Learn how to talk about time expressions in Chinese such as "already" and "now"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Echo: Da jia hao. |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com Season 1, Lesson 12 in our Beginner Series. I'm your host, Frank Fradella and I'm joined in the studio today by the beautiful and talented Echo. |
| Echo: 谢谢(Xièxiè), 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| Frank: Today, we're going to learn how to ask what time it is and how to answer that question as well. |
| Echo: Yes. And today's dialogue takes place in a café also. |
| Frank: Between two friends. And what they're using here is casual speech. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: So we're going to go ahead and get started, but before we do, it's time to remind you to head up to ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Yeah and get your free life time account. |
| Frank: It just takes a couple of seconds and you will be right back here with us. |
| Echo: Yes, very easy. |
| Frank: Let's go ahead and listen to that dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 马丽:几点了？(MǍ LÌ: Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| 李芳:现在9点。(LǏ FĀNG: Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn.) |
| 马丽:已经9点了？(MǍ LÌ: Yǐjīng jiǔ diǎn le?) |
| 李芳:对。(LǏ FĀNG: Duì.) |
| 马丽:啊？我迟到了！(MǍ LÌ: á? Wǒ chídào le!) |
| English host: And now again, just a little slower. |
| 马丽:几点了？(MǍ LÌ: Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| 李芳:现在9点。(LǏ FĀNG: Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn.) |
| 马丽:已经9点了？(MǍ LÌ: Yǐjīng jiǔ diǎn le?) |
| 李芳:对。(LǏ FĀNG: Duì.) |
| 马丽:啊？我迟到了！(MǍ LÌ: á? Wǒ chídào le!) |
| Frank: Okay, great dialogue. |
| Echo: Yeah, it's very useful. |
| Frank: Now, is this something you can identify with? |
| Echo: Well actually yes, but I don't want to admit it. |
| Frank: So you ask for the time and you find that you're already late. And I think we're already late to give the line-by-line translation of this dialogue. So let's go ahead and do it. |
| 马丽:几点了？(MǍ LÌ: Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Frank: What time is it? |
| 李芳:现在9点。(LǏ FĀNG: Xiànzài jiǔ diǎn.) |
| Frank: It's nine o'clock now. |
| 马丽:已经9点了？(MǍ LÌ: Yǐjīng jiǔ diǎn le?) |
| Frank: It's already nine? |
| 李芳:对。(LǏ FĀNG: Duì.) |
| Frank: Right. |
| 马丽:啊？我迟到了！(MǍ LÌ: á? Wǒ chídào le!) |
| Frank: Ah! I'm late! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: That's so bad. |
| Frank: I know. |
| Echo: It happened in my real life too. |
| Frank: I used to be so late to my Chinese classes back in the days, so I used this sentence when I walked in. |
| Echo: Yeah, 我迟到了(Wǒ chídàole). I'm sorry. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Frank: Exactly, yes. Let's go ahead and do the vocab now. |
| Echo: 几点了(jǐdiǎn le) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: What time. |
| Echo: 几点了(jǐdiǎn le) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 几点了(jǐdiǎn le) [natural native speed]. 现在(xiànzài) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Now. |
| Echo: 现在(xiànzài) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 现在(xiànzài) [natural native speed]. 点(diǎn) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: O'clock. |
| Echo: 点(diǎn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 点(diǎn) [natural native speed]. 已经(yǐjīng) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Already. |
| Echo: 已经(yǐjīng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 已经(yǐjīng) [natural native speed]. 对(duì) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Right or correct. |
| Echo: 对(duì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 对(duì) [natural native speed]. 迟到(chídào) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To be late. |
| Echo: 迟到(chídào) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 迟到(chídào) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay, Echo, I think it's time to teach people how to ask what time it is. |
| Echo: Yeah, 几点了？(Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Frank: It's a great phrase and it's a set phrase. Let's hear it once more. |
| Echo: 几点了？(Jǐ diǎn le?) |
| Frank: It just means what time is it. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now, to answer this question, you're going to say a number followed by … |
| Echo: 点(diǎn) |
| Frank: So for example, it's 8 o'clock. |
| Echo: 八点。(Bā diǎn.) |
| Frank: It is 6 o'clock. |
| Echo: 六点。(Liù diǎn.) |
| Frank: It is now 3 o'clock. |
| Echo: 现在三点。(Xiànzài sān diǎn.) |
| Frank: But it's never quite that easy, is it? |
| Echo: Yeah, it's not. |
| Frank: Now, usually when you ask somebody what time it is, they're more likely to say, it's 3:20. |
| Echo: 三点二十分。(Sān diǎn èrshí fēn.) |
| Frank: Now, the structure there is 3. |
| Echo: 三。(Sān.) |
| Frank: Followed by the word for hour. |
| Echo: 点。(Diǎn.) |
| Frank: The number of minutes. |
| Echo: 二十。(Èrshí.) |
| Frank: Followed by the word for minutes. |
| Echo: 分(Fēn). 三点二十分(Sān diǎn èrshí fēn). Now actually in the casual speech, we'll just say 三点二十(Sān diǎn èrshí). It's casual. |
| Frank: Terrific. Let's use some more examples of that. It's 4:25. |
| Echo: 四点二十五分 or 四点二十五.(Sì diǎn èrshíwǔ fēn or sì diǎn èrshíwǔ.) |
| Frank: It's 6:35. |
| Echo: 六点三十五分 or 六点三十五(Liù diǎn sānshíwǔ fēn or liù diǎn sānshíwǔ) |
| Frank: Great. Let's introduce just one more thing here, how do you say its half past? Let's say its 10:30? |
| Echo: 十点半.(Shí diǎn bàn.) |
| Frank: So the word for half here is? |
| Echo: 半.(Bàn) |
| Frank: And this doesn't just relate to time. You can use this anywhere. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Terrific. Now our last example is a question. Is it already 1:30? |
| Echo: 已经一点半了吗?(Yǐjīng yīdiǎn bànle ma?) |
| Frank: Of course if you were supposed to be somewhere by 1 o'clock, you're already late. |
| Echo: 迟到了.(Chídàole.) |
| Frank: Exactly, that's our next vocab word. Let's hear it one more time? |
| Echo: 迟到了.(Chídàole.) |
| Frank: It means to be late. Let's hear some examples of this. You are late. |
| Echo: 你迟到了.(Nǐ chídàole.) |
| Frank: She is late. |
| Echo: 她迟到了.(Tā chídàole) |
| Frank: Am I late? |
| Echo: 我迟到了吗?(Wǒ chídàole ma?) |
| Frank: Exactly. And if you want to say, yes, you are late. |
| Echo: 对，你迟到了.(Duì, nǐ chídàole.) |
| Frank: So the word here for correct or right is? |
| Echo: 对(Duì). So, Frank, do you know what time it is now? |
| Frank: I do indeed, its grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
| Echo: 对.(Duì.) |
| Frank: Let's do it. Today's grammar section we're introducing time markers. This always comes at the beginning of a sentence. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: We actually heard two of them in today's dialogue. The first one was how to say now. |
| Echo: 现在.(Xiànzài.) |
| Frank: It is now 6 o'clock. |
| Echo: 现在六点.(Xiànzài liù diǎn.) |
| Frank: Or it is now 8 o'clock. |
| Echo: 现在八点.(Xiànzài bā diǎn.) |
| Frank: It is now 10:30. |
| Echo: 现在十点半.(Xiànzài shí diǎn bàn.) |
| Frank: The other time marker that we learned today is the word for already. |
| Echo: 已经.(Yǐjīng.) |
| Frank: As in, it is already 3:30. |
| Echo: 已经三点半了.(Yǐjīng sān diǎn bànle.) |
| Frank: It's already 7 o'clock. |
| Echo: 已经七点了.(Yǐjīng qī diǎnle.) |
| Frank: Is it already 11? |
| Echo: 已经十一点了吗?(Yǐjīng shíyī diǎnle ma?) |
| Frank: Now, you may have noticed an extra sound at the end of these sentences. |
| Echo: 了? 已经七点了。已经十一点了。了。(Le? Yǐjīng qī diǎnle. Yǐjīng shíyī diǎnle.Le.) |
| Frank: Echo, what does that mean? |
| Echo: It means the sentence is in past tense. |
| Frank: Exactly. Now we're going to go into greater detail about this in a future lesson, but we want to let know in care if you were curious. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: But for now, it's already time for us to say Goodbye. |
| Echo: Yeah, Goodbye time. |
| Frank: But before we do, we want to remind you to head up to ChineseClass101.com and leave us comments. |
| Echo: Yeah and leave comments. |
| Frank: We love your comments. We love to hear from you. |
| Echo: Comment, comment, comment. |
| Frank: I will see you next time, but for now, from Beijing, I'm Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| Frank: I will see you next time. 再见.(Zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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