Yes Chinese

Lesson 17       What is your hobby? 你有什么嗜好？Nǐ yǒu shénme shìhào

Happy New Year everyone. We hope your new year’s resolution is to master the Chinese language. We will do our best to help you fulfill this resolution.

For the second lesson of 2012, we will talk about hobbies. Do you have any hobbies? Some people like to collect things such as stamps, watches, posters, while others like playing sports. What is yours?

In today’s dialogue, Zhang Yun was at a shop selling old stamps and met Wang Li there. They started talking and found out that they have the same hobby.

张云:               喂，王丽。你在这儿做什么？

王丽:               你好，张云。我在找旧邮票。

张云:               旧邮票？你搜集旧邮票吗？

王丽:               是的。我的嗜好是集邮。

张云:               真巧。我的嗜好也是集邮。

王丽:               你集邮有多久了？

张云:               大概五年了。你呢？

王丽:               我比你稍微久一点儿。

张云:               你常常来这儿买邮票吗？

王丽:               对，常来。他们有很多罕见及漂亮的邮票。

张云:               我不常来这儿。我常去另外一间店。

王丽:               你可以带我去那间店吗？

张云:               当然。我现在就带你去好吗？

王丽:               好的。我们走吧！

Zhāng yún:      Wèi, wáng lì. Nǐ zài zhè’r zuò shén me?

Wáng lì:           Nǐ hǎo, Zhāng Yún. Wǒ zài zhǎo jiù yóu piào

Zhāng yún:      Jiù yóupiào? Nǐ sōu jíjiù yóupiào ma?

Wáng lì:           Shì de. Wǒ de shì hào shì jíyóu.

Zhāng yún:      Zhēn qiǎo. Wǒ de shìhào yěshì jíyóu.

Wáng lì:           Nǐ jíyóu yǒu duō jiǔ le?

Zhāng yún:      dàgài wǔ nián le. Nǐ ne?

Wáng lì:           Wǒ bǐ nǐ shāowéi jiǔ yīdiǎn er.

Zhāng yún:      Nǐ chángcháng lái zhèr mǎi yóupiào ma?

Wáng lì:           Duì. Tāmen yǒu hěnduō hǎnjiàn jí piàoliang de yóupiào.

Zhāng yún:      Wǒ bù cháng lái zhè’r. Wǒ cháng qù lìngwài yī jiàn diàn.

Wáng lì:           Nǐ kěyǐ dài wǒ qù nà jiān diàn ma?

Zhāng yún:      Dāngrán. Wǒ xiànzài jiù dài nǐ qù hǎo ma?

Wáng lì:           Hǎo de. Wǒmen zǒu ba!

Zhang Li:        Hey, Wang Li, what are you doing here?

Wang Li:         Hi Zhang Yun. I am looking for old stamps.

Zhang Yun:     Old stamps? Are you collecting them?

Wang Li:         Yes. My hobby is collecting stamps.

Zhang Yun:     What a coincidence. My hobby is collecting stamps as well.

Wang Li:         How long have you been collecting stamps?

Zhang Yun:     About 5 years. What about you?

Wang Li:         Slightly longer than you.

Zhang Yun:     Do you come here often to buy stamps?

Wang Li:         Yes, often. They have many stamps that are rare and beautiful.

Zhang Yun:     I don’t come here often. I often go to the other shop.

Wang Li:         Can you bring me to that shop?

Zhang Yun:     Sure. Shall I bring you there now?

Wang Yun:      Ok. Lets go!

In this lesson, you will find many familiar phrases you have learned in our previous lessons. Are you able to understand them without referring to the translations? I hope this time round, the phrases are no longer difficult for you to understand.

The first phrase we would like to emphasize is 我在找….. (Wǒ zài zhǎo….). I am looking for ________ is the English translation. As Chinese does not have tenses like past tense, present tense etc, the Chinese word 在zài is used here to describe the situation. 在zài is a prepositional phrase and must be placed before the verb. Wang Li is looking for old stamps, so she said我在找旧邮票 (Wǒ zài zhǎo jiù yóu piào). Other ways of using this phrase are: 我在找我的课本Wǒ zài zhǎo wǒ de kèběn (I am looking for my textbook), 他在找他的裤子Tā zài zhǎo tā de kùzi (He is looking for his pants). Basically, you place a noun(the thing you are looking for)after the Chinese word 找(find) to complete the sentence.

The Chinese word 嗜好means hobby. Another way of saying hobby in Chinese is 爱好Àihào. The word 爱Ài, as you may already know, means love. So, it means something you love doing. Hence, instead of saying 我的嗜好是…., you can also say我的爱好是…..

…..比… is used when you are comparing something with another thing or comparing someone with another. For example, if you want to say this book is cheaper than that book, you can say 这本书比那本书便宜(Zhè běn shū bǐ nà běn shū piányi), he is taller than I他比我高(Tā bǐ wǒ gāo). It is an easy sentence structure to remember. You need to place a noun before and after the Chinese word 比. After that, you can use an adjective or an adverb to describe what you want to describe.

Last but not least is the phrase 常常来 (cháng cháng lái). 常常 means often and 来 means come. If you want to say often go, you can replace the word 来lái with 去Qù.

Basically, you just eat to replace the verb to the verb that you want to convey. For example, 我常常吃面 Wǒ chángcháng chī miàn (I often eat noodles); 我常常看戏 Wǒ chángcháng kàn xì (I often watch a movie). Instead of saying 常常来, you can also say 常来 as they have the same meaning. If it is not often, you just need to add 不in front of 常.

We hope this lesson for the year 2012 is not too difficult for you. Please continue to come back for more interesting and useful lessons.

Lesson 16 I do my New Year shopping here

我在这儿办年货 Wǒ zài zhèr bàn niánhuò

As the Lunar New Year is approaching soon, we would like to take this opportunity to share with you the things we do during the festive season.  Lunar New Year is a festive season celebrated by all the Chinese communities all over the world. This year, the Lunar New Year will be celebrated on the 23^rd and 24^th of January. The dates are calculated based on the Lunar calendar and hence the dates of celebration are different every year.

Before the Lunar New Year, we will spring clean our house and buy goodies to entertain friends and family during the New Year. In this lesson, we will teach you the types of food we usually eat during the festive season and the gifts the children and singles will be receiving.

In the dialogue for today, Wang Li meet Zhang Yun in the shopping mall where people go to do their New Year shopping. They are talking about the goodies Zhang Yun bought at the market.

Wang Li:         Zhang Yun, what are you doing here?

Zhang Yun:     I am doing my New Year shopping.

Wang Li:         What are you buying here?

Zhang Yun:     Sweets, new year cake, melon seeds and packaged beverages.

Wang Li:         Do you come here to do your New Year shopping every year?

Zhang Yun:     Yes, the market here is very big. Have you finished your New Year shopping?

Wang Li:         I have just bought some plastic flowers. Do they sell pineapple tarts here?

Zhang Yun:     Yes, it is over there. Follow me. I want to buy as well.

王丽：            张云，你在这儿做什么？

张云：            我在办年货。

王丽：            你在这儿买什么？

张云：            糖果，年糕，瓜子 和包装饮料。

王丽：            你每年都来这儿办年货吗？

张云：            是的。这个商场很大。你办完年货了吗？

王丽：            我刚刚买了一些塑料花。这儿有没有菠萝挞？

张云：            有，在那儿买。跟我来，我也要买菠萝挞。

Wáng lì:           Zhāng yún, nǐ zài zhèr zuò shénme?
Zhāng yún:      Wǒ zài bàn niánhuò.
Wáng lì:           Nǐ zài zhèr mǎi shénme?
Zhāng yún:      Tángguǒ, niángāo, guāzǐ hé bāozhuāng yǐnliào.
Wáng lì:           Nǐ měinián dōu lái zhèr bàn niánhuò ma?
Zhāng yún:      Shì de. Zhège shāngchǎng hěn dà. Nǐ bàn wán niánhuò le ma.?
Wáng lì:           Wǒ gāng gāng mǎi le yī xiē sùliào hua. Zhèr yǒu méi yǒu bō luó tà?
Zhāng yún:      Yǒu, zài nàr mǎi. Gēn wǒ lái, wǒ yě yāo mǎi bō luó tà.

春节Chūnjié means the same thing as Lunar New Year 农历新年Nónglì xīnnián. In China, it is called 春节well in other countries it is known as 农历新年. In some parts of the Chinese communities in the world, Lunar New Year is celebrated by releasing firecrackers 爆竹（Bàozhú）. But this custom has since been removed because of fire hazards that the firecrackers have caused.

Besides  爆竹, another important custom is the giving out of red packets 红包Hóngbāo to  children and singles who are students or unemployed. Another term for  红包 is 压岁钱Yāsuìqián.

Before the New Year begins, people will be busy doing spring cleaning and doing New Year shopping. Spring cleaning is 大扫除Chūnjì dàsǎochú and 办年货bàn niánhuò means new year shopping as explained in the dialogue above. Let us study a little more on the phrase办年货.

The Chinese word 办 in办年货 is a verb rather than a noun. It means to do the new year shopping. 年货 is the new year goodies represented by 年 meaning year and 货meaning goods. The word办 is a noun in 办公室Bàngōngshì (office).

刚刚 or 刚 is an adverb you use to tell another person that you have just done something a moment ago. For example, when you have just taken your breakfast, you can say 我刚刚/刚吃了早餐Wǒ gānggāng /gāng chī le zǎo cān.

跟 is a preposition and is often combined with a noun or a pronoun to form a prepositional phrase. It is used in front of the predicative verb to indicate the manner of an action. For example, 我跟妈妈去商场Wǒ gēn māmā qù shāngchǎng (I go to the mall with my mother). The preposition跟 must be placed before the verb. You cannot say 我去商场跟妈妈.

在 is also a preposition and similar to跟, 在 must be placed before the verb. You can place a noun before the word在 and then follow by a verb and an object. For example, 王丽在商场买衣服. 王丽 is the subject, 商场 is the noun, 买 is the verb and 衣服 is the object. 王丽在商场买衣服Wáng lì zài shāngchǎng mǎi yīfú means Wang Li buys her clothes at the mall. Hence, in order to use this preposition correctly, you have to remember to place the verb after it and not before it.

That is all the grammar notes we have for you in this lesson. Before we end this lesson, we would like to go through some of the meaning of the Chinese characters we have mentioned in the dialogue. For example, 糖果 and年糕. 糖 (Táng) by itself means sugar and 果 (guǒ) means fruit. When we put the two words together, they mean sweets and not sugar fruits.

瓜子guāzǐ is a favorite snack during the New Year.  瓜(guā) means melon and 子 (zǐ) means seeds. So the next time you see the word瓜, you will know that it is something relating to melon. For example, watermelon is 西瓜 Xīguā and Honeydew is 蜜瓜 Mì guā.

We have come to the end of our lesson for today. We wish all a Happy Lunar New Year and see you in our next lesson.

Lesson 15       Can you speak Chinese?

您会说汉语吗？Nǐn huì shuō hàn yǔ ma

As there are so many languages in the world, it is really very difficult for a person to master all of them. I have known a person who can speak nine different languages and I am already totally impressed. He speaks English, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Korean and Japanese. How many languages can you speak besides English or Chinese?

You may have already guessed it that the lesson for today will be on languages. Yes, you are absolutely right. We are going to talk about languages in this lesson. As usual, before we proceed to the dialogue for today, let us go through some of the languages in Chinese. In Chinese, when you want to talk about languages, you only need to add the word 语Yǔ after the country’s name. This is similar to what we have done previously on nationality where you add only the word 人Rén after one’s country name.

In China, the Chinese language is known as 汉语Hàn yǔ. But in other Chinese speaking countries like Singapore and Malaysia, it is known as 华语Huáyǔ, in Taiwan it is called 国语Guóyǔ and in Hong Kong, they called it 普通话Pǔtōnghuà.

But all of them refer to the same thing, Chinese language or Mandarin Chinese.

The dialogue for today is between David and a taxi driver in China. David is in China for a holiday and he is taking a taxi to his hotel.

Driver:             Mr, where are you going?

David:             Da Hua Hotel

Driver:             Can you speak Chinese?

David:             I can speak a little Chinese.

Driver:             How long have you learned Chinese?

David:             2 years

Driver              Just 2 years and you can speak so well.

David:             Not really, my Chinese is not that good.

Driver:             We are at Da Hua Hotel.

David:             Thank you.

Driver:             You’re welcome.

司机：            先生，您要去哪儿？

大卫：            大华酒店
司机：            您会说汉语吗？
大卫：            会说一点儿。

司机：            您学汉语有多久了？
大卫：            2年

司机:       只学了2年，您就会说的那么好。
大卫：            哪里，我的汉语不太好。
司机：            大华饭店到了。
大卫：            谢谢。

司机：            不客气。

Sījī:                  Xiānshēng, nín yào qù nǎ’er?

Dà wèi:            Dà huá jiǔdiàn

Sījī:                  Nín huì shuō hànyǔ ma?

Dà wèi:            Huì shuō yīdiǎn’r.

Sījī:                  Nín xué hànyǔ yǒu duōjiǔle?

Dà wèi:            2 Nián

Sījī:                  Zhǐ xuéle 2 nián, nín jiù huì shuō dì nàme hǎo

Dà wèi:            Nǎlǐ, wǒ de hànyǔ bù tài hǎo.

Sījī:                  Dà huá fàndiàn dàole.

Dà wèi:            Xièxiè.

Sījī:                  Bù kèqì.

一点儿 is an indefinite measure word we use when we want to express the information of a small amount or quantity. It is used to modify a noun. When the context is very clear to the parties involved in the conversation, the noun that it modifies can be omitted. For example, in the dialogue, the driver asks David 您会说汉语吗？and David answers会说一点儿(汉语).汉语 can be omitted from the answer in this case. And when 一点儿 is not used at the beginning of a sentence, the word一 can be omitted. For example, you can say 喝(一)点儿水Hè yīdiǎn’r shuǐ (drink a little water)，吃(一)点儿水果chī yīdiǎn’r shuǐguǒ (eat a little fruit).

哪里 when used as an interrogative pronoun, it has the meaning of where in English. You can also say 哪儿？However, 哪里….. here has a negative meaning. It is used when someone compliment or praise you and you are being modest about the compliment. In the Chinese culture, this is an appropriate response when being complimented. In Western culture, we normally just say thank you for the compliments. For example, when someone says 你的房子真美Nǐ de fángzi zhēnměi (your house is very beautiful), you can also say 是吗？我觉得还好 Shì ma? Wǒ juéde hái hǎo (Really, I feel it is just alright).

会 like 能，可以 are all optative verbs used before verbs to express one’s ability, capability, possibility and willingness. 会, 能，可以 means can or able to in English. The difference between会 and能 or可以 is that 会 expresses your skills that you have acquired through learning, whereas 能 or可以 expresses the skills that you possessed in general. For example, 大卫会写汉字Dà wèi huì xiě hànzì ( David can write Chinese characters); 你能来我家吗？Nǐ néng lái wǒjiā ma? (Can you come to my house?).

不太好 in English means not too good or so so. In the dialogue above, when David was complimented by the taxi driver that his Chinese is very good, he said我的汉语不太好, David was actually being modest. In Chinese culture being modest is a virtue. Hence, even if your Chinese is actually very good, one will still say …不太好 to humble oneself.

We hope the lesson today is enjoyable and informative for you. Do come back for more interesting lessons.

Lesson 14        May I know how to get to the train station from here?

                        请问从这里去火车站怎么走？

Qǐng wèn cóng zhè lǐ qù huǒ chē zhàn zěn me zǒu

We will be learning how to ask for direction in this lesson. When travelling to a Chinese speaking country, it is better to learn some simple Chinese phrases in times of trouble. Getting lost in a country side in China where English is useless can be a big problem. Prepare yourself with some Chinese knowledge before you head out to China.

Do you know the modes of transport in Chinese? We will go through some of them here before we begin our dialogue for today.

We would like to highlight to you that taxi in Chinese is called differently in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In Taiwan, taxi is known as计程车Jì chéng chē

, in Hong Kong it is 的士Dí shì, and in Singapore and Malaysia 德士Dé shì.

The dialogue for today is between David, Susan and a passerby in Taiwan. David and Susan went to Taiwan for a holiday and they got themselves lost. Luckily David could speak a little Chinese and he asked a passerby for direction to the train station.

大卫和苏珊的对话

苏珊                你想到怎么从这里到火车站了吗？

大卫                还没有。我想我们迷路了。

苏珊                那该怎么办？

大为                别着急。我去问路。

大卫和路人的对话

大卫        对不起，我们迷路了。请问从这里去火车站怎么走？

路人              火车站吗？从这儿直走然后转左。接着，走大概一公里您就会看到一个雕像。火车站就在雕像的对面。

大卫          谢谢您的帮忙。

路人          不用谢。

Dà wèi hé sū shān de duìhuà

Sū shān            Nǐ xiǎng dào zěn me cóng zhè lǐ dào huǒ chē zhàn le ma?

Dà wèi                         Hái méi yǒu. Wǒ xiǎng wǒ men mí lù le.

Sū shān            Nà gāi zěn me bàn?

Dà wéi                         Bié zhāo jí. Wǒ qù wèn lù.

Dà wèi hé lùrén de duìhuà

Dà wèi                 Duìbùqǐ, wǒmen mí lù le. Qǐngwèn cóng zhè lǐ qù huǒ chē zhàn zěn me zǒu?

Lù rén                  Huǒ chē zhàn ma? Cóng zhè’r zhí zǒu rán hòu zhuǎn zuǒ. Jiē zhe, zǒu dà gài yī gōng lǐ nín jiù huì kàn dào yī gè diāo xiàng. Huǒ chē zhàn jiù zài diāo xiàng de duì miàn.

Dà wèi                 Xiè xiè nín de bāng máng.

Lù rén                  Bù yòng xiè.

Conversation between David and Susan

Susan:              Have you figured out how to get to the train station from here?

David:             Not really. I think we are lost.

Susan:              What are we going to do?

David:             No worries. I will ask for some help.

Conversation between David and the passerby

David:                 Excuse me, we are lost. Could you tell me how to get to the train station from here?

Passerby:             Train station? Go straight from here and turn left. After that, walk about 1km and you will see a statue. The train station is opposite the statue.

David:                 Thank you for your help.

Passerby:             You are welcome.

怎么 (Zěnme) is a very commonly used phrase in Chinese. It is an adverb and normally another verb is added behind怎么 to complete a sentence. For example, when asking someone how to write a certain Chinese character, you can say 这个中文字怎么写？(Zhège zhōngwén zì zěnme xiě?) When asking someone his/her opinion about a certain movie, you can say 这部戏怎么样？(Zhè bù xì zěnme yàng?) When asking someone how a certain dish should be prepared, you can say 这道菜怎么煮/怎么做？(Zhè dào cài zěnme zhǔ/zěnme zuò?).

别……(Bié) When you add a verb after the word别(Bié), it means do not in English. It has the same meaning as不要(Bùyào). How do you use this word to form sentences? We will show you some examples for easy understanding. When begging for someone not to leave you, you can say 我求求你别离开我 Wǒ qiú qiú nǐ bié líkāi wǒ (I beg you, please don’t leave me). When you are in a bad mood and you don’t want anyone to bother you, you can say 我心情不好，别(来)烦我! Wǒ xīnqíng bù hǎo, bié (lái) fán wǒ! (I’m in a bad mood, don’t (come) and bother me!)

When you add a noun after the word别, it is another meaning. For example, if you add the word 人 after 别,it means other people别人Biérén. 墅 after别 becomes villa 别

墅Biéshù.

问路 is made up of two Chinese words 问 and 路. 问 means ask and路 is road. If you were to translate this literally, it means ask the road. This sounds weird right?? The actual meaning is to ask for direction. Ask someone the correct way/direction to a place and not to ask the road how to go to a certain place. 

不用谢(Bù yòng xiè) has the same meaning as 不客气(Bù kè qì) or 不必谢(Bù bì xiè)

. All these phrases has the meaning of you are welcome in English. The next time you wanted to say your are welcome in Chinese, you can try using these two other phrases rather than just 不客气. I am sure your friends will be impressed.

With this, we end our lesson on asking for direction for today. We hope you will practice what you have learned so far through our lessons so that your Chinese can be improved. See you again in our next lesson.

Lesson 13       This soup is too bland!

这个汤太淡了！Zhè ge tāng tài dàn le!

Have you ever cooked for your family or for someone special to you? How was the cooking? Did your family or the special person enjoy what you have prepared especially for them? We hope it went well and they enjoyed every dish you have cooked for them.

In today’s lesson, we will go through some of the words that you can use to describe the food that you have eaten. Using these new vocabularies, we will have a dialogue between Wang Li and her sister Wang Xin. Their mother has gone out and Wang Li decided to cook dinner for her sister. Let us see whether Wang Li is a good cook or not from the dialogue.

There are many words that you can use to describe about the food that you have eaten. We will go through some of the most commonly used words in this lesson.

As the words are used as adjectives, it is placed after the noun or subject you are talking about. For example, when you want to say this bread is very soft in Chinese, it is 这个面包很软Zhè ge miàn bāo hěn ruǎn.The famous stinky tofu in Taiwan and China is 臭豆腐Chòu dòufu in Chinese. Do you like to eat sweet and sour pork? This is a very famous Chinese dish and available in every Chinese restaurant. The name of this dish in Chinese is 糖醋肉Táng cù ròu. The literal translation of sweet and sour pork is 甜酸猪肉. 糖(Táng) is sugar and it is sweet. 醋 (Cù )is vinegar and it is sour. And 肉(Ròu) is meat as pork is a type of meat. So, now you know how to order this dish in Chinese the next time you visit a Chinese restaurant.

Now let us go on to our dialogue session for today. As mentioned above, the conversation is between 2 sisters, Wang Li and Wang Xin. Wang Li is cooking dinner for her sister and it turned out that she is not a good cook at all.

王心:               姐姐，今晚你想煮什么？

王丽:               排骨汤和炒青菜。

王心:               你真的会做菜吗？

王丽:               当然。你去忙吧。晚饭准备好后我会叫你。

王心:               好的。

王丽:               妹妹，吃饭了！

王心:               哇，这汤太淡，菜太咸。我不吃了！

王丽                是吗？让我来尝尝。哦，真的很难吃。

Wáng xīn:        jiejie, jīn wǎn nǐ xiǎng zhǔ shén me?

Wáng lì:           pái gǔ tāng hé chǎo qīng cài

Wáng xīn :       nǐ zhēn de huì zuò cài ma?

Wáng lì :          dān grán. Nǐ qù máng ba. Wǎn fàn zhǔn bèi hǎo hòu wǒ huì jiào nǐ.

Wáng xīn :       hǎo de.

Wáng lì :          mèimei, chīfàn le!

Wáng xīn :       Wa, zhè tāng tài dàn, cài tài xián. Wǒ bù chī le!

Wáng lì :          shì ma? Ràng wǒ lái cháng cháng. Ó, zhēn de hěn nán chī.

Wang Xin:       Sis, what are going to cook tonight?

Wang Li:         pork ribs soup and fry vegetable.

Wang Xin:       Do you really know how to cook?

Wang Li:             Of course. You go do your things and I will let you know when dinner is ready.

Wang Xin:           Alright then.

Wang Li:             Sister, dinner is ready.

Wang Xin:           Wow, this soup is too bland and the vegetable is too salty. I am not going to eat.

Wang Li:             Really? Let me try. Oh, they taste really bad.

真的会…吗？( really know how to….?) is used when the speaker is trying to get a confirmation from the listener. As in the dialogue, Wang Xin does not believe that her sister can cook, so she uses真的会…吗to confirm her doubt. In between 真的会 and 吗, you can add whatever action verbs you like. For example, 驾车 drive (Jià chē); 说中文 speak Chinese (Shuō zhōngwén); 跳舞 dance (Tiàowǔ).

当然 is a combination of two words 当 and 然. When used separately, 当Dāng can mean when and to be when pronounced in the first tone. For example, 她快当妈妈了！Tā kuài dang māmā le (she is going to be a mother soon!). 当老师不在时，我们都不读书Dāng lǎoshī bù zài shí, wǒmen dōu bù dúshū (When the teacher is not around, all of us do not study)

The word然 is usually used with another word to form a phrase. For example, when you want to say afterwards/then/after, you add the Chinese word 后 to become 然后Ránhòu. For example, 我通常是先喝汤，然后才吃饭Wǒ tōngcháng shì xiān hē tāng, ránhòu cái chīfàn ( I normally drink the soup first, then eat the rice).

……. 好后, ……. is a phrase used when 1^st action has finished and the next action is going to happen. In the dialogue, Wang Li said to the sister that she will call her when dinner is done/when it is prepared. The first action is cooking and the next action is calling her. For example, 功课做好后，你才可以看电视Gōngkè zuò hǎo hòu, nǐ cái kě yǐ kàn diànshì ( You can only watch TV after you have finished doing your homework)

让我来…… means let me ……… You can add any verb after that. 来Lái by itself means to come/arrive. You can use this phrase to say let me see, 让我来看看Ràng wǒ lái kàn kàn, 让我来开门Ràng wǒ lái kāimén ( let me open the door).

We have to come to end of this lesson. Although Chinese is not an easy language to learn, we hope you will not give up and come back for more lessons.

Lesson 12       How old are you? 你今年多大？

Asking a person’s age is a very sensitive subject in the West as they feel that it is a very private matter. However, in countries like China, Japan, Korea, asking for a person’s age is part and parcel of their culture. Do you like people to ask about your age?

Although age is a sensitive issue, we will learn how to ask this question in our lesson today. Before going into the dialogue, we would like to go through how the year, month and day is used in Chinese. And, we will also touch on the Chinese zodiac signs as well.

The twelve Chinese zodiac signs are:-

Now, we will learn how to express the date and month in Chinese. In Chinese, the numbers in the year are read out as separate numbers unlike in English. And the Chinese word 年(nián) is placed at the end. For example,

一九九六年                Yī jiǔ jiǔ liù nián                    1976

二零零零年                Èr líng líng líng nián                2000

二零一一年                Èr ling yī yī nián                                  2011

The 12 months of the year are expressed by combining the numbers 1-12 with the Chinese word 月. For example,

When expressing the dates in Chinese, we combine the numbers from 1-30(or 31) with the Chinese word 号 in spoken form or日 in written form. For example,

一月一号                    Yī yuè yī hào                          January 1

九月一号                    Jiǔ yuè yī hào                          September 1

十一月二十九日        Shí yī yuè èr shí jiǔ rì              November 29

十二月二十五日        Shí èr yuè èr shí wǔ rì                        December 25

If you are telling someone a date in the current month, you can omit saying the month 月and just simply say the date 号. As we have already touched on the days of the week in our previous lesson, we will not teach you again here.

In Chinese, the word order for expressing the year, month, day and week is:-

2011年十月一日 星期六      Èr ling yī yī nián  shí yuè yī rì  xīng qí liù

(Oct 1^st 2011 Saturday)

In today’s dialogue, Zhang Yun was on her way to the supermarket when she saw Wang Li with a little girl.

张云:               喂，王丽

王丽        哦，是你张云

张云        这位小妹妹是谁？

王丽        她是我侄女叫晶晶。

张云        她今年多大？

王丽        她2009年九月一日出生，属牛。她今年两岁。

张云        真可爱。你们现在要去哪儿？

王丽        去公园玩。

张云        你们去玩吧。改天见。

王丽        好的。再见。

Zhāng yún:      Wèi, wáng lì

Wáng lì:           ó, shì nǐ zhāng yún

Zhāng yún:      zhè wèi xiǎo mèimei shì shuí?

Wáng lì:                       tā shì wǒ zhí nǚ jiào jīng jīng.

Zhāng yún:      tā jīn nián duōdà?

Wáng lì:           tā 2009 nián jiǔ yuè yī rì chū shēng, shǔ niú. Tā jīn nián liǎng suì.

Zhāng yún:      zhēn kě’ài. Nǐ men xiàn zài yào qù nǎ’er?

Wáng lì:           qù gōng yuán wán.

Zhāng yún:      nǐ men qù wán ba. Gǎi tiān jiàn.

Wáng lì:           hǎo de. Zài jiàn.

Zhang Yun:     Hey, Wang Li.

Wang Li:         Oh, it’s you, Zhang Yun

Zhang Yun:      Who is this little girl?

Wang Li:         She is my niece name Jing Jing

Zhang Yun:      How old is she?

Wang Li:             She was born in September 1^st 2009, in the year of the ox. She is two this year.

Zhang Yun:          She is so cute. Where are you going?

Wang Li:             To play in the park

Zhang Yun:          Go then. I’ll see you next time.

Wang Li:             Ok. Bye.

位  is a measurement word you use when talking about a person. In the dialogue, 这位 is used to mean this person. You can substitute the noun 妹妹 to 先生 (Mr) or 小姐 (Ms).

今年多大 is a question you ask when asking for a person’s age. Another way of asking the same question is 今年几岁. 几 as mentioned in our previous lesson means a question pronoun to ask about numbers. 岁 means age and 岁月 means year. There is this saying in Chinese 岁月不留人 Suì yuè bù liú rén, it means time flies and wait for no man. This is a Chinese idiom normally used when someone wants to say that he/she is getting old and no longer young. When you are asking a senior about his/her age, you have to say 你今年多大岁数 Nǐ jīn nián duō dà suì shu？

改天见 is a another phrase you can use when bidding someone goodbye. 改 means to change or correct; 天 is sky or day and 见 is to see. When you use the Chinese word 改 and add 天, it means another day 改天 Gǎitiān. Other farewell phrase you can use are 再见Zàijiàn (Goodbye), 待会儿见 dài huìr jiàn (see you later), 明天见 míngtiān jiàn (see you tomorrow).

On that note, we come to the end of this lesson. See you again for our next one. 再见 Zàijiàn.

Lesson 11       How much is this?

这个多少钱？Zhè ge duō shǎo qián

Are you good at bargaining? Bargaining is very common when you go shopping in countries like China, Hong Kong, Thailand etc. People like to bargain with the sellers when buying things like clothes, bags and shoes. No matter how expensive or how cheap the things are, they just like to bargain to satisfy themselves. In countries like Thailand and India, for example, you can even bargain with the taxi drivers for the fare before you take the ride.

In the lesson today, we will teach you, not the art of bargaining, but rather currencies. Do you know how to say how much is this in Chinese? Listen to the dialogue below and practice the question on how to ask for the price so that you can try asking in Chinese when you are travelling to China.

This is a dialogue between Zhang Yun and the salesman in a fruit store. Zhang Yun wants to buy some oranges but they are too expensive. She is asking the salesman whether they are any cheaper ones.

Salesman:                    Welcome!

Zhang Yun:                 I want to buy oranges.

Salesman:                    The oranges are over there.

Zhang Yun:                 How much is the orange?

Salesman:                    Five oranges for three dollars

Zhang Yun:                 Your oranges are expensive. Do you have cheaper ones?

Salesman:                    That one is cheaper. 1 dollar and sixty five cents for five.

Zhang Yun:                 I’ll buy the cheaper ones.

Salesman:                    Altogether 1 dollar and sixty five cents please. Do you want something else?

Zhang Yun:                 No. Thank you. Here is the money.

Salesman:                    ok. You gave me two dollars. Here is your change of thirty five cents. Goodbye

Zhang Yun:                 Good bye.

店员：                        欢迎光临！
张云：                        我要买橘子。

店员：                        橘子在那儿。

张云：                        这个橘子多少钱？

店员：                        五个三块钱。

张云：                        您的橘子真贵。有便宜的吗？

店员：                        那个是便宜的。五个一块六毛五。

张云：                        我买便宜的。

店员：                        一共一块六毛五。您还要什么？

张云：                        不要了。谢谢。给你钱。

店员：                        好。您给我两块钱，我找您三毛五。再见。

张云：                        再见！

Diàn yuán:                   Huān yíng guāng lín!

Zhāng yún:                  Wǒ yāo mǎi júzi.

Diàn yuán:                   Jú zi zài nà’er.

Zhāng yún:                  Zhè gè jú zi duō shǎo qián?

Diàn yuán:                   Wǔ gè sān kuài qián.

Zhāng yún:                  Nín de júzi zhēn guì. Yǒu pián yi de ma?

Diàn yuán:                   Nà gè shì piányi de. Wǔ gè yī kuài liù máo wǔ.

Zhāng yún:                  Wǒ mǎi pián yi de.

Diàn yuán:                   Yī gòng yī kuài liù máo wǔ. Nín hái yào shén me?

Zhāng yún:                  Bù yào le. Xiè xiè. Gěi nǐ qián.

Diàn yuán:                   Hǎo. Nín gěi wǒ liǎng kuài qián, wǒ zhǎo nín sān máo wǔ. Zài jiàn. Zhāng yún:                  Zài jiàn!

In Chinese, when you are using the demonstrative pronoun 这 or 那 as an attributive, a measure word is generally inserted between it and the noun it modifies. For example, 这个橘子Zhè gè jú zi，那张纸Nà zhāng zhǐ (That piece of paper)，这本书Zhè běn shū (That book).

您还要什么？or  您要什么？are common expressions to ask what someone wants. These phrases are especially used by salesman when they are offering help to customers. The phrase

还要 is to ask customers whether they have other things to buy. It means anything else you want to buy in English.

……多少钱 is a predicate and is placed after the subject. When the subject is a bag, you can say 皮包多少钱？When you have a weight such as kilogram 公斤 for the subject, you will put the weight in front. For example, how much is one kilogram of apple? 一公斤苹果多少钱Yī gōn gjīn ping guǒ duō shǎo qián? or you can say多少钱一公斤苹果Duō shǎo qián yī gōng jīn ping guǒ?

People normally do not bargain when they go to the supermarket as the prices are fixed and stated clearly on the packages. But when they shop at the free market or stalls, they are able to bargain as things are normally not packed and hence easier to bargain.

There are many types of currencies used in the world.  Listed below are some of the most popular currencies:-

The various monetary units in the Chinese currency are 元(Yuán), 角(jiǎo) and分(fēn) . In spoken Chinese, we often use 块(Kuài)  instead of  元 and毛(máo) instead of角. When máo or fēn is at the end, 分钱(fēn qián) or 毛钱 (máo qián) can be omitted. For example,

1.65 =  一块六毛五（分钱）yī kuài liù máo wǔ (fēn qián)

2.80 =  两块八(毛钱) Liǎng kuài bā (máo qián)

When ‘2毛’ is at the beginning of an amount, and 2分 is at the end, the expression is 两毛二(分).

In the above dialogue, the salesman said我找您三毛五, 找您here means to give change rather than to look for you. Although the Chinese character 找 means to look for or find, but the context here is about money. Thus, when learning Chinese, understanding the context is very important.

We hope you have understood how to express currency after this lesson. Practice the phrases before you head out to China. See you again in our next lesson.

Lesson 10        What time is it now?

现在几点了？Xiànzài jǐ
diǎnle？

In Chinese, the words that relates
to time are 点，钟， 刻 and 分. There are rules when you are telling time in Chinese. Before we go into
time, let’s learn about counting
in Chinese. The numbers in Chinese are:-

Counting in Chinese is similar to
English until the number 10. In Chinese, when we want to say eleven, we say 10
in Chinese and add one in Chinese to say eleven
Shí Yī. This is the same from 20 to 90. Twenty is (two ten) in Chinese Èr Shí. When you
want to say 21 in Chinese, it is (2+10+1) Èr Shí Yī, and the rest are
the same until 99. When it gets to one hundred, we say一百Yī bai. What
about one hundred and one? In this case, you will say 一百零一Yī bai Líng Yī (101).

Numbering in Chinese is most
different from English when it gets to ten thousand and above. Chinese uses万Wàn to say the number 10,000. rather
than ten and thousand in English. So 10001
is一万零一Yī Wàn Líng Yī. You use 万 until you get to million and a new
Chinese word us used to mean million. Million in Chinese is 百万Bǎiwàn. 1000999 in Chinese is一百万零九百九十九Yī Bǎiwàn Líng Jiǔ Bǎi Jiǔ Shí Jiǔ. And when it gets to 100 million, the character
changes again to亿Yì .

When talking about amount in the
hundred, thousand and more, the number two is pronounced and written different.
When you want to say 200, you cannot
say Èr Bǎi, you must say Liǎng
bǎi两百 instead. This rule
also applies when you are buying
things, describing things or telling time. You say 两个Liǎng gè，两只liǎng zhī rather
than using the word Èr.

Now that we
have done explaining numbers in Chinese, we shall come back to our topic for
today. As explained above, the timing words in Chinese are 点Diǎn，钟zhōng， 刻kè and 分fēn and the
rules are:-

l  2:00 you can omit the Chinese word钟zhōng and just say 两点Liǎng Diǎn

l  2:05 when fēn is a number less than ten,
you must add the Chinese word Líng before the number.

You have to
say 两点零五分Liǎng Diǎn Líng
Wǔ fēn

l  2:10 When fēn is more than 10, Líng can be omitted. You say 两点十分Liǎng Diǎn Shí fēn

l  2:15 you say 两点一刻Liǎng Diǎn Yī. kè or 两点十五分Liǎng Diǎn Shí
Wǔ fēn

l  2:30 you say 两点半Liǎng Diǎn Bàn or 两点三十分Liǎng diǎn sān shífēn

l  2:45 you say 两点三刻Liǎng diǎn sān kè or 差一刻三点Chà yī kè sān diǎn or 两点四十五分Liǎng diǎn Sì Shí Wǔ Fēn

l  2:55 you say 差五分三点Chà Wǔ Fēn sān diǎn or
两点五十五分Liǎng diǎn Wǔ Shí Wǔ Fēn

For today’s
dialogue, we will practice on telling the time. This dialogue is between 2
sisters, Zhang Yun and Zhang Mei Li. They have an appointment and are running
late because of Zhang Mei Li.

Zhang Yun:                 Are you ready sis?

Zhang Mei
Li:             Wait a minute

Zhang Yun:                 We are running late.

Zhang Mei
Li:             What time is it now?

Zhang Yun:                 3:45. Our appointment is at 4:00

Zhang Mei
Li:             I am coming. Oh no, I can’t find my shoes!

Zhang Yun:                 What? Could you hurry up !

张云                            你准备好了没？

张美丽                                    等一下。

张云                            我们快迟到了

张美丽                                    现在几点了？

张云                            三点三刻。我们的约会是在四点。

张美丽                                    快好了。糟了，我找不到我的鞋子。

张云                            什么？你快一点好不好。

Zhāng yún                   Nǐ zhǔnbèi
hǎo le méi?

Zhāng měilì                 Děng yī xià.

Zhāng yún                   Wǒmen kuài
chí dào le

Zhāng měilì                 Xiànzài jǐ
diǎn le?

Zhāng yún                   Sān diǎn sān
kè. Wǒmen de yuēhuì shì zài sì diǎn.

Zhāng měilì                 Kuài hǎo le. Zāo le, wǒ zhǎo
bù dào wǒ de xiézi.

Zhāng yún                   Shénme? Nǐ
kuài yī diǎn hǎo bù hǎo.

From the dialogue, we learned the
phrase 好了没hǎo le méi. This phrase has the meaning of yet in English. You can also say 好了没有hǎo le méi yǒu.Zhang Yun is trying to get a
confirmation from her sister whether she is all ready to go or not. So, when
you are seeking a confirmation, you can use the phrase 好了没? or 好了没有?

Question ending with了没ler méi or 了没有le méi yǒu is
equivalent to have you? in English. For example, when you want to ask the question have you eaten? you can
say 你吃饭了没(有)？Nǐ chīfànle
méi (yǒu). And, if you want to ask
the question have you seen this movie? you say 你看过这部电影了没(有)? Nǐ kàn guò zhè bù diànyǐng le méi
(yǒu). Direct
translation of this sentence is you seen this movie or not?

等一下Děng yī xià is a phrase you use when you want someone to wait a while . 等 means wait and 一下 means a while/a minute. You may also say 等一等Děng yī děng or 等一会儿Děng yī huǐ’r. When you want to be polite,
you can add the word 稍Shāo in front of
等一下 to
become稍等一下.

好不好hǎo bù hǎo is a phrase you use when you are making a
request or you are seeking an opinion from another person. For example, when
you cannot decide which cup, you can seek opinion by asking 这个杯子好不好？Zhège bēizi hǎobù hǎo？When you are requesting someone to do something, you can also use好不好hǎo bù hǎo, for example, 你走快一点好不好？Can you walk faster?
We have come to the end of our lesson for today. Hope the lesson is
informative and enjoyable for you all. See you again for our next lesson.

Lesson 9         What day is it today?

今天是星期几？Jīntiān shì xīngqí jǐ?

When we are saying the days of the week in Chinese, we use the Chinese word 星期 plus a number. Below are the days of the week in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin.

Monday                                   星期一                                    Xīngqí yī

Tuesday                                   星期二                                    Xīngqí èr

Wednesday                 星期三                                    Xīngqí sān

Thursday                     星期四                                    Xīngqí sì

Friday                          星期五                                    Xīngqí wǔ

Saturday                      星期六                                    Xīngqí liù

Sunday                                    星期日/星期天                       Xīngqí rì / Xīngqí tiān

Weekend                     周末                            Zhōumò

When we want to say the days, we use the Chinese word 天. For example,

Today                                      今天                Jīntiān

Tomorrow                                明天                Míngtiān

Day after tomorrow                后天                Hòutiān

Yesterday                                昨天                Zuótiān

The day before yesterday                   前天                Qiántiān

What about year then? Well, you need to use the word 年 nián and the rest is similar to days except for last year. For last year, you do not say 昨年 but you must say去年Qùnián.

Now let’s test your understanding of telling the days or year or even night. How do you say tonight in Chinese?? The Chinese word for night is 晚 Wǎn. So tonight should be?

If you say 今晚 Jīnwǎn, then you are absolutely correct. The way you explain night is the same as days. However, day after tomorrow night and yesterday evening, we normally say 后天的晚上 Hòutiān de wǎnshàng and 前天的晚上 Qiántiān de wǎnshàng.

Now that we know how to say days, years and weeks in Chinese, we shall begin our dialogue for this lesson.

Zhang Yun:     Were you out last night?

Wang Li:         Yes, I went out with my family. Were you looking for me?

Zhang Yun:     Yup. I wanted to know whether you are free this Sunday.

Wang Yun:      This Sunday? Anything special that day?

Zhang Yun:     Well, it’s my birthday and I wanted to celebrate with you.

Wang Li:         I should be free that day. Oh no, what day is it today?

Zhang Yun:     Today? It’s Friday. Why?

Wang Li:         Oh no.. I have a lunch date with my older sister today.

Zhang Yun:     You had better leave now .

Wang Li:         Ok. I will call you later.

张云：            你昨晚出去了吗？

王丽:       是的。我和家人出去了。你找我了吗？

张云:       是啊。我想知道这个星期天你是否有空。

王丽:       这个星期天？那天是什么特别的日子吗？

张云:       嗯，那天是我生日。我想和你一起庆祝。

王丽:       我那天应该有空。对了，今天星期几？

张云:       今天？星期五。怎么了？

王丽:       糟了，我今天跟姐姐有约会。

张云:       那你快去吧

王丽:       好的。我得会儿再联络你。

Zhāng yún:      Nǐ zuó wǎn chū qù le ma?

Wáng lì:           Shì de. Wǒ hé jiārén chū qù le. Nǐ zhǎo wǒ le ma?

Zhāng yún:      Shì a. Wǒ xiǎng zhīdào zhè ge xīngqí tiān nǐ shì fǒu yǒu kòng.

Wáng lì:           Zhè ge xīngqí tiān ? Nèi tiān shì shén me tèbié de rìzi ma?

Zhāng yún:      Ń, nèi tiān shì wǒ shēngrì. Wǒ xiǎng hé nǐ yī qǐ qìngzhù.

Wáng lì:           Wǒ nèi tiān yìng gāi yǒu kòng. Duì le, jīntiān xīngqí jǐ?

Zhāng yún:      Jīntiān? Xīngqí wǔ. Zěn me le?

Wáng lì:           Zāo le, wǒ jīntiān gēn jiejie yǒu yuēhuì.

Zhāng yún:      Nà nǐ kuài qù ba

Wáng lì:           Hǎo de. Wǒ de huìr zài liánluò nǐ.

The 2 expressions we would like to highlight in this lesson are  对了 and糟了. The phrase对了 is made up of 2 syllables 对 and 了. 对 means correct and了 means different things in different situations, as explained in lesson 5. In the dialogue above, Zhang Yun was talking about her birthday this Sunday and Wang Li suddenly changed to ask what day it is. In this case, 对了 can mean by the way in this situation.

糟 means bad or terrible in English. When you add 糟 with 了 it gives the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Well, it might be the case for Wang Li as she has forgotten her date with her older sister. That is why, she exclaimed糟了. You can use this expression the next time you have forgotten an important date or you have forgotten to do a chore for someone. But we hope the same situation will not happen to you.

We hope you have learned much from this lesson. See you again soon for our next lesson on how to tell the time.

Lesson 8          What do you want to buy?

你要买什么？Nǐ yāomǎi shénme

In today’s lesson, we will learn the measurement words in Chinese. Do you know what measurement words are? For example, when you want to say a fish in Chinese, you don’t say 一鱼 but you need to add a measurement word in between 一and鱼. You need to add the measurement word 条to describe a fish in Chinese. The correct way to say a fish in Chinese is 一条鱼Yī tiáo yú.

Now that you have an idea what measurement words are, let us begin our lesson through the dialogue below. Zhang Yun is accompanying Wang Li to buy a birthday present for her mother. They are at a departmental store.

Zhang Yun:     Wang Li, what do you want to buy? (What are you looking for?)

Wang Li:             My mom’s birthday is coming soon, I am looking for a birthday present for her.

Zhang Yun:     Why don’t you buy her a dress?

Wang Li:         My mom does not like dresses.

Zhang Yun:     Well then, why not get her a handbag?

Wang Li:         Good suggestion.

Zhang Yun:     Let us go to the handbag department.

Wang Li:         Ok. Let’s go.

Zhang Yun:     How’s this one?

Wang Li:         Not bad. Let’s buy this one.

张云                王丽，你要买什么？

王丽                    我妈妈的生日快到了，我想买份生日礼物给她

张云                买条裙子怎样？

王丽                我妈妈不喜欢穿裙子

张云                那，买手提袋(皮包) 好了

王丽                好建议

张云                我们到皮包部门看看吧

王丽                好的。走吧！

张云                这个手提袋怎样？

王丽        不错。就买这个吧。

Zhāng yún       wáng lì, nǐ yāomǎi shénme?

Wáng lì            wǒ māma de shēngrì kuài dàole, wǒ xiǎng mǎi fèn shēngrì lǐwù gěi tā

Zhāng yún       mǎi tiáo qúnzi zěnyàng?

Wáng lì            wǒ māmā bù xǐhuan chuān qúnzi

Zhāng yún       nà, mǎi shǒutí dài (píbāo) hǎole

Wáng lì            hǎo jiànyì

Zhāng yún       wǒmen dào píbāo bùmén kànkan ba

Wáng lì            hǎo de. Zǒu ba!

Zhāng yún       zhège shǒutí dài zěnyàng?

Wáng lì            bùcuò. Jiù mǎi zhège ba.

Measurement words

There are more than 500 measurement words in Chinese. For study purposes, we will just concentrate on those used in the dialogue and another 2 commonly used ones for this lesson. In the dialogue, Wang Li said she wants to buy a present for her mom, and the measurement word for birthday present is Fèn份 as I guess present is in terms of portion or a share. Other things which you will use Fèn份 are 一份早餐Yī fèn zǎocān one portion of breakfast，一份点心Yī fèn diǎnxīn one portion of dessert etc.

条tiáo as mentioned in the dialogue is used to describe things that are long . You can use tiao to describe pants 一条裤子Yītiáo kùzi, snake 一条蛇Yītiáo shé, fish 一条鱼Yītiáo yú, scarf 一条围巾Yītiáo wéijīn.

个Gè is a very commonly and widely used measurement word. It can use on many things. For example, when you want to say an apple, you say 一个苹果Yīgè píngguǒ,

a nose 一个鼻子Yīgè bízi, a person 一个人Yīgè rén, an egg 一个鸡蛋Yīgè jīdàn.

只Zhǐ can be used to describe animals, body parts and accessories. For example, a dog一只狗Yī zhǐ gǒu, a chicken一只鸡Yī zhǐ jī, a hand一只手Yī zhī shǒu, a leg一只脚Yī zhǐ jiǎo, an earring 一只耳环Yī zhǐ ěrhuán, a sock 一只袜子Yī zhǐ wàzi.

杯Bēi is a measurement word for a cup/glass in English. For example, when you are asking for a cup or glass of water, you say 一杯水Yībēi shuǐ, a cup of coffee 一杯咖啡Yībēi kāfēi, a cup of tea 一杯茶Yībēi chá

The keyword we would like to highlight in this lesson is the Chinese word 吧ba. The word 吧ba can be used in 3 different situations. Firstly, when you are commanding, requesting or making a suggestion, you can use the word 吧ba at the end of the sentence. For example, in the dialogue above, Zhang Yun suggest to Wang Li to go to the bag department, and she said我们到皮包部门看看吧.

Secondly, when someone said something and you are in agreement with him/her. For example, 好吧，我们就去那里吧 (Alright, let’s go there then).

Thirdly is when you are in doubt and not very sure of the answer. For example, 这不是你做的吧？(Is this done by you?).

The word 吧 is sometimes confused with the word 呢 and 啊.  We have explained how the words呢 and 啊 should be used in our previous lessons. Please refer to the previous lessons again if you are still not very sure how to use them correctly.

Measurement words are rather important in learning Chinese. As there are way too many for you to remember, we suggest that you concentrate on those common ones like ge, zhi, bei etc. And if really want to master them, you can also make flashcards of all the measurement words and memorize them accordingly. Good luck!

That’s is all the time we have for you today. Do remember to check back for more interesting Chinese lessons.