Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Dave: Hey everybody and welcome to chineseclass101, Elementary series, season 2, lesson 12. The Chinese Math Professor.
Echo: Hi 大家好,我是Echo. (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: And I am Dave and welcome to chineseclass101 where we study modern Chinese in a fun educational format.
Echo: Today’s lesson is all about Math.
Dave: Okay. In this lesson, you will learn how to do basic math in Chinese.
Echo: And this conversation takes place in classroom.
Dave: Between a frustrated math teacher and an uninterested student.
Echo: Yeah. The speakers are teacher and student. Therefore, they will be speaking informal Chinese. So let’s get on to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A:二加二得几? (èr jiā èr dé jǐ?)
B:五 (wǔ)
A:那是二加三 (nà shì èr jiā sān)
B:六 (liù)
A:那是二乘以三 (nà shì èr chéngyǐ sān)
B:一 (yī)
A:拜托,那是二除以二 (bàituō, nà shì èr chúyǐ èr)
B:你到底想问什么?会不会数学!(nǐ dàodǐ xiǎng wèn shénme? huìbuhuì shùxué)
Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly.
A:二加二得几? (èr jiā èr dé jǐ?)
B:五 (wǔ)
A:那是二加三(nà shì èr jiā sān)
B:六 (liù)
A:那是二乘以三 (nà shì èr chéngyǐ sān)
B:一 (yī)
A:拜托,那是二除以二 (bàituō, nà shì èr chúyǐ èr)
B:你到底想问什么?会不会数学! (nǐ dàodǐ xiǎng wèn shénme? huìbuhuì shùxué)
Dave: One more time, a bit slower.
Echo: 二加二得几?(èr jiā èr dé jǐ?)
Dave: Two plus two equals what?
Echo: 五 (wǔ)
Dave: Five.
Echo: 那是二加三 (nà shì èr jiā sān)
Dave: That’s 2 plus 3.
Echo: 六 (liù)
Dave: 6.
Echo: 那是二乘以三 (nà shì èr chéngyǐ sān)
Dave: No, no, no that’s 2 x 3.
Echo: 一 (yī)
Dave: One.
Echo: 拜托,那是二除以二 (bàituō, nà shì èr chúyǐ è)
Dave: Please, that’s 2 divided by 2.
Echo: 你到底想问什么?会不会数学! (nǐ dàodǐ xiǎng wèn shénme? huìbuhuì shùxué)
Dave: What on earth do you want to ask? Do you know math at all?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Dave:It looks like both the teacher and the student are having some difficulties.
Echo: Yeah but Dave you know, Math education in China is very important.
Dave: I did know that and parents often go to extreme links to ensure their child has the best education.
Echo: Yeah. There is an extracurricular math program called 奥数 (Àoshù) Olympic Math.
Dave: I’ve heard about this. The problems they give the kids are really hard.
Echo: Right. So hard in fact that sometimes the teachers don’t know the answers.
Dave: Well we won’t be going over any math that difficult today.
Echo: Actually today’s vocab words are really easy.
Dave: Okay so let’s go to the vocab section. And now the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 加 (jiā)
Dave: To add.
Echo: 等于 (děngyú)
Dave: Equals.
Echo: 得 (dé)
Dave: Equals or to get.
Echo: 减 (jiǎn)
Dave: Minus or subtract.
Echo: 乘以 (chéngyǐ)
Dave: To multiply.
Echo: 摆脱 (bàituō)
Dave: Please.
Echo: 除以 (chúyǐ)
Dave: To divide.
Echo: 到底 (dàodǐ)
Dave: Actually.
Echo: 会不会 (huìbúhuì)
Dave: Can or cannot.
Echo: 数学 (shùxué)
Dave: Mathematics.
Echo: 数学 (shùxué)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Dave: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at the usage for today’s vocabulary.
Echo: Okay. The first word is 加。 (Jiā)
Dave: To add
Echo: 加 (Jiā)
Dave: You will commonly hear this word at events where Chinese people are cheering for a sports team or…
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: Some other group or organization.
Echo: Or actually like to speak to any friends.
Dave: Yes.
Echo: Like if you have exam tomorrow and I may say this to you 加油。 (Jiāyóu)
Dave: Which literally means to add oil but in this case, it means hustle up.
Echo: 加油。 (Jiāyóu)
Dave: Okay but the first part of that phrase
Echo: 加 (Jiā)
Dave: Means to add. So let’s see this in a simple math sentence.
Echo: 六加三等于九。 (Liù jiā sān děngyú jiǔ.)
Dave: Six plus three equals nine.
Echo: 六加三等于九。 (Liù jiā sān děngyú jiǔ.)
Dave: And in that sentence, you also hear another crucial part of the equation.
Echo: 等于 (Děngyú)
Dave: To equal.
Echo: 等于 (Děngyú) Third tone and second tone 三加七等于十。 (Sān jiā qī děngyú shí.)
Dave: Three plus seven equals ten.
Echo: 三加七等于十。 (Sān jiā qī děngyú shí.)
Dave: There is another way to say to equal. What is it Echo?
Echo: 得。 (Dé)
Dave: Right which means to get but it can be used to say equals.
Echo: Yeah this is colloquial. 得,四减二得二。 (Dé, sì jiǎn èr dé èr.)
Dave: Four minus two equals two.
Echo: 四减二得二。 (Sì jiǎn èr dé èr.)
Dave: So now we have the word for minus.
Echo: 减。 (Jiǎn)
Dave: Minus or subtract, to subtract.
Echo: 减。这个太贵了,减一点儿吧。 (Jiǎn. Zhège tài guìle, jiǎn yīdiǎn er ba.)
Dave: This is too expensive. Take a little off the price.
Echo: 这个太贵了,减一点儿吧。 (Zhège tài guìle, jiǎn yīdiǎn er ba.)
Dave: So here, you are literally saying, subtract a small amount…
Echo: Right.
Dave: From the price.
Echo: Yes.
Dave: Okay Echo, what is our next math term?
Echo: 乘以。 (Chéng yǐ.)
Dave: To multiply.
Echo: 乘以。三乘以六得多少? (Chéng yǐ. Sān chéng yǐ liù dé duōshǎo?)
Dave: How much is three times six.
Echo: 三乘以六得多少? (Sān chéng yǐ liù dé duōshǎo?)
Dave: So Echo, how much is three times six?
Echo: 三乘以六得十八? (Sān chéng yǐ liù dé shíbā?)
Dave: Eighteen, very good. I was just testing you.
Echo: 三乘以六得十八? (Sān chéng yǐ liù dé shíbā?) And next word is 拜托。 (Bàituō)
Dave: Please.
Echo: 拜托。 (Bàituō.)
Dave: Fourth tone followed by first tone.
Echo: 拜托,你能快点吗? (Bàituō, nǐ néng kuài diǎn ma?)
Dave: Please, can you hurry up?
Echo: 拜托,你能快点吗? (Bàituō, nǐ néng kuài diǎn ma?)
Dave: So please here, we might also say come on.
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: It’s impatient. Okay last but not least, the final math word.
Echo: 除以。 (Chú yǐ.)
Dave: To divide.
Echo: 除以。十除以二等于五。 (Chú yǐ. Shí chú yǐ èr děngyú wǔ.)
Dave: Ten divided by two equals five.
Echo: 十除以二等于五。 (Shí chú yǐ èr děngyú wǔ.)
Dave: Okay. Next word.
Echo: 到底。 (Dàodǐ.)
Dave: Actually.
Echo: 到底,你到底想干什么? (Dàodǐ, nǐ dàodǐ xiǎng gànshénme?)
Dave: What do you actually feel like doing?
Echo: 你到底想干什么? (Nǐ dàodǐ xiǎng gànshénme?)
Dave: And the next word Echo?
Echo: 会不会? (Huì bù huì?) It’s a phrase actually.
Dave: Can or cannot.
Echo: 会不会,你会不会做饭? (Huì bù huì, nǐ huì bù huì zuò fàn?)
Dave: Do you know how to cook?
Echo: 你会不会做饭? (Nǐ huì bù huì zuò fàn?)
Dave: Literally can you or can’t you cook food?
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: So this is a phrase used for questions.
Echo: Uhoo…
Dave: Okay let’s move on to grammar. It’s grammar time. Okay the focus of this lesson is to be able to do simple math equations.

Lesson focus

Echo: That’s right. Math in Chinese is even easier than math in English.
Dave: At the end of the grammar point, we will also show you a trick that Chinese people use to shorten their math equations.
Echo: But first, let’s take a look at the sentence from our dialogue. 二加二得几? (Èr jiā èr dé jǐ?)
Dave: Two plus two is how many? Let’s break this sentence down.
Echo: The math word here is 加。 (Jiā)
Dave: To add and the numbers we are adding together are
Echo: 二加二。 (Èr jiā èr.)
Dave: Two plus two.
Echo: 二加二得几? (Èr jiā èr dé jǐ?)
Dave: Two plus two equals how many? So Echo, let’s take this a step further and answer the question.
Echo: 二加二得四。 (Èr jiā èr dé sì.)
Dave: Two plus two equals four.
Echo: Let’s see another example using 加,三十六加六得多少? (Jiā, sānshíliù jiā liù dé duōshǎo?)
Dave: How much is 36 plus 6?
Echo: 三十六加六得多少? (Jiā, sānshíliù jiā liù dé duōshǎo?)
Dave: And remember Chinese uses the same pattern as English for math equations.
Echo: And the next word is 减。 (Jiǎn.)
Dave: Minus.
Echo: 减,五减五等于零。 (Jiǎn, wǔ jiǎn wǔ děngyúlíng.)
Dave: Five minus five equals zero.
Echo: 五减五等于零。 (Wǔ jiǎn wǔ děngyúlíng.)
Dave: Another example Echo?
Echo: 六减二不等于三。 (Liù jiǎn èr bù děngyú sān.)
Dave: Six minus two doesn’t equal three.
Echo: 六减二不等于三。 (Liù jiǎn èr bù děngyú sān.)
Dave: And notice that we use a negative with equals.
Echo: Yeah 不等于。 (Bù děngyú.)
Dave: To not equal.
Echo: 不等于。 (Bù děngyú.)
Dave: Or doesn’t equal.
Echo: Our next word is 乘以。 (Chéng yǐ.)
Dave: To multiply.
Echo: 乘以,五乘以五等于二十五。 (Chéng yǐ, wǔ chéng yǐ wǔ děngyú èrshíwǔ.)
Dave: Five times five equals 25.
Echo: 五乘以五等于二十五。 (Wǔ chéng yǐ wǔ děngyú èrshíwǔ.)
Dave: Okay. Unlike to add or to subtract, to multiply requires a two character word.
Echo: 乘以。十二乘以三等于三十六。 (Chéng yǐ. Shí'èr chéng yǐ sān děngyú sānshíliù.)
Dave: Twelve times three equals 36.
Echo: 十二乘以三等于三十六。 (Shí'èr chéng yǐ sān děngyú sānshíliù.)
Dave: And our last math word of the day is
Echo: 除以。 (Chú yǐ.)
Dave: To divide.
Echo: 除以,五除以五等于一。 (Chú yǐ, wǔ chú yǐ wǔ děngyú yī.)
Dave: Five divided by five equals one.
Echo: 五除以五等于一。 (Wǔ chú yǐ wǔ děngyú yī.)
Dave: Let’s take a look at another example.
Echo: 六除以三,六除以三等于二。 (Liù chú yǐ sān, liù chú yǐ sān děngyú èr.)
Dave: Six divided by three equals two.
Echo: 六除以三等于二。 (Liù chú yǐ sān děngyú èr.)
Dave: Okay. The last point we are going to go over is a little trick that will save you time.
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: When multiplying, you can omit the words for to multiply and to equal for example
Echo: 五五二十五。 (Wǔwǔ'èrshíwǔ)
Dave: Five, five, 25.
Echo: 五五二十五。 (Wǔwǔ'èrshíwǔ)
Dave: Five, five, 25. So remember, you don’t have to say times or equals if you simply have a series of numbers….
Echo: Yeah.
Dave: With the correct pauses.
Echo: Right.
Dave: Then people will assume that you mean to multiply or to divide.
Echo: Right 三七二十一。 (Sānqī'èrshíyī)
Dave: Three times seven equals 21 becomes three, seven, 21.
Echo: 三七二十一。 (Sānqī'èrshíyī)
Dave: Okay. To review Echo, what are our four math words we’ve learned today?
Echo: 加 (Jiā)
Dave: To add
Echo: 减 (Jiǎn)
Dave: To subtract.
Echo: 乘以 (Chéng yǐ)
Dave: To multiply.
Echo: 除以 (Chéng yǐ)

Outro

Dave: To divide. And that does it for today. From Beijing, I am Dave.
Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.)
Dave: And we will see you next week here at chineseclass101.com
Echo: Thanks for listening. Bye bye.
Dave: Take care.

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