Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: So our dialogue is between friends who have gathered at a friend’s apartment. We don’t know how they got here.
Sylvia: Right.
David: They might have broken in but they are waiting for their friend to come here.
Sylvia: And it’s late.
David: Yes it’s been hours and he still hasn’t shown up. So this is what we are going to hear in our dialogue. It’s casual mandarin and standard Mandarin as always.
Sylvia: Yes.
DIALOGUE
A: 嘘,小点声。(Xu ,xiǎo diǎn shēng 。)
B: 我快要忍不住了。(Wǒ kuài yào rěnbúzhù le 。)
A: 怎么还不来?(Zěnme hái bù lái ?)
B: 你问我,我问谁去?(Nǐ wèn wǒ ,wǒ wèn shuí qù ?)
David: One more time a bit slower.
A: 嘘,小点声。(Xu ,xiǎo diǎn shēng 。)
B: 我快要忍不住了。(Wǒ kuài yào rěnbúzhù le 。)
A: 怎么还不来?(Zěnme hái bù lái ?)
B: 你问我,我问谁去?(Nǐ wèn wǒ ,wǒ wèn shuí qù ?)
David: And now with the English translation.
Sylvia: 嘘,小点声。(Xu ,xiǎo diǎn shēng 。)
David: Shh, be quieter.
Sylvia: 我快要忍不住了。(Wǒ kuài yào rěnbúzhù le 。)
David: I almost can't bear it.
Sylvia: 怎么还不来?(Zěnme hái bù lái ?)
David: How has he still not come?
Sylvia: 你问我,我问谁去?(Nǐ wèn wǒ ,wǒ wèn shuí qù ?)
David: You are asking me, who should I ask?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: So this is really colloquial.
Sylvia: Yes.
David: I mean this is almost even street Chinese.
Sylvia: Right.
David: With that last line you know, you are asking me who am I supposed to ask.
Sylvia: They must be very anxious.
David: Yes they are exceedingly anxious and we can tell that because of the words that they are using.
VOCAB LIST
Sylvia: 小声 (xiǎoshēng) [natural native speed]
David: quiet
Sylvia: 小声 (xiǎoshēng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 小声 (xiǎoshēng)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 忍不住 (rěn bú zhù) [natural native speed]
David: to be unable to bear
Sylvia: 忍不住 (rěn bú zhù)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 忍不住 (rěn bú zhù)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 问 (wèn)[natural native speed]
David: to ask
Sylvia: 问 (wèn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 问 (wèn)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 快 (kuài)[natural native speed]
David: quickly
Sylvia: 快 (kuài)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 快 (kuài)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 要 (yào) [natural native speed]
David: will
Sylvia: 要 (yào)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 要 (yào)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 还 (hái)[natural native speed]
David: still, yet
Sylvia: 还 (hái)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 还 (hái)[natural native speed]
Sylvia: 点 (diǎn)[natural native speed]
David: a little bit
Sylvia: 点 (diǎn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sylvia: 点 (diǎn)[natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: A lot of these vocab words, we’ve done them before. So at this point, it should be review but there is some new stuff that we want to highlight.
Sylvia: Yes.
David: Now the first is that word to be unable to bear 忍不住,(Rěn bù zhù,) I can’t bear it.
Sylvia: 忍不住. (Rěn bù zhù.)
David: In other lessons, you’ve heard us use another word that means almost the same thing 受不了.(Shòu bùliǎo) To be unable to bear something 受不了. (Shòu bùliǎo.) So Miao Miao, we’ve got these two words.
Sylvia: Yes.
David: Can we hear them again one more time?
Sylvia: 忍不住. 受不了.(Rěn bù zhù. Shòu bùliǎo.)
David: What’s the difference between these two?
Sylvia: They are almost the same.
David: Yeah they mean almost the same thing. I think 忍不住 (Rěn bù zhù) is bit more serious. It’s almost like I really can’t bear it.
Sylvia: Right.
David: Where as 受不了 (Shòu bùliǎo) is a bit more casual. So listening to this, we know they have probably been waiting for some time.
Sylvia: Yes.
David: I do that. Oh yeah, they are really excited.
Sylvia: Yes they can’t hold it.
David: So here are two ways again of saying you can’t bear something.
Sylvia: 忍不住. 受不了.(Rěn bù zhù. Shòu bùliǎo.)
David: The next word we want to highlight is the word that we translated as silent 小声 (Xiǎoshēng) which literally means little noise 小声.(Xiǎoshēng.) In the dialogue, we heard it in this line 小点声 (Xiǎo diǎn shēng) so split up and there was literally little a bit noise. We run out of this in Chinese a lot.
Sylvia: Yes.
David: There is the word we translated as quiet 小声, quiet 小声, (Xiǎoshēng, quiet xiǎoshēng,) and this literally means little sound.
Sylvia: Right. For instance, you can say 你可以小点声吗? (Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎo diǎn shēng ma?)
David: Which is a question, can you quiet down? 你可以小点声吗? (Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎo diǎn shēng ma?) can you quiet down and there we changed the word slightly just like in the dialog, we stuck something in the middle 点 (Diǎn) which means a little bit. So it was 小点声 can you be a bit quieter.
Sylvia: 你可以小点声吗?(Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎo diǎn shēng ma?)
David: Right. However you don’t need that 点 You can take it out if you want.
Sylvia: 你可以小点声吗?(Nǐ kěyǐ xiǎo diǎn shēng ma?)
David: Can you be quiet?

Lesson focus

David: Our grammar point today is about expressing impatience especially impatience if something hasn’t happened yet.
Sylvia: So we will say 怎么还.(Zěnme hái.)
David: Right. This is the grammar structure we are focusing on 怎么还.(Zěnme hái.) You know in last lesson, we had another pattern with 怎么(Zěnme) and we already know this means “how”.
Sylvia: So 怎么还 (Zěnme hái) means “how still”.
David: Right or how can this still be happening really. In the dialog, we hear it in this sentence 怎么还不来?(Zěnme hái bù lái?) and they are talking about the person whose birthday it is. He how still not come 他怎么还不来? (Tā zěnme hái bù lái?) how is he still not here…
Sylvia: 他怎么还不来?(Tā zěnme hái bù lái?)
David: but we can put this in front of any verb or adjective.
Sylvia: Yes. Right David for instance, 他怎么还不累?(Tā zěnme hái bù lèi?)
David: It’s 10 in the evening and he is still running around like crazy 他怎么还不累?.(Tā zěnme hái bù lèi?.) How can he not be tired.
Sylvia: Right David or you can say 你怎么还不吃饭?(Nǐ zěnme hái bù chīfàn?)
David: Right. How can you still not have eaten? 你怎么还不吃饭?(Nǐ zěnme hái bù chīfàn?) Maybe you are with a colleague at the office and he came in at 9 and he’s worked until 6 o’ clock. You go, how can you still have not eaten.
Sylvia: Okay David. One more example, 他怎么还没回家?(Tā zěnme hái méi huí jiā?)
David: How has he not come home yet 他怎么还没回家?(Tā zěnme hái méi huí jiā?) How has he not come home yet and interesting thing to note is in English, these sentences are – they are kind of tortured and long. In Chinese, it’s really quick. It’s really natural.
Sylvia: Right.
David: So remember if you want to express impatience that something hasn’t happened yet, use this structure 怎么还 (Zěnme hái) and then a verb or an adjective.
Sylvia: Yes.

Outro

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