Learn another use of a versatile word
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Canaan: Hello and welcome back to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most enjoyable way to learn Chinese. This is Keenan and I am here in the studio with our Mandarin expert |
| Jane: 嗨，大家好，我是Jane. (Hài , dàjiā hǎo , Wǒ shì Jane) |
| Canaan: And today it is Absolute Beginner, season 3, lesson 4. |
| Jane: Bag a Chinese bargain. |
| Canaan: That’s right. In this lesson, we are going to teach you how to haggle in Chinese. |
| Jane: Although it might not work sometimes. |
| Canaan: Better than being ripped off though. |
| Jane: True. This dialogue takes place in the shop, possibly in the large market. |
| Canaan: Yeah. Now the speakers are a buyer and a seller. |
| Jane: Although the speakers are strangers, they are speaking informal Chinese in this setting. |
| Canaan: Right. Now before we take you to the dialogue, a reminder. If you are looking for conversations of your own, we’ve got one on one tutors with professional training. |
| Jane: And they will help you to improve your Mandarin with personalized lesson plans just for you. |
| Canaan: So be sure to check out our website at chineseclass101.com |
| Jane: Shall we go to the dialogue now? |
| Canaan: Absolutely. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 这个多少钱？(Zhège duō shǎo qián ?) |
| 这个一百块钱。(Zhège yìbǎi kuài qián.) |
| 一百？太贵了。五块怎么样？(Yìbǎi ? Tài guì le. Wǔ kuài zěnmeyàng?) |
| 神经病！(Shénjīngbìng!) |
| Canaan: And now with the English translation. |
| 这个多少钱？(Zhège duō shǎo qián ?) |
| How much is this? |
| 这个一百块钱。(Zhège yìbǎi kuài qián.) |
| It is one hundred Yuan. |
| 一百？太贵了。五块怎么样？(Yìbǎi ? Tài guì le. Wǔ kuài zěnmeyàng?) |
| One hundred? Too expensive. How about five Yuan? |
| 神经病！(Shénjīngbìng!) |
| Are you crazy? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Canaan: So do you think the customer in our dialogue went a little too far? |
| Jane: Maybe just a little. |
| Canaan: Yeah I think so too. A good rule for foreigners to follow when bargaining for unmarked goods is to start with 10% of the opening price and then work slowly upward from there. Remember to be confident but nice. Business is done best between friends. |
| Jane: That’s true. Shall we look at the bargaining terms in today’s vocabulary? |
| Canaan: Yes. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| And now the vocab section. |
| Jane: 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: Mentally ill. |
| Jane: 神经病, 神经病. (shénjīngbìng, shénjīngbìng) |
| Jane: 疯了 (fēng le) |
| Canaan: Crazy. |
| Jane: 疯了, 疯了. (fēng le, fēng le) |
| Jane: 贵 (guì) |
| Canaan: Expensive |
| Jane: 贵, 贵. (guì, guì) |
| Jane: 便宜 (piányi) |
| Canaan: Inexpensive. |
| Jane: 便宜, 便宜. (piányi, piányi) |
| Jane: 钱 (qián) |
| Canaan: Money. |
| Jane: 钱, 钱. (qián, qián) |
| Jane: 砍价 (kǎn jià) |
| Canaan: To bargain. |
| Jane: 砍价, 砍价. (kǎn jià, kǎn jià) |
| Jane: 打折 (dǎzhé) |
| Canaan: To give a discount. |
| Jane: 打折, 打折. (dǎzhé, dǎzhé) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Canaan: Now let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jane: The first word is 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: Now this is a great word. It’s very colloquial word that you will hear a lot in Chinese conversations particularly the excited ones. Now here |
| Jane: 神经 (shénjīng) |
| Canaan: Means nerves and |
| Jane: 病 (bìng) |
| Canaan: Means illness or disease. Now the whole thing put together |
| Jane: 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: Often used as a mild curse word to describe someone who is acting unreasonably like they’ve gone crazy. It’s more commonly used by women than it is by men. So guys, I know it’s a curse word and it’s a lot of fun but it’s not something you want to be using overmuch. Now the word for mental illness. |
| Jane: 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: Is of course very similar in meaning to our next word |
| Jane: 疯了 (fēng le) |
| Canaan: Meaning crazy. Can you say that again? |
| Jane: 疯了 (fēng le) |
| Canaan: Crazy. Now, this is also used as a sort of exclamatory mildly derogatory word. Which one do you think people use more often? |
| Jane: Umm I think both. We say 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: You are crazy. |
| Jane: Or 你疯了吗？(nǐ fēng le ma ?) |
| Canaan: Are you crazy? Again please remember to use these words only when you absolutely have to. Remember, business between friends. |
| Jane: 是的 (shì de) |
| Canaan: Now our next word is very, very important when you want to get a deal on something. |
| Jane: 打折 (dǎzhé) |
| Canaan: To give a discount. You know, did everybody notice, that’s a third tone followed by a second tone. Can we hear that again? |
| Jane: 打折 (dǎzhé) |
| Canaan: Right. To give a discount. So when you see something you really like, the first thing you want to know about it is |
| Jane: 能打折吗？(néng dǎzhé ma ?) |
| Canaan: Can you give me a discount? |
| Jane: 能打折吗？(néng dǎzhé ma ?) |
| Canaan: Can you give me a discount? And most likely they all say something |
| Jane: Ridiculous. |
| Canaan: Ridiculous and either way, they will offer you a price. |
| Jane: Then you can start 砍价 (kǎn jià) |
| Canaan: To bargain. |
| Jane: 砍价 (kǎn jià) |
| Canaan: To bargain. Now here the verb is |
| Jane: 砍 (kǎn) |
| Canaan: And literally it means to chop like chopping wood while |
| Jane: 价 (jià) |
| Canaan: Of course it means price. So it’s very clear image here. You are sort of chopping prices. |
| Jane: 他特别会砍价。(tā tèbié huì kǎn jià.) |
| Canaan: He is very good at bargaining. |
| Jane: 他特别会砍价。(tā tèbié huì kǎn jià.) |
| Canaan: He is very good at bargaining. Now the purpose of 砍价 (kǎn jiài) is, of course, to get the price down, to make the object |
| Jane: 便宜 (piányi) |
| Canaan: Inexpensive. |
| Jane: 便宜 (piányi) |
| Canaan: Inexpensive. Of course, in English, we also say cheap but the Chinese word does not refer to quality the way that English word cheap does. It means specifically inexpensive. |
| Jane: In terms of money. |
| Canaan: In terms of money, exactly. So let’s – can we use that in a sentence? |
| Jane: 这个打折的电脑很便宜。(zhège dǎzhéde diànnǎo hěn piányi.) |
| Canaan: This discounted computer is very inexpensive. |
| Jane: 这个打折的电脑很便宜。(zhège dǎzhéde diànnǎo hěn piányi.) |
| Canaan: This discounted computer is very inexpensive and of course the opposite of inexpensive is |
| Jane: 贵 (guì) |
| Canaan: Expensive. |
| Jane: 贵 (guì) |
| Canaan: And can we use that in a sentence? |
| Jane: 他的车很贵。(tā de chē hěn guì.) |
| Canaan: His car is very expensive. |
| Jane: 他的车很贵。(tā de chē hěn guì.) |
| Canaan: His car is very expensive. So just to recap now, our vocabulary for today includes |
| Jane: 神经病 (shénjīngbìng) |
| Canaan: Mentally ill. |
| Jane: 疯了 (fēng le) |
| Canaan: Crazy, to have gone crazy. |
| Jane: 贵 (guì) |
| Canaan: Expensive. |
| Jane: 便宜 (piányi) |
| Canaan: Inexpensive or cheap. |
| Jane: 钱 (qián) |
| Canaan: Money. |
| Jane: 打折 (dǎzhé) |
| Canaan: To give a discount. |
| Jane: And lastly 砍价 (kǎn jià) |
| Canaan: To bargain. Now let’s take a look at today’s grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Canaan: Now if you’ve been following us since last week, I have a good surprise for you. Today’s grammar point is actually a continuation of our grammar point from the last lesson. That is to say, we are going to talk about the particle 了(le) |
| Jane: 没错 (méicuòr), It’s pretty easy as well. |
| Canaan: Yeah we are going to do this step by step. So last week, we noted that putting 了(le) |
| after adjectives or nouns indicates a change of status. However if your sentence contains an adverb of degree and there is a 了(le) at the end, the 了(le) does not necessarily indicate a change in status. It’s simply necessary in whichever sense has degree adverb in it. So today, we are going to introduce you to two adverbs of degree. The first being |
| Jane: 太 (tài) |
| Canaan: Which means too as in too expensive. |
| Jane: 太贵了 (tài guì le) |
| Canaan: Too cheap. |
| Jane: 太便宜了 (tài piányi le) |
| Canaan: Right, right. Now let’s put these in a couple more examples. |
| Jane: 外面太亮了。(wàimian tài liàng le.) |
| Canaan: It’s too bright outside. |
| Jane: 外面太亮了。(wàimian tài liàng le.) |
| Canaan: It’s too bright outside. Notice how this is different from the sentence |
| Jane: 外面亮了。wàimian liàng le.) |
| Canaan: I hear we notice 了le being used in the way we described in our previous lesson right after an adjective meaning that it’s getting bright outside. |
| Jane: 外面亮了。wàimian liàng le.) |
| Canaan: It’s getting bright outside. So with the pattern |
| Jane: 太 (tài) - adjective - 了(le) |
| Canaan: We are not indicating a change of status. Instead, we are emphasizing further on already existing status. One more sentence |
| Jane: 他的衣服太脏了。(tā de yīfu tài zāng le.) |
| Canaan: His clothes are too dirty. |
| Jane: 他的衣服太脏了。(tā de yīfu tài zāng le.) |
| Canaan: His clothes are too dirty. Again there is no indication that the clothes have been changed from clean to dirty but rather we are simply emphasizing the fact that the clothes themselves are just too dirty. |
| Jane: 是的。(shì de.) |
| Canaan: And another adverb of degree |
| Jane: 最 (zuì) |
| Canaan: Which means the most. So for instance, the most expensive. |
| Jane: 最贵 (zuìguì) |
| Canaan: The cheapest. |
| Jane: 最便宜 (zuìpiányi). The same pattern goes with 最 (zuì( adjective 了(le). For example, 他最酷了。(tā zuì kù le.) |
| Canaan: I am the coolest, oh I am sorry. He is the coolest. |
| Jane: 他最酷了。(tā zuì kù le.) |
| Canaan: He is the coolest. Let’s hear another sentence. |
| Jane: 这只小猫最可爱了。(zhè zhǐ xiǎomāo zuì kěài le.) |
| Canaan: This kitten is the cutest. |
| Jane: 这只小猫最可爱了。(zhè zhǐ xiǎomāo zuì kěài le.) |
| Canaan: This kitten is the cutest. Okay now, can we put any of our other familiar adverbs in there like 真 (zhēn) or 很 (hěn) |
| Jane: Umm with these adverbs, to describe adjectives, you shouldn’t put 了 (le) at the end. |
| Canaan: And why is that? |
| Jane: It just sounds old. I think it is just convention. |
Outro |
| Canaan: Convention. Really a lot of what we call grammar in Chinese is actually the accumulation of convention but the way we break it down for you here at chineseclass101 is pretty straightforward and we think we should probably leave you here today. |
| Jane: Just remember to check out the premium PDF files on our website which has got the full transcript of everything we’ve been talking about today. |
| Canaan: And much more or you can write to us at contactus@chineseclass.com or leave a comment on the site. |
| Jane: We are looking forward to hearing from you. |
| Canaan: And for now, I am your host Keenan. |
| Jane: I am Jane. |
| Canaan: And we will see you again from Beijing. |
| Jane: 下次见吧。(xiàcì jiàn ba!) |
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