Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David.
Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo。
David: And we are here with lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 11.
Echo: What’s Your Chinese Sign?
David: Right. We are talking about the year of the pig, year of the rabbit.
Echo: Right not like zodiacs.
David: Yes not the western zodiac, the special Chinese zodiac. So Echo, we have a romantic dialogue today.
Echo: Sort of, yeah. It’s between a guy and a girl.
David: It’s 50% romantic.
Echo: Yes.
David: Yeah and it`s casual Mandarin.
Echo: As usual.
David: Let’s get to it.
DIALOGUE
A:你应该做我女朋友。(Nǐ yīnggāi zuò wǒ nǚpéngyǒu.)
B:为什么? (Wèishénme ?)
A:因为你属兔。(Yīnwèi nǐ shǔ tù.)
B:什么意思?(Shénme yìsi ?)
A:我属蛇,我们在一起很合适。(Wǒ shǔ shé, wǒmen zài yìqǐ hěn héshì.)
B:蛇?不行不行,我最讨厌蛇了。(Shé ? Bùxíng bùxíng, wǒzuì tǎoyàn shé le.)
A:呃...... (E......)
B:想到蛇就恶心。 (Xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: Once more, a bit slower.
A:你应该做我女朋友。(Nǐ yīnggāi zuò wǒ nǚpéngyǒu.)
B:为什么? (Wèishénme ?)
A:因为你属兔。(Yīnwèi nǐ shǔ tù.)
B:什么意思?(Shénme yìsi ?)
A:我属蛇,我们在一起很合适。(Wǒ shǔ shé, wǒmen zài yìqǐ hěn héshì.)
B:蛇?不行不行,我最讨厌蛇了。(Shé ? Bùxíng bùxíng, wǒzuì tǎoyàn shé le.)
A:呃...... (E......)
B:想到蛇就恶心 (Xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: And now with an English translation.
Echo: 你应该做我女朋友。(Nǐ yīnggāi zuò wǒ nǚpéngyǒu.)
David: You should be my girlfriend.
Echo: 为什么? (Wèishénme ?)
David: Why?
Echo: 因为你属兔。(Yīnwèi nǐ shǔ tù.)
David: Because you were born in the year of the rabbit.
Echo: 什么意思?(Shénme yìsi ?)
David: What do you mean?
Echo: 我属蛇,我们在一起很合适。(Wǒ shǔ shé, wǒmen zài yìqǐ hěn héshì.)
David: I was born in the year of the snake. We will go well together.
Echo: 蛇?不行不行,我最讨厌蛇了。(Shé ? Bùxíng bùxíng, wǒzuì tǎoyàn shé le.)
David: Snake? Oh no, no, no. I hate snakes the most.
Echo: 呃...... (E......)
David: Ah!
Echo: 想到蛇就恶心。(Xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: As soon as I think of snakes, I get nauseous.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Echo: Do you like snakes?
David: Yes. I do.
Echo: I mean they can be…
David: Better than rats. Well I mean, year of the rat is the rough one.
Echo: Yes.
David: But it’s auspicious when it’s your year.
Echo: Me?
David: Are you a rat?
Echo: No I am a tiger.
David: Here is a chineseclass101 tip. When it is your year, you have to wear red.
Echo: Yes.
David: Right.
Echo: Right.
David: This is auspicious.
Echo: Yeah especially like red belt.
David: Or red underwear.
Echo: Yes.
David: So now you know…
Echo: But not the whole year, just you know the New Year Eve.
David: Important days of the year.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Anyway, let’s get to our vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 应该。(Yīnggāi.)
David: Should.
Echo: 应该,应该,做。(Yīnggāi, yīnggāi, zuò.)
David: To be
Echo:做,做,女朋友。(Zuò, zuò, nǚ péngyǒu.)
David: Girlfriend.
Echo: 女朋友,女朋友,男朋友。(Nǚ péngyǒu, nǚ péngyǒu, nán péngyǒu.)
David: Boyfriend.
Echo: 男朋友, 男朋友,因为。(Nán péngyǒu, nán péngyǒu, yīnwèi.)
David: Because.
Echo: 因为, 因为,属。(Yīnwèi, yīnwèi, shǔ.)
David: To belong to.
Echo:属, 属,合适。(Shǔ, shǔ, héshì.)
David: Suitable.
Echo: 合适,合适,讨厌。(Héshì, héshì, tǎoyàn.)
David: To detest.
Echo: 讨厌,讨厌,恶心。(Tǎoyàn, tǎoyàn, ěxīn.)
David: Nauseous.
Echo: 恶心,恶心。(Ěxīn, ěxīn.)
David: Lots of words to highlight here. First a reminder of the pronunciation of because
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Echo: 因为。(Yīnwèi.)
David: Because.
Echo: 因为。(Yīnwèi.)
David: Because that’s the formal pronunciation Echo.
Echo: 因为。(Yīnwèi.)
David: Right but in China, everyone also says it this way.
Echo: 因为。(Yīnwèi.)
David: Right. So second tone or fourth tone both are okay.
Echo: But if you are taking Chinese tests
David: Yeah they will mark you wrong if you put that in the second tone but everyone says it in the second tone.
Echo: Yeah.
David: It sounds better in the second tone. That’s what I think. We have some more words here. Echo, how about this word for nauseous?
Echo: 恶心。(Ěxīn.)
David: Nauseous.
Echo: 恶心。 (Ěxīn.)
David: It doesn’t just mean physically sick.
Echo: No it doesn’t.
David: Yeah so it can also mean disgusted or…
Echo: Yeah or 你真恶心。 (Nǐ zhēn ěxīn.)
David: Oh if someone says something nasty or vulgar, you can say that.
Echo: Yeah or it can be just a joke or 这个菜真恶心。(Zhège cài zhēn ěxīn.)
David: And if there is something that is really
Echo: 恶心。(Ěxīn.)
David: You are going to find that a lot of people
Echo: 讨厌。(Tǎoyàn.)
David: To detest.
Echo: 我真讨厌这个菜。(Wǒ zhēn tǎoyàn zhège cài.)
David: Yes. I really hate this dish.
Echo: 我真讨厌这个菜。 (Wǒ zhēn tǎoyàn zhège cài.)
David: Right. This word, you do have to be careful with if you are a man…
Echo: Yeah.
David: Because it’s much more commonly used by women.
Echo: Yeah especially when you use this word alone.
David: Yeah.
Echo: Yeah like 讨厌 (Tǎoyàn) or 你讨厌。(Nǐ tǎoyàn.)
David: Or with 讨厌鬼。(Tǎoyàn guǐ.)
Echo: Yeah 讨厌鬼。(Tǎoyàn guǐ.)
David: This is – you will hear younger kind of teenage girls say this. It’s kind of the Chinese equivalent of valley talk, I guess.
Echo: Yeah.
David: So be careful but it’s so common. I mean even men will use it.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Right. Do the test.
Echo: 讨厌 (Tǎoyàn) And last but not least, we have the word 合适。(Héshì.)
David: Suitable.
Echo: 合适。 (Héshì.)
David: Right and we are just highlighting this because it’s easily confused with another word.
Echo: 没错, 适合。(Méi cuò, shìhé.)
David: Which is the verb.
Echo: Yeah and 合适 (Héshì) here is an adjective.
David: Right. So you could say that something is very suitable.
Echo: 这件衣服很合适。(Zhè jiàn yīfú hěn héshì.)
David: Or you could use this verb and say that something suits you or it’s suitable for someone.
Echo: 对, 这件衣服 适合你。 (Duì, zhè jiàn yīfú shìhé nǐ.)
David: Yeah. Both are okay, everyone mixes them up. Just be a bit careful with that.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Okay and with that, let’s get on to our grammar point which is fun.
Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.)

Lesson focus

David: It’s grammar time. In previous lessons, we’ve taught you the
Echo: 一....就... (Yī.... Jiù...)
David: Structure which means as soon as something happens..
Echo: Then…
David: Then, something else happens.
Echo: Yeah it’s very commonly used.
David: Yeah for instance
Echo: 我一来, 他就走了。(Wǒ yī lái, tā jiù zǒule.)
David: As soon as I showed up, he left.
Echo: 我一来, 他就走了。(Wǒ yī lái, tā jiù zǒule.)
David: Right. So it’s not the number one, it’s saying as soon as this happens, 就 (Jiù) then something else happens.
Echo: Yeah.
David: We see something fun in our dialogue though.
Echo: Umm right. It’s actually in the last sentence. 想到蛇 就恶心。(Xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: Let’s hear that again.
Echo: 想到蛇 就恶心。 (Xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: So we are missing the subject which is 你 (Nǐ) but we are also missing the
Echo: 一.(Yī).
David: Right.
Echo: Yeah we don’t want to have a 就 (Jiù) there.
David: Right. It’s the same pattern. It’s this 一....就... (Yī.... Jiù...) pattern…
Echo: Right.
David: But we’ve dropped the 一 because we don’t need it.
Echo: If we put the subject and 一 back into the sentence, it should be 我一想到蛇就恶心。(Wǒ yī xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: As soon as I think of snakes, then I get disgusted.
Echo: Right. 我一想到蛇就恶心。(Wǒ yī xiǎngdào shé jiù ěxīn.)
David: Yeah and people will also translate this as when, when I think of snakes, then I get disgusted.
Echo: Yeah.
David: But in this case, the thing to note is it’s a colloquial omission…
Echo: Yes.
David: Of the 一 but it’s the same pattern. Now Echo, you’ve got a couple of examples of this for us just to help us work it out.
Echo: 没错, 看到属蛇的人, 她就高兴。(Méi cuò, kàn dào shǔ shé de rén, tā jiù gāoxìng.)
David: When she sees someone born in the year of the snake, she is excited.
Echo: 看到属蛇的人, 她,就高兴。(Kàn dào shǔ shé de rén, tā, jiù gāoxìng.)
David: She takes astrology very seriously.
Echo: 唔,有点迷信。(Wú, yǒudiǎn míxìn.)
David: Yes.
Echo: 她的朋友拿了钱 就走了。(Tā de péngyǒu nále qián jiù zǒule.)
David: Her friend took the money and left. As soon as she got her hands on the money, she was gone.
Echo: 孩子睡着觉, 就安静了。(Háizi shuìzhe jué, jiù ānjìngle.)
David: That’s for any new parents listening.
Echo: 孩子睡着觉, 就安静了。(Háizi shuìzhe jué, jiù ānjìngle.)
David: As soon as the child fell asleep, it was quiet. Right, so again this is a simple pattern.
Echo: Yeah 一....就... (Yī.... Jiù...)
David: As soon as something, something else.
Echo: Yeah.
David: The important thing to note here is that sometimes we are going to drop that e in the colloquial Mandarin.
Echo: Yeah but it still means the same thing.

Outro

David: Yeah and with that, we are done our lesson for today. Let us remind you if you haven’t yet, you can visit us at chineseclass101.com
Echo: Yeah.
David: And give us your email address for a free lifetime account.
Echo: Yeah. It will only take you 7 seconds.
David: Or less….
Echo: Or even yeah less.
David: With that though, that is all the time we have. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是Echo。(Wǒ shì Echo.)
David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site.
Echo: 我们网上见吧! (Wǒmen wǎngshàng jiàn ba!)

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