Learn how to use the Chinese word "really" correctly
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Nicole: 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Nicole. Welcome to ChineseClass101. |
| David: Hi, I’m David, and welcome to the second lesson in our first intermediate season, and this is the lesson “I may just be anorexic”. Nicole, if I may be anorexic, you are anorexic. Nicole is a bag of bones here. Anyway, we've got a lesson from people today which is all about dieting. And in this lesson, we’re going to share with you a Chinese secret on how to lose weight. |
| Nicole: Great. |
| David: Or maybe it’s Nicole’s secret on how to lose weight. |
| Nicole: That’s awesome. |
| David: So we're going to give you this after the dialogue. Our dialogue for today, it takes place in an office. |
| Nicole: 我们的办公室。(Wǒmen de bàngōngshì.) |
| David: It’s our office, and it’s between two colleagues. And because the colleagues are friends, of course, they're speaking casual Mandarin. so we're going to get to the dialogue, but before we do, we want to remind you, commenting is an excellent way to get feedback and get questions answered. So if you have questions or suggestions, drop by chineseclass101.com or send us an email, we would love to hear from you. |
| Nicole: Do it, do it, quick. |
| David: Right, Nicole wants to hear from you. |
| Nicole: Desperately. |
| David: Ok, so with that, let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你中午想吃什么？(Nǐ zhōngwǔ xiǎng chī shénme?) |
| 不吃。我只吃早餐。(Bù chī. Wǒ zhǐ chī zǎocān.) |
| 为什么？(wèishénme?) |
| 我最近在节食减肥。(wǒ zuìjìn zài jiéshí jiǎnféi.) |
| 你还要减肥？你明明就瘦得不得了。(nǐ hái yào jiǎnféi? nǐ míngmíng jiù shòu de bùdeliǎo.) |
| 不！我胖得不得了！(bù! wǒ pàng de bùdeliǎo!) |
| 哪里？(nǎlǐ?) |
| 哪里都是。(nǎlǐ dōu shì.) |
| 你有40公斤吗？(nǐ yǒu sìshí gōngjīn ma?) |
| 39。但我的目标是30公斤！(sānshíjiǔ. dàn wǒ de mùbiāo shì sānshí gōngjīn!) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 你中午想吃什么？(nǐ zhōngwǔ xiǎng chī shénme?) |
| 不吃。我只吃早餐。(bù chī. wǒ zhǐ chī zǎocān.) |
| 为什么？(wèishénme?) |
| 我最近在节食减肥。(wǒ zuìjìn zài jiéshí jiǎnféi.) |
| 你还要减肥？你明明就瘦得不得了。(nǐ hái yào jiǎnféi? nǐ míngmíng jiù shòu de bùdeliǎo.) |
| 不！我胖得不得了！(bù! wǒ pàng de bùdeliǎo!) |
| 哪里？(nǎlǐ?) |
| 哪里都是。(nǎlǐ dōu shì.) |
| 你有40公斤吗？(nǐ yǒu sìshí gōngjīn ma?) |
| 39。但我的目标是30公斤！(sānshíjiǔ. dàn wǒ de mùbiāo shì sānshí gōngjīn!) |
| David: One more time, with English translation. |
| 你中午想吃什么？(nǐ zhōngwǔ xiǎng chī shénme?) |
| David: What are you having for lunch? |
| 不吃。我只吃早餐。(bù chī. wǒ zhǐ chī zǎocān.) |
| David: I'm not eating. I just eat breakfast. |
| 为什么？(wèishénme?) |
| David: Why? |
| 我最近在节食减肥。(wǒ zuìjìn zài jiéshí jiǎnféi.) |
| David: Lately, I've been on a diet. |
| 你还要减肥？你明明就瘦得不得了。(nǐ hái yào jiǎnféi? nǐ míngmíng jiù shòu de bùdeliǎo.) |
| David: You're still dieting? You're really pretty thin. |
| 不!我胖得不得了!(Bù! Wǒ pàng dé bùdéle!) |
| David: No! I'm really very fat! |
| 哪里？(Nǎlǐ?) |
| David: Where? |
| 哪里都是。(Nǎlǐ dōu shì.) |
| David: Everywhere! |
| 你有40公斤吗？(Nǐ yǒu 40 gōngjīn ma?) |
| David: Are you even forty kilograms? |
| 39。(39.) |
| David: Thirty-nine |
| 但我的目标是30公斤!(Dàn wǒ de mùbiāo shì 30 gōngjīn!) |
| David: But my goal is to be thirty kilograms! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: Okay, Nicole, are you ready to share the secret? |
| Nicole: Yes. |
| David: We promised you guys we’d tell you the Chinese dieting secret. Nicole, what is it? |
| Nicole: 不吃(Bù chī) |
| David: It is not to eat. |
| Nicole: 什么都不吃(Shénme dōu bù chī) |
| David: Not to eat anything at all. We aren’t making this up, Nicole, this is your dieting strategy. |
| Nicole: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: We’ve got a vocab list here, which is all about losing weight, but it is intermediate to that. So, let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) [natural native speed] |
| David: to diet |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 健身房(Jiànshēnfáng) [natural native speed] |
| David: gym |
| Nicole: 健身房(Jiànshēnfáng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 健身房(Jiànshēnfáng) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 不得了 (Bùdéle)[natural native speed] |
| David: really |
| Nicole: 不得了(Bùdéle) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 不得了(Bùdéle) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 瘦(Shòu) [natural native speed] |
| David: thin |
| Nicole: 瘦(Shòu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 瘦(Shòu) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 胖(Pàng) [natural native speed] |
| David: fat |
| Nicole: 胖(Pàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 胖(Pàng) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 狂吃(Kuáng chī) [natural native speed] |
| David: to eat a lot |
| Nicole: 狂吃(Kuáng chī) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 狂吃(Kuáng chī) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 过胖(Guò pàng) [natural native speed] |
| David: overweight |
| Nicole: 过胖(Guò pàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 过胖(Guò pàng) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Nicole: 骨感(Gǔ gǎn) [natural native speed] |
| David: bony |
| Nicole: 骨感(Gǔ gǎn) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nicole: 骨感(Gǔ gǎn) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Nicole: Okay. |
| David: The first one we want to look at, obviously, is... |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) |
| David: To diet |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) |
| David: As in the sentence… |
| Nicole: 她最近在节食减肥。(Tā zuìjìn zài jiéshí jiǎnféi.) |
| David: She's been dieting by cutting back on food. Now, we've got the word for diet obviously. |
| Nicole: 减肥(Jiǎnféi) |
| David: And we've got this extra word which means to cut back on food. |
| Nicole: 节食(Jiéshí) |
| David: To cut back on food. |
| Nicole: 节食(Jiéshí) |
| David: And so we've got Nicole's technique of dieting by cutting back on food. |
| Nicole: 节食减肥(Jiéshí jiǎnféi) |
| David: Although I guess not quite because you just don't eat. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: It sounds pretty awful I think. A better way would be going to the gym. So what's the word for gym? |
| Nicole: 健身房(Jiànshēnfáng) |
| David: That means gym, or gymnasium. |
| Nicole: 健身房(Jiànshēnfáng) |
| David: It literally translates as “healthy body room.” |
| Nicole: Nice name. |
| David: Yes. So the following line. |
| Nicole: 我胖了(Wǒ pàngle)，所以我要去健身房锻炼。(Suǒyǐ wǒ yào qù jiànshēnfáng duànliàn.) |
| David: I am fat or I am overweight and so I want to go to the gym to workout. And we've got that word tucked on the into. To work out. |
| Nicole: 锻炼(Duànliàn) |
| David: Right. There is another word for gym that you are often going to run into. |
| Nicole: 对，健美中心(Duì, jiànměi zhōngxīn) |
| David: And that literally means a center 中心(Zhōngxīn) where you |
| Nicole: 健美(Jiànměi) |
| David: Right, and that means to work out, |
| Nicole: 对(Duì) |
| David: to body build or, you know, to stack up. So that's the second word for gym. |
| Nicole: 还有一个(Hái yǒu yīgè)，运动中心(Yùndòng zhōngxīn) |
| David: Exercise center. |
| Nicole: Or sports center. |
| David: Or sports center, right. If you do too much of this, you are going to trigger people calling you |
| Nicole: 骨感(Gǔ gǎn) |
| David: Which is bone skinny. |
| Nicole: Yes. |
| David: Skinny bony. It literally means bone feeling, that word. |
| Nicole: Yeah, 骨感(Gǔ gǎn) |
| David: But we've done the dieting vocab, so let's flip through right now and we've got a couple of words to describe the opposite. |
| Nicole: The opposite, yes. |
| David: Now the first one we had was the word to eat wildly. |
| Nicole: 狂吃(Kuáng chī) |
| David: And that literally means like crazily to eat. |
| Nicole: Yes. 狂吃(Kuáng chī) |
| David: Can you give us the sample sentence? |
| Nicole: 他一直狂吃。(Tā yīzhí kuáng chī.) |
| David: He is always eating. |
| Nicole: Yeah. It must be a he. |
| David: Umm... there is another lovely word that we ran into that didn't make the list. And it means the same thing. |
| Nicole: 暴饮暴食(Bào yǐn bàoshí) |
| David: Four characters, this means again to eat crazily, to gorge yourself. |
| Nicole: Yeah but it's actually three because the first and the third are the same. |
| David: Right. Can we hear it again? |
| Nicole: 暴饮暴食(Bào yǐn bàoshí) |
| David: That literally is explosive drink. |
| Nicole: 暴饮(Bào yǐn) |
| David: Explosive food. |
| Nicole: 暴食(Bàoshí) |
| David: Can you give us the sentence? |
| Nicole: 他一直暴饮暴食。(Tā yīzhí bào yǐn bàoshí.) |
| David: This is the same sentence but yeah he is continually eating all the time, never stops. |
| Nicole: He is always… |
| David: Yeah. Also if a friend invites you to work out, you can say, I can't exercise. |
| Nicole: 我不能去(Wǒ bùnéng qù) |
| David: Because I just gorged myself. |
| Nicole: 因为我刚狂吃了一顿。(Yīnwèi wǒ gāng kuáng chīle yī dùn.) |
| David: Yeah and there is one more word Nicole that you taught us. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: Which is, it's a great one. |
| Nicole: 海吃(Hǎi chī) |
| David: It literally means ocean eat. |
| Nicole: To eat the entire ocean. |
| David: It means to eat a lot. |
| Nicole: Yeah. |
| David: You are really just going at it. So you could say he is always eating. |
| Nicole: 他一直海吃。(Tā yīzhí hǎi chī.) |
| David: a bit of weight loss vocab, and then three useful words to talk about eating a lot, first there's madly to eat. |
| Nicole: 狂吃(Kuáng chī) |
| David: Ocean eating. |
| Nicole: 海吃(Hǎi chī) |
| David: And then my favorite, which is explosive food and drink. |
| Nicole: 暴饮暴食。(Bào yǐn bàoshí.)Sounds so unhealthy. |
| David: What a great image it gives you. Anyway, that's our vocab section for today, lots of useful words. We've got a great grammar point for you, let's move on to that. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Nicole, when we said this was a great grammar point, we may have been understating it. |
| Nicole: Oh, yeah. It's gold. |
| David: This is gold, this is really, really good. It's also something that most textbooks don't cover, and most Chinese teachers are not going to tell you. But when you understand it you're going to be a lot closer to understanding why Chinese grammar is sometimes so ambiguous, anyway, let's' start by taking a look at this sentence from our dialogue. |
| Nicole: 你还要减肥？你明明就瘦得不得了。(Nǐ hái yào jiǎnféi? Nǐ míngmíng jiù shòu dé bùdéle.) |
| David: Right, that means, you still want to lose weight? You're clearly really thin. |
| Nicole: Yup. |
| David: Let's take a look at the second part of that. |
| Nicole: 你明明就瘦得不得了。(Nǐ míngmíng jiù shòu dé bùdéle.) |
| David: You're very clearly really, really thin. Now, how do we say really, really thin here? |
| Nicole: 瘦得不得了(Shòu dé bùdéle) |
| David: You're thin to the point that you are--. |
| Nicole: 不得了(Bùdéle) |
| David: Right, in the next sentence, we see something very similar. |
| Nicole: 胖得不得了(Pàng dé bùdéle) |
| David: Right, someone says, “you're really thin”, and he says, “No, no, no. I'm really, really fat”. |
| Nicole: Yeah, that's a very Chinese way of being modest. |
| David: Yeah, so we've got this word. |
| Nicole: 不得了(Bùdéle) |
| David: Which means really or very. And in these sentences, it's coming after an adjective. This is really strange because in earlier lessons we taught you that in most sentences adjectives come after adverbs. |
| Nicole: Yup. |
| David: So you could say, very good. |
| Nicole: 很好(Hěn hǎo) |
| David: Or, extremely thin. |
| Nicole: 非常瘦(Fēicháng shòu) |
| David: Or, extremely bony. |
| Nicole: 非常骨感(Fēicháng gǔ gǎn) |
| David: Right, but here we've got a different structure. |
| Nicole: Yup. |
| David: We've got the structure where the adjective is acting like a verb. So we've got the adjective, and then this 得(Dé), and then the verb complement. In this case: |
| Nicole: 不得了(Bùdéle) |
| David: Which means really, or kind of almost excessively. That raises the question of what's happening and in this case the answer is, our adjective is acting like a verb, right? There's a reason for this, the dark and dirty secret is that in Chinese adjectives are also verbs, and this goes back into Chinese grammar usage for hundreds of years, and it's why we don't need a verb in sentences like: |
| Nicole: 我很好(Wǒ hěn hǎo) |
| David: Right, because technically the adjective is already playing a role of a verb. It's a certain subset of verbs really. Let's have some more examples. |
| Nicole: 他刚刚分手(Tā gānggāng fēnshǒu)，难过得不得了(Nánguò dé bùdéle) |
| David: He or she recently broke up, and is so distressed that there’re-- |
| Nicole: 不得了了(Bùdéliǎoliǎo) |
| David: Right, We don't necessarily even know how to translate this. It's really hard to translate this last sentence. |
| Nicole: To a very extreme degree. |
| David: To an extreme degree of something, right. And anyway that means they just broke up, he just broke up, he's really troubled. So, that's our grammar section. Bear this in mind, remember, adjectives at heart want to behave like verbs. |
| Nicole: At heart, yes. |
| David: Yes. So it's a certain kind of subset of a verb that we're dealing with. |
Outro |
| David: Now, before we go, one more thing. Something you wanted to remind people of Nicole. |
| Nicole: There's that amazing tool in our website that's called the voice recording tool, please, please use that. |
| David: It's in the premium learning center. It's going to help you listen to your tones. You'll see how you sound to other people. |
| Nicole: Yup. |
| David: Which is an important step in realising where you're sounding good and where you're not. Because that can be hard to figure out if you're just listening through your own head. With that, that's our podcast for today. From Beijing, I'm David. |
| Nicole: I'm Nicole. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you next week. |
| Nicole: 下次见.(Xià cì jiàn.) |
| David: Bye bye. |
| Nicole: Bye. |
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