Learn how to ask, "What are you doing?"
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| Introduction |
| Eric: Welcome to 3-Minute Chinese Season 1, Lesson 12 - Asking What Someone is Doing. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask and answer the question What are you doing? in Chinese. |
| Body |
| Eric: Here's the informal way to ask "What are you doing?" in Chinese. |
| Cho: [Normal] 你在干嘛？(nǐ zài gàn ma?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to exist, to be doing something." This word will make the following verb in the present continuous tense. |
| Cho: [Normal] 在 [Slow] 在(zài) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to do" |
| Cho: [Normal] 干 [Slow] 干(gàn) |
| Eric: Last is the word meaning “what”. |
| Cho: [Normal] 嘛 [Slow] 嘛(ma) |
| Eric: Listen again to the informal question meaning "What are you doing?" |
| Cho: [Slow] 你在干嘛？ [Normal] 你在干嘛？ |
| Eric: Now, imagine you're speaking to a stranger. Here's the formal way to ask, "What are you doing?" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你在做什么？(nǐ zài zuò shénme?) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "you" |
| Cho: [Normal] 你 [Slow] 你 (nǐ) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to exist, to be doing something" |
| Cho: [Normal] 在 [Slow] 在(zài) |
| Eric: Followed by the verb meaning “to do" |
| Cho: [Normal] 做 [Slow] 做(zuò) |
| Eric: Last is the word for "what" |
| Cho: [Normal] 什么 [Slow] 什么(shénme) |
| Eric: Listen again to the formal question meaning "What are you doing?" |
| Cho: [Slow] 你在做什么？ [Normal] 你在做什么？ |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning "I am studying." |
| Cho: [Normal] 我在学习。(wǒ zài xuéxí.) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I" |
| Cho: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我(wǒ) |
| Eric: Next is the verb meaning "to exist, to be doing something" |
| Cho: [Normal] 在 [Slow] 在(zài) |
| Eric: Last is the verb meaning "to study" |
| Cho: [Normal] 学习 [Slow] 学习(xuéxí) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I am studying." |
| Cho: [Slow] 我在学习。 [Normal] 我在学习。 |
| Eric: Here's a response meaning, "I'm doing nothing special." |
| Cho: [Normal] 我没做什么。(wǒ méi zuò shénme.) |
| Eric: First is a pronoun meaning "I" |
| Cho: [Normal] 我 [Slow] 我(wǒ) |
| Eric: Next is the word meaning "not" |
| Cho: [Normal] 没 [Slow] 没(méi) |
| Eric: Followed by the verb meaning "to do" |
| Cho: [Normal] 做 [Slow] 做(zuò) |
| Eric: Last is the word for "what” or ”something" |
| Cho: [Normal] 什么 [Slow] 什么(shénme) |
| Eric: Listen again to the response meaning "I'm doing nothing special." |
| Cho: [Slow] 我没做什么。 [Normal] 我没做什么。 |
| Cultural Insight |
| Eric: Now it's time for a quick cultural insight. |
| Cho: 在 (Zài) is one of the common Chinese words used to express location. For example, you can use the word zài, to tell a friend where your house is. If you say wǒ jiā zài huāyuán Jiē, you are saying, “I live at Garden Street.” You can replace huāyuán Jiē, meaning “Garden Street,” with any place name to tell someone where you live. |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: And that’s all for this lesson. Don’t forget to check out the lesson notes, and we’ll see you in the next lesson! |
| Cho: 再见 |
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