Learn a structure that will help you avoid repeating adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| DAVID: Welcome to ChineseClass101.com. I'm David. |
| Amber: 大家好，我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| DAVID: And we’re here today with Upper Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 6 - A visit to the Chinese emergency room. |
| Amber: 对，是关于去医院看病的。(Duì, shì guānyú qù yīyuàn kànbìng de.) |
| DAVID: Right, it’s about going to the hospital to see a doctor. So we’ve got a dialogue here that is actually an emergency situation. |
| Amber: 对，在急诊室，非常严重的一种。(Duì, zài jízhěn shì, fēicháng yánzhòng de yī zhǒng.) |
| DAVID: Yes. And it’s between a nurse and a relative or a friend of a patient who’s in rough shape. So this is a fast paced dialogue, people are speaking Chinese, they’re a bit worried, but it’s casual Mandarin, as always. |
| Amber: 对，所以还是我们每天都会用得到的普通话。(Duì, suǒyǐ huán shì wǒmen měitiān dūhuì yòng dédào de pǔtōnghuà.) |
| DAVID: Okay, let’s listen to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 护士，护士！(Hùshì, hùshì!) |
| B: 去挂号。(Qù guàhào.) |
| A: 没有时间了。他在流血! (Méiyǒu shíjiān le. Tā zài liúxiě!) |
| B: 挂号，伤口不大。(Guàhào, shāngkǒu bú dà.) |
| A: 这个不大什么算大？(Zhègè bú dà shénme suàn dà?) |
| B: 这是急诊。还有比他厉害的。(Zhè shì jízhěn. Háiyǒu bǐ tā lìhài de.) |
| A: Nurse, nurse! |
| B: Go take a number. |
| A: There is no time, he's bleeding. |
| B: Take a number, the wound is not big. |
| A: If this is not big, then what's big? |
| B: This is an emergency room. There are those worse off than him. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| DAVID: So this lesson is about going to the emergency room. |
| Amber: 唔，去急诊室。(Wú, qù jízhěn shì.) |
| DAVID: Right. It’s normally not that chaotic in China, actually, especially at the bigger hospitals. But our vocab today is filled with words you can use if you find yourself at the hospital. So let’s get to it. |
| Amber: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Amber: 护士。(hùshì.) |
| DAVID: Nurse. |
| Amber: 护 士, 护士, 医院。(hùshì, hùshì, yīyuàn.) |
| DAVID: Hospital. |
| Amber: 医 院, 医院, 挂号。(yīyuàn, yīyuàn, guàhào.) |
| DAVID: To take a number. |
| Amber: 挂 号, 挂号, 看病。(guàhào, guàhào, kànbìng.) |
| DAVID: To see a doctor. |
| Amber: 看 病, 看病, 流血。(kànbìng, kànbìng, liúxuě.) |
| DAVID: To bleed. |
| Amber: 流 血, 流血, 伤口。(liúxuě, liúxuě, shāngkǒu.) |
| DAVID: Wound. |
| Amber: 伤 口, 伤口, 算。(shāngkǒu, shāngkǒu, suàn.) |
| DAVID: To count as. |
| Amber: 算, 算, 急诊。(suàn, suàn, jízhěn.) |
| DAVID: Emergency case. |
| Amber: 急 诊, 急诊。(jízhěn, jízhěn.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| DAVID: Let’s have a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is the most difficult one in here, it’s for the “emergency case”. |
| Amber: 急诊。(jízhěn.) |
| DAVID: Or an “emergency room”. |
| Amber: 急诊室。(Jízhěn shì.) |
| DAVID: And, of course, you’re going to find this in a hospital. |
| Amber: 医院。(Yīyuàn.) |
| DAVID: Hospital. |
| Amber: 医院。(Yīyuàn.) |
| DAVID: The emergency room is in the hospital. |
| Amber: 急诊室在医院里。(Jízhěn shì zài yīyuàn lǐ.) |
| DAVID: The emergency room is in the hospital. |
| Amber: 急诊室在医院里。(Jízhěn shì zài yīyuàn lǐ.) |
| DAVID: Even if in China it can be hard to find. They like to tuck them way downstairs or in the back. |
| Amber: 唔，在各种各样找不到的地方。(Wú, zài gè zhǒng gè yàng zhǎo bù dào dì dìfāng.) |
| DAVID: Right. So those are the two most difficult words. When you get to the hospital, of course, you’re going to want to look for treatment. |
| Amber: 对，看病。(Duì, kànbìng.) |
| DAVID: To get treatment. |
| Amber:看病。(Kànbìng.) |
| DAVID: Now, in the dialogue, the sickness or the illness was a wound. |
| Amber: 唔，是一个伤口。(Wú, shì yīgè shāngkǒu.) |
| DAVID: Wound. |
| Amber: 伤口。(Shāngkǒu.) |
| DAVID: Which is a really interesting way of describing it because it literally means “the mouth of a wound”. |
| Amber: 伤口, 因为口就是 (Shāngkǒu, yīnwèi kǒu jiùshì) mouth. |
| DAVID: Yeah, so it’s pretty descriptive. And the nurse, of course, looks and says, “Look, the wound is not very big.” |
| Amber: 伤口不大。(Shāngkǒu bù dà.) |
| DAVID: And then she says, “The wound’s not big, go take a number.” |
| Amber: 伤口不大, 去挂号。(Shāngkǒu bù dà, qù guàhào.) |
| DAVID: Which is a very Chinese way of dealing with things. This verb, “to take a number”. |
| Amber: 挂号, 在国外的医院不挂号吗？(Guàhào, zài guówài de yīyuàn bù guàhào ma?) |
| DAVID: You do, but often in emergency rooms. With serious cases, you won’t have to deal with this. |
| Amber: Okay. |
| DAVID: Right. In China, though, everyone has to take a number. |
| Amber: 每个人都要挂号。(Měi gèrén dōu yào guàhào.) |
| DAVID: Right. Even if you aren’t going to an emergency room, even if you’re going to see a regular doctor, you’re going to need to… |
| Amber: 挂号。(Guàhào.) |
| DAVID: Right. The way it works is you don’t make an appointment. You’ll go in the morning and you’ll take a number. |
| Amber: 挂号。(Guàhào.) |
| DAVID: Right, for a particular kind of medicine, and then people will be called in turn. |
| Amber: 在医院看普通病也需要挂号。(Zài yīyuàn kàn pǔtōng bìng yě xūyào guàhào.) |
| DAVID: Right, so if you’re going to the hospital, it makes sense to go early in the morning before all of the slots are taken. |
| Amber: 一定要特别早。(Yīdìng yào tèbié zǎo.) |
| DAVID: Right. Some people will line up overnight. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Yeah. Anyway, that’s our vocab for today. We’re going to move on now to our grammar point, which is about what, Amber? |
| Amber: 一个非常有用的句子。(Yīgè fēicháng yǒuyòng de jùzi.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| M2: It’s grammar time! |
| DAVID: Our grammar point today is about this structure. |
| Amber: 这个不怎么样，什么怎么样。(Zhège bù zě me yàng, shénme zěnme yàng.) |
| DAVID: Right. So this is a structure. It means “if this is not X, and what is X?” |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: All right. This is a really, really colloquial expression and we just want to practice it with you because this is fun. In our dialogue, we heard it in the following line. |
| Amber: 这个不大, 什么算大？(Zhège bù dà, shénme suàn dà?) |
| DAVID: If this isn’t big, then what’s big? |
| Amber: 这个不大, 什么算大？(Zhège bù dà, shénme suàn dà?) |
| DAVID: For the moment, let’s get rid of that 算. (Suàn.) |
| Amber: 这个不大, 什么大？(Zhège bù dà, shénme dà?) |
| DAVID: We’re repeating the adjective “big”, but we can use any adjective. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: For instance, “expensive”. |
| Amber: 贵。(Guì.) |
| DAVID: If this isn’t expensive, what’s expensive? |
| Amber: 这个不贵, 什么贵？(Zhège bù guì, shénme guì?) |
| DAVID: If this apartment isn’t expensive, what’s expensive? |
| Amber: 这个房子不贵, 什么贵？(Zhège fángzi bù guì, shénme guì?) |
| DAVID: Right. What about inexpensive? |
| Amber: 便宜。(Piányí.) |
| DAVID: If this isn’t cheap, what’s cheap? |
| Amber: 这个不便宜，什么便宜？(Zhège bù piányí, shénme piányí?) |
| DAVID: Right. Now, note that we didn’t say “not expensive” because it’s a bit tricky with this. |
| Amber: 对，这会变成 …….(Duì, zhè huì biàn chéng.......) |
| DAVID: It’d be a double negative. |
| Amber: 这个不 不贵, 什么贵? (Zhège bù bù guì, shénme guì?) |
| DAVID: You can't really use double negatives with this pattern, but otherwise it’s really easy to understand and it’s so close to the English. If this isn’t x, what’s x? |
| Amber: 这个不贵, 什么贵？ 这个不便宜，什么便宜？(Zhège bù guì, shénme guì? Zhège bù piányí, shénme piányí?) |
| DAVID: Right. In our dialogue, we also had the verb 算 (Suàn) included here. |
| Amber: 唔，这个不大, 什么算大？(Wú, zhège bù dà, shénme suàn dà?) |
| DAVID: Right. 算 (Suàn) here literally means “to count”. However, here it means “to be considered as” or “to count as”. |
| Amber: 可以被认做。(Kěyǐ bèi rèn zuò.) |
| DAVID: Yes. So “if this isn’t big, then what counts as big?” |
| Amber: 这个不大, 什么能被看作是大? (Zhège bù dà, shénme néng bèi kàn zuò shì dà?) |
| DAVID: Right. |
| Amber: 这个医院不好，什么算好？ (Zhège yīyuàn bù hǎo, shénme suàn hǎo?) |
| DAVID: Right. “If this hospital isn’t good, then what hospital is?” |
| Amber: 它的意思就是 这个医院最好！(Tā de yìsi jiùshì zhège yīyuàn zuì hǎo!) |
| DAVID: Right. So this is a nice phrase. We’ve got the repetition of the adjective and it’s really colloquial and it puts a lot of emotional emphasis. You know, if this isn’t big, what’s big. |
| Amber: 对，没错, 它是你完全可以理解说话人的感情。(Duì, méi cuò, tā shì nǐ wánquán kěyǐ lǐjiě shuōhuà rén de gǎnqíng.) |
| DAVID: Yeah. And, as in the dialogue, “If this isn’t big, what is big?” |
| Amber: 这个不大, 什么算大？这个说话人已经非常着急。(Zhège bù dà, shénme suàn dà? Zhège shuōhuà rén yǐjīng fēicháng zhāojí.) |
| DAVID: Yeah, like, “Look at it! Look, it’s huge!” |
| Amber: 对，对，这个不大, 什么算大？(Duì, duì, zhège bù dà, shénme suàn dà?) |
Outro |
| DAVID: It’s like a mouth on his arm. So that’s our show for today. As always, if you have any questions, you can email us. |
| Amber: 你可以发邮件给我们。(Nǐ kěyǐ fā yóujiàn gěi wǒmen.) |
| DAVID: Our address is contactus@chineseclass101.com. However, even if you don’t have email yet, we do have the website so you can leave a comment and we’ll get back to you. |
| Amber: 我们完全欢迎你们来留言。(Wǒmen wánquán huānyíng nǐmen lái liúyán.) |
| DAVID: Right. For now though, that’s all the time we have. Thank you for listening. From Beijing, I'm David. |
| Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| DAVID: And we’ll see you on the site. |
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