Learn about the history of Chinese cinema and review telling time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brendan: You’re listening to ChineseClass101.com. The fastest, easiest and funniest way to learn Chinese. I’m Brendan. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好，我是Echo.(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: And we’re coming out from Beijing with Lower Intermediate series, season one, lesson 24: “Time and Tickets wait for no man.” |
| Echo: Our conversation today is between a girl and her boyfriend. |
| Brendan: Or maybe not her boyfriend, he might be trying just to put the moves on her. But, at any rate, they’re familiar. |
| Echo: And they’re speaking casual Mandarin, as usual. |
| Brendan: As usual. Now we’re going to take you to the dialogue in just a moment, but before we do that, just a reminder. In our premium recording center, we’ve got a voice recording tool. This is one of the best things that you can do to improve your Chinese pronunciation. You can record yourself, play yourself back and listen to find out where your pronunciation doesn’t quite measure up. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| Brendan: It’s painful, it’s excruciating, it’s embarrassing. I’ve done it, trust me, but it’s the best thing you can do for your pronunciation, hands down. All right, let’s go to the dialogue. We’ve got date vocabulary in this dialogue. Well, attempted date vocabulary. Let’s take a look at it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:电影几点开始？(Diànyǐng jǐdiǎnkāishǐ?) |
| B:六点一场，八点半一场。(Liù diǎn yī chǎng, bā diǎn bàn yī chǎng.) |
| A:我们去六点那一场吧。(Wǒmen qù liù diǎn nā yī chǎng ba.) |
| B:来不及吧，我五点半下班。(Lái bùjí ba, wǒ wǔ diǎn bàn xiàbān.) |
| A:那去八点半那场？(Nā Qù bā diǎn bàn nā chǎng?) |
| B:不行，太晚了，我晚上得工作。(Bù xíng, tài wǎn le, wǒ wǎnshang děi gōngzuò.) |
| A:那我们就一起吃晚饭好了。(Nā Wǒmen jiù yīqǐ chī wǎnfàn hǎo le.) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:电影几点开始？(Diànyǐng jǐdiǎnkāishǐ?) |
| B:六点一场，八点半一场。(Liù diǎn yī chǎng, bā diǎn bàn yī chǎng.) |
| A:我们去六点那一场吧。(Wǒmen qù liù diǎn nā yī chǎng ba.) |
| B:来不及吧，我五点半下班。(Lái bùjí ba, wǒ wǔ diǎn bàn xiàbān.) |
| A:那去八点半那场？(Nā Qù bā diǎn bàn nā chǎng?) |
| B:不行，太晚了，我晚上得工作。(Bù xíng, tài wǎn le, wǒ wǎnshang děi gōngzuò.) |
| A:那我们就一起吃晚饭好了。(Nā Wǒmen jiù yīqǐ chī wǎnfàn hǎo le.) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:电影几点开始？(Diànyǐng jǐdiǎnkāishǐ?) |
| A: What time does the movie start? |
| B:六点一场，八点半一场。(Liù diǎn yī chǎng, bā diǎn bàn yī chǎng.) |
| B: One show is six, and another show is eight-thirty. |
| A:我们去六点那一场吧。(Wǒmen qù liù diǎn nā yī chǎng ba.) |
| A: How about the six o'clock show? |
| B:来不及吧，我五点半下班。(Lái bùjí ba, wǒ wǔ diǎn bàn xiàbān.) |
| B: No time, I get off work at five-thirty. |
| A:那去八点半那场？(Nā Qù bā diǎn bàn nā chǎng?) |
| A: Then how about the eight-thirty show? |
| B:不行，太晚了，我晚上得工作。(Bù xíng, tài wǎn le, wǒ wǎnshang děi gōngzuò.) |
| B: That's too late. I have work to do this evening. |
| A:那我们就一起吃晚饭好了。(Nā Wǒmen jiù yīqǐ chī wǎnfàn hǎo le.) |
| A: Let's go out to dinner then. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 电影院 (diànyǐngyuàn) |
| Brendan: “movie theatre” |
| Echo: 卖完 (mài wán) |
| Brendan: “sold out” |
| Echo: 售票处 (shòupiàochù) |
| Brendan: “ticket window” |
| Echo: 上映时间 (shàngyìngshíjiān) |
| Brendan: “showtimes” |
| Echo: 会员卡 (huì yuán kǎ) |
| Brendan: “membership card” |
| Echo: 订票 (dìngpiào) |
| Brendan: “to book a ticket” |
| Echo: 总台 (zǒng tái) |
| Brendan: “main desk” |
| Echo: 下班 (xiàbān) |
| Brendan: “to get off work” |
| Echo: 下班 (xiàbān) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: All right. So, let’s take a look at some sample sentences so we can see how these words behave in their natural environment. |
| Echo: First word. 电影院。(Diànyǐngyuàn.) |
| Brendan: That is “movie theatre”. |
| Echo: 我们今天晚上去电影院吧。(Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshàng qù diànyǐngyuàn ba.) |
| Brendan: “Let’s go to the movies tonight.” |
| Echo: 我们今天晚上去电影院吧。(Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshàng qù diànyǐngyuàn ba.) Okay. Next phrase is 卖完。(Mài wán.) |
| Brendan: Right, which means “to be sold out”. |
| Echo: 电影票都卖完了。(Diànyǐng piào dōu mài wánliǎo.) |
| Brendan: “The movie tickets were all sold out.” |
| Echo:电影票都卖完了。(Diànyǐng piào dōu mài wánliǎo.) |
| Brendan: Which usually means that you’re going to see a Sylvester Stallone movie instead. |
| Echo: 售票处 (Shòupiào chù) |
| Brendan: “Ticket window.” |
| Echo: 我昨天就在售票处买了两张电影票。(Wǒ zuótiān jiù zài shòupiào chù mǎile liǎng zhāng diànyǐng piào.) |
| Brendan: “I bought two tickets yesterday at the ticket window.” |
| Echo: 我昨天就在售票处买了两张电影票。上映时间。(Wǒ zuótiān jiù zài shòupiào chù mǎile liǎng zhāng diànyǐng piào. Shàngyìng shíjiān.) |
| Brendan: “Showtime” |
| Echo: 上映时间是几点？(Shàngyìng shíjiān shì jǐ diǎn?) |
| Brendan: “When is the showtime?” |
| Echo: 上映时间是几点？会员卡。(Shàngyìng shíjiān shì jǐ diǎn? Huìyuán kǎ.) |
| Brendan: “Membership card” |
| Echo: 你有这家电影院的会员卡吗？(Nǐ yǒu zhè jiā diànyǐngyuàn de huìyuán kǎ ma?) |
| Brendan: “Have you got a membership card to this theatre?” |
| Echo: 你有这家电影院的会员卡吗？(Nǐ yǒu zhè jiā diànyǐngyuàn de huìyuán kǎ ma?) |
| Brendan: And this, I think, is only a Chinese thing. I’ve never seen anywhere else, but you can prepay some money, you can become a VIP member of the theatre and that lets you like book tickets online or - |
| Echo: - get discount. |
| Brendan: Yeah, actually it’s pretty useful. |
| Echo: 订票 (Dìng piào) |
| Brendan: “To book a ticket” |
| Echo: 想要看这个电影你得提前订票。(Xiǎng yào kàn zhège diànyǐng nǐ děi tíqián dìng piào.) |
| Brendan: “If you want to see this movie, we have to book a ticket in advance.” |
| Echo: 想要看这个电影你得提前订票。总台。(Xiǎng yào kàn zhège diànyǐng nǐ děi tíqián dìng piào. Zǒng tái.) |
| Brendan: “Main desk” |
| Echo: 我去总台问一下。(Wǒ qù zǒng tái wèn yīxià.) |
| Brendan: “I’ll go ask at the main desk.” |
| Echo: 下班 (Xiàbān) |
| Brendan: “To get off work.” |
| Echo: 我6点下班。(Wǒ 6 diǎn xiàbān.) |
| Brendan: “I get off work at six.” |
| Echo: 我6点下班。(Wǒ 6 diǎn xiàbān.) |
| Brendan: All right, now that takes us to the grammar point for today’s lesson. It’s grammar time! So, if you’re trying to take somebody out to the movies, or to dinner, to whatever - |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: - it’s important to agree on the time. |
| Echo:没错，时间。(Méi cuò, shíjiān.) |
| Brendan: Yeah, and if you look at our dialogue, actually a lot of it is given over to discussing when they’re going to things. |
| Echo: 电影几点开始? (Diànyǐng jǐ diǎn kāishǐ?) |
| Brendan: Or talking about what time you’re going to get off work. |
| Echo: 我5点半下班。(Wǒ 5 diǎn bàn xiàbān.) |
| Brendan: And so, that’s the grammar point for today. It’s time phrases and to use them. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: Now, in both of these sentences we’re talking about what time something happens. And in Chinese, the time phrase comes before the verb. |
| Echo: Always. |
| Brendan: So instead of saying “When does the film begin?” we says “The film when begins?” literally. |
| Echo: 电影几点开始？(Diànyǐng jǐ diǎn kāishǐ?) |
| Brendan: Instead of saying “I get off work at five thirty” we say “I five thirty get off work.” |
| Echo: 我5点半下班。(Wǒ 5 diǎn bàn xiàbān.) |
| Brendan: This is the rule that is never ever, ever broken. If you’re talking about when something happens, the “when” part always comes before the verb. Let’s take a look at a few more sentences to illustrate this. |
| Echo: 我7点半可以到电影院。(Wǒ 7 diǎn bàn kěyǐ dào diànyǐngyuàn.) |
| Brendan: “I can get to the movie theater at seven thirty.” |
| Echo: 我7点半可以到电影院。那个节目9点开始。(Wǒ 7 diǎn bàn kěyǐ dào diànyǐngyuàn. Nàgè jiémù 9 diǎn kāishǐ.) |
| Brendan: “The show starts at nine.” |
| Echo: 那个节目9点开始。(Nàgè jiémù 9 diǎn kāishǐ.) |
| Brendan: And again, we have the time phrase before the verb. 开始 (Kāishǐ) to begin. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: Now the same rule holds true when you don’t actually have a specific time, when you’re talking about sort of a general time. |
| Echo: Like 晚上一起吃个饭吧。(Wǎnshàng yīqǐ chī gè fàn ba.) |
| Brendan: “Let’s go to dinner tonight.” |
| Echo: 晚上一起吃个饭吧。(Wǎnshàng yīqǐ chī gè fàn ba.) |
| Brendan: Where “tonight” or “this evening” is coming right at the head of that. Now, [untelligible00:07:15] there are no exceptions to this rule. Actually, if you look at the dialogue there’s something that it looks like it is an exception. It isn’t, but it bares explication. |
| Echo: Right. There are two sentences. 我们去6点那一场吧。(Wǒmen qù 6 diǎn nà yī chǎng ba.) |
| Brendan: “Let’s go the six o’clock show.” |
| Echo: 那去8点半那场。(Nà qù 8 diǎn bàn nà chǎng.) |
| Brendan: “Then the thirty show.” So, in both of these cases, the time frame is actually an adjective. It’s modifying in them. |
| Echo: So this is why it’s actually after the verb. |
| Brendan: Right. In this cases actually, acting a lot more like English. In English we would say “the six o’clock show”, in Chinese we same the same thing. |
| Echo: 6点那一场 (6 Diǎn nà yī chǎng) Let’s hear some more examples. 你定了晚上10点的票吗? (Nǐ dìngle wǎnshàng 10 diǎn de piào ma?) |
| Brendan: “Did you book a ticket for ten, tonight?” |
| Echo: 你定了晚上10点的票吗? (Nǐ dìngle wǎnshàng 10 diǎn de piào ma?) |
Outro |
| Brendan: And that about does it for today’s lesson. We love to hear from you. If you have any questions about this or any comments or any movie recommendations - |
| Echo: - don’t forget to leave a comment on the site or at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Brendan: We look forward to hear from you. From Beijing, I’m Brandon. |
| Echo: 我是Echo.(Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: Thanks for listening. Good luck! |
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