Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Hi everyone, I am David.
Echo: 嗨!大家好(Hāi! Dàjiā hǎo),我是(Wǒ shì)Echo.
David: And welcome to chineseclass101.com. Today we’ve got intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 17.
Echo: The Secret to a Spotless House.
David: Right, we are sharing the secret on how to have a spotless house. Right Echo?
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right. We are going to share that in the dialogue but before we get to the dialogue, we want to remind you. If you are interested in getting some 1 on 1 support along with our lessons, send us an email at contactus@chineseclass101.com and we will set you up for a free trial with our 1 on 1 tutoring service.
Echo: 而且这是据我所知非常非常有效的提高你的中文能力的一个办法。(Érqiě zhè shì jù wǒ suǒ zhī fēicháng fēicháng yǒuxiào de tígāo nǐ de zhōngwén nénglì de yīgè bànfǎ.)
David: Right and best of all, it’s free and there is no obligation so you can try it out without paying us.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: And with that being said, let’s get to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
你家里怎么总是那么干净啊?(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?)
那是!我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.)
你该不是有病吧?(nǐ gāi bù shì yǒubìng ba?)
你才有病。(你才有病。)
我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.)
我没有洁癖,我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.)
哦,家有阿姨,如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.)
David: One more time, a little bit slower.
你家里怎么总是那么干净啊?(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?)
那是!我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.)
你该不是有病吧?(你該不是有病吧?)
你才有病。(nǐ cái yǒubìng.)
我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.)
我没有洁癖,我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.)
哦,家有阿姨,如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.)
David: And now with the English translation.
你家里怎么总是那么干净啊?(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?)
How is your home so clean?
那是!我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.)
Isn't it! I demand absolute spotlessness.
你该不是有病吧?(你該不是有病吧?)
You don't have a disease?
你才有病。(nǐ cái yǒubìng.)
You're the sick one.
我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.)
I'm talking about an obsessive disorder.
我没有洁癖,我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.)
I'm not obsessive, I just ask a maid to clean.
哦,家有阿姨,如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.)
Oh, having a maid is about the same.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So Echo, we were talking about this before.
Echo: 我也追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(Wǒ yě zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.)
David: And I remember – I remember that you’ve done 180 on the concept of the 阿姨.(Āyí.)
Echo: 有吗?(Yǒu ma?)
David: Two years ago, Echo was going, no, no I am never going to let someone strange come to my house and clean and then you got an 阿姨(Āyí) and overnight.
Echo: 我可以告诉大家(Wǒ kěyǐ gàosù dàjiā),她(Tā)Amazing!
David: Yeah. Echo is a convert. We are all converts. It’s actually one of the great things about China. So anyway, that’s our dialogue. We’ve got a lot of vocab here that’s about cleanliness. So let’s get right to it. And now, the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 干净(gānjìng)
David: Clean.
Echo: 干净(gānjìng),干净。追求(Gānjìng. Zhuīqiú)
David: To pursue.
Echo: 追求,追求。整洁(Zhuīqiú, zhuīqiú. Zhěngjié)
David: Tidy.
Echo: 整洁,整洁。有病(Zhěngjié, zhěngjié. Yǒu bìng)
David: To have a disease.
Echo: 有病,有病。洁癖(Yǒu bìng, yǒu bìng. Jiépǐ)
David: Obsessive cleanliness disorder.
Echo: 洁癖,洁癖。阿姨(Jiépǐ, jiépǐ. Āyí)
David: Maid.
Echo: 阿姨,阿姨。打扫(Āyí, āyí. Dǎsǎo)
David: To clean up.
Echo: 打扫,打扫。如(Dǎsǎo, dǎsǎo. Rú)
David: Like.
Echo: 如,如。(Rú, rú.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Okay. So we have a lot of words here that have to do with cleaning.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: And our first one is actually the word for clean.
Echo: 干净(Gānjìng)
David: Let’s hear that again slowly.
Echo: 干净,干净。(Gānjìng, gānjìng.)
David: You’ve probably already run into that. There is a second word in our dialogue that means close to the same thing though.
Echo: Right, it’s 整洁(Zhěngjié)
David: Let’s hear that again.
Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié)
David: Tidy.
Echo: 对。“干净”呢,就是更多的是说你们家里没有脏东西,“整洁”的意思呢,就是东西都放在合适的地方。(Duì.“Gānjìng” ne, jiùshì gèng duō de shì shuō nǐmen jiālǐ méiyǒu zàng dōngxī,“zhěngjié” de yìsi ne, jiùshì dōngxī dū fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.)
David: Okay.
Echo: 收拾的很好。(Shōushí de hěn hǎo.)
David: So we are talking about two different things.
Echo: 干净(Gānjìng)
David: Means clean as in not dirty.
Echo: 就是不脏(Jiùshì bù zàng)
David: Yeah whereas
Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié)
David: Means tidy. As in everything is in the proper place.
Echo: 没错,就是东西都放在合适的地方。(Méi cuò, jiùshì dōngxī dū fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.)
David: Right. Presumably by the maid.
Echo: 很有可能(Hěn yǒu kěnéng),然后你什么都找不到。(Ránhòu nǐ shénme dōu zhǎo bù dào.)
David: Yeah. Next we have something that’s actually not in our vocab list but it’s good to know.
Echo: 没错。一尘不染。(Méi cuò. Yīchénbùrǎn.)
David: Right. This literally means without even a speck of dust.
Echo: 这是一个成语。(Zhè shì yīgè chéngyǔ.)
David: Yeah. It’s an idiom. Let’s hear it again.
Echo: 一尘不染。(Yīchénbùrǎn.)
David: Right. And how are we going to get things to the point that they are spotless.
Echo: 收拾(Shōushí)
David: Right. We are going to clean it up.
Echo: 收拾(Shōushí)
David: So 收拾 means to clean up.
Echo: 对,其实“收拾”呢,更多的是就是把东西放在合适的地方。(Duì, qíshí “shōushí” ne, gèng duō de shì jiùshì bǎ dōngxī fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.)
David: Okay. So it’s kind of tidying up maybe as opposed to cleaning.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right. So if you 收拾(Shōushí) you are going to get your things very….
Echo: 整洁。(Zhěngjié.)
David: But if you want to clean things up, you have to use a different verb.
Echo: 我们说“打扫”(Wǒmen shuō “dǎsǎo”) Actually you can use them together like 打扫干净。(Dǎsǎo gānjìng.)
David: Umm…
Echo: 把你的房间打扫干净。(Bǎ nǐ de fángjiān dǎsǎo gānjìng.)
David: And you can tidy up and make it clean too.
Echo: 把你的屋子收拾整洁。(Bǎ nǐ de wūzi shōushí zhěngjié.)
David: Right. So think of these words as pairs.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: It’s not a 100% but it is pretty close. But 打扫 here, what about mopping?
Echo: 都是打扫。(Dōu shì dǎsǎo.)
David: So you could say, you know.
Echo: 打扫就是让你的房间变干净,所以不管你们用什么办法,不管是擦,扫,或者是刷。(Dǎsǎo jiùshì ràng nǐ de fángjiān biàn gānjìng, suǒyǐ bùguǎn nǐmen yòng shénme bànfǎ, bùguǎn shì cā, sǎo, huòzhě shì shuā.)
David: So 擦(Cā) is to mop and 扫(Sǎo) is to sweep.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: And you had 刷(Shuā) as well which is to wipe.
Echo: 对,或者是(Duì, huòzhě shì)paint也可以,都可以。(Yě kěyǐ, dōu kěyǐ.)
David: Okay. Well I am getting my 阿姨(Āyí) to do that.
Echo: ”刷“ 就是你用更多的水,叫”刷“ 。(” Shuā “jiùshì nǐ yòng gèng duō de shuǐ, jiào” shuā “ .)
David: Okay.
Echo: 或者油漆也可以。(Huòzhě yóuqī yě kěyǐ.)
David: Well, we have a last word here as well which was totally new to me.
Echo: 洁癖(Jiépǐ)
David: Right. Let’s hear that again.
Echo: 洁癖。可能在...可能若你在中国听到很多普通的人更多的是说四声,洁癖 (jiépì),但是呢是错的。(Jiépǐ. Kěnéng zài... Kěnéng ruò nǐ zài zhōngguó tīng dào hěnduō pǔtōng de rén gèng duō de shì shuō sì shēng, jiépǐ (jiépì), dànshì ne shì cuò de.)
David: Okay.
Echo: 应该说洁癖 (Yīnggāi shuō jiépǐ。)
David: And now people know how to pronounce it. We are going to tell them what it means. It means obsessive compulsive cleanliness disorder.
Echo: 对。所有你看到有“癖”这个字的,都是表示不好的习惯。比如说“怪癖”,奇怪的习惯。(Duì. Suǒyǒu nǐ kàn dào yǒu “pǐ” zhège zì de, dōu shì biǎoshì bù hǎo de xíguàn. Bǐrú shuō “guàipǐ”, qíguài de xíguàn.)
David: Okay. So six words we want you to remember from this lesson. First,
Echo: 干净(Gānjìng)
David: Which is clean, and what’s the verb we use with clean?
Echo: 打扫(Dǎsǎo)
David: We also have tidy
Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié)
David: And the verb associated with that.
Echo: 收拾(Shōushí)
David: When you’ve done this, you are going to have a spotless house.
Echo: 一尘不染(Yīchénbùrǎn)
David: And if you do this a lot, you may want to get checked for obsessive cleanliness compulsive disorder.
Echo: 或者有朋友会问你“诶,你不是有洁癖吧?“(Huòzhě yǒu péngyǒu huì wèn nǐ “éi, nǐ bùshì yǒu jiépǐ ba?“)
David: Right. And pay attention especially for pronunciation of the second character there.
Echo: 对,洁癖。(Duì, jiépǐ.)
David: It’s third tone. You may hear it as fourth tone sometimes. Okay let’s get to the grammar section. We’ve got a good one.

Lesson focus

David: Our grammar focus today is on the character
Echo: 如(Rú)
David: We’ve run into this before as part of the conjunction if.
Echo: 如果(Rúguǒ)
David: As in the sentence
Echo: 如果有问题(Rúguǒ yǒu wèntí),随时给我打电话。(Suíshí gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.)
David: If there is a problem, give me a telephone call any time.
Echo: 如果有问题(Rúguǒ yǒu wèntí),随时给我打电话。(Suíshí gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.)
David: Right. In our dialogue though, we see this used in a much more advanced way.
Echo: 家有阿姨(Jiā yǒu āyí),如有洁癖。(Rú yǒu jiépǐ.)
David: Okay. This is going to be confusing for a lot of people. We’ve got two things that are really happening. One, we’ve got this Chinese thing where we’ve got this symmetrical balanced expression.
Echo: 对,对,就是我们特别的句子。(Duì, duì, jiùshì wǒmen tèbié de jùzi.)
David: Yeah it’s not really a couplet. It’s just
Echo: 这个算是排比句了,应该是。(Zhège suànshì páibǐ jùle, yīnggāi shì.)
David: Yeah. So what’s happening with 如 here?
Echo: 这个地方呢,“如”不是“如果”的意思,虽然它看起来很像。(Zhège dìfāng ne,“rú” bùshì “rúguǒ” de yìsi, suīrán tā kàn qǐlái hěn xiàng.)
David: Yeah. Yes, it’s not “if”, it is “like”.
Echo: 对,它是“好像”的意思。(Duì, tā shì “hǎoxiàng” de yìsi.)
David: Right.
Echo: 这个地方其实更符合“如”的,古代的意思。(Zhège dìfāng qíshí gèng fúhé “rú” de, gǔdài de yìsi.)
David: Yeah.
Echo: 就它在古代就是“好像”的意思。(Jiù tā zài gǔdài jiùshì “hǎoxiàng” de yìsi.)
David: Right. We don’t usually hear this a lot in colloquial Chinese but you can run into it sometimes. Now, in our dialogue, what was that sentence again?
Echo: 家有阿姨,如有洁癖。(Jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.)
David: And our translation of this is actually kind of rough but what it means is, if your house has an 阿姨(Āyí), then it is like having 洁癖.(Jiépǐ.)
Echo: Yeah it is like you have 洁癖。(Jiépǐ.)
David: Yeah. So getting an 阿姨 makes you obsessive compulsive.
Echo: 没错,她会让你的屋子一尘不染。(Méi cuò, tā huì ràng nǐ de wūzi yīchénbùrǎn.)
David: Yeah. So we’ve got a couple more sentences for you. This next example comes from a famous Indian poet.
Echo: 没错,是...(Méi cuò, shì...)
David: Translate it into Chinese.
Echo: 对,差不多吧。生如夏花,死如秋叶。(Duì, chàbùduō ba. Shēng rú xià huā, sǐ rú qiū yè.)
David: Let’s hear that again.
Echo: 生如夏花,死如秋叶。(Shēng rú xià huā, sǐ rú qiū yè.)
David: Right and that means to live like summer flowers and die like autumn leaves.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: And that incidentally is the name of PuShu’s great musical album.
Echo: 对。生如夏花,他的一个专辑。(Duì. Shēng rú xià huā, tā de yīgè zhuānjí.)
David: If you find it, get it. It’s great music. Next example,
Echo: 生活如六月的天气一样,不可预测。(Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.)
David: Life is like something. Let’s hear again and see if you can pick it up.
Echo: 生活如六月的天气一样,不可预测。(Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.)
David: If you guessed a box of chocolates, you are wrong.
Echo: 差不多吧。(Chàbùduō ba.)
David: The answer is, life is like weather in the month of June. It can’t be forecast.
Echo: 没错。生活如六月的天气一样,不可预测。(Méi cuò. Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.)

Outro

David: Right. So that’s our lesson for today. As always, we’ve put a lot more details and sample sentences in our lesson PDF.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: So if you haven’t checked that out, come to chineseclass101.com and download it.
Echo: Yeah.
David: It’s going to help you memorize this stuff. Okay for now though, that’s our podcast for today. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo。
David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site.
Echo: 网上见吧(Wǎngshàng jiàn ba) Bye bye.

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