Learn about using the Chinese conjunction which means "or"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo。 |
| David: And we are here today with lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 22. |
| Echo: What Do You Do in Your Spare Time in China? |
| David: Right when you are not studying Chinese, you have no spare time and it’s a trick question. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò) |
| David: So yeah, so we’ve got a dialogue here which is between two friends. Right, it’s the kind of thing you are going to hear all the time casual Mandarin as we know. Let’s just get to it. |
| Echo: 好的!(Hǎo de!) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:你周末喜欢做什么？(Nǐ zhōumò xǐhuān zuò shénme?) |
| B:在家看电影，或者出去跑步。(Zàijiā kàn diànyǐng, huòzhě chūqù pǎobù.) |
| A:我跟你差不多。(Wǒ gēn nǐ chàbùduō.) |
| B:我还喜欢做饭。(Wǒ hái xǐhuān zuòfàn.) |
| A:我们太默契了。(Wǒmen tài mòqì le.) |
| B:你也喜欢做饭？(Nǐ yě xǐhuān zuòfàn?) |
| A:不，我喜欢吃饭。(Bù, wǒ xǐhuān chīfàn.) |
| David: Once more, a bit slower. |
| A:你周末喜欢做什么？(Nǐ zhōumò xǐhuān zuò shénme?) |
| B:在家看电影，或者出去跑步。(Zàijiā kàn diànyǐng, huòzhě chūqù pǎobù.) |
| A:我跟你差不多。(Wǒ gēn nǐ chàbùduō.) |
| B:我还喜欢做饭。(Wǒ hái xǐhuān zuòfàn.) |
| A:我们太默契了。(Wǒmen tài mòqì le.) |
| B:你也喜欢做饭？(Nǐ yě xǐhuān zuòfàn?) |
| A:不，我喜欢吃饭。(Bù, wǒ xǐhuān chīfàn.) |
| David: And now with an English translation. |
| Echo: 你周末喜欢做什么？(Nǐ zhōumò xǐhuān zuò shénme?) |
| David: What do you like to do on the weekends? |
| Echo: 在家看电影，或者出去跑步。(Zàijiā kàn diànyǐng, huòzhě chūqù pǎobù.) |
| David: Watch movies at home or go running outside. |
| Echo: 我跟你差不多。(Wǒ gēn nǐ chàbùduō.) |
| David: I am basically the same as you. |
| Echo: 我还喜欢做饭。(Wǒ hái xǐhuān zuòfàn.) |
| David: I also like to cook. |
| Echo: 我们太默契了。(Wǒmen tài mòqì le.) |
| David: We are perfect for each other. |
| Echo: 你也喜欢做饭？(Nǐ yě xǐhuān zuòfàn?) |
| David: You like cooking as well? |
| Echo: 不，我喜欢吃饭。(Bù, wǒ xǐhuān chīfàn.) |
| David: No I like to eat. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I like to eat too. I understand this dialogue. The perfect relationship. |
| Echo: 唉! 天呀!(Āi! Tiān ya!) |
| David: And while they are cooking, I will be watching the movie. |
| Echo: 对, 然后等人做好了饭,你就吃。(Duì, ránhòu děng rén zuò hǎole fàn, nǐ jiù chī.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 然后吃完了, 你就去看电影。(Ránhòu chī wánliǎo, nǐ jiù qù kàn diànyǐng.) |
| David: Right, someone else can do dishes. Anyway, ideal relationship and let’s get to the vocab today. We have some interesting words to describe this in our vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo:周末。(Zhōumò.) |
| David: Weekend. |
| Echo: 周末, 周末, 在家。(zhōumò, zhōumò, zàijiā) |
| David: At home. |
| Echo:在家, 在家, 或者。(zàijiā, zàijiā, huòzhě.) |
| David: Or. |
| Echo: 或者, 或者, 出去。(huòzhě, huòzhě, chūqù.) |
| David: To go out. |
| Echo: 出去, 出去, 跑步。(chūqù, chūqù, pǎobù.) |
| David: To run. |
| Echo: 跑步, 跑步, 差不多。(pǎobù, pǎobù, chàbùduō.) |
| David: More or less the same. |
| Echo: 差不多, 差不多, 做饭。(chàbùduō, chàbùduō, zuòfàn.) |
| David: To cook. |
| Echo: 做饭, 做饭, 默契。(zuòfàn, zuòfàn, mòqì.) |
| David: Complimentary. |
| Echo: 默契, 默契。(mòqì, mòqì.) |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at these words and phrases almost in reverse order because that last one is the most difficult. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 对, 默契。(Duì, mòqì.) |
| David: A fourth tone, neutral tone. |
| Echo: 默契。(mòqì.) |
| David: And Echo, what is 默契。(mòqì.) |
| Echo: 阿....这个很难, 默契就是说 两个人很合适很和谐。(Ā.... Zhège hěn nán, mòqì jiùshì shuō liǎng gèrén hěn héshì hěn héxié.) |
| David: Yeah it’s kind of like destiny but it’s not describing that in the concept. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: It is just like things just go well together. |
| Echo: Yeah it’s like you don’t need to work on it. Like you guys have this kind of natural atmosphere or… |
| David: Yeah like one person is cooking, the other person is already doing the dishes. You don’t need to say anything. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Self organizers. |
| Echo: 唔, 很有默契。(Wú, hěn yǒu mòqì.) |
| David: Right. So we translated that as complimentary but that’s a tough one to get into English. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Right. Can we have just one or two examples in Chinese? |
| Echo: 他们两口子很有默契。(Tāmen liǎng kǒuzi hěn yǒu mòqì.) |
| David: The two of them are very good together. |
| Echo: 他们两口子很有默契。(Tāmen liǎng kǒuzi hěn yǒu mòqì.) |
| David: Yeah. Question, does this just need to be romantic because you will usually use it with relationships. |
| Echo: 不一定, 工作中也可以。(Bù yīdìng, gōngzuò zhōng yě kěyǐ.) |
| David: Huh! So you could say |
| Echo: 这两个同事很有默契。(Zhè liǎng gè tóngshì hěn yǒu mòqì.) |
| David: Could you use it to describe a boss and a worker? |
| Echo: 不太合适, 不太合适。(Bù tài héshì, bù tài héshì.) |
| David: So it’s got to be people kind of at the same level and experience. |
| Echo: 对, 而且他们一般是做同一件事情。(Duì, érqiě tāmen yībān shì zuò tóngyī jiàn shìqíng.) They work on like one thing together. |
| David: Yeah so in the factory line, everything is very 默契。(Mòqì.) |
| Echo: 对, 可以。(Duì, kěyǐ.) |
| David: That’s the toughest word. Moving on, we’ve got a lot of stuff which is really common. We’ve got weekend. |
| Echo: 周末。(Zhōumò.) |
| David: Which is literally weekend. |
| Echo: 对, 周末。(Duì, zhōumò.) |
| David: Yeah. We’ve done 差不多(Chàbùduō), we’ve done cooking before. We have this at home. |
| Echo: 在家。(Zàijiā.) |
| David: You could also say |
| Echo: 在家里。(Zài jiālǐ.) |
| David: Right. A really high frequency phrase and the last word we want to highlight is the word meaning or. |
| Echo: 或者。(Huòzhě.) |
| David: And this is so tricky. |
| Echo: 对, 所以我们要在 (Duì, suǒyǐ wǒmen yào zài) grammar point 里面讲。(Lǐmiàn jiǎng.) |
| David: Yes we have the grammar point devoted to it. And more. It’s grammar time. Okay our grammar point today is about Or. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 或者。(Huòzhě.) |
| David: Or 还是。(Háishì.) |
| Echo: 还是。(Háishì.) |
| David: Because there are a few ways of saying or in Chinese. |
| Echo: 唔, 没错。(Wú, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. These are the two big ones. |
| Echo: 对, 或者, 还是。(Duì, huòzhě, háishì.) |
| David: Okay the big difference is that |
| Echo: 或者。(Huòzhě.) |
| David: Is nonexclusive. |
| Echo: 唔....没错。(Wú.... Méi cuò.) |
| David: So we don’t hear this as much because most of the time if someone is going to use this in asking a question, they are offering you an exclusive choice. |
| Echo: 对, 你只能选一个。(Duì, nǐ zhǐ néng xuǎn yīgè.) |
| David: Right. For instance, the classic example is, would you like tea or coffee? |
| Echo: 唔, 你要茶还是咖啡?(Wú, nǐ yào chá háishì kāfēi?) |
| David: Or |
| Echo: 你想吃泰国菜还是中国菜?(Nǐ xiǎng chī tàiguó cài háishì zhōngguó cài?) |
| David: Right. Do you want to eat Thai food or Chinese food, right? So we are implying that you can’t do both or it’s unreasonable to have Thai food and then go out immediately again to a Chinese restaurant. |
| Echo: Yeah so usually in the questions, we use 还是。(Háishì.) |
| David: Yeah 99% of the questions I would say, people say 还是.(Háishì.) Sometimes however, we will run into this second way of saying or. |
| Echo: 或者。(Huòzhě.) |
| David: We have one example in our dialogue. |
| Echo: 在家看电影，或者出去跑步。(Zàijiā kàn diànyǐng, huòzhě chūqù pǎobù.) |
| David: At home watching a movie or going out running. Right, it could be any two activities. The important thing is it is nonexclusive. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: You are not choosing between one or the other. You can do both of them. |
| Echo:没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. You can watch a movie, go out running, come back and keep watching the movie. It’s okay. |
| Echo: 或者你可以说 我喝茶或者咖啡都成。(Huòzhě nǐ kěyǐ shuō wǒ hē chá huòzhě kāfēi dōu chéng.) |
| David: Yeah coffee or tea, both are okay. And now we have a super advanced useful point which is that when you negate these questions or negate these statements. |
| Echo: 对(Duì), What if you don’t want coffee or tea? |
| David: Right. We don’t use either of these in Chinese. So you will never say I don’t want coffee 还是我喝着茶。(Háishì wǒ hēzhe chá.) |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: You will change both of those words to our old friend. |
| Echo: 也, 我不要咖啡, 也不要茶。(Yě, wǒ bùyào kāfēi, yě bùyào chá.) |
| David: I don’t want coffee, also don’t want tea. |
| Echo: 我不要咖啡, 也不要茶 (Wǒ bùyào kāfēi, yě bùyào chá) or a simpler way, you can say 我都不要.(Wǒ dū bùyào.) |
| David: Yeah or I don’t want to watch a movie or go out running. |
| Echo: 唔, 我不要看电影, 也不要出去跑步。(Wú, wǒ bùyào kàn diànyǐng, yě bùyào chūqù pǎobù.) |
| David: Right. So the grammar point here is it’s simple and tricky at the same time. |
| Echo:对。(Duì.) |
| David: Just remember that |
| Echo: 或者。(Huòzhě.) |
| David: Is the nonexclusive or |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And |
| Echo: 还是。(Háishì.) |
| David: Is giving you a choice of only one of the two. And finally when we are negating this |
| Echo: 我们说 也。(Wǒmen shuō yě.) |
Outro |
| David: Perfect and with that, that’s all the time we have today. Before we let you go, we do want to remind you that we’ve got these premium PDF transcripts on the site. We’ve written down the dialogue, we’ve got the grammar point, all of the vocab information right there in the PDF. It’s a great reference tool to help the stuff stick. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: For now though, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo。 |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 我们下次見吧!(Wǒmen xià cì jiàn ba!) Bye bye. |
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