Learn a bevy of measure words you can use to convince others you are a seasoned professor of Chinese linguistics
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 38 in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: 第三十八课。(Dì sānshíbā kè.) |
| Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio, as always, by my amazing co-host, Echo. |
| Echo: 谢谢。我是(Xièxiè. Wǒ shì)Echo |
| Frank: Today’s dialogue is between a sales person and a customer. |
| Echo: They are in a DVD store. |
| Frank: They’re speaking casually to one another. Let’s go ahead and get on to the dialogue now. |
| Echo: But before we do… |
| Frank: Oh, before we do, that’s right, we want to remind you, folks, to head up to ChineseClass101.com. Leave us a comment on the site. We’d love to hear what you’re thinking. We love to know what’s working for you, what’s not, and what you want to hear more of. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| Frank: We’ll give it to you. But for now, on to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 甲: 先生，这部电影怎么样？(JIǍ: Xiānsheng, zhè bù diànyǐng zěnmeyàng?) |
| 乙: 有英文字幕吗？(YǏ: Yǒu yīngwén zìmù ma?) |
| 甲: 有。(JIǍ: Yǒu.) |
| 乙: 好吧，我就买这个。(YǏ: Hǎoba, wǒ jiù mǎi zhège.) |
| Frank: One more time, just a bit slower. |
| 甲: 先生，这部电影怎么样？(JIǍ: Xiānsheng, zhè bù diànyǐng zěnmeyàng?) |
| 乙: 有英文字幕吗？(YǏ: Yǒu yīngwén zìmù ma?) |
| 甲: 有。(JIǍ: Yǒu.) |
| 乙: 好吧，我就买这个。(YǏ: Hǎoba, wǒ jiù mǎi zhège.) |
| Frank: Okay. Great dialogue. Now we said this kind of might be in a store but it’s actually could be one of the street vendors. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| Frank: Because they’re all over the place. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Guys with little open suitcases and stuff. Very interesting. Let’s go ahead and translate this. |
| 甲: 先生，这部电影怎么样？(JIǍ: Xiānsheng, zhè bù diànyǐng zěnmeyàng?) |
| Frank: Sir, how about this movie? |
| 乙: 有英文字幕吗？(YǏ: Yǒu yīngwén zìmù ma?) |
| Frank: Does it have English subtitles? |
| 甲: 有。(JIǍ: Yǒu.) |
| Frank: It has. |
| 乙: 好吧，我就买这个。(YǏ: Hǎoba, wǒ jiù mǎi zhège.) |
| Frank: Okay, I'll just buy this one. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Okay. Absolutely essential vocabulary if you’re going to be buying a DVD here, especially if your Chinese isn’t that snuffy and you need those English subtitles. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: These are the words you’re going to need to know. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 先生(xiānsheng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Sir or mister. |
| Echo: 先生(xiānsheng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 先生(xiānsheng) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 部(bù) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Measure word for movies. |
| Echo: 部(bù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 部(bù) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 电影(diànyǐng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Movie |
| Echo: 电影(diànyǐng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 电影(diànyǐng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 字幕(zìmù) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Subtitle. |
| Echo: 字幕(zìmù)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 字幕(zìmù)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 就(jiù) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Just. |
| Echo: 就(jiù)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 就(jiù)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 买(mǎi) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To buy. |
| Echo: 买(mǎi)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 买(mǎi)[natural native speed]. |
| CULTURE INSIGHTS |
| Frank: Okay, Echo. Buying DVDs here in China is a bit of a different experience than in west. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Yeah. There’s no doubt about it. There are stores here, but mostly you’re going to find yourself buying from just a less than legitimate place. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Not that I’m condoning piracy, nor is anybody here at ChineseClass101.com. You should go and buy things properly. But here, occasionally, you’ll find things mere hours after its appeared in the theater in the west. |
| Echo: Or maybe even before. |
| Frank: That’s right. |
| Echo: But Frank, if you’re going to see a movie with a girl you’re dating… |
| Frank: Yes, you’ll definitely want to go out to the theater. |
| Echo: 电影院。(diànyǐngyuàn.) |
| Frank: Now today, we’re going to give you some essential supplementary vocabulary, stuff you’ll really need when you’re on that date. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: So Echo, what are some of the words people really need to know? |
| Echo: 电影票。(diànyǐngpiào.) |
| Frank: Movie ticket. |
| Echo: 我要两张电影票。(Wǒ yào liǎng zhāng diànyǐngpiào.) |
| Frank: I want two movie tickets. |
| Echo: 座位。(Zuòwèi.) |
| Frank: Seat. |
| Echo: 要中间的座位。(Yào zhōngjiān de zuòwèi.) |
| Frank: I want seats in the middle. |
| Echo: Yeah. Notice there’s no 我(Wǒ) there. There’s no “I”. |
| Frank: That’s right. There’s no pronoun in this section at all. You can completely leave it out because it’s implied. |
| Echo: Yeah. Right. Because it’s you who want. |
| Frank: Next? |
| Echo: 爆米花 (bàomǐhuā) |
| Frank: You actually can’t go to the movies without this, it’s popcorn. |
| Echo: 给我一个爆米花。(Gěi wǒ yí gè bàomǐhuā.) |
| Frank: Give me a popcorn. |
| Echo: Actually, they have different sizes of 爆米花.(bàomǐhuā.) |
| Echo: That’s right. So how would you say, “Give me the big popcorn? |
| Echo: 给我一个大爆米花(Gěi wǒ yí gè dà bàomǐhuā) |
| Frank: So the word for “big” here? |
| Echo: 大(dà) |
| Frank: The middle size? |
| Echo: 中。给我一个中爆米花。(Zhōng. Gěi wǒ yīgè zhōng bào mǐhuā.) |
| Frank: Finally, the small one. |
| Echo: 小。给我一个小爆米花。(Xiǎo. Gěi wǒ yīgè xiǎo bào mǐhuā.) |
| Frank: Give me small popcorn. |
| Echo: Yeah, very simple. Then we have可乐.(Kělè.) |
| Frank: Coke; a cola; a soda. |
| Echo: 我要一杯可乐。(Wǒ yào yībēi kělè.) |
| Frank: I want a cup of cola. |
| Echo: Like 爆米花(bàomǐhuā), we have different sizes for 可乐(Kělè) too. |
| Frank: Exactly. Exactly the same: small, medium, large. |
| Echo: Yeah. 我要一杯大可乐。(Wǒ yào yībēi dà kělè.) |
| Frank: What a big coke. |
| Echo: 我要一杯中可乐。(Wǒ yào yībēi zhōng kělè.) |
| Frank: I want a medium-size Coke. |
| Echo: 我要一杯小可乐。(Wǒ yào yībēi xiǎo kělè.) |
| Frank: I want a little Coke, 可乐 with my popcorn. What else can you get there? |
| Echo: 果汁。(Guǒzhī.) |
| Frank: You don’t see a lot of this in western movie theaters, but here it’s juice. You can actually buy it in the theater. |
| Echo: 我要两杯果汁。(Wǒ yào liǎng bēi guǒzhī.) |
| Frank: I want two cups of juice. |
| Echo: 开始。(kāishǐ.) |
| Frank: To begin, to start. |
| Echo: 电影几点开始？(Diànyǐng jǐ diǎn kāishǐ?) |
| Frank: What time does the movie start? |
| Echo: That’s very important. |
| Frank: Absolutely. Hey, you know what, there’s no word for in Chinese that you can get in most American movie theaters. |
| Echo: 什么？(Shénme?) |
| Frank: Pretzels. Not only do you not have pretzels here but you don’t even have a word for pretzels. I’m missing my pretzels. Can you tell? It’s like this… never mind. |
| Echo: I’m sorry. I can’t tell you. |
| Frank: That’s okay. Now you’ll notice in today’s vocab that we had a lot of measurements like… |
| Echo: 两张电影票。(Liǎng zhāng diànyǐng piào.) |
| Frank: Two movie tickets. |
| Echo: 一个爆米花。(yí gè bàomǐhuā.) |
| Frank: One popcorn. |
| Echo: 一杯可乐。(Yībēi kělè.) |
| Frank: A cup of cola. |
| Echo: 两杯果汁。(Liǎng bēi guǒzhī.) |
| Frank: Two cups of juice. Now this discussion of measure words brings us right into our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time! |
| Frank: Today’s grammar section focuses on measure words. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now we use these things in English, too. A cup of water. Two bottles of beer. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Three decks of playing cards. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Now we’ve talked about these before but it’s time for our review and to give you a few more. Let’s start with the ones you’ve already know. |
| Echo: 一个人。(yí gè rén.) |
| Frank: One person. |
| Echo: 两瓶啤酒。(liǎng píng píjiǔ.) |
| Frank: Two bottles of beer. |
| Echo: 一杯水。(yì bēi shuǐ.) |
| Frank: “A cup of water.” Now in today’s dialogue, we heard a new one. |
| Echo: 这部电影。(Zhè bù diànyǐng.) |
| Frank: “This movie”. Now this is a really good point, Echo, what you said there. |
| Echo: I know, because we cannot only put numbers in front of measure words but also words like 这.(Zhè.) |
| Frank: This. |
| Echo: 那(nà) |
| Frank: That. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Perfect. For example… |
| Echo: 那张ＤＶＤ(Nà zhāng DVD) |
| Frank: That DVD. |
| Echo: 这件衣服。(Zhè jiàn yīfú) |
| Frank: This piece of clothing. |
| Echo: 那张椅子。(Nà zhāng yǐzi.) |
| Frank: That chair. |
| Echo: 这张票。(Zhè zhāng piào.) |
| Frank: This ticket. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now sometimes, you notice that these measure words can fall into broad categories. Like DVDs and tickets are both flat and thin, so they both get the measure word… |
| Echo: 张。(Zhāng.) |
| Frank: Okay, Echo, what’s one more example of that measure word in use? |
| Echo: 这张桌子。(Zhè zhāng zhuōzi.) |
| Frank: Oh, good, this table. Now, the top of the table is flat and thin so it falls into that kind of broad category. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Awesome. So you see that these measure words aren’t nearly as scary as some people make them out to be. |
| Echo: Right. They are pretty friendly actually, I think. |
| Frank: Let’s hear some sample sentences and bring it all together. We’re going to let Echo start us off in Chinese and give you folks a chance to see if you can pick up the measure word in each sentence. Let’s do it. |
| Echo: 那儿有一个人。(Nà'er yǒuyī gèrén.) |
| Frank: There is a person. |
| Echo: 给我两瓶啤酒。(Gěi wǒ liǎng píng píjiǔ.) |
| Frank: Give me two bottles of beer. |
| Echo: 那儿有一个人。(Nà'er yǒuyī gèrén.) |
| Frank: “There is a person.” The measure word there? |
| Echo: 个。(Gè.) |
| Frank: Next? |
| Echo: 给我两瓶啤酒。(Gěi wǒ liǎng píng píjiǔ.) |
| Frank: “Give me two bottles of beer.” Measure word? |
| Echo: 瓶。(Píng.) |
| Frank: Right. |
| Echo: 我想看这部电影。(Wǒ xiǎng kàn zhè bù diànyǐng.) |
| Frank: I want to see this movie. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Which is it? |
| Echo: 部。(Bù.) |
| Echo: 那张ＤＶＤ不错。(Nà zhāng DVD bùcuò.) |
| Frank: That DVD is pretty good. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: The measure word for DVD again? |
| Echo: 张。(Zhāng.) |
| Frank: Cool. |
| Echo: 这件衣服怎么样？(Zhè jiàn yīfú zěnme yàng?) |
| Frank: “How about this piece of clothing.” What is it? |
| Echo: 件(Jiàn) |
| Frank: That’s a tricky one. |
| Echo: 那把椅子坏了。(Nà bǎ yǐzi huàile.) |
| Frank: “The chair is broken.” Measure word for chair? |
| Echo: 把。我要买这张桌子。(Bǎ. Wǒ yāomǎi zhè zhāng zhuōzi.) |
| Frank: “I want to buy this table”. Measure word? |
| Echo: 张灯结彩(Zhāng dēng jiécǎi)again. |
| Frank: Again. Flat and thin. |
| Echo: Yeah. 我们要三杯可乐。(Wǒmen yào sān bēi kělè.) |
| Frank: “We want three cups of Coke.” The measure word in this sentence? |
| Echo: 杯。(Bēi.) |
| Frank: Okay, folks, how did you do? |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: I bet you got them all right, right? This wasn’t too challenging for you. However… |
| Echo: But maybe the pronunciation. |
| Frank: The pronunciation. |
| Echo: It’s a bit tricky. |
| Frank: Exactly. Now, what was the measure word for “chair” again? |
| Echo: 把。(Bǎ.) |
| Frank: And whats No. 8？ |
| Echo: 八。(Bā) |
| Frank: Tones. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: So important in Mandarin. There’s a great way to practice that, too. Check out the voice recording tool up at ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Login to your account. Practice your voice recording it. Listen back again native speakers. Really drive those tones home and you’ll sound like a native in no time. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| Frank: But that’s it for us today. We’re out of here. We’ll see you next time. A matter of fact, we’re going to go see a movie. |
| Echo: Okay. Great. |
| Frank: But for now, from Beijing, I’m your host, Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo |
| Frank: We’ll see you next time. 再见(Zàijiàn) |
| Echo: 下次见。(Xià cì jiàn) |
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