Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Victor: 大家好,我是Victor。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Victor.)
Amber: And I’m Amber and welcome back to Gengo Chinese. This is Lesson 11.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: Called…
Victor: Don't Get Left out in the Cold (or Heat!)
Amber: That’s a little hint about what we’re going to learn about today, Victor. But first, we know that Mike is now fresh and ready to face the world for his first day in China.
Victor: Yeah and we all remember or maybe you remembered, Amber, your first day in China.
Amber: Do you remember the first day when you were born? Think back.
Victor: It, it was awesome.
Amber: Everything seems strange and new.
Victor: It was very cool.
Amber: And for me too, yeah! Okay, but before we go remembering that, let’s remember what we learned in our last lesson?
Victor: Well, well, I’m gonna remind you. So, well, one thing we learned was the word for the internet.
Amber: Yes, and in this day and age, that is a very important word which is...
Victor: 网络 (wǎngluò), 网络 (wǎngluò).
Amber: And we also learned how to answer yes/no questions in Chinese. Do you remember how to do it? All you have to do is repeat the main verb of the sentence. So you just repeat the verb exactly how it is, if it’s yes. And if it’s negative, you just use the negative form which means you put 不 (bù) or 没 (méi) in front of the verb.
Victor: Right, so let's try one now, Amber. 你有网络吗? (Nǐ yǒu wǎngluò ma?)
Amber: 网络 (wǎngluò) remember is internet. Do I have the internet? Yes, of course. So I answer… the main verb being 有 (yǒu), I just say, 有 (yǒu), which means “to have.” So, it’s affirmative. Yes, I have it.
Victor: And it’s as easy as that.
Amber: Yes! So, let’s go to Mike’s first day officially in China soil and see if it goes as easy as that for him.
Victor: In this lesson, you’ll learn to talk about the weather in Chinese.
Amber: Yeah, and the conversation takes place in the hotel.
Victor: And it’s between the hotel clerk and a guest.
Amber: Okay, so let’s listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Front desk: 早上好,先生。 (Zǎoshàng hǎo,Xiānshēng.)
Mike: 早。今天天气怎么样? (Zǎo. Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?)
Front desk: 上午天气很好,下午可能下雨。 (Shàngwǔ tiānqì hěn hǎo,xiàwǔ kěnéng xiàyǔ.)
Mike: 哦?下雨? (O? Xiàyǔ?)
Front desk: 对,还有,今天很热。 (Duì,háiyǒu,jīntiān hěn rè.)
Mike: 哪儿有出租车? (Nǎr yǒu chūzūchē?)
Front desk: 在饭店的前面有出租车。 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmian yǒu chūzūchē.)
Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxie nǐ.)
Front desk: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.)
Victor: 重复一次, 慢速. (Chóngfù yīcì, màn sù.)
Amber: One more time, a little slower.
Front desk: 早上好,先生。 (Zǎoshàng hǎo,Xiānshēng.)
Mike: 早。今天天气怎么样? (Zǎo. Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?)
Front desk: 上午天气很好,下午可能下雨。 (Shàngwǔ tiānqì hěn hǎo,xiàwǔ kěnéng xiàyǔ.)
Mike: 哦?下雨? (O? Xiàyǔ?)
Front desk: 对,还有,今天很热。 (Duì,háiyǒu,jīntiān hěn rè.)
Mike: 哪儿有出租车? (Nǎr yǒu chūzūchē?)
Front desk: 在饭店的前面有出租车。 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmian yǒu chūzūchē.)
Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxie nǐ.)
Front desk: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.)
Victor: 重复一次, 加英文翻译. (Chóngfù yīcì, jiā yīngwén fānyì.)
Amber: One more time, with the English.
Front desk: 早上好,先生。 (Zǎoshàng hǎo,Xiānshēng.)
Amber: Good morning, sir.
Mike: 早。今天天气怎么样? (Zǎo. Jīntiān tiānqì zěnmeyàng?)
Amber: Morning. How is the weather today?
Front desk: 上午天气很好,下午可能下雨。 (Shàngwǔ tiānqì hěn hǎo,xiàwǔ kěnéng xiàyǔ.)
Amber: In the morning, the weather will be nice. It may rain in the afternoon.
Mike: 哦?下雨? (O? Xiàyǔ?)
Amber: Oh? Rain?
Front desk: 对,还有,今天很热。 (Duì,háiyǒu,jīntiān hěn rè.)
Amber: Yes. Plus, it's very hot today.
Mike: 哪儿有出租车? (Nǎr yǒu chūzūchē?)
Amber: Where can I get a taxi?
Front desk: 在饭店的前面有出租车。 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmian yǒu chūzūchē.)
Amber: In front of the hotel, there are taxis.
Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxie nǐ.)
Amber: Thank you.
Front desk: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.)
Amber: You're welcome.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Amber: Well, Victor, I think this weather report makes me imagine, basically, pretty much every day in Shanghai from June to September.
Victor: Oh yeah. Is that how it is?
Amber: Hot and sticky, throw in a little rain.
Victor: That sounds really good, huh?
Amber: Okay, so let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Victor: 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo) [natural native speed]
Amber: good morning
Victor: 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo) [natural native speed]
Victor: 先生 (xiānshēng) [natural native speed]
Amber: Mr., sir
Victor: 先生 (xiānshēng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 先生 (xiānshēng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [natural native speed]
Amber: how is it
Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 上午 (shàngwǔ) [natural native speed]
Amber: morning
Victor: 上午 (shàngwǔ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 上午 (shàngwǔ) [natural native speed]
Victor: 下午 (xiàwǔ) [natural native speed]
Amber: afternoon
Victor: 下午 (xiàwǔ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 下午 (xiàwǔ) [natural native speed]
Victor: 可能 (kěnéng) [natural native speed]
Amber: possibly
Victor: 可能 (kěnéng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 可能 (kěnéng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 下雨 (xiàyǔ) [natural native speed]
Amber: rain
Victor: 下雨 (xiàyǔ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 下雨 (xiàyǔ) [natural native speed]
Victor: 还有 (háiyǒu) [natural native speed]
Amber: in addition, plus, furthermore, still
Victor: 还有 (háiyǒu) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 还有 (háiyǒu) [natural native speed]
Victor: 热 (rè) [natural native speed]
Amber: hot
Victor: 热 (rè) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 热 (rè) [natural native speed]
Victor: 出租车 (chūzūchē) [natural native speed]
Amber: taxi
Victor: 出租车 (chūzūchē) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 出租车 (chūzūchē) [natural native speed]
Victor: 饭店 (fàndiàn) [natural native speed]
Amber: hotel
Victor: 饭店 (fàndiàn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 饭店 (fàndiàn) [natural native speed]
Victor: 前面 (qiánmiàn) [natural native speed]
Amber: in front
Victor: 前面 (qiánmiàn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 前面 (qiánmiàn) [natural native speed]
Victor: 不客气 (Bù kèqi) [natural native speed]
Amber: you're welcome
Victor: 不客气 (Bù kèqi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 不客气 (Bù kèqi) [natural native speed]
Victor: 晚上好 (wǎnshàng hǎo) [natural native speed]
Amber: good evening
Victor: 晚上好 (wǎnshàng hǎo) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 晚上好 (wǎnshàng hǎo) [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Amber: Okay, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson.
Victor: The first phrase we’ll look at is our morning greeting.
Amber: Yeah and we have a couple here, actually.
Victor: Right.
Amber: Of course, the first and foremost we have is the 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo).
Victor: 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo); 早(zǎo) is a 3rd tone, 上 (shàng) is 4th tone, 好 (hǎo) is a 3rd tone.
Amber: Right, which literally means like “morning good.”
Victor: Right.
Amber: Opposite of English. But alas, we know the Chinese love brevity, so we hear Mike’s response. He actually doesn't even have to say that much. All he says is...
Victor: 早 (zǎo) which is 3rd tone.
Amber: Right, which is just the beginning of 早上好 (zǎoshàng hǎo).
Victor: Yeah. It’s pretty good.
Amber: Yeah! So, it’s kind of just like how in English, we’d say, “morning” instead of “good morning.”
Victor: Correct.
Amber: Just a more casual way of saying the same thing. Okay, so what we’d come to next, naturally is a nice question about the weather. So, we’ve learned the word for “weather,” remember?
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: Back when the pilot was telling us about the weather.
Victor: 天气 (tiānqì), 天气 (tiānqì). It’s 1st tone and 4th tone.
Amber: Yeah and we also hear the word here for “today.”
Victor: 今天 (jīntiān). 今天 (jīntiān), 1st tone and 1st tone.
Amber: Right! But the best word of all is...
Victor: Yes, it’s 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng), 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng). 怎 (zěn) is 3rd tone, 么 (me) is neutral tone, and 样 (yàng) is 4th tone.
Amber: Yeah. And, you know, 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) is a many splendored word, Victor, I think, because we use it in so many places in Chinese.
Victor: So many places, yeah. Basically, it’s a universal word to say, you know, “what’s up” or “how is it.”
Amber: Yeah, so, even if I just see my friend, I can use it on its own. I could kind of say like 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) or, as in this case, you can use it to ask how something is.
Victor: Right. Like here, asking about the weather, he says, 天气怎么样? (Tiānqì zěnme yàng?)
Amber: Right, which is literally “weather how is it.” What’s up with the weather?
Victor: Right. What’s up with the weather?
Amber: What’s up with the weather? Right, or even you could use it for other things too, like say my clothes. Maybe I’ll get all dressed up and I want to ask, you know, my significant other, 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng). What would I, how would I say it, Victor?
Victor: Well, in that case, you can simply just say, 我的衣服怎么样? (Wǒ de yīfú zěnme yàng?)
Amber: Yeah, how is it?
Victor: The clothes, “How is the clothes?” Yeah. Or like my new car, right? How about it? New car and a new apartment and new house.
Amber: New car 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng)?
Victor: Yeah.
Amber” New house 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng)?
Victor: In my imagination.
Amber: Yeah!
Victor: It’s coming, it’s coming though, yeah.
Amber: Okay. So now that they’ve asked 天气怎么样? (Tiānqì zěnme yàng?) “How is the weather?” we actually get to hear about the weather. So, how is it, Victor? What’s the weather?
Victor: Well the morning, 上午 (shàngwǔ), 上 (shàng) 4th tone, 午 (wǔ) 3rd tone, which literally means “before noon.” It sounds pretty okay.
Amber: Okay, so great! Here, first of all, we learned the word for morning, 上午 (shàngwǔ).
Victor: 上午 (shàngwǔ)
Amber: Which is one of the words. Actually, 早上 (zǎoshàng), we just learned for “good morning.” Either one works.
Victor: Right.
Amber: Interchangeable, basically. But they said that the weather was going to be 很好 (hěn hǎo), right?
Victor: Right, 很好 (hěn hǎo).
Amber: So, that means “very good,” no problem. But then, there’s something else in store for the afternoon that she mentions. So, what’s the word for “afternoon”?
Victor: 下午 (xiàwǔ), 下 (xià) 4th tone, 午 (wǔ) 3rd tone, 下午 (xiàwǔ).
Amber: Right and what’s the weather going to do in the afternoon?
Victor: 下午 (xiàwǔ) is going to rain.
Amber: Rain, and how and how do we say “rain” in Chinese?
Victor: 下雨 (xiàyǔ), 下 (xià) 4th tone, 雨 (yǔ) 3rd tone.
Amber: Hey, that’s weird. It sounds like a lot like “afternoon” that we just learned.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: Can we hear the difference in those two?
Victor: Well, “afternoon” is 下午 (xiàwǔ). “To rain” is 下雨 (xiàyǔ).
Amber: So the pinion to help everyone’s ear, for “afternoon” is X-I-A-W-U, for “rain,” it’s X-I-A-Y-U.
Victor: Right.
Amber: That’s very close in sound.
Victor: Very close.
Amber: But very different things.
Victor: Yeah, so they’ll get confused.
Amber: Yeah, but they rhyme, something that will help you to remember them. So, morning is gonna be nice, afternoon is going to rain, but we hear something, there’s actually more. We know there’s more coming because we hear this magic word that she says…还有 (háiyǒu).
Victor: Right, 还有 (háiyǒu) means “in addition” or “plus.” So, 还 (hái) is 2nd tone and 有 (yǒu) is 3rd tone.
Amber: Right. So what do we have after the 还有 (háiyǒu)? We know something is coming. In addition…
Victor: Very hot.
Amber: Now, we’ve heard the word for hot before. What is it Victor:
Victor: 热 (rè), 热 (rè).
Amber: Yes. I think it’s becoming a common theme in our weather reports. The pilot also mentioned it was hot.
Victor: Very 热 (rè), 4th tone.
Amber: Yes, and Shanghai can be very 热 (rè).
Victor: Yeah, but Beijing can be also very 热 (rè) too.
Amber: That’s right.
Victor: Yeah, yeah.
Amber: So, very next thing that Mike does, he’s no dummy.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: What does he ask for?
Victor: He does what I would do.
Amber: Mmm.
Victor: He asks for a 出租车 (chūzūchē).
Amber: Yes, which is a “taxi.”
Victor: Yeah, a taxi. 出 (chū) is 1st tone, 租 (zū) is 1st tone, 车 (chē) is also 1st tone.
Amber: Right! A very essential item in the summer heat.
Victor: Yeah. It’s like a rental car, it literally means, but it actually means “taxi.”
Amber: Right.

Lesson focus

Amber: Okay. Now, for the grammar, we’re going to revisit this word. We just learned 还有 (háiyǒu), the word that we learned when we’re talking about the weather.
Victor: Right, 还有 (háiyǒu). Now, there are a few 还有 (háiyǒu)s in Chinese.
Amber: That’s right. So, we just explained the one that was in our dialogue. This one meant “in addition.” It comes at the beginning of a phrase.
Victor: Right.
Amber: And then you’re going to add something on.
Victor: And then she said, 还有,今天很热。 (Háiyǒu,jīntiān hěn rè.)
Amber: Also, in addition, today is very hot. So it comes at the beginning of the phrase and it introduces additional information.
Victor: Right, like “furthermore” or “in addition.”
Amber: Right. So, 还有,今天很热 (háiyǒu,jīntiān hěn rè) means “Plus, today it’s very hot.”
Victor: Yeah, 还有 (háiyǒu).
Amber: So, maybe, for example, some of Victor’s girlfriends, they’re talking about how handsome Victor is.
Victor: Oh, I feel so flattered.
Amber: Right! So, these girls are saying like they see him in the street, they recognize him from the Gengo lesson, and they’re like, “Wow! Victor is so good looking.” But then, I want to add something to add. I want to say that, “Yeah, he’s good looking, plus, he’s very tall.”
Victor: Oh, okay.
Amber: How would I say that, Victor?
Victor: Well, you can say, 还有Victor很高 (Hái yǒu Victor hěn gāo).
Amber: Right! So, in addition, plus, Victor is very tall, 很高 (hěn gāo). 很 (hěn) is 3rd tone, 高 (gāo) is 1st tone.
Victor: Yeah. I’m like Yao…
Amber: Kind of like Yao Ming.
Victor: I’m like his cousin.
Amber: Yeah, practically! Okay, so back to the grammar. Another very important word we must talk about that we heard in this dialogue is the question word, “where.”
Victor: Yes, we heard it when Mike asks, “Where are there taxis?” He says, 哪儿有出租车? (Nǎr yǒu chūzūchē?).
Amber: Right. So, we’ll break down that whole sentence, but first, we need to tell you there are two words for “where” in Chinese.
Victor: Yes, it depends on the region. Speakers from Northern China are more apt to use 哪儿 (nǎr) especially in Beijing, we hear that a lot. Whereas, speakers from the South more commonly use 哪里 (nǎli), 哪里 (nǎli).
Amber: Right. So both are 3rd tone, the 哪 (nǎ) part.
Victor: Correct.
Amber: Just the Beijing accent adds a little “R” onto the end.
Victor: Yes.
Amber: And then the southern people in general use 哪里 (nǎli). Okay, so after the “where” or the 哪儿 (nǎr) in this sentence, we heard the verb 有 (yǒu).
Victor: Yeah, 有 (yǒu) adds a little more airtime.
Amber: Yeah, we’ve used this verb before But in this usage, the 有 (yǒu) that is used is the 有 (yǒu) that expresses existence.
Amber: Right, so in the sentence we hear, 哪儿有出租车? (Nǎr yǒu chūzūchē?) and it means basically, “Where are there taxis?” Where do they exist?
Amber: Yeah. So, now, the answer…
Victor: The answer is another really grammar-rich sentence we can bust apart too.
Amber: Which is…
Victor: 在饭店的前面有出租车。 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmiàn yǒu chūzūchē.)
Amber: Right! So, it’s a little bit long.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: And there’s a lot in there, but we’ll break it down for you. So literally, can you repeat the sentence, Victor?
Victor: Sure. 在饭店的前面有出租车。 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmiàn yǒu chūzūchē.)
Amber: So literally, it’s, “In front of the hotel, there are taxis.” So in this sentence, we’ve got direction words, we’ve got your “there are” or existence 有 (yǒu), and we’ve got taxis, which are also very essential. Okay, let’s look at the rest of that sentence. So, we just learned that 有出租车 (yǒu chūzūchē) means “there are taxis.”
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: Now, what do we hear in front of it, as to where the taxis are?
Victor: 在饭店的前面 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmiàn).
Amber: Right. Okay, so here, we hear the word 在 (zài), 4th tone, and this is a word that we’ve heard before, right at the beginning of the sentence.
Victor: Right.
Amber: And it’s a preposition that basically is just like the English “at” or “in.” So we heard…
Victor: 在饭店的前面 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmiàn).
Amber: Right and so, the 在 (zài) means “at” and the rest of it means “in front of the hotel.”
Victor: Right. So, 饭店 (fàndiàn), in this case, 饭 (fàn) is 4th tone, 店 (diàn) is also 4th tone. It literally means “restaurants,” but in some cases, it also means “hotels.”
Amber: Yeah, it’s kind of used for both.
Victor: Right.
Amber: So, we heard “where this the taxis are,” but Victor is going to explain exactly how it is that we come to this sentence structure.
Victor: To indicate a location with reference to something else, like this time, “in front of the hotel,” we use the structure used in this lesson.
Amber: Right. So here, the reference point was the hotel, of course, in the sentence we just used.
Victor: And the location was “in front of.”
Amber: Right. So, the reference point is 在饭店 (zài fàndiàn) “at the hotel.” And next, we heard the 前面 (qiánmiàn), which means “in front” of the hotel.
Victor: So, “at the hotel in front.”
Amber: Right. So, the Chinese structure to say “in front of the hotel” goes like this…
at + reference place + de (particle) + location word.
Victor: Right. It’s almost like the front part belongs to the hotel.
Amber: Yeah. So, if you were gonna say it in English, that sentence would be “at hotel the front.”
Victor: Right, “at the hotel's front.”
Amber: Yes.
Victor: Right.
Amber: So, can you say it again in Chinese?
Victor: 在饭店的前面 (Zài fàndiàn de qiánmiàn).
Amber: Right. So this pattern can work for any location relative to a certain reference point.
Victor: Right and you just swap out the reference point and the location word. So let’s do one where the reference point or place is a house, and the location is behind the house.
Amber: So, we’re trying to say “behind the house.”
Victor: Right, and it is 在房子的后面 (Zài fángzi de hòumiàn).
Amber: So, here we hear the 在 (zài) which means “at.”
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: Then 房子 (fángzi) is “house,” then 的 (de), our particle, and then the location word, 后面 (hòumiàn).
Victor: 后面 (hòumiàn)
Amber: Which means “behind.”
Victor: Behind.
Amber: Or “at the back of.”
Victor: 在房子的后面 (Zài fángzi de hòumiàn).
Amber: Right. So now, what about our taxis. What if they were across the street from the hotel? How do we say that?
Victor: 在饭店的对面 (Zài fàndiàn de duìmiàn).
Amber: So first, we have our preposition “at” 在 (zài).
Victor: 在 (zài)
Amber: Then we have our reference point, the “hotel”, 饭店 (fàndiàn).
Victor: 饭店 (fàndiàn)
Amber: And then the particle 的 (de) and then 对面 (duìmiàn), which means “across.”
Victor: Right, like facing the opposite of the hotel.
Amber: Right. So to help you with this grammar point, we’ll also give you some more directional words that you can swap in and out in the lesson note materials that go with this lesson, to give you a little bit more help.

Outro

Amber: Okay, everyone. That’s it for today’s lesson, Gengo Lesson 11. We hope that you’re all able to talk about the weather now.
Victor: So we hope you’ll be able to catch a taxi.
Amber: Yes, and that can be a feat in itself in China.
Victor: Yeah, quintessential Chinese experience.
Amber: So that’s it for today’s lesson. We’ll see you next time.
Victor: Yeah, 再见。(Zàijiàn.)
Amber: 再见。(Zàijiàn.)

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