Learn about a Chinese verb which can either mean "to use" or "to need," depending on how it's placed in the sentence
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brendan: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am Brendan standing in for David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo), 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo。 |
| Brendan: And today we’ve got a lower beginner lesson, season 1, Lesson 18. |
| Echo: Offering Help in Chinese. |
| Brendan: Yeah. Today’s dialogue is between two strangers who’ve met on the street. |
| Echo: And one is offering help to the other one. |
| Brendan: And as always, they are speaking to each other in very casual Mandarin. |
| Echo: Yeah let’s have a listen. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:用我帮忙吗？(Yòng wǒ bāngmáng ma?) |
| B:会不会太麻烦你了？(Huì bú huì tài máfán nǐ le?) |
| A:不麻烦，别客气。(Bù máfán, bié kèqì.) |
| B:那就谢谢了。(Nà jiù xièxiè le.) |
| A:我该怎么做？(Wǒ gāi zěnme zuò?) |
| B:拿着这儿就行。(Názhe zhèr jiù xíng.) |
| Brendan: Once more a little slower. |
| A:用我帮忙吗？(Yòng wǒ bāngmáng ma?) |
| B:会不会太麻烦你了？(Huì bú huì tài máfán nǐ le?) |
| A:不麻烦，别客气。(Bù máfán, bié kèqì.) |
| B:那就谢谢了。(Nà jiù xièxiè le.) |
| A:我该怎么做？(Wǒ gāi zěnme zuò?) |
| B:拿着这儿就行。(Názhe zhèr jiù xíng.) |
| Brendan: And now with English translation. |
| Echo: 用我帮忙吗？(Yòng wǒ bāngmáng ma?) |
| Brendan: Do you need my help? |
| Echo: 会不会太麻烦你了？(Huì bú huì tài máfán nǐ le?) |
| Brendan: Would it be any trouble? |
| Echo: 不麻烦，别客气。(Bù máfán, bié kèqì.) |
| Brendan: No trouble at all. Don’t worry. |
| Echo: 那就谢谢了。(Nà jiù xièxiè le.) |
| Brendan: Then thanks. |
| Echo: 我该怎么做？(Wǒ gāi zěnme zuò?) |
| Brendan: What should I do? |
| Echo: 拿着这儿就行。(Názhe zhèr jiù xíng.) |
| Brendan: Just hold it here. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 你觉得这个人拿了什么?(Nǐ juédé zhège rén nále shénme?) |
| Brendan: I assume that he is helping carry grocery bags or something like that. |
| Echo: That’s boring. Help a dog. |
| Brendan: It’s a large dog. 拿着这!(Názhe zhè!) How many handles does this… |
| Echo: Hold the ears. |
| Brendan: Yeah. |
| Echo: Anyway, today’s vocab is mostly about like how to offering help or what are you going to say when you offer help. |
| Brendan: Exactly. Its words that you can use in the same situation. |
| Echo: 我们听一下吧!(Wǒmen tīng yīxià ba!) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 用。(yòng.) |
| Brendan: To need. |
| Echo: 用, 用, 会不会。(yòng, yòng, huìbúhuì.) |
| Brendan: Will it. |
| Echo: 会不会, 会不会, 太...了。(huìbúhuì, huìbúhuì, tài ... le.) |
| Brendan: To something. |
| Echo: 太...了, 太...了, 麻烦。(tài ... le, tài ... le, máfán.) |
| Brendan: Troublesome. |
| Echo: 麻烦, 麻烦, 别客气。(máfán, máfán, bié kèqì.) |
| Brendan: Don’t worry. |
| Echo: 别客气, 别客气, 那。(bié kèqì, bié kèqì, nà.) |
| Brendan: Then |
| Echo: 那, 那, 该。(nà, nà, gāi.) |
| Brendan: Should |
| Echo: 该, 该, 拿。(gāi, gāi, ná.) |
| Brendan: To hold |
| Echo: 拿, 拿。(ná, ná.) |
| Brendan: Now let’s take a closer look at some of these words. The first word is troublesome. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 麻烦。(máfán.) |
| Brendan: We see that in the sentence, would it be too much trouble or would it be too troublesome. |
| Echo: 会不会 太麻烦你了？(Huì bú huì tài máfán nǐ le?) |
| Brendan: Yeah you can use it when you are making requests. |
| Echo: Like 麻烦你吗?(Máfan nǐ ma?) |
| Brendan: Yeah, can I trouble you? |
| Echo: Or 这样会不会太麻烦了?(Zhèyàng huì bù huì tài máfanle?) |
| Brendan: Would that be too much trouble? |
| Echo: 麻烦你 帮我一下。(Máfan nǐ bāng wǒ yīxià.) |
| Brendan: Can I trouble you to give me a hand. A slightly more simple word next to hold. |
| Echo: 拿。(Ná.) |
| Brendan: As in just hold here. |
| Echo: 拿着。(Názhe.) |
| Brendan: Or could you hold this for me? |
| Echo: 唔, 你能帮我拿一下吗?(Wú, nǐ néng bāng wǒ ná yīxià ma?) |
| Brendan: Or could I trouble you to hold this for me? |
| Echo: 唔, 我能麻烦你帮我拿一下吗?(Wú, wǒ néng máfan nǐ bāng wǒ ná yīxià ma?) That’s a little bit complex. |
| Brendan: A little bit. |
| Echo: Yeah let me repeat it one more time 我能麻烦你帮我拿一下吗?(Wǒ néng máfan nǐ bāng wǒ ná yīxià ma?) |
| Brendan: And that literally is, can I trouble you to hold this for me. |
| Echo: Yeah 我能麻烦你帮我拿一下吗?(Wǒ néng máfan nǐ bāng wǒ ná yīxià ma?) |
| Brendan: Slightly more simply, there is don’t worry. |
| Echo: 别客气。(Bié kèqì.) |
| Brendan: Now you might have heard this before. If you thank somebody, they will say |
| Echo: 别客气 or 不客气。(Bié kèqì or bù kèqì.) |
| Brendan: Right which really means don’t be so polite. |
| Echo: Yeah you are welcome but here it means don’t worry 别客气。(Bié kèqì.) |
| Brendan: And sometimes if somebody really wants to emphasize that you don’t have to worry, you don’t have to thank me, you don’t have to be so polite, they can say |
| Echo:不用客气(Bùyòng kèqì) Yeah it sounds more polite because it has more characters there. |
| Brendan: Well that and it’s also you know, you needn’t be so polite. |
| Echo: Yeah 不用客气, 不用客气.(Bùyòng kèqì, bùyòng kèqì.) You can say it more than one time. |
| Brendan: Indeed. |
| Echo: Okay and last word we would like to highlight is 那。(Nà.) |
| Brendan: And that really just means then. |
| Echo: Yeah this is different from like what we see in the absolute beginner level. It’s like that. |
| Brendan: Right. They are written with the same character but now it is just something you put at the start of a sentence with the start of a clause and it means then, if this, then that. |
| Echo: Yeah for example, 你不来, 那我去吧!(Nǐ bù lái, nà wǒ qù ba!) |
| Brendan: If you won’t come, then I will go. |
| Echo: Or 你不帮忙, 那我自己做吧!(Nǐ bù bāngmáng, nà wǒ zìjǐ zuò ba!) |
| Brendan: If you won’t help, then I will do it myself. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: All right. Now let’s move on to the grammar point. It’s grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: I love this grammar point today. |
| Brendan: Well we already kind of touched on it right? |
| Echo: Yeah we mentioned it in the vocab section but it’s not really a word. |
| Brendan: Yeah it was kind of hidden. |
| Echo: It’s this one 用。(Yòng.) |
| Brendan: Right. Now you may have seen this used elsewhere. Sometimes |
| Echo: 用。(Yòng.) |
| Brendan: Means to use. |
| Echo: Yeah most of the times I would say it means… |
| Brendan: Sometimes 用(Yòng) means to use. |
| Echo: Right like 用钥匙开门。(Yòng yàoshi kāimén.) |
| Brendan: Right use the key to open the door. |
| Echo: Or 用我的车吧!(Yòng wǒ de chē ba!) |
| Brendan: Use my car but in those cases, what you are 用(Yòng) ing is a noun. |
| Echo: Yeah. Right like to use a tool word to use something. |
| Brendan: Right. If you are putting it before a verb as we do in this. So you may have seen 用(Yòng) being used in that way before but in this dialogue, we see it being used in a different way. |
| Echo: Yeah it’s in this sentence 用我帮忙吗？(Yòng wǒ bāngmáng ma?) |
| Brendan: That is 用(Yòng) me to help. Well use doesn’t make sense there. |
| Echo: No, no. |
| Brendan: And in fact, when you see 用(Yòng) being used in this way, it means to need. |
| Echo: Yeah 用我帮忙吗？(Yòng wǒ bāngmáng ma?). Yeah it’s like 用(Yòng) someone and then the main verb. |
| Brendan: Right. In our examples, we also said, you don’t have to be so polite. |
| Echo: 你不用这么客气。(Nǐ bùyòng zhème kèqì.) |
| Brendan: Right or just |
| Echo: 不用客气。(Bùyòng kèqì.) |
| Brendan: Yeah. |
| Echo: Let’s have some other examples. 用我换灯泡吗?(Yòng wǒ huàn dēngpào ma?) |
| Brendan: Do you need me to change the light bulb? |
| Echo: 用我换灯泡吗? 用我们过来帮忙吗?(Yòng wǒ huàn dēngpào ma? Yòng wǒmen guòlái bāngmáng ma?) |
| Brendan: Do you need us to come over and help? |
| Echo: 用我们过来帮忙吗? 用我告诉她吗?(Yòng wǒmen guòlái bāngmáng ma? Yòng wǒ gàosù tā ma?) |
| Brendan: Do you need me to tell her? |
| Echo: 用我告诉她吗? 不用过来了, 我自己能成。(Yòng wǒ gàosù tā ma? Bùyòng guòláile, wǒ zìjǐ néngchéng.) |
| Brendan: You don’t have to come over, I can do it myself. |
| Echo: 不用过来了, 我自己能成, 我们用不用叫外卖?(Bùyòng guòláile, wǒ zìjǐ néngchéng, wǒmen yòng bùyòng jiào wàimài?) |
| Brendan: Do we need to order delivery? |
| Echo: 我们用不用叫外卖?(Wǒmen yòng bùyòng jiào wàimài?) |
| Brendan: So the rule of thumb is, if 用(Yòng) is coming before a tool, before an object… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: Then it means to use but if it’s coming before a verb or a verb phrase.. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: Then it means to need. |
| Echo: Yeah or the people who are like going to need something or going to offer help. |
| Brendan: Right. |
| Echo: So it’s not that difficult and you can actually replace 用(Yòng) with 需要。(Xūyào.) |
| Brendan: Right. And 需要(Xūyào) is a word that more literally means to need or to require. |
| Echo: Right like 需要(Xūyào) is more like the formal form of to need but 用(Yòng) is like the colloquial way. |
| Brendan: Yeah. People tend to use 用(Yòng) a little bit more in speech, 需要(Xūyào) a little bit more in right, either formal context or in writing. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
Outro |
| Brendan: Now that’s all we’ve got time for today. Before we go, a quick reminder. |
| Echo: Yeah. If you have any questions about today’s lesson, you can always leave a comment on our site or you can write to us at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Brendan: We look forward to hearing from you. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| Brendan: From Beijing, I am Brendan. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo。 |
| Brendan: Thanks for listening. |
| Echo: 网上见。(Wǎngshàng jiàn.) Bye bye. |
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