Learn about a question pronoun and who the Chinese consider beautiful
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Canaan: Hello and welcome back to chineseclass101, the fastest, easiest and most enjoyable way to learn Chinese. My name is Canaan. |
| Jane: 大家好，我是Jane. (dàjiā hǎo , Wǒ shì Jane.) |
| Canaan: Today we have Absolute Beginner season 3, lesson 6. |
| Jane: A Chinese Case of Mistaken Identity. |
| Canaan: That’s a weird title. What’s this lesson about? |
| Jane: Today’s lesson is a typical conversation that might occur between a young couple once in a while. |
| Canaan: Oh yeah especially if they are in a Chinese soap opera. I’ve seen too many of those. |
| Jane: Good for you. |
| Canaan: Oh thanks. |
| Jane: And this conversation takes place. It could be anywhere in the café or in the shop. |
| Canaan: In the subway. |
| Jane: Yeah. |
| Canaan: Absolutely and because they are a couple, they will be speaking informal Mandarin. |
| Jane: So let’s go to the dialogue. |
| Canaan: Sure but before we go, I would like to remind our listeners that if you want to make sure that you remember all the vocabulary we’ve talked about in these lessons, there is no better way of doing that than using our online flashcard tool. |
| Jane: To start using them, just go to the premium learning center at chineseclass101.com |
| Canaan: And here is the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你在看谁？(Nǐ zài kàn shéi?) |
| 我谁也没看。(Wǒ shéi yě méi kàn.) |
| 骗人！你在看美女！(Piànrén! Nǐ zài kàn měinǚ!) |
| 我...我在看你。(Wǒ.)..Wǒ zài kàn nǐ.) |
| Canaan: And now with the English translation. |
| 你在看谁？(Nǐ zài kàn shéi?) |
| Who are you staring at? |
| 我谁也没看。(Wǒ shéi yě méi kàn.) |
| I am not staring at anyone. |
| 骗人！你在看美女！(Piànrén! Nǐ zài kàn měinǚ!) |
| Liar! You are staring at pretty girls! |
| 我...我在看你。(Wǒ.)..Wǒ zài kàn nǐ.) |
| I...I am looking at you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jane: All guys are liars. |
| Canaan: Oh I don’t know. I just say that we know what girls like to hear. Anyway, today’s vocabulary has a lot of really useful words that can make everybody love you or hate you. |
| Jane: All right, let’s take a look. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jane: 看 (kàn) |
| Canaan: To look at. |
| Jane: 看 (kàn) |
| Canaan: To look at. |
| Jane: 看 看 (kàn) |
| Jane: 骗人 (piànrén) |
| Canaan: To cheat someone. |
| Jane: 骗人 骗人 (piànrén) |
| Jane: 美女 (měinǚ) |
| Canaan: Pretty girl or cute girl. |
| Jane: 美女 美女 (měinǚ) |
| Jane: 帅哥 (shuàigē) |
| Canaan: Handsome guy. |
| Jane: 帅哥 帅哥 (shuàigē) |
| Jane: 大妈 (dàmā) |
| Canaan: Old woman. |
| Jane: 大妈 大妈 (dàmā) |
| Jane: 大爷 (dàye) |
| Canaan: Old man. |
| Jane: 大爷 大爷 (dàye) |
| Jane: 胡说 (húshuō) |
| Canaan: Talking nonsense. |
| Jane: 胡说 胡说 (húshuō) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Canaan: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Jane: The first word we are looking at is 看 (kàn) |
| Canaan: To look |
| Jane: 看 (kàn) |
| Canaan: And this is a high frequency Chinese verb. It’s something that you will hear every day. |
| Jane: 对 (duì)! In fact, 看 (kàn) can be to look at, to watch or to see. |
| Canaan: Or as in our dialogue to stare. It can also mean to read. |
| Jane: 我喜欢看书。(Wǒ xǐhuān kànshū.) |
| Canaan: I like to read books. |
| Jane: 我喜欢看书。(Wǒ xǐhuān kànshū.) |
| Canaan: And what about watching TV? |
| Jane: 他不喜欢看电视。tā bù xǐhuān kàn diànshì.) |
| Canaan: He doesn’t like to watch TV. |
| Jane: 他不喜欢看电视。tā bù xǐhuān kàn diànshì.) |
| Canaan: Now our next word is one that every girl in China likes to hear. |
| Jane: 美女 (měinǚ) |
| Canaan: Pretty girl. |
| Jane: 美女 (měinǚ) |
| Canaan: Yeah. And in China today especially among the younger generation, you will notice that this word is actually used a lot as a name when you are trying to get someone’s attention, a young girl’s attention and you don’t know her actual name or her proper title and so you will hear it a lot for instance when you are trying to buy something in a shop. |
| Jane: Yeah I get that a lot but don’t get fooled. They are only just trying to get your money. |
| Canaan: Got you. Now what’s the equivalent for guys? |
| Jane: 帅哥 (shuàigē) |
| Canaan: Handsome guy or literally handsome older brother. |
| Jane: 帅哥 (shuàigē) |
| Canaan: Now it might have been the second or third Chinese word that I ever learned. I get it so much that it just – it’s sunken really quick. |
| Jane: Please don’t deceive our listeners. |
| Canaan: What! Are you accusing me of lying? |
| Jane: 是的 (shì de), 你骗人(nǐ piànrén). |
| Canaan: Oh now here is our next new word for the day. Can we hear it again? |
| Jane: 骗人 (piànrén) |
| Canaan: Right. It means to lie to someone or to cheat someone. Fourth tone, second tone. |
| Jane: 骗人 (piànrén) |
| Canaan: Now how would I say I don’t lie? |
| Jane: 我不骗人。(Wǒ bú piànrén.) |
| Canaan: I don’t lie. |
| Jane: 我不骗人。(Wǒ bú piànrén.) |
| Canaan: And that is the truth. So our next word is a little similar to this one. |
| Jane: 胡说 (húshuō) |
| Canaan: Nonsense or to talk nonsense. |
| Jane: 胡说 (húshuō) |
| Canaan: Jane, I know that 说(shuō) means to speak but does the word 胡(hú) have a specific meaning in Chinese? |
| Jane: It’s interesting you ask about that. I think in the old days, people from the northwest region outside the Great Wall were called 胡人(Hú Rén). So Hu people obviously and they were considered barbaric by the 汉人(Hànrén). So 胡 (Hú) used to have a slight negative connotations in Chinese. |
| Canaan: So like a Barbarian speaking? |
| Jane: I guess so. So that’s why 胡说 (húshuō) means nonsense. |
| Canaan: That’s really interesting. |
| Jane: How about a sentence? 不要胡说。(búyào húshuō.) |
| Canaan: Stop talking nonsense. |
| Jane: 不要胡说。(búyào húshuō.) |
| Canaan: And that’s something that you might hear parents telling their kids. So we mentioned just a moment ago that if you want to get help from a young lady, you should call her 美女 měinǚ. Now what if the woman that you are trying to get the attention of is older. You can’t call them 美女 měinǚ, can you? |
| Jane: Yeah. You call them 大妈 (dàmā) |
| Canaan: Older woman. |
| Jane: Or 大爷 (dàye) |
| Canaan: Older man and you notice how Jane put emphasis on the first character in each of those names. Can we hear those again? |
| Jane: 大妈 (dàmā) |
| Canaan: Older lady. |
| Jane: 大爷 (dàye) |
| Canaan: Older man. These are very polite ways to address elderly people whom you don’t know especially if you are asking for directions or looking for some help. So I’ve now – we’ve got a couple of sentences here. I will see if we can test our listeners to see if they understand. |
| Jane: 大妈是这个帅哥的妈妈。(dàmā shì zhège shuàigē de māma.) |
| Canaan: All right, let’s have that once more and then I will translate. |
| Jane: 大妈是这个帅哥的妈妈。(dàmā shì zhège shuàigē de māma.) |
| Canaan: The old lady is this handsome guy’s mom. |
| Jane: 大爷是那个美女的爸爸。(dàye shì nèige měinǚ de bàba.) |
| Canaan: The elderly man is that pretty girl’s dad. |
| Jane: 没错儿 (méicuòr), I hope our listeners got them as well. |
| Canaan: All right. That’s enough for our vocabulary section. Let’s look at the grammar. |
| Jane: 好的 (hǎo de). |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Canaan: All right, we are going to start today’s grammar with the question pronoun, who. |
| Jane: 谁 (shéi) |
| Canaan: Who. |
| Jane: 谁 (shéi) |
| Canaan: Now we all know how to use this word as a question word such as in simple questions like, who is he or in Chinese order, he is who. |
| Jane: 他是谁？(tā shì shéi ?) |
| Canaan: Who is he, right. Now, is there anything new about this word 谁 (shéi) that we want to tell our listeners? |
| Jane: 当然 (dāngrán). We want to introduce 谁 (shéi) as anybody in general and how to use it in a non-question style. |
| Canaan: Okay. Can you give us an example? |
| Jane: 他谁都不喜欢。(tā shéi dōu bù xǐhuān.) |
| Canaan: He doesn’t like anybody. |
| Jane: 他谁都不喜欢。(tā shéi dōu bù xǐhuān.) |
| Canaan: So this time 谁 (shéi) is appearing in a declamatory sentence and narrative sentence but not a question. |
| Jane: 没错儿 (méicuòr) And the 谁 (shéi) here means anyone or anybody. |
| Canaan: Right. It’s an indefinite pronoun. Can we have another sentence? |
| Jane: 谁都可以吃。(shéi dōu kěyǐ chī.) |
| Canaan: Anyone can eat. |
| Jane: 谁都可以吃。(shéi dōu kěyǐ chī.) |
| Canaan: Now I notice that the position of 谁(shéi), when its appearing in one of these sentences as a declamatory sentence, it is certainly not at the end of the sentence the way it is in a question. |
| Jane: 没错儿 (méicuòr). And also there is usually an adverb such as 也(yě)，都(dōu) follows 谁 (shéi) in the sentence. |
| Canaan: Right. This is actually a set pattern in Chinese. |
| Jane: 谁都...(shéi dōu.).. 谁也...(shéi yě.).. |
| Canaan: Whenever you are talking about anyone, whenever you are making a generalized statement about anyone or anything. |
| Jane: 是的。(shì de.) Another sentence 这儿谁都能来。(zhèr shéi dōu néng lái.) |
| Canaan: Anyone can come here. |
| Jane: 这儿谁都能来。(zhèr shéi dōu néng lái.) |
| Canaan: Excellent. Now what about other question word pronouns like where or what? |
| Jane: Yeah 哪儿 (nǎr) and 什么(shénme) can also be used this way. |
| Canaan: Okay can we have a couple of sample sentences for those? |
| Jane: 当然。(dāngrán.) 他什么都吃。(tā shénme dōu chī.) |
| Canaan: He eats anything. |
| Jane: 他什么都吃。(tā shénme dōu chī.) |
| Canaan: Now note that 都 (dōu) that was placed in that sentence right after the 什么(shénme). Can we have another one? |
| Jane: 他哪儿也没去。(tā nǎr yě méi qù.) |
| Canaan: He didn’t go anywhere. |
| Jane: 他哪儿也没去。(tā nǎr yě méi qù.) |
| Canaan: All right. I think that’s all for today’s lesson and if you want to hear more sample sentences or you’ve missed out on anything that we’ve talked about today. |
Outro |
| Jane: Don’t forget. We’ve got all of them written down line by line in our online premium PDF files at chineseclass101.com |
| Canaan: And while you are there, write to us 什么都可以 (shénme dū kěyǐ). |
| Jane: 是的 (shì de), at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Canaan: Signing off in Beijing, this is Canaan. |
| Jane: And Jane. |
| Canaan: See you guys later. |
| Jane: 再见 (zàijiàn) |
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