Learn how to use a Chinese adverb of degree, meaning that you will be able to express intensity
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dave: Hi everybody and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) And thanks again for being here with us for this elementary series, season 2 lesson. |
| Dave: And I am Dave. This is lesson 24 in our second season. |
| Echo: And today’s lesson is called The High Speed Train in China. This conversation takes place in a taxi on the way to the train station. |
| Dave: The conversation is between two friends speaking casually. |
| Echo: Right and they are discussing the pros and cons of train travel. |
| Dave: Okay and before we go to the dialogue, just a reminder that if you haven’t already, go to chineseclass101.com and register for a free life time account. Okay let’s go on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:我买了两张明天的火车票。 (Wǒ mǎi le liǎng zhāng míngtiān de huǒchēpiào.) |
| B:火车！那多慢啊！ (Huǒchē! Nā Duō màn ā!) |
| A:不慢，这是动车组。只需要三个小时。 (Bù màn, zhè shì dòng chēzǔ. zhǐ xūyào sān ge xiǎoshí) |
| B:车票多少钱？ (Chēpiào duō shǎo qián ?) |
| A:800块钱一张。 (Bābǎi kuài yī zhāng.) |
| B:这和飞机票差不多呀！ (Zhè hé fēijīpiào chàbuduō yā!) |
| A:对，但是在车上他们会送我们一瓶水。 (Duì, dànshì zàichēshàng tāmen huì sòng wǒmen yī píng shuǐ.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A:我买了两张明天的火车票。 (Wǒ mǎi le liǎng zhāng míngtiān de huǒchēpiào.) |
| B:火车！那多慢啊！ (Huǒchē! Nā Duō màn ā!) |
| A:不慢，这是动车组。只需要三个小时。 (Bù màn, zhè shì dòng chēzǔ. zhǐ xūyào sān ge xiǎoshí) |
| B:车票多少钱？ (Chēpiào duō shǎo qián ?) |
| A:800块钱一张。 (Bābǎi kuài yī zhāng.) |
| B:这和飞机票差不多呀！ (Zhè hé fēijīpiào chàbuduō yā!) |
| A:对，但是在车上他们会送我们一瓶水。 (Duì, dànshì zàichēshàng tāmen huì sòng wǒmen yī píng shuǐ.) |
| Dave: And now with the English translation. |
| Echo: 我买了两张明天的火车票。 (Wǒ mǎi le liǎng zhāng míngtiān de huǒchēpiào.) |
| Dave: I bought two tickets for tomorrow’s train. |
| Echo: 火车！那多慢啊！ (Huǒchē! Nā Duō màn ā!) |
| Dave: The train that will take forever. |
| Echo: 不慢，这是动车组。只需要三个小时。 (Bù màn, zhè shì dòng chēzǔ. zhǐ xūyào sān ge xiǎoshí) |
| Dave: No this is the new high speed train. It will only take us three hours. |
| Echo: 车票多少钱？ (Chēpiào duō shǎo qián ?) |
| Dave: Really? How much were the tickets? |
| Echo: 800块钱一张。 (Bābǎi kuài yī zhāng.) |
| Dave: 800 Renminbi a piece. |
| Echo: 这和飞机票差不多呀！ (Zhè hé fēijīpiào chàbuduō yā!) |
| Dave: But that’s the same price as a plane ticket. |
| Echo: 对，但是在车上他们会送我们一瓶水。 (Duì, dànshì zàichēshàng tāmen huì sòng wǒmen yī píng shuǐ.) |
| Dave: Yeah but they give you a free bottle of water on the train. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dave: Echo, you’ve been on one of China’s new high speed trains, isn’t that right? |
| Echo: Yeah. I have been on the 动车组 (Dòngchē zǔ) that goes from Beijing to Tianjin. |
| Dave: How long does it take? |
| Echo: Only 30 minutes but the only problem is, it takes longer to get to the train station from my house than it does to get to Tianjin. Well one thing that is also fast. |
| Dave: Is learning vocabulary from chineseclass101. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) So let’s get there right now. |
| Dave: And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 多 (duō) |
| Dave: Many or so. |
| Echo: 动车组 (dòngchēzǔ) |
| Dave: High speed train. |
| Echo: 差不多 (chàbuduō) |
| Dave: About the same. |
| Echo: 候车室 (hòuchēshì) |
| Dave: Waiting room. |
| Echo: 站台 (zhàntái) |
| Dave: Railway platform. |
| Echo: 餐车 (cānchē) |
| Dave: Dining car. |
| Echo: 车厢 (chēxiāng) |
| Dave: Carriage. |
| Echo: 出站 (chūzhàn) |
| Dave: Departure. |
| Echo: 进站 (jìn zhàn) |
| Dave: Arrival. |
| Echo: 进站 (jìn zhàn) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Okay. Let’s look closer at the usage of some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Echo: Okay the first word is 多 (Duō) |
| Dave: This can mean many or so. It’s used for emphasis. |
| Echo: 多。走路多累啊，我们坐车吧。 (Duō. Zǒulù duō lèi a, wǒmen zuòchē ba.) |
| Dave: Walking is tiring, let’s take the bus. |
| Echo: 走路多累啊，我们坐车吧。 (Zǒulù duō lèi a, wǒmen zuòchē ba.) |
| Dave: Walking is tiring, let’s take the bus. Next one Echo? |
| Echo: 动车组。 (Dòngchē zǔ) |
| Dave: High speed train. |
| Echo: 动车组。动车组的车票和飞机票差不多。 (Dòngchē zǔ. Dòngchē zǔ de chēpiào hé fēijī piào chàbùduō.) |
| Dave: The high speed train ticket and a plane ticket are about the same price. |
| Echo: 动车组的车票和飞机票差不多。 (Dòngchē zǔ de chēpiào hé fēijī piào chàbùduō.) |
| Dave: And that leads us to our next word. |
| Echo: 差不多。 (Chàbùduō) |
| Dave: About the same or more or less. |
| Echo: 差不多。我和他差不多高。 (Chàbùduō. Wǒ hé tā chàbùduō gāo.) |
| Dave: Me and him are about the same height. |
| Echo: 我和他差不多高。候车室。 (Wǒ hé tā chàbùduō gāo. Hòuchē shì.) |
| Dave: Waiting room. |
| Echo: 候车室。快到春节了，候车室里人很多。 (Hòuchē shì. Kuài dào chūnjiéle, hòuchē shì lǐ rén hěnduō.) |
| Dave: Spring festival will be here soon. There are a bunch of people in the waiting room. |
| Echo: 快到春节了，候车室里人很多。 (Kuài dào chūnjiéle, hòuchē shì lǐ rén hěnduō.) |
| Dave: Next word Echo. |
| Echo: 站台。 (Zhàntái.) |
| Dave: Railway platform. |
| Echo: 站台。我要去5站台。 (Zhàntái. Wǒ yào qù 5 zhàntái.) |
| Dave: I need to go to platform #5. |
| Echo: 我要去5站台。餐车。 (Wǒ yào qù 5 zhàntái. Cānchē.) |
| Dave: Dining car. |
| Echo: 餐车。餐车在火车的中间。 (Cānchē. Cānchē zài huǒchē de zhōngjiān.) |
| Dave: The dining car is in the middle of the train. |
| Echo: 餐车在火车的中间。 (Cānchē zài huǒchē de zhōngjiān.) And food on the train is as bad as it is on the plane. |
| Dave: Yeah that’s mostly true although on the train, you can at the station buy fruits or noodles or chocolate little things. |
| Echo: Yeah, yeah. |
| Dave: People on the platform are selling things. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: On the plane, you have no other choice. |
| Echo: 车厢。 (Chēxiāng.) |
| Dave: Carriage. |
| Echo: 车厢。车厢里的人太多了，我没办法去洗手间。 (Chēxiāng. Chēxiāng lǐ de rén tài duōle, wǒ méi bànfǎ qù xǐshǒujiān.) |
| Dave: There are too many people in the carriage. There is no way for me to go to the washroom. |
| Echo: 车厢里的人太多了，我没办法去洗手间。 (Chēxiāng lǐ de rén tài duōle, wǒ méi bànfǎ qù xǐshǒujiān.) |
| Dave: There are too many people in the carriage. There is no way I can get to the washroom. |
| Echo: 出站。 (Chū zhàn.) |
| Dave: Departure. |
| Echo: 出站。火车就要出站了。 (Chū zhàn. Huǒchē jiù yào chū zhànle.) |
| Dave: The train is about to leave the platform. |
| Echo: 火车就要出站了。 (Huǒchē jiù yào chū zhànle.) |
| Dave: The train is about to leave the station. |
| Echo:进站。 (Jìn zhàn.) |
| Dave: Arrival. |
| Echo: 进站。车在十点十分进站。 (Jìn zhàn. Chē zài shí diǎn shí fēn jìn zhàn.) |
| Dave: The train will arrive at 10 minutes past 10. |
| Echo: 车在十点十分进站。 (Chē zài shí diǎn shí fēn jìn zhàn.) |
| Dave: Okay and that does it for the vocabulary section. Let’s move on to grammar. It’s grammar time. Echo, what is the word we are focusing on today? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: We went over it in the vocab section. It is 多。 (Duō.) |
| Dave: In most cases, this means many and you can put it with a noun to say a lot of something. |
| Echo: Like 多人。 (Duō rén.) |
| Dave: Which means a lot of people but when you put it with an adjective, it changes meaning. |
| Echo: Like from the dialogue 多慢。 (Duō màn.) |
| Dave: Which means very slow. Here |
| Echo: 多。 (Duō.) |
| Dave: Is functioning as an adverb of degree and the adverb of degree tells us about the intensity or degree of an action or an adjective. |
| Echo: So in the sentence 火车，那多慢啊。 (Huǒchē, nà duō màn a.) |
| Dave: The train that will take forever. |
| Echo: Here the adverb 多 (Duō.) is indicating the degree of speed of the train. |
| Dave: The train moves so incredibly slow. |
| Echo: 多慢啊 (Duō màn a) Let’s give our listeners some examples on how you can use 多 (Duō.) plus an adjective. |
| Dave: Sounds great. |
| Echo: The first example is 走路多累啊，我们坐车吧。 (Zǒulù duō lèi a, wǒmen zuòchē ba.) |
| Dave: Walking is so tiring. How about we take the bus? |
| Echo: 走路多累啊，我们坐车吧。 (Zǒulù duō lèi a, wǒmen zuòchē ba.) |
| Dave: And here we are putting emphasis on how tiring walking is. |
| Echo: Yeah 多累。 (Duō lèi.) |
| Dave: It’s really, really exhausting. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Next example. |
| Echo: 那件衣服多土啊，你别买。 (Nà jiàn yīfú duō tǔ a, nǐ bié mǎi.) |
| Dave: That piece of clothing is way out of fashion. Don’t buy it. |
| Echo: 那件衣服多土啊，你别买。 (Nà jiàn yīfú duō tǔ a, nǐ bié mǎi.) |
| Dave: And here the focus is on |
| Echo: 多土。 (Duō tǔ.) |
| Dave: This has the connotation that it’s in the style of village peasants. |
| Echo: Right. 这个女孩多漂亮啊，你为什么不喜欢她？ (Zhège nǚhái duō piàoliang a, nǐ wèishéme bù xǐhuān tā?) |
| Dave: This girl is so pretty. Why don’t you like her? |
| Echo: 这个女孩多漂亮啊，你为什么不喜欢她？ (Zhège nǚhái duō piàoliang a, nǐ wèishéme bù xǐhuān tā?) |
| Dave: And our next example |
| Echo: 你的老公多好啊，那么爱你。 (Nǐ de lǎogōng duō hǎo a, nàme ài nǐ.) |
| Dave: Your husband is so good. He really loves you. |
| Echo: 你的老公多好啊，那么爱你。多好啊 (Nǐ de lǎogōng duō hǎo a, nàme ài nǐ. Duō hǎo a) is our adverb of degree. |
| Dave: Yes and it means how wonderful. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Okay our last example. |
| Echo: 她笑得多开心呀。 (Tā xiào dé duō kāixīn ya.) |
| Dave: She smiles so happily. |
| Echo: 她笑得多开心呀。多开心。 (Tā xiào dé duō kāixīn ya. Duō kāixīn.) |
| Dave: So happy. |
| Echo: Right. So you know what makes me really happy. |
| Dave: What’s that? |
| Echo: Our listeners’ comments. |
| Dave: That’s right. Remember, you can leave us a comment about this lesson. |
| Echo: So if you have a question or some feedback, please do leave us a comment. |
| Dave: It’s very easy to do. Just stop by chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: Click on comments. |
| Dave: Enter your comment and name. |
Outro |
| Echo: And that’s it. |
| Dave: And that just about wraps it up for today. From Beijing, I am Dave. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见 (Xià cì jiàn) Bye bye. |
| Dave: See you then. |
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