Learn how to talk about doing something for someone, using the preposition 给
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| INTRODUCTION |
| DAVID: Welcome to ChineseClass101.com. I'm David. |
| Amber: 大家好，我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó) |
| DAVID: And we’re here today with Upper Beginner Series, Season 1, Lesson 7 - It's all about impressing the bartender in China. |
| Amber: 对，在中国去酒吧。(Duì, zài zhōngguó qù jiǔbā.) |
| DAVID: Right. And not just going to the bar, but impressing the bartender. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: Right. So this is language for going out and having a party on Friday night. We’ve got a dialogue here which takes place between two friends. |
| Amber: 在酒吧里。(Zài jiǔbā lǐ.) |
| DAVID: Right. They’re in a bar, they’re going to order drinks, and they’re doing it in casual Chinese. |
| Amber: 对，现在听对话吧！(Duì, xiànzài tīng duìhuà ba!) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 我去吧台。(Wǒ qù bātái.) |
| B: 给我带点饮料。(Gěi wǒ dài diǎn yǐnliào.) |
| A: 你想喝什么？啤酒？(Nǐ xiǎng hē shénme? Píjiǔ?) |
| B: 可乐。(Kělè.) |
| A: 酒保会笑话我啊。(Jiǔbǎo huì xiàohuà wǒ a.) |
| B: 那威士忌可乐吧......少放威士忌。(Nà wēishiji kělè ba...... shǎo fàng wēishiji.) |
| A: I'm going to the bar. |
| B: Bring me a drink. |
| A: What do you want to drink? Beer? |
| B: Cola. |
| A: The bartender's going to laugh at me. |
| B: Then a whiskey cola, with less whiskey. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| VOCAB LIST |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| DAVID: Let’s have a closer look at some of these words. The first word we want to highlight is the word for “bar”. |
| Amber: 酒吧。(jiǔbā.) |
| DAVID: Bar. |
| Amber: 酒吧。(jiǔbā.) |
| DAVID: Right. And this is actually the physical establishment. It’s the shop that sells alcohol. |
| Amber: 没错, 卖酒的店。(Méi cuò, mài jiǔ de diàn.) |
| DAVID: Right. And most cities in China are actually going to have a bar street. |
| Amber: 酒吧街。(Jiǔbā jiē.) |
| DAVID: Which is literally at “bar” plus the word for “street:. |
| Amber: 酒吧街, 整个一条街都是酒吧。(Jiǔbā jiē, zhěnggè yītiáo jiē dōu shì jiǔbā.) |
| DAVID: Right. Now, in Beijing, the bar street is 三里屯.(Sānlǐtún.) |
| Amber: 在北京 酒吧街在三里屯。(Zài běijīng jiǔbā jiē zài sānlǐtún.) |
| DAVID: In Beijing, the bar street is 三里屯.(Sānlǐtún.) |
| Amber: 在北京 酒吧街在三里屯, 大家要记住这个。(Zài běijīng jiǔbā jiē zài sānlǐtún, dàjiā yào jì zhù zhège.) |
| DAVID: Right. It was useful. They’ve also got the Max store there, so it’s a fun place. Our next word is also “bar” in English but it’s a different kind of bar. |
| Amber: 吧台。(bātái.) |
| DAVID: Bar. |
| Amber: 吧台。(bātái.) |
| DAVID: Literally this is the bar counter. |
| Amber: 吧台。(bātái.) |
| DAVID: Right. It’s the long service area where they serve out drinks. Right? So if you want to go order drinks in a bar, you can tell your friends, “I'm going to the counter.” |
| Amber: 我去吧台。(Wǒ qù bātái.) |
| DAVID: Wait a bit. I'm going to the bar. |
| Amber: 等一下，我去吧台。(Děng yīxià, wǒ qù bātái.) |
| DAVID: Right. In the bar, there’s often a lot of people clambering for the attention of the bartender. In Chinese, you can call for his attention by using his name. |
| Amber: 酒保。(Jiǔbǎo.) |
| DAVID: Or her name. |
| Amber: 酒保。(Jiǔbǎo.) |
| DAVID: Which is the “wine guardian”, literally. |
| Amber: 酒保, 没错。(Jiǔbǎo, méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Right. So you could say, “Bartender, give me a beer.” |
| Amber: 酒保，给我一杯啤酒。(Jiǔbǎo, gěi wǒ yībēi píjiǔ.) |
| DAVID: Bartender, give me a glass of wine. |
| Amber: 酒保，给我一杯红酒。(Jiǔbǎo, gěi wǒ yībēi hóngjiǔ.) |
| DAVID: Bartender, give me a whisky coke. |
| Amber: 酒保，给我一杯威士忌可乐。(Jiǔbǎo, gěi wǒ yībēi wēishìjì kělè.) |
| DAVID: And that’s the next word we want to highlight, is the word for “cola”. |
| Amber: 可乐。(Kělè.) |
| DAVID: Cola. |
| Amber: 可乐, 发音很像。(Kělè, fāyīn hěn xiàng.) |
| DAVID: Yes, it’s a loan word from the England. What’s interesting is this simultaneously every kind of cola there is, and also Coca-Cola. |
| Amber: 可口可乐。(Kěkǒukělè.) |
| DAVID: Which has to be the best translated brand name into Chinese ever. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: It literally means… |
| Amber: 可口可乐。(Kěkǒukělè.) |
| DAVID: Which is 可口(Kěkǒu), sort of pleasing to the mouth. |
| Amber: Yeah, right. Delicious, yummy. |
| DAVID: Yes, so it’s mouth-pleasing cola. |
| Amber: 可口可乐。(Kěkǒukělè.) |
| DAVID: Right. And, of course, you can combine it with whiskey. |
| Amber: 威士忌。(Wēishìjì.) |
| DAVID: Which is also a loan word. We’ve got all of these words in our transcript, so we’re going to move on now to our grammar point. |
| Amber: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| DAVID: In previous lessons, we’ve learned that prepositions come before verbs in Chinese. For instance, remember the preposition . |
| Amber: 往。(Wǎng.) |
| DAVID: We put this in front of a verb when giving directions. |
| Amber: 没错, 比如说往前走。(Méi cuò, bǐrú shuō wǎng qián zǒu.) |
| DAVID: Towards the front to go. |
| Amber: 或者往后走。(Huòzhě wǎng hòu zǒu.) |
| DAVID: “Go backwards.” Our grammar point today is about another preposition. |
| Amber: 给。(Gěi.) |
| DAVID: As a verb, this means “to give”. |
| Amber: 给。(Gěi.) |
| DAVID: As a preposition, it means “for” or “to”. |
| Amber: 没错, 给。(Méi cuò, gěi.) |
| DAVID: For instance, in our dialogue, we hear it in this sentence. |
| Amber: 给我带点饮料。(Gěi wǒ dài diǎn yǐnliào.) |
| DAVID: Bring me a drink. |
| Amber: 给我带点饮料。(Gěi wǒ dài diǎn yǐnliào.) |
| DAVID: Literally this is “For me bring a drink”. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Right. |
| Amber: 我们会先说 给我，再说带点饮料。(Wǒmen huì xiān shuō gěi wǒ, zàishuō dài diǎn yǐnliào.) |
| DAVID: Right. So the verb there is 带(Dài), which means “to bring” and 给 (Gěi) here is a preposition meaning “to”. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò) |
| DAVID: For instance, we can change it up. We can say “Give him a coke.” |
| Amber: 给他带一杯可乐。(Gěi tā dài yībēi kělè.) |
| DAVID: For him to bring a glass of coke. |
| Amber: 唔，给他带一杯可乐。(Wú, gěi tā dài yībēi kělè.) |
| DAVID: Right. Or “Bring him a glass of wine.” |
| Amber: 给他带一杯红酒。(Gěi tā dài yībēi hóngjiǔ.) |
| DAVID: Bring him a glass of wine. |
| Amber: 给他带一杯红酒。(Gěi tā dài yībēi hóngjiǔ.) |
| DAVID: Right. This confuses a lot of people who are new to Chinese because we learn that 给 (Gěi) is a verb. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: And then whenever we see it, we try to translate it as “to give”. |
| Amber: 给你，给我。(Gěi nǐ, gěi wǒ.) |
| DAVID: Yeah, and it does make sense. But in this situation, if you treat it like a preposition, it will make a lot more sense. And remember, we can use this with many verbs, not just 带.(Dài.) |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: A common one, for instance, is “to buy” if you’re buying something for someone or something. For instance - |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: Yeah, you might say… |
| Amber: 给猫买猫粮。(Gěi māo mǎi māo liáng.) |
| DAVID: To buy food for the cat. |
| Amber: 给猫买猫粮。(Gěi māo mǎi māo liáng.) |
| DAVID: How about to buy a birthday present for your spouse? |
| Amber: 给爱人买生日礼物。(Gěi àirén mǎi shēngrì lǐwù.) |
| DAVID: How about to buy a present for your boyfriend? |
| Amber: 给男朋友买礼物。(Gěi nán péngyǒu mǎi lǐwù.) |
| DAVID: Or to buy a present for your girlfriend. |
| Amber: 给女朋友买礼物。(Gěi nǚ péngyǒu mǎi lǐwù.) |
| DAVID: And in either case, when you present the gift, you might want to say “I bought you this present.” |
| Amber: 我给你买了这个礼物。(Wǒ gěi nǐ mǎile zhège lǐwù.) |
| DAVID: Right. So, remember, when you see the verb… |
| Amber: 给。(Gěi.) |
| DAVID: It isn’t always a verb. Sometimes it’s a preposition. The fastest way to track is just see if there’s another verb after it. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| DAVID: For now though, that’s all the time we have. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you on ChineseClass101.com. |
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