Learn how to say, "Where are the power converters?"
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| All right guys, in the last lesson, we covered asking if a store sells power converters, a very important thing to have when you are in China. Now the answer will probably be sorry, we don’t have any. So you need to learn how to ask where can I buy some power converters, where do they sell power converters. So the first phrase for today is, where can I buy power converters. Let’s jump right in. The phrase in Chinese is 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nǎr kěyǐ mǎi biànyāqì?) Little bit slower, 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nǎr kěyǐ mǎi biànyāqì?) One last time, 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nǎr kěyǐ mǎi biànyāqì?) All right, let’s break it down by tone. This one is a little bit long and a little bit complicated. So let’s get started, 我(wǒ) is third tone, the falling rising tone, 在(zài) is fourth tone, the falling tone, 哪儿(nǎr) is third tone, the falling, rising tone, 可(kě) is also third tone, the falling rising tone, 以(yǐ) is third tone again and 买(mǎi) is once again third tone. That’s four third tones in a row. You need to break these third tones up with second tones, the rising tones. So – but we will get into that in a minute. We are going to finish off the phrase and then we will come back to it. So last part is the vocabulary word from the last lesson 变压器(biàn yā qì), that’s fourth tone, first tone, fourth tone, 变压器(biàn yā qì). All right, back to that group of third tones. Four third tones in a row means that you need to make the first syllable and the third syllable a second tone, the rising tone. So it becomes second tone, third tone, second tone, third tone, 在哪儿可以买(zài nár kěyí mǎi). All right, so the whole phrase together is 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi biànyāqì?) One more time, 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi biànyāqì?) All right slowly, 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi biànyāqì?) Now this phrase where can I buy is very useful because you are not going to know where to buy lots of things and we all want to buy lots of things. You can just substitute that last part, the 变压器(biàn yā qì). All right, let’s break down the meanings. 我(wǒ) is I, one more time, 我(wǒ), 在(zài) means at, 在(zài) fourth tone, 哪儿(nǎr) means where, 哪儿(nǎr) third tone. Now 哪儿(nǎr) is a combination of two characters actually, 哪(nǎ) and 儿(ér). 哪(nǎ) means which but when you add the R at the end of the character, then it becomes where. So again 哪儿(nǎr) third tone, 哪儿(nǎr). 可以(kě yǐ) means to be able to or can, 可以(kě yǐ) two third tones in a row, 买(mǎi) is to buy 买(mǎi) third tone and of course 变压器(biàn yā qì), power converter, fourth tone, first tone, fourth tone, 变压器(biàn yā qì). Okay now notice that because we use the question word where, we do not need a 吗(ma) at the end of the sentence. In the past, I’ve pointed out that ma makes a sentence a question. This is only used in sentences where there is no question word like where or what or why or how. Now this phrase is going to be very useful in China so that you can find the stuff that you want to buy. If you want to buy something other than a power converter and you probably will, you can just replace power converter at the end of the phrase with some other noun. All right, so remember the end of the phrase 变压器(biàn yā qì) can just be replaced with another noun. Let’s try it with the noun telephone card, all right. Telephone card is 电话卡(diàn huà kǎ), 电话(diàn huà), fourth tone, fourth tone, 电话(diàn huà). 卡(kǎ), third tone, 卡(kǎ). Literally this means 电话(diàn huà), telephone, 卡(kǎ), card. It’s pretty simple, 电话卡(diàn huà kǎ). So the phrase altogether would be 我在哪儿可以买电话卡(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi diànhuàkǎ?) One more time, 我在哪儿可以买电话卡(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi diànhuàkǎ?) Last time, 我在哪儿可以买电话卡(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi diànhuàkǎ?) Okay guys, there are various kinds of telephone cards, but the biggest distinction that you are going to need to use is international or local whether you want to make international calls or local calls. If you tell a seller which kind of card you want, they should be able to help you out. So guys, today we worked on how to figure out where something is located. In the next lesson, how to understand their answer, how to get there. |
| All right, to close our today’s lesson, we’d like you to practice what we’ve just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of a phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 加油(Jiā yóu!) Where can I buy telephone cards, 我在哪儿可以买电话卡(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi diànhuàkǎ?) Where can I buy power converters, 我在哪儿可以买变压器(Wǒ zài nár kěyí mǎi biànyāqì?) |
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