Learn how to use nouns made up of adjectives such as 白富美 and 高富帅, from a conversation between two people in China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi 大家好，我是Echo. (Hi dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Intermediate, season 2, Lesson 5. How Can the Common Man Find Love in China? So our dialogue is what, it’s not actually on the date. |
| Echo: No, 这是两个朋友，其中一个去了相亲。(No, zhè shì liǎng gè péngyǒu, qízhōng yīgè qùle xiāngqīn.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 然后他回来以后告诉他的朋友他相亲相的怎么样。(Ránhòu tā huílái yǐhòu gàosù tā de péngyǒu tā xiāngqīn xiàng de zěnme yàng.) |
| David: So yeah, so this is the report on what it was like and because it’s friends, we’ve got casual Mandarin as always. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:又去相亲了？这次看对眼儿没有？ |
| (A: Yòu qù xiāngqīn le? Zhè cì kànduìyǎnr méiyǒu?) |
| B:嘿，这次还真来了个白富美！ |
| (B: Hēi, zhè cì hái zhēn lái le gè báifùměi!) |
| A:那不正好，你快展开攻势啊？ |
| (A: Nà bù zhènghǎo, nǐ kuài zhǎnkāi gōngshì a?) |
| B:别提了，人家嫌我不是高富帅，只是个穷屌丝。 |
| (B: Biétíle, rénjiā xián wǒ bù shì gāofùshuài, zhǐ shì gè qióngdiǎosī.) |
| A:唉，我们屌丝的春天什么时候才能来呀？ |
| (A: Āi, wǒmen diǎosī de chūntiān shénme shíhou cái néng lái ya?) |
| B:哎，你不是跟你的初恋复合了吗？ |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bù shì gēn nǐ de chūliàn fùhé le ma?) |
| A:哪儿啊，她说我太幼稚，一心只想嫁大叔。 |
| (A: Nǎr a, tā shuō wǒ tài yòuzhì, yīxīn zhǐ xiǎng jià dàshū.) |
| David: Once more, slowly. |
| A:又去相亲了？这次看对眼儿没有？ |
| (A: Yòu qù xiāngqīn le? Zhè cì kànduìyǎnr méiyǒu?) |
| B:嘿，这次还真来了个白富美！ |
| (B: Hēi, zhè cì hái zhēn lái le gè báifùměi!) |
| A:那不正好，你快展开攻势啊？ |
| (A: Nà bù zhènghǎo, nǐ kuài zhǎnkāi gōngshì a?) |
| B:别提了，人家嫌我不是高富帅，只是个穷屌丝。 |
| (B: Biétíle, rénjiā xián wǒ bù shì gāofùshuài, zhǐ shì gè qióngdiǎosī.) |
| A:唉，我们屌丝的春天什么时候才能来呀？ |
| (A: Āi, wǒmen diǎosī de chūntiān shénme shíhou cái néng lái ya?) |
| B:哎，你不是跟你的初恋复合了吗？ |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bù shì gēn nǐ de chūliàn fùhé le ma?) |
| A:哪儿啊，她说我太幼稚，一心只想嫁大叔。 |
| (A: Nǎr a, tā shuō wǒ tài yòuzhì, yīxīn zhǐ xiǎng jià dàshū.) |
| David: And now, with English translation. |
| A:又去相亲了？这次看对眼儿没有？ |
| (A: Yòu qù xiāngqīn le? Zhè cì kànduìyǎnr méiyǒu?) |
| A: Went on another blind date? See anyone you like? |
| B:嘿，这次还真来了个白富美！ |
| (B: Hēi, zhè cì hái zhēn lái le gè báifùměi!) |
| B: You know what? This time, there was actually a white, rich and beautiful girl. |
| A:那不正好，你快展开攻势啊？ |
| (A: Nà bù zhènghǎo, nǐ kuài zhǎnkāi gōngshì a?) |
| A: Isn't that great? Why don't you go on and attack? |
| B:别提了，人家嫌我不是高富帅，只是个穷屌丝。 |
| (B: Biétíle, rénjiā xián wǒ bù shì gāofùshuài, zhǐ shì gè qióngdiǎosī.) |
| B: Don't mention it. She dislikes that I'm not a tall, wealthy and handsome guy, but just a poor loser. |
| A:唉，我们屌丝的春天什么时候才能来呀？ |
| (A: Āi, wǒmen diǎosī de chūntiān shénme shíhou cái néng lái ya?) |
| A: Ai. When will spring come for us poor losers. |
| B:哎，你不是跟你的初恋复合了吗？ |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bù shì gēn nǐ de chūliàn fùhé le ma?) |
| B: Hey, didn't you say you are going back with your first girlfriend? |
| A:哪儿啊，她说我太幼稚，一心只想嫁大叔。 |
| (A: Nǎr a, tā shuō wǒ tài yòuzhì, yīxīn zhǐ xiǎng jià dàshū.) |
| A: Don't mention it. She said that I'm too childish and she only want to marry someone older. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 这里面有很多很难翻译的词，比如说:大叔。(Zhè lǐmiàn yǒu hěnduō hěn nán fānyì de cí, bǐrú shuō: Dàshū.) |
| David: Yes a big uncle is what we are going with. Yeah this is going to be an interesting vocab section. Let’s just get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 相亲 (xiāngqīn) |
| David: Blind date. |
| Echo: 看对眼儿 (kàn duì yǎnr) |
| David: To hit it off. |
| Echo: 白富美 (báifùměi) |
| David: White, rich and beautiful girl. |
| Echo: 高富帅 (gāofùshuài) |
| David: Tall, rich and handsome guy. |
| Echo: 穷屌丝 (qióngdiǎosī) |
| David: Poor loser. |
| Echo: 春天 (chūntiān) |
| David: Spring. |
| Echo: 初恋 (chūliàn) |
| David: First love. |
| Echo: 复合 (Fùhé) |
| David: To make up. |
| Echo: 一心 (yīxīn) |
| David: Wholeheartedly. |
| Echo: 大叔 (dàshū) |
| David: Uncle. |
| Echo: 大叔 (dàshū) |
| David: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is obviously blind date. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 相亲 (Xiāngqīn) |
| David: Blind date. |
| Echo: 相亲。现在在中国有各种各样的相亲，特别多。(Xiāngqīn. Xiànzài zài zhōngguó yǒu gè zhǒng gè yàng de xiāngqīn, tèbié duō.) |
| David: Yeah. For example, you might say, I went on a blind date last night. |
| Echo: 我昨天晚上去相亲了。(Wǒ zuótiān wǎnshàng qù xiāngqīnle.) |
| David: Right. People will hear this a lot, very popular. If you find someone you meet, you might hit it off. |
| Echo: 看对眼儿，这是一个非常非常口语的说法，比如说:他们俩看对眼了。(Kàn duì yǎn er, zhè shì yīgè fēicháng fēicháng kǒuyǔ de shuōfǎ, bǐrú shuō: Tāmen liǎ kàn duì yǎnle.) |
| David: Right. It doesn’t mean you are staring at each other. |
| Echo: 不是。(Bùshì.) |
| David: It means just… |
| Echo: 也不是说你的眼睛有问题。(Yě bùshì shuō nǐ de yǎnjīng yǒu wèntí.) |
| David: It doesn’t have anything to do with the eyes. It just means that you like someone and they like you back. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: You hit it off. |
| Echo: 就是你们互相喜欢，看对眼儿了。 |
| David: Yeah. So you might say I wasn’t expecting it but we hit it off. |
| Echo: 对，我真没想到，但是我们看对眼儿了。(Jiùshì nǐmen hùxiāng xǐhuān, kàn duì yǎn erle.) |
| David: Yeah. Next we have the two words. We are going to try to convince you are not racist. The first word is |
| Echo: 白富美。(Bái fùměi.) |
| David: And it’s a combination of adjectives right? |
| Echo: Yeah. 对的。现在就是代表一种非常受欢迎的女孩。(Yeah. Duì de. Xiànzài jiùshì dàibiǎo yī zhǒng fēicháng shòu huānyíng de nǚhái.) |
| David: Yeah it’s the Chinese preference for paler skin. People who aren’t working out in the sun basically. |
| Echo: 对，很美白的。(Duì, hěn měibái de.) |
| David: Right so it’s considered attractive if women are – they have paler skin and they are of course rich and beautiful. |
| Echo: 没错。白富美。(Méi cuò. Bái fùměi.) |
| David: The tricky thing to notice, this is a noun right? |
| Echo: 我们一会在语法的地方会再仔细看这个词。(Wǒmen yī huǐ zài yǔfǎ dì dìfāng huì zài zǐxì kàn zhège cí.) |
| David: Yeah. We’ve got the opposite for men which is tall, rich and handsome. |
| Echo: 高富帅。(Gāofù shuài.) |
| David: Right. So if you are a woman in China, you want to be |
| Echo: 白富美。(Bái fùměi.) |
| David: Yeah for man. |
| Echo: 高富帅。(Gāofù shuài.) |
| David: Right. At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the gentleman in our dialogue today. |
| Echo: 他说他自己是“穷屌丝”。(Tā shuō tā zìjǐ shì “qióng diǎosī”.) |
| David: Yeah and that’s a negative word to use to describe yourself. Just… |
| Echo: Loser, 一个普通人，没有什么特长。但是现在很多人都喜欢就是这么自嘲，自我嘲笑一下，说“哎，我是一个屌丝。(Loser, yīgè pǔtōng rén, méiyǒu shé me tècháng. Dànshì xiànzài hěnduō rén dōu xǐhuān jiùshì zhème zìcháo, zìwǒ cháoxiào yīxià, shuō “āi, wǒ shì yīgè diǎosī.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 你可以说我是男屌丝，我是女屌丝都可以。(Nǐ kěyǐ shuō wǒ shì nán diǎosī, wǒ shì nǚ diǎosī dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Right. We also have the word for spring here. |
| Echo: 春天 (Chūntiān) |
| David: Which is a metaphor and not actually talking about spring. |
| Echo: 比喻。不只是真正的春天。在这里面是表示爱情，一般是爱情方面的，或者是很好运。(Bǐyù. Bù zhǐshì zhēnzhèng de chūntiān. Zài zhè lǐmiàn shì biǎoshì àiqíng, yībān shì àiqíng fāngmiàn de, huòzhě shì hěn hǎo yùn.) |
| David: Yeah. Its opportunities. So the idea is that everyone has a spring. |
| Echo: 每个人都有春天。(Měi gèrén dōu yǒu chūntiān.) |
| David: Right. So he is saying when is my spring going to get here, when am I going to have the season for love. So the other really tricky thing here is that last word. |
| Echo: 大叔 (Dàshū) |
| David: Which is easy, I mean its uncle we know it but Echo, what does it mean? |
| Echo: Okay. 这个呢是指比女孩要年龄大7，8岁以上的，甚至是10岁，十几岁以上的这样的男的，但不是非常大。(Okay. Zhège ne shì zhǐ bǐ nǚhái yào niánlíng dà 7,8 suì yǐshàng de, shènzhì shì 10 suì, shí jǐ suì yǐshàng de zhèyàng de nán de, dàn bùshì fēicháng dà.) |
| David: It’s to a woman. It’s a guy who is not as old as the father but not in the same demography. 10 years older, 15 years older. When you get to 20, 25, it’s you are not really 大叔 |
| Echo: 对，那是大爷。(Duì, nà shì dàyé.) |
| David: So we translate it as uncle but that’s not what it means. It just means an older guy, okay. For older women, there is no phrase like this, is there? |
| Echo: 没有，因为一般大家都就是在找对象的时候，相亲的时候一般都是女孩愿意找比自己年龄大一点的大叔，但是男孩一般不太找。(Méiyǒu, yīn wéi yībān dàjiā dōu jiùshì zài zhǎo duìxiàng de shíhòu, xiāngqīn de shíhòu yībān dōu shì nǚhái yuànyì zhǎo bǐ zìjǐ niánlíng dà yīdiǎn de dàshū, dànshì nánhái yībān bù tài zhǎo.) |
| David: So China does not have the cougar yet. Okay anyway, we’ve got an interesting grammar discussion for you. Let’s get to it. It’s grammar time. Echo, what are we talking about today? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 今天我们要谈“白富美”和“高富帅”。(Jīntiān wǒmen yào tán “bái fùměi” hé “gāofù shuài”.) |
| David: Yes. The reason we want to talk about them is because they are nouns. |
| Echo: 对，但是其实你分开来看“白”、“富”、“美”、“高”、“富”、“帅”每一个词都是形容词。(Duì, dànshì qíshí nǐ fēnkāi lái kàn “bái”,“fù”,“měi”,“gāo”,“fù”,“shuài” měi yīgè cí dōu shì xíngróngcí.) |
| David: Yeah. So it’s almost as if tall, rich, handsome became a noun in English. |
| Echo: 没错。 |
| David: And you say, oh, he is tall, rich, handsome. You know, it’s not difficult but this does confuse some people. |
| Echo: 对，所以我们在这个地方要给大家一些例子。除了“白富美”、“高富帅”以外还有一些别的。比如说“穷矮挫”。 |
| David: This is the opposite of tall, rich, handsome. |
| Echo: 穷矮挫 (Qióng ǎi cuò) |
| David: Right. So 穷 is poor. |
| Echo: “矮”和“挫”都是矮。(“Ǎi” hé “cuò” dōu shì ǎi.) |
| David: Why do Chinese people, what are you guys having in short people? |
| Echo: 我没有什么问题。(Wǒ méiyǒu shé me wèntí.) |
| David: It doesn’t make sense. |
| Echo: 我跟他们没有问题。(Wǒ gēn tāmen méiyǒu wèntí.) |
| David: Okay anyway next, next. |
| Echo: 还有别的呢:“土圆肥”。(Hái yǒu bié de ne:“Tǔ yuán féi”) |
| David: This is mean. I’ve heard people say “章子怡 is 土”. It means kind of uncultured, uneducated. |
| Echo: 对，很乡土气息的，很- 对，一方面是没有受过什么教育，一方面就是说他是乡下人。(Duì, hěn xiāngtǔ qìxí de, hěn- duì, yī fāngmiàn shì méiyǒu shòuguò shèn me jiàoyù, yī fāngmiàn jiùshì shuō tā shì xiāngxià rén.) |
| David: It’s such a - |
| Echo: 然后没见过大世面。(Ránhòu méi jiàn guo dà shìmiàn.) |
| David: I think they are dead wrong but it’s considered really insulting in Chinese to call someone 土 (Tǔ). |
| Echo: 嗯，对呀 (Ń, duì ya) |
| David: You just stop farm. We also have round and fat. |
| Echo: 对，都是一个意思，都是说这个人有点丰满。(Duì, dōu shì yīgè yìsi, dōu shì shuō zhège rén yǒudiǎn fēngmǎn.) |
| David: Umm so our four examples to date. |
| Echo: 高富帅，白富美，穷矮挫，土圆肥。(Gāofù shuài, bái fùměi, qióng ǎi cuò, tǔ yuán féi.) |
| David: And we’ve got three more for you. |
| Echo: 下一个应该是大家都比较喜欢的:甜素纯。(Xià yīgè yīnggāi shì dàjiā dōu bǐjiào xǐhuān de: Tián sù chún.) |
| David: What kind of person would you use this to describe? |
| Echo: 这个呢跟白富美有点像，但是呢，她不是说家境非常好的女孩子，不是有钱的女孩子，它就说这个女孩子很甜美，很朴素，很纯洁，就是那种性格很好。(Zhège ne gēn bái fùměi yǒudiǎn xiàng, dànshì ne, tā bùshì shuō jiājìng fēicháng hǎo de nǚ háizi, bùshì yǒu qián de nǚ háizi, tā jiù shuō zhège nǚ háizi hěn tiánměi, hěn púsù, hěn chúnjié, jiùshì nà zhǒng xìnggé hěn hǎo.) |
| David: You are describing the character of the person as opposed to their appearance and wealth. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. Next up, we have |
| Echo: 高美白 (Gāo měibái) |
| David: And this is for women too. |
| Echo: 没错，一般就是像模特那种，就是又高又漂亮又白这样的女孩。(Méi cuò, yībān jiùshì xiàng mú tè nà zhǒng, jiùshì yòu gāo yòu piàoliang yòu bái zhèyàng de nǚhái.) |
| David: Yes and they are not rich apparently. Rich has been omitted from this. So what would be the difference? So I describe a model as 高美白。 |
| Echo: 对，就是如果你不知道她有没有钱，然后她又特别高可以说她“高美白”。(Duì, jiùshì rúguǒ nǐ bù zhīdào tā yǒu méiyǒu qián, ránhòu tā yòu tèbié gāo kěyǐ shuō tā “gāo měibái”.) |
| David: Okay. So they are pale and high but you don’t know if they are rich. You could go with this one. Last but not least. |
| Echo: 最后一个，哎呀真是倒霉:矮丑穷。(Zuìhòu yīgè, āiyā zhēnshi dǎoméi: Ǎi chǒu qióng.) |
| David: Short, ugly, poor. |
| Echo: 你已经无语了是吗？(Nǐ yǐjīng wúyǔle shì ma?) |
| David: You know, what I find interesting is that these are actual. |
| Echo: 对，非常流行的。(Duì, fēicháng liúxíng de.) |
| David: Yeah and people will treat them as nouns. So you will stick a measure word in front of them. You will say that someone has 一个 and then… |
| Echo: 对，他是一个矮丑穷。(Duì, tā shì yīgè ǎi chǒu qióng.) |
| David: Yeah and I mean it’s interesting because most adjective pairs, you know, you’ve got this two character rhythm going and with these words for some reason, we are sticking them in groups… |
| Echo: 一般都是三个，对。(Yībān dōu shì sān gè, duì.) |
| David: Yeah. So pay attention to these. You are going to run into other combinations that are always being invented. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| David: And yeah so that’s our lesson for today. As always, if you have any questions, send us an email. If you are not sure what characters we are talking about, check the PDF. |
| Echo: 没错。我们所有的这个grammar point，所有的这个vocab都在PDF上。(Méi cuò. Wǒmen suǒyǒu de zhège grammar point, suǒyǒu de zhège vocab dōu zài PDF shàng.) |
| David: Yeah we’ve written them all down. You can find them in the PDF and with that, that’s our show. From the center of Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见吧 (Wǎngshàng jiàn ba)， Bye-bye! |
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