Learn the difference between three Chinese verbs that seem very similar in English
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 33 in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: 第三十三课。(Dì sānshísān kè.) |
| Frank: Today’s dialogue takes place between our good friend… |
| Echo: Zhang Fei. |
| Frank: And his boss. |
| Echo: Ma Li. |
| Frank: That’s right. Our old friend is reunited at last. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now they are talking casually and they are in an office setting. Let’s go ahead and get on to the dialogue. |
| Echo: But before we do… |
| Frank: Oh, before we do, we want to remind you, folks, to head up to ChineseClass101.com. Sign up for your free lifetime account. |
| Echo: Yeah. Within a couple of seconds. |
| Frank: That’s right. It just takes a couple of seconds to do that and you’ll be on your way. On to the dialogue now. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 老板:张飞，这是马经理。(LǍOBǍN: Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| 张飞:嗯？马丽！(ZHĀNG FĒI: én? Mǎ Lì!) |
| 老板:你们认识吗？(LǍOBǍN: Nǐmen rènshi ma?) |
| 张飞:对，我们是好朋友。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Duì, wǒmen shì hǎo péngyǒu.) |
| Frank: Now one more time, just a little slower. |
| 老板:张飞，这是马经理。(LǍOBǍN: Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| 张飞:嗯？马丽！(ZHĀNG FĒI: én? Mǎ Lì!) |
| 老板:你们认识吗？(LǍOBǍN: Nǐmen rènshi ma?) |
| 张飞:对，我们是好朋友。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Duì, wǒmen shì hǎo péngyǒu.) |
| Frank: Echo… |
| Echo: Yes? |
| Frank: It’s a sterling revelation. We haven’t seen this two together in a couple of lessons now. |
| Echo: Yeah. They just met again unexpectedly. |
| Frank: Unexpectedly. The plot begins. We knew we haven’t seen the last of them. Let’s go ahead and translate this line-by-line. |
| 老板:张飞，这是马经理。(LǍOBǍN: Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| Frank: Zhang Fei, this is Manager Ma. |
| 张飞:嗯？马丽！(ZHĀNG FĒI: én? Mǎ Lì!) |
| Frank: Huh? Ma Li! |
| 老板:你们认识吗？(LǍOBǍN: Nǐmen rènshi ma?) |
| Frank: You two know each other? |
| 张飞:对，我们是好朋友。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Duì, wǒmen shì hǎo péngyǒu.) |
| Frank: Yes, we're good friends. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Now Echo, is that the way you would categorize their relationship? Are they just good friends? |
| Echo: Well, I guess. This sentence must be sad by Zhang Fei, not by Ma Li. |
| Frank: Obviously not by Ma Li. I agree. She’s very upset last time that he didn’t love her. |
| Echo: Yeah, she should. |
| Frank: Yeah. I think he played her a little bit there. I think he’s getting us come up until now. |
| Echo: Yeah. But it’s great that Ma Li is Zhang Fei’s boss. |
| Frank: I know. We’ll see how that develops. Let’s go ahead and get on to the vocab. |
| Echo: 好。(Hǎo) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 经理(jīnglǐ) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Manager. |
| Echo: 经理(jīnglǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 经理(jīnglǐ) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 认识(rènshi) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To be acquainted with. |
| Echo: 认识(rènshi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 认识(rènshi) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 对(duì) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Correct |
| Echo: 对(duì)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 对(duì) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 好朋友(hǎo péngyǒu) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Good friend. |
| Echo: 好朋友(hǎo péngyǒu) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 好朋友(hǎo péngyǒu) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay, there’s not much new vocab, isn’t it Echo? |
| Echo: Uh-hmm. But it’s very important vocabulary. 很重要.特别是经理。(Hěn zhòngyào. Tèbié shì jīnglǐ.) The most important is 经理.(jīnglǐ.) |
| Frank: Right, because it’s a special type of address. In Chinese, it’s really important to know to address people. In the dialogue, we heard this line: |
| Male: 张飞，这是马经理。(Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| Female: 张飞，这是马经理。(Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| Frank: Listen again to how they said her name. |
| Male: 马经理(Mǎ jīnglǐ) |
| Frank: We heard that last bit in our vocab section. |
| Echo: 经理。(jīnglǐ.) |
| Female: That means “manager”. What’s interesting is that it comes after the name in Chinese. |
| Echo: 马经理。(Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| Frank: Manager Male: . |
| Male: 张飞，这是马经理。(Zhāng Fēi, zhè shì Mǎ jīnglǐ.) |
| Echo: In Chinese, 中文里(Zhōngwén lǐ) all addresses come after names. There are a lot of things you can call people. |
| Frank: Absolutely right. Such as, Mr. Zhang. |
| Echo: 张先生。(Zhāng xiānshēng.) |
| Frank: Teacher Echo. |
| Echo: Echo 老师。(lǎoshī.) |
| Frank: Master Li. |
| Echo: 李师傅。(Lǐ shīfù.) |
| Frank: And Ms. Ma. |
| Echo: 马小姐。(Mǎ xiǎojiě.) |
| Frank: Now we’re getting the hang of this, let’s try putting them with some fancy sentences. |
| Echo: 好。(Hǎo.) |
| Frank: Master Li knows Kung Fu. |
| Echo: 李师傅会功夫。(Lǐ shīfù huì gōngfū.) |
| Frank: That’s Bruce Lee for those of you. Or maybe some guy driving a taxi cab named Li. That’s a polite form of address that you can use for anyone who’s providing you with a service. |
| Echo: 没错。师傅。(Méi cuò. Shīfù.) |
| Frank: Right. That last sentence brings us right into our grammar point. |
| Echo: Let’s go. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| Frank: Okay, we’re back. |
| Echo: So what does 师傅(shīfu) have to do with our grammar point? |
| Frank: Not 师傅.(shīfu.) The last sentence we had was “Master Li knows Kung Fu.” |
| Echo: Right. 李师傅会功夫。(Lǐ shīfù huì gōngfū.) But Frank, what does it have to do with our grammar point? |
| Frank: Our grammar point today is… |
| Echo: I don’t understand. |
| Frank: …about different ways to translate the verb “to know into Chinese”. |
| Echo: Oh. 我知道了。(Wǒ zhīdàole.) |
| Frank: Right. In our dialogue, we had this line… |
| Echo: 你们认识吗？(Nǐmen rènshi ma?) |
| Male: 你们认识吗？(Nǐmen rènshi ma?) |
| Frank: Do you know each other? |
| Echo: They have history. |
| Frank: Right. So we use… |
| Echo: 认识。(rènshi.) |
| Frank: When we mean “to be acquainted with someone.” |
| Echo: 没错。我知道。(Méi cuò. Wǒ zhīdào.) |
| Frank: That’s the second verb. It means “to have knowledge”. 我知道。(Wǒ zhīdào.) again. |
| Echo: This still has nothing to do with Bruce Lee. |
| Frank: No, it does because our sentence says that he knew Kung Fu. |
| Echo: 会(Huì) Kung Fu. |
| Frank: Right. That’s our third verb. |
| Echo: We use 会(Huì) for skills people learn. We already taught this. |
| Frank: Yes. But you already speak Chinese, Echo. Consider it a review for everyone else. |
| Echo: 好吧好吧。(Hǎo ba hǎo ba.) |
| Frank: Okay. Enough fun time, it’s game time. |
| Echo: I love this. |
| Frank: What we’re going to do is we’re going to give you a sentence in English. You already know the three verbs. We just gave them to you. We’re going to give you a sentence in English. We’ll give you a couple of seconds to translate it on your own, and then Echo is going to give us the Chinese to see how you’re doing. |
| Echo: 加油！(Jiāyóu!) |
| Frank: Let’s do it. |
| Frank: I know. |
| Echo: 我知道。(Wǒ zhīdào.) |
| Frank: I know you know. |
| Echo: 我知道你知道。(Wǒ zhīdào nǐ zhīdào) |
| Frank: I know you know he knows. |
| Echo: 我知道你知道他知道。(Wǒ zhīdào nǐ zhīdào tā zhīdào.) |
| Frank: He knows Kung Fu. |
| Echo: 他会功夫。(Tā huì gōngfū.) |
| Frank: I know he knows Kung Fu. |
| Echo: 我知道他会功夫。(Wǒ zhīdào tā huì gōngfū.) |
| Frank: He knows I know Chinese. |
| Echo: 他知道我会中文。(Tā zhīdào wǒ huì zhōngwén.) |
| Frank: I know her. |
| Echo: 我认识她。(Wǒ rènshì tā.) |
| Frank: She knows he knows me. |
| Echo: 她知道他认识我。(Tā zhīdào tā rènshì wǒ.) |
| Frank: There you go. How did you do? |
| Echo: 好难呀！(Hǎo nán ya!) |
| Frank: A little bit confusing? A little bit challenging? Let us know. We want to hear from you up at ChineseClass101.com. Leave us a comment on the site. Let us know what you got right, what you got wrong, what you need reviewed. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| Frank: We’re here to help you. But for now, from Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| Frank: …and we’ll see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见吧。(Xià cì jiàn ba.) |
| Frank: 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
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