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 today with upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 18. A Tough Chinese Choice.
Echo: 唔,很难的算择。(Wú, hěn nán de suàn zé.)
David: Yeah. I hope I am never in this situation. Echo, what happens in our dialogue today?
Echo: Ah, 今天的对话呢 是发生在一间办公室里, 两个同事在聊天。 (Jīntiān de duìhuà ne shì fāshēng zài yī jiàn bàngōngshì lǐ, liǎng gè tóngshì zài liáotiān.)
David: Yes and they are talking about home life.
Echo: 唔,对,就一些家务事。 (Wú, duì, jiù yīxiē jiāwù shì.)
David: Yes. So this is casual Mandarin as always. Let’s go to the dialogue.
Echo: 好! (Hǎo!)
DIALOGUE
A 怎么啦?愁眉苦脸的。 (A Zěnme la? Chóuméikǔliǎn de.)
B 哎,还不是我妈和我媳妇。 (B āi, hái bù shì wǒmā hé wǒ xífu.)
A 又吵架了? (A Yòu chǎo jià le ?)
B 天天吵,我都快受不了了。 (B Tiāntiān chǎo, wǒ dōu kuài shòu buliǎo le.)
A 究竟是为什么呀? (A Jiūjìng shì wèishénme ya?)
B 一些鸡毛蒜皮的小事。就是互相看着不顺眼呗。 (B Yīxiē jīmáosuànpí de xiǎoshì. Jiùshì hùxiāng kànzhe bùshùnyǎn bei.)
A 干脆别跟你妈住一块儿了,搬出去得了。 (A Gāncuì bié gēn nǐmā zhù yīkuàier le, bānchūqù dé le.)
B 可谁给我们做饭呀? (B Kě shéi gěi wǒmen zuòfàn yāa)
A 那就跟你媳妇离,省得她老和你妈吵。 (A Nà jiù gēn nǐ xífu lí, shěng de tā lǎo hé nǐmā chǎo.)
B 那谁给我生儿子呀? (B Nà Shéigěi wǒ shēng érzi ya?)
A: What's wrong? You look so sad.
B: Well, it's my mother and wife again.
A: They are fighting again?
B: They fight everyday! I can't take it anymore.
A: So why are they fighting anyway?
B: Just some worthless stuff. It's just that they can't get along.
A: Why don't you stop sharing a house with your mother and move out.
B: But who will cook for us?
A: Then divorce your wife and save this quarreling with your mother.
B: Then who will give me a son?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: This is a really Chinese dialogue.
Echo: 对,我们中文有一句话说叫, “清官难断家务事”, 就是再厉害的大官, 也没法判断这个家里的这个事, 谁对谁错。 (Duì, wǒmen zhōngwén yǒu yījù huàshuō jiào, “qīngguān nán duàn jiāwù shì”, jiùshì zài lìhài de dà guān, yě méi fǎ pànduàn zhège jiālǐ de zhège shì, shéi duì shéi cuò.)
David: Yeah. Anyway, I hope I am never in this situation. Our vocab today is about – it’s about trouble, it’s about frustrations and arguments and fights and stuff. So let’s get right to it.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 愁眉苦脸。 (chóuméikǔliǎn.)
David: Sad and distressed.
Echo: 愁 眉 苦 脸, 愁眉苦脸, 吵架。 (chóu méi kǔ liǎn, chóuméikǔliǎn, chǎojià.)
David: To quarrel.
Echo: 吵 架, 吵架, 不顺眼。 (chǎo jià, chǎojià, bùshùnyǎn.)
David: Not to one’s taste.
Echo: 不 顺 眼, 不顺眼, 互相。 (bù shùn yǎn, bùshùnyǎn, hùxiāng. )
David: Each other.
Echo: 互 相, 互相, 干脆。 (hù xiāng, hùxiāng, gāncuì.)
David: Let it be clear cut.
Echo: 干 脆, 干脆, 省的。 (gān cuì,gāncuì, shěng de.)
David: To save trouble.
Echo: 省 的, 省的, 孝顺。 (shěng de, shěng de, xiàoshùn.)
David: Filial .
Echo: 孝 顺, 孝顺, 鸡毛蒜皮。 (xiào shùn, xiàoshùn, jīmáo suànpí.)
David: Trivial matters.
Echo: 鸡 毛 蒜 皮, 鸡毛蒜皮。 (jī máo suàn pí, jīmáo suànpí.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Okay. We are going to start looking at our vocab backwards starting from trivial matters.
Echo: 鸡毛蒜皮, 我们可以直解来看,就是鸡的毛和蒜的皮。 (Jīmáosuànpí, wǒmen kěyǐ zhí jiě lái kàn, jiùshì jī de máo hé suàn de pí.)
David: Yes it’s garlic skin and chicken feathers.
Echo: 对, 鸡毛蒜皮。 (Duì, jīmáosuànpí.)
David: And these are little – little things that people fight over.
Echo: 对,就是很小的事。 (Duì, jiùshì hěn xiǎo de shì.)
David: Yeah. No one ever says, oh great. We have so many of these little things.
Echo: 哈哈哈!对,一般都是 唉!鸡毛蒜皮的事。 (Hāhā hā! Duì, yībān dōu shì āi! Jīmáosuànpí de shì.)
David: Yeah. It’s always…
Echo: 不值得吵架。 (Bù zhídé chǎojià.)
David: Yeah it’s negative. We’ve got of course the words for quarreling here.
Echo: 吵架。 (Chǎojià.)
David: And we’ve got another powerful four character phrase that opens our dialogue.
Echo: 愁眉苦脸。 (Chóuméikǔliǎn.)
David: Sad and distressed.
Echo: 对,就是你的眉毛看起来都很发愁,你的脸看起来就很痛苦。 (Duì, jiùshì nǐ de méimáo kàn qǐlái dōu hěn fāchóu, nǐ de liǎn kàn qǐlái jiù hěn tòngkǔ.)
David: Right. So it’s sort of like you are crying and distressed and your eyebrows are all scrunched up too.
Echo: 对, 愁眉苦脸, 比如说他家里天天吵架,他自然看起来就愁眉苦脸了。 (Duì, chóuméikǔliǎn, bǐrú shuō tā jiālǐ tiāntiān chǎojià, tā zìrán kàn qǐlái jiù chóuméikǔliǎnle.)
David: Right. The next word we want to take a look at is a verb.
Echo: 省得。 (Shěng de.)
David: Which is really a verb phrase.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: It means saving ourselves the trouble of what follows.
Echo: 没错, 省的, 比如说 让你媳妇孝顺一点儿, 省得你妈妈生气。 (Méi cuò, shěng de, bǐrú shuō ràng nǐ xífù xiàoshùn yīdiǎn er, shěngdé nǐ māmā shēngqì.)
David: Right. Ask your wife to be a bit more filial to save your mother from getting angry.
Echo: 对, 让你媳妇孝顺一点儿, 省得你妈妈生气。 (Duì, ràng nǐ xífù xiàoshùn yīdiǎn er, shěngdé nǐ māmā shēngqì.)
David: Now you said the word for filial there.
Echo: 唔, 孝顺。 (Wú, xiàoshùn.)
David: Right. So this applies for women as well as men.
Echo: 对,都一样的,这个词非常中国我觉得。 (Duì, dōu yīyàng de, zhège cí fēicháng zhōngguó wǒ juédé.)
David: Yeah. Well, I mean filial, it’s a western word as well but it applies mostly to men and sons. So in Chinese, it’s both men and women.
Echo: 都可以, 孝顺, 但是一般你只能说孩子孝顺父母。 (Dōu kěyǐ, xiàoshùn, dànshì yībān nǐ zhǐ néng shuō háizi xiàoshùn fùmǔ.)
David: Yeah.
Echo: 其他情况下都不可以。 (Qítā qíngkuàng xià dōu bù kěyǐ.)
David: Right. The last word we want to highlight for you is, when something is not your taste.
Echo: 唔, 不顺眼。 (Wú, bù shùnyǎn.)
David: Echo, can you give us an example of this being used in context.
Echo: 没问题,比如说 新来的同事看我总不顺眼, 所以我们终于吵架了。 (Méi wèntí, bǐrú shuō xīn lái de tóngshì kàn wǒ zǒng bù shùnyǎn, suǒyǐ wǒmen zhōngyú chǎojiàle.)
David: Your new colleague always treated you poorly.
Echo: 对,他总是看你很别扭。 (Duì, tā zǒng shì kàn nǐ hěn bièniu.)
David: Right. Literally he looks at you and it’s not smooth.
Echo: 对 (Duì), not smoothy eyes.
David: Right. So it’s a euphemism. There is some tension there.
Echo: 对, 新来的同事总是看我不顺眼, 所以我们终于吵架了。 (Duì, xīn lái de tóngshì zǒng shì kàn wǒ bù shùnyǎn, suǒyǐ wǒmen zhōngyú chǎojiàle.)
David: Yeah. What it really means is to look out with dislike.
Echo: 对, 没错。 (Duì, méi cuò.)
David: Okay. With that, we’re done our vocab for today. We are going to move on to a grammar point that is fantastic.

Lesson focus

Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: It’s grammar time.
Echo: 今天的语法点我们要给大家介绍一个非常口语, 非常地道, 只有真正的这个中国人才会经常用的一个词。 (Jīntiān de yǔfǎ diǎn wǒmen yào gěi dàjiā jièshào yīgè fēicháng kǒuyǔ, fēicháng dìdào, zhǐyǒu zhēnzhèng de zhège zhōngguó réncái huì jīngcháng yòng de yīgè cí.)
David: Yes. If you start using this, you are going to sound so native.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: That people may just throw themselves down on the ground and worship your Chinese.
Echo: 对,因为它其实更多的不是一个语法,它是一种语感。 (Duì, yīnwèi tā qíshí gèng duō de bùshì yīgè yǔfǎ, tā shì yī zhǒng yǔgǎn.)
David: Right. It’s less a grammar point, it’s more kind of emotional tone but we are getting up here.
Echo: 对,这个 ……. (Duì, zhège…….)
David: Right. Upper intermediate, you’ve got to be able to use the emotions.
Echo: 没错, 这个词就是 “呗”。我们看一下这个课文里的句子, “就是互相看着不顺眼呗。” (Méi cuò, zhège cí jiùshì “bei”. Wǒmen kàn yīxià zhège kèwén lǐ de jùzi, “jiùshì hùxiāng kànzhe bù shùnyǎn bei.”)
David: It’s just that.
Echo: 呗。 (Bei.)
David: Yes.
Echo: 它的意思是表示 什么事?很容易理解或者看起来很明显。 (Tā de yìsi shì biǎoshì shénme shì? Hěn róngyì lǐjiě huòzhě kàn qǐlái hěn míngxiǎn.)
David: Right. It’s obvious, it’s easy to understand.
Echo: 对,所以他的同事问他, 你的媳妇和妈妈为什么经常吵架, 他说就是互相看着不顺眼呗。 (Duì, suǒyǐ tā de tóngshì wèn tā, nǐ de xífù hé māmā wèishéme jīngcháng chǎojià, tā shuō jiùshì hùxiāng kànzhe bù shùnyǎn bei.)
David: Right. It’s obvious that they just don’t like each other.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: Okay. So it’s really about the tone that this gives the sentence.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: And Echo, you’ve got some examples for us to help make this even clearer.
Echo: 比如说 你怎么每天都愁眉苦脸的?因为没人喜欢我呗。 (Bǐrú shuō nǐ zěnme měitiān dū chóuméikǔliǎn de? Yīnwèi méi rén xǐhuān wǒ bei.)
David: Ah! It’s so obvious.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: Because I am alone, nobody likes me.
Echo: 对, 难怪我每天都愁眉苦脸的。 (Duì, nánguài wǒ měitiān dū chóuméikǔliǎn de.)
David: Echo, can we use this in more upbeat sentences as well?
Echo: 没问题,比如说他们怎么每天都在一起吃午饭?因为他们相爱呗。 (Méi wèntí, bǐrú shuō tāmen zěnme měitiān dū zài yīqǐ chī wǔfàn? Yīnwèi tāmen xiāng'ài bei.)
David: Why are they eating together, it’s obvious, they are in love.
Echo: 对, 因为他们相爱呗。 (Duì, yīnwèi tāmen xiāng'ài bei.)
David: Right.
Echo: 所以道理很明白,什么东西很容易懂。 (Suǒyǐ dàolǐ hěn míngbái, shénme dōngxī hěn róngyì dǒng.)
David: Right. So this is particle you add at the end of sentences.
Echo: 呗。 (Bei.)
David: And it means, what’s come before, it’s obvious.
Echo: 道理很明显,很容易懂。 (Dàolǐ hěn míngxiǎn, hěn róngyì dǒng.)

Outro

David: Right. With that though, we are done our lesson for today.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是 (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!) Bye bye.

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