do that thing”.
Echo: Yeah. It’s pretty natural and casual.
Frank: Right. So how would you say, “Let’s go to the movies?”
Echo: 我们去看电影吧。(Wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng ba.)
Frank: Okay. Our last sentence? A lot of haggling goes on here, in the markets, in the bazaars, in the street fairs and stuff. How do you ask, “Can you make it a little cheaper?”
Echo:  便宜点吧。(Piányí diǎn ba.)
Frank: Yeah. Come on, make it a little cheaper.
Echo: 便宜点吧。太贵了。(Piányí diǎn ba. Tài guìle.)
Frank: It’s too expensive!
Echo: 我没有钱。(Wǒ méiyǒu qián.)
Frank: I don’t have any money.
Echo: 便宜点吧。(Piányí diǎn ba.)
Frank: Great. That’s all there is to it. You add…
Echo:  吧(Ba)
Frank: To the end of a sentence to make it a suggestion. We’re out of time but we’d like to suggest that you head up to ChineseClass101.c om…
Echo: 我们去(Wǒmen qù)ChineseClass101.c om
Frank: …and leave us a comment.
Echo: 留言吧。(Liúyán ba.)
Frank: And we’ll see you next time. But for now, from Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella.
Echo: 我是不是(Wǒ shì bùshì)Echo.
Frank: We’ll see you next time.
Echo: 再见吧。(Zàijiàn ba.)
Frank: 再见吧。(Zàijiàn ba.)

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