Learn how to use the Chinese verb xi?ng to say, "I want/wish to (do something)"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hi everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 4 in our Beginner series. I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio by the lovely and intelligent Echo. |
| Echo: 慢一点儿，慢一点儿。(Màn yīdiǎn er, màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Slow down a bit. Okay. All right. That’s good. It’s actually the subject of today’s dialogue: how to ask someone to slow down when they’re talking. Today’s dialogue takes place between two strangers. |
| Echo: Yes, in a taxi. |
| Frank: In a taxi cab. One of them is a native speaker and the other one is not a native speaker. |
| Echo: Yeah. They both speak very formally, very friendly. |
| Frank: Exactly. We’re going to show you all about that. Let’s listen to the dialogue. |
| Echo: But before we do, as always… |
| Frank: As always, right. We do want to tell you to become a lifetime member of ChineseClass101.com. It just takes a couple of seconds to register. It couldn’t be any easier. Let’s get on with the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
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| 司机:您好。您去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín hǎo. Nín qù nǎ'er?) |
| 张飞:请说慢一点儿。(Zhāng fēi: Qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| 司机:您想去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín xiǎng qù nǎ'er?) |
| 张飞:我想去宾馆。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ xiǎng qù bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: Now let’s hear that dialogue a little more slowly. |
| 司机:您好。您去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín hǎo. Nín qù nǎ'er?) |
| 张飞:请说慢一点儿。(Zhāng fēi: Qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| 司机:您想去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín xiǎng qù nǎ'er?) |
| 张飞:我想去宾馆。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ xiǎng qù bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: Hey, we’re back. |
| Echo: Yeah. Frank, you’ve been in China for a while, right? |
| Frank: I have. I have. I actually use cabs a lot because they’re relatively inexpensive here. |
| Echo: Yeah. Getting a cab in Beijing is so easy after all. |
| Frank: Yeah. That’s not the hard part. The hard part is once you get in the cab, is knowing the stuff that you need to know. That’s why this dialogue is so useful. |
| Echo: Yes. It’s going to be very, very helpful. |
| Frank: Yeah. So let’s go through it and we’ll translate. |
| 司机:您好。您去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín hǎo. Nín qù nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Hello. Where are you going? |
| 张飞:请说慢一点儿。(Zhāng fēi: Qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Please speak a little more slowly. |
| 司机:您想去哪儿？(Sījī: Nín xiǎng qù nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where would you like to go? |
| 张飞:我想去宾馆。(Zhāng fēi: Wǒ xiǎng qù bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: I want to go to a hotel. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Okay, great. Now in our last lesson, we actually told you a different word for hotel. What was that one, Echo? |
| Echo: It’s 饭店。(Fàndiàn.) |
| Frank: This time we use… |
| Male: 宾馆。(Bīnguǎn.) |
| Echo: 宾馆。(Bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: What would you say the difference is? |
| Echo: Not that much. We just use both of them very often. |
| Frank: So you can use them interchangeably? |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Okay. Great. Let’s go on to the vocab now where we’re going to take the word step-by-step, one-by-one, and really break them down for you. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Let’s do it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 您(Nín) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Polite form of “you”. |
| Echo: 您(Nín)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 您(Nín)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 去(Qù) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To go. |
| Echo: 去(Qù)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 去(Qù)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 说 (Shuō)[natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To speak. |
| Echo: 说(Shuō)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 说(Shuō)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 慢(Màn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Slow. |
| Echo: 慢(Màn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 慢(Màn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 一点儿(Yīdiǎn er) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: A little. |
| Echo: 一点儿(Yīdiǎn er)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 一点儿(Yīdiǎn er)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 想(Xiǎng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To wish. |
| Echo: 想(Xiǎng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 想(Xiǎng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 宾馆(Bīnguǎn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Hotel. |
| Echo: 宾馆(Bīnguǎn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 宾馆(Bīnguǎn)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay. Let’s take a look at some of those words in a little more depth. The first word in our dialogue is… |
| Echo: 您。(Nín.) |
| Frank: Which is the polite form of… |
| Echo: 你。(Nǐ.) |
| Frank: Which is the word for “you”. This is how you’ll address somebody who’s a superior or respected elder, that kind of thing. |
| Echo: Yeah, older. |
| Frank: Or a customer. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Exactly. So let’s hear those tones again because they’re a little different. For the polite form.. |
| Echo: 您。(Nín.) |
| Frank: That second tone. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: But when you’re saying “you”… |
| Echo: 你。(Nǐ.) |
| Frank: It’s third tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Second word in our vocabulary is… |
| Echo: 去。(Qù.) |
| Frank: Which means “to go” or “to go to”. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: We heard it in the dialogue like this. |
| Echo: 您去哪儿？(Nín qù nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: “Where do you want to go?” Let’s hear some other examples. “I’m going to the hotel”. |
| Echo: 我去宾馆。(Wǒ qù bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: I’m going to the airport. |
| Echo: 我去机场。(Wǒ qù jīchǎng.) |
| Frank: You are going to America. |
| Echo: 你去美国。(Nǐ qù měiguó.) |
| Frank: We’re going to slow things down a little bit for our next vocab point. Actually, we’re not going to slow it down, but that’s the vocab point. |
| Echo: Yeah, exactly. |
| Frank: It’s “slow down a little bit”. |
| Echo: 慢一点儿。(Màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Exactly. One more time. Let’s take it one part at a time, slow… |
| Echo: 慢。(Màn.) |
| Frank: …and a little. |
| Echo: 一点儿。(Yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: On other parts of China, you might hear them use that second part like this… |
| Echo: 一点。(Yīdiǎn.) |
| Frank: Which is not standard Mandarin but you will it in other parts of China. |
| Echo: Yeah. But it sounds great. |
| Frank: Let’s have a sample sentence using this. |
| Echo: 请说慢一点儿。(Qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Please speak more slowly. |
| Echo: 请说慢一点儿。(Qǐng shuō màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Now, the reverse of this if, let’s say, you’re in a restaurant and you want people to hurry up… |
| Echo: Yes. 快一点儿.(Kuài yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Okay. Now we’ve just learned two adjectives: one for fast, one for slow. Let’s hear the slow one. |
| Echo: 慢。(Màn.) |
| Frank: And fast? |
| Echo: 快。(Kuài.) |
| Frank: So if you want someone to slow down, it’s… |
| Echo: 慢一点儿。(Màn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: And to speed up? |
| Echo: 快一点儿。(Kuài yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: There you go. Let’s hurry up and get over to the grammar section. |
| Echo: Yeah. Let’s go. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| Frank: In previous lessons, we learned how to say “I’m hungry”. |
| Echo: 我很饿。(Wǒ hěn è.) |
| Frank: Or “he is there”. |
| Echo: 他在那儿。(Tā zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: Today, we’re going to learn to talk about what you want. We’re going to use this verb to do it. |
| Echo: 想。(Xiǎng.) |
| Frank: Means “to wish or to want”. It’s one of the most versatile verbs in Chinese. |
| Echo: Third tone. Pay attention. |
| Frank: Exactly. Let’s hear it one more time. |
| Echo: 想。(Xiǎng.) |
| Frank: All right. Now we’re going to give you some sample sentences so you can hear how it’s used. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Where do you want to go? |
| Echo: 你想去哪儿。(Nǐ xiǎng qù nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: I want to go there. |
| Echo: 我想去那儿。(Wǒ xiǎng qù nà'er.) |
| Frank: I want to go to China. |
| Echo: 我想去中国。(Wǒ xiǎng qù zhōngguó.) |
| Frank: I think you are busy. |
| Echo: 我想你很忙。(Wǒ xiǎng nǐ hěn máng.) |
| Frank: Okay, great. Now you heard on that last part how it wasn’t just to wish or to want; it was to think as well. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Very versatile verb. What we’re going to do now is we’re actually going to play a little game with you. We’re going to say a couple of sentences using vocabulary you’ve already got and let’s see if you can figure out what we’re saying. |
| Echo: I’ll be fun. |
| Frank: Let’s do it! |
| Echo: 他想去宾馆。(Tā xiǎng qù bīnguǎn.) |
| Frank: He wants to go to the hotel. |
| Echo: 她想去哪儿？(Tā xiǎng qù nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where does she want to go? |
| Echo: 她想去那儿。(Tā xiǎng qù nà'er.) |
| Frank: She wants to go there. |
| Echo: 我想你。(Wǒ xiǎng nǐ.) |
| Frank: That just means “I miss you” or “I’m thinking about you”. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: We’re going to miss you until our next lesson. But between now and then, we want you to go to ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: And leave comments. |
| Frank: We want you to leave a comment. We want you to comment some more. We want you to comment so much. It’s actually illegal in Guam. |
| Echo: Please stop. |
| Frank: Or maybe not that much. But we do want to see you up on the site. Until then, from our studios here in Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: I’m Echo. |
| Frank: And we’ll see you next time. |
| Echo: See you. |
| Frank: 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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