Learn how to ask where things are located
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 3 in our Beginner series. I'm your host, Frank Fradella, and I'm joined in the studio by the exceptionally talented Echo. |
| Echo: I’m so flattered. |
| Frank: Well, you deserve it. Today we've got a lesson just chockfull of great new vocabulary, probably the most important lesson you're ever going to learn. What are we teaching of? |
| Echo: Very important. We're going to tell you how to ask for the bathroom. |
| Frank: Exactly. This is a dialogue between a native speaker and a non-native speaker, and fairly formal. So let's go and get into the dialogue and we'll be right back and translate it for you. |
| Echo: But before we do…. |
| Frank: All right, before we go, there was one thing we wanted to tell. If you're an iPod user and you're a premium subscriber, you can actually follow along with the transcript right on your iPod. |
| Echo: Yeah. Isn’t that convenient? |
| Frank: It's very convenient, and you're actually doubling your learning speed. So it doesn't get any better than that. Let's go ahead and listen to that dialogue and we'll be right back. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Now let's listen to that a bit more slowly. |
| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Echo, if there's a more important phrase in Chinese, I can't think of it. This is it. The number one most important phrase, “Where's the bathroom?” |
| Echo: And the second most important phrase is, “Over there”. |
| Frank: “It's over there”. That's right. We've got them both in this dialogue, so we're going to walk you right through it. Echo, kick us off. |
| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Excuse me, where is the washroom? |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: It's over there. |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| Frank: Over where? I can't see it. |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: It's over there. |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| Frank: Oh, thanks. |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: You are welcome. |
| Echo: Hey, I really like this dialogue. What do you think? |
| Frank: I thought it was great. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: They're really, really useful too. A matter of fact, we're going to take you through the vocab right now. When we do, we want you to pay attention to those tones. |
| Echo: You got to get the tones right here. |
| Frank: Yeah. Because if you want to find the restroom, you're going to need this stuff? Let's go and do it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 请问(Qǐngwèn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: May I ask you a question? |
| Echo: 请问(Qǐngwèn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 请问(Qǐngwèn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Washroom. |
| Echo: 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 在(Zài) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To be located at. |
| Echo: 在(Zài)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 在(Zài)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Where. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 哪儿(Nǎ'er)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 那儿(Nà'er) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: There. |
| Echo: 那儿(Nà'er)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 那儿(Nà'er)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Can’t be seen. |
| Echo: 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 谢谢(Xièxiè) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Thank you. |
| Echo: 谢谢(Xièxiè)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 谢谢(Xièxiè)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: You’re welcome. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 不客气(Bù kèqì)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Echo… |
| Echo: Yes? |
| Frank: 谢谢.(Xièxiè.) |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) |
| Frank: These are two great phrases we heard in today's dialogue. The second one, let's take that first. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) |
| Frank: This means “you're welcome”. But you might recognize one of the sounds here from our previous lesson, 我不好.(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Male: 不。(Bù.) |
| Frank: Means “not”. Let’s hear it again. |
| Echo: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: Last time we heard it is “I'm not good”. |
| Male: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Echo: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: “I'm not good.” Here, when we say “you're welcome”, what are we really saying? |
| Echo: 不客气。(Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Now the last part of that is what? |
| Echo: 客气。(Kèqì.) |
| Frank: That means “polite”. So “don't be so polite” is really “no polite”. |
| Echo: Exactly. 不客气.(Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Great. Next stop, we've got the twin sisters of location, where and there. Let's hear them both. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: And? |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: Okay. Now the first one means “where”, and it's a third tone. Let's hear that again. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: The second one means “there”, and it's fourth tone. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: “Where” and “there”. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er)，那儿(Nà'er). Actually, they can remember it like this. In English, people say “where”. |
| Frank: So that sounds like third tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. 那儿。(Nà'er.) They also say “there”. |
| Frank: Which sounds like fourth tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: It’s exactly the same in Chinese. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: It's a great mnemonic, Echo. Thanks! Now we're going to head over to the grammar section to learn how to ask where things are. |
| Male: It’s grammar time! |
Lesson focus |
| Frank: Last time, we learned how to talk about how we were feeling. Let's have a few example sentences. “I'm very good”. |
| Echo: 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.) |
| Frank: I’m very tired. |
| Echo: 我很累。(Wǒ hěn lèi.) |
| Frank: I’m not busy. |
| Echo: 我不忙。(Wǒ bù máng.) |
| Frank: This time, we're going to teach you how to ask where something is using the verb… |
| Echo: 在。(Zài.) |
| Frank: Let's just do a few examples. “Where is the washroom?” |
| Echo: 洗手间在哪儿？(Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where are you? |
| Echo: 你在哪儿？(Nǐ zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where is he? |
| Echo: 他在哪儿？(Tā zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: The pattern here is the thing that you're looking for, the verb… |
| Echo: 在。(Zài.) |
| Frank: Which means “to be located at”. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Another word for “where”. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: And that’s how you ask the question. |
| Echo: 你在哪儿？(Nǐ zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: “Where are you?” |
| Echo: To answer this question actually is pretty easy. |
| Frank: Yeah. You just change the word for “where”… |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: …with “there”. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: Let's hear some example sentences and drive it home. “You are there”. |
| Echo: 你在那儿。(Nǐ zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: He is there. |
| Echo: 他在那儿。(Tā zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: The restroom is there. |
| Echo: 洗手间在那儿。(Xǐshǒujiān zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: So just remember one of these is a question. |
| Echo: 哪儿？(Nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: That’s third tone. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: One of them is an answer. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: That’s fourth tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Male: 洗手间在哪儿？(Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Echo: 在那儿。(Zài nà'er.) |
| Male: 在哪儿？(Zài nǎ'er?) |
| Echo: 在那儿！(Zài nà'er!) |
| Frank: Speaking of questions… |
| Echo: Everyone has questions. |
| Frank: Everybody's got them, and we want to hear yours up at ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: And we’ll answer your questions there. |
| Frank: That's right. We want you to comment, comment, comment some more. We want you to comment until your fingers actually melt the keyboard. We'll see you there. From our studios here in Beijing, I'm Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: I’m Echo. |
| Frank: And we’d like to say 再见。(Zàijiàn.) . |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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Comments
HideSometimes one may feel shy about speaking Chinese, but there are certain situations which are powerful motivators. Depending on where you are in the country, the quality of the restrooms in China can be highly variable. If you've got tips on how to find a good toilet in the middle of Qinghua, we want to hear them.
Hello Bella,
Thank you for your comment. "nǎlǐ" and "nǎr" have the same meaning. "nǎr" is the colloquial form of "nǎlǐ". So you can use both interchangeably.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello! My Chinese teacher uses nali and not nar. She says we can use whatever we prefer but I’m still confused on what the difference between nar and nali is. Thank you!
Hello Eddie Bruce,
Thank you for sharing with us, those are great tips, yes drilling is the key!
If you have any questions, please let us know.
Ngai
Team ChineseClass101.com
If one wishes to learn AND retain good Chinese, one must complete the practice drills many many times, making sure to use the correct tones, including consecutive 3rd tones as well as consecutive 4th tones. It is very easy to commit errors in these cases without serious, continuous drills. Drills = repetition, repetition, repetition.
Practice slowly many times without the sound aids, then increase your speed until you match the native speaker’s.
Be careful 2 consecutive 4th tones.
你好 Huang Fei,
You are very welcome. 😇
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Good luck with your language studies.
Kind regards,
雷文特
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好。现在我在越南，你呢？
Thank you for create this wonderful lesson.
Phi
你好 robert groulx！
不用谢。(Bú yòng xiè.) = No need for thanks. You're welcome. 😇
谢谢 (Xièxie) for studying with us, it's great to have you here!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
thanks for the lsson transcript
favorite phrase is 洗手间在哪儿
robert
Hello David,
你好！我在中国。😄
If you have any questions, please let us know!
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好！ 我在瑞典。
你在哪儿？
Hi @Sanowar,
Thank you for your feedback! We are very happy to have you here studying with us.
If you ever have any questions, please let us know. :)
Kind regards,
Levente
Team ChineseClass101.com
Very good
Hello Ken Yung,
Thank you for your comment. "nǎlǐ" and "nǎr" have the same meaning. "nǎr" is the colloquial form of "nǎlǐ". Thus "zài nǎlǐ" and "zài nǎr" can be used interchangeably.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi,
I've been hearing my chinese friends say " ... zai na li" often. What's the difference between "zai na li" and "zai na er" or can they be used interchangeably? Does "zai na li" mean the same thing?
Thank you in advance !
Hello Lori,
Thank you for your comment. Under the title of this lesson, you can see several buttons. Click on the one with the shape of a heart (Add to My Favorite Lessons), then you'll be able to mark it as 'favorite'.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
How can I mark a lesson as "favorite"?
Hello Chakamorn,
Thank you for your positive comment and support, we're glad to hear that you enjoy the lessons. 😄 We hope to see you again here often!
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
This is the last lesson of my first Premium Subscription Purchases.Thank you for your lessons.It helped me.My dad is deciding will be but another subscription.I hope he but me another one.Again,Thank you for your support.I want to say that when I convert from $ to THB,It was very expensive.And I don't have any other issues.I hope I see some of your teammates.Bye.*I still have 7 days subscription after 3 Dec. 2018.*
Hello MD,
Thank you for studying with us.
Looking forward to seeing you often here.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ChineseClass101.com