Do you prefer paying with cash, or credit?

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 lesson

my favorite words are 你可以过来吗？

robert

Hello Gerald,

不客气！有任何问题，请随时联络我们。😄

Ngai Lam

Team ChineseClass101.com

都很好, 谢谢你😁

Hello Gerald,

Thank you for your comment. You can say:

这课有用 => 这课很有用。

我喜欢用现金在我的国而且刷卡买国际的书的时候.....虽然信用卡总是很有用 => 在我的国家我喜欢用现金买东西，买外文书籍的时候才刷卡.....虽然信用卡很有用。 (I hope I got what you meant correctly.)

To say you didn't know how to say something in Chinese, you can say 我以前不知道"现金"和''信用卡''用中文怎么说，但是现在知道了。You add 以前 to indicate it was in the past.

As always, let us know if you have any questions.

Ngai Lam

Team ChineseClass101.com

大家好！谢谢你的课！

这课有用 我不知道怎么中文说“现金” 和 ''信用卡'', 所以现在知道😄

我喜欢用现金在我的国而且刷卡买国际的书的时候.....虽然信用卡总是很有用

还有一个问题:

1. How do I say I ''didn't'' know (past) how to say (something) in chinese?? Do I still have to say just ''我不知道''?

Hello, Albert Wingate,

Thank you for your suggestion of increasing variety in expansions.

We are trying to give some but not too much expansions to users. But if you want to know more details about some topics or some situations, please contact us. And we will list extra words or sentences for you.

And yes, we can also feel how much we have bought by paying in cash, haha.

In Chinese, we don't have such difference between "can" and "may".

我可以去吗？= May I go? = 我能去吗？

我可以去吗？= Can I go? = 我能去吗？

If only you ask, it is a polite way.

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Also, a question about culture. In our culture, back in the day, we were required by parents to show respect by making the request of wanting to do something using "may" instead of "can". Some would say, why of course you can, you are able are you not? On the other hand using can was considered impolite. So it would be "May I go." This would be politely asking for permission. Do Chinese folks have such a tradition?

我可以去吗？

Wǒ kěyǐ qù ma?

Can I go?

May I go?

On one other thing about paying cash. If you buy gold or silver, do you really want the government to be aware of your purchase in that area. I don't. Yeah. So cash makes the purchase "secret." Shhhh!

Cho, I prefer to pay cash. It maintains privacy. The recognition of an expenditure is enhanced. (Wallet has less money). And an awareness of the enhancement of bargaining can come up. In today's economy, cash is king. Of course, there are downsides to paying cash. For example, one has little leverage once the cash has left my hand. Nevertheless, it is a freedom issue and therefore using cash is an exercise in freedom. No banks, transaction fees and there is a measure of privacy which is an important concern for me in this day of the "all seeing eye."

Need to increase variety in expansions, else they are not expansions but repetions in another format.

太好了！

谢谢！

Sorry, I made a mistake.

For papers, we use 张.

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

卫力，

You mastered "当。。。的时候"! Great!

For books, we use 本, and for papers, we use map.

一本书，两本杂志，3张地图。。。

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

太谢谢你！

That makes sense.

Let me try it out:

When I go to the store, I buy two magazines (I'm not sure if the measure word is 张 (for flat objects) or 本 （for a book), perhaps I should just have stayed with good old 个）。

当我去商店的时候，我买两张杂志。

Dāng wǒ qù shāngdiàn de shíhòu, wǒ mǎi liǎng zhāng zázhì.

去商店的时候，我买两张杂志。

Qù shāngdiàn de shíhòu, wǒ mǎi liǎng zhāng zázhì.

好吧？

卫力

卫力，

Thank you for telling your weakness point.

It will be easy for me to find what I should explain.

In my opinion,

当/在+S+...+的时候

....的时候 （no S, no 当）

E.g. 当我吃早饭的时候，我喜欢一边吃一边看报纸。（a）

When I eat breakfirst, I'd like to read newspapers while eating.

=吃早饭的时候，我喜欢 。。。(b)

And you can think in this way.

If you want to use "when", translate it with 的时候, and if there is any S in the phrase, add 当。

Try it, please.

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Cho，

To tell the truth, I don't really understand the use of 当， I just use the formula 当。。。的时候, whenever I want to write a when statement, but I see sometimes the 当 is not included.

I like the idea of not having too many I's in a single sentence. It's humble and humility is a virtue.

卫力

卫力，

不吵的时候，我可以。。。。

不吵的 is an adjective, not a phrase, so we omit 当.

当 周围 很吵的时候

When around is noisy,

但是 在网上 买东西 的时候我 用 信用卡。（a）

but online buy things I use my credit card.

在网上买东西的时候＝当我在网上买东西的时候

In this case, we can also say, 但是当我在网上买东西的时候我用信用卡。(b)

For the total sentence, we will use 我 for 3 times(我用现金买东西，我在网上买东西，我用信用卡), which is considered too much in just one sentence, so we usually omit one or two of "我“.

So, perhaps (a) is better for the whole sentence.

我用现金买东西，但是在网上买东西的时候，我用信用卡。

大家好，

The grammar in this lesson is interesting. When it is not noisy, I can study Chinese in my room. When it is noisy, I want to leave. I use cash to buy things, but use my credit card to buy things online.

这个课的语法很有趣。当没有吵的时候，我可以在我的房里学习中文。当有吵的时候， 我想离开。我用现金买东西，但是我刷卡买东西上网。（Zhège kè de yǔfǎ hěn yǒuqù. Dāng méiyǒu chǎo de shíhòu, wǒ kěyǐ zài wǒ de fáng lǐ xuéxí zhōngwén. Dāng yǒu chǎo de shíhòu, wǒ xiǎng líkāi. Wǒ yòng xiànjīn mǎi dōngxī, dànshì wǒ shuākǎ mǎi dōngxī shàngwǎng.）

再见，

卫力

Hi laderon,

In Chinese, credit card and debit card are different. Credit card in Chinese is 信用卡，debit card is 借记卡.

But when you say 卡，you could refer to either of them. Like when you say 刷卡, you could mean you are using either your debit or credit card.

Yinru

Team ChineseClass101.com