Learn how to say a variety of different colors
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 37 in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: 第三十七课。(Dì sānshíqī kè) |
| Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio, as always, by my colorful co-host, Echo. |
| Echo: 谢谢。我是(Xièxiè. Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| Frank: Now today’s lesson is about colors. |
| Echo: Colors. |
| Frank: We get a pair of roommates trying to decide on the color of walls or maybe shopping for clothing. |
| Echo: Yeah. Sure. They can’t seem to agree, right? |
| Frank: It’s not always the way. Let’s see how this goes down. Let’s listen to the dialogue now. |
| Echo: But before we do… |
| Frank: Oh, before we do, that’s right, we want to remind you that all the supplementary vocab you hear in these lessons can be found in the downloadable PDF transcript that’s part of your premium subscription. |
| Echo: Right. Being able to follow along with us is a great way to re-enforce that vocabulary. |
| Frank: Right you are, Echo. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: So check that out, folks. But for now, on to the dialogue. |
| Echo: Let’s go. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Bunny: 什么颜色好呢？(BUNNY: Shénme yánsè hǎo ne?) |
| 张颖: 红色怎么样？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Hóngsè zěnmeyàng?) |
| Bunny: 不怎么样。(BUNNY: Bù zěnmeyàng.) |
| 张颖: 那你想要什么颜色？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Nà nǐ xiǎng yào shénme yánsè?) |
| Bunny: 我想要蓝色。(BUNNY: Wǒ xiǎng yào lánsè.) |
| Frank: One more time, just a bit slower. |
| Bunny: 什么颜色好呢？(BUNNY: Shénme yánsè hǎo ne?) |
| 张颖: 红色怎么样？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Hóngsè zěnmeyàng?) |
| Bunny: 不怎么样。(BUNNY: Bù zěnmeyàng.) |
| 张颖: 那你想要什么颜色？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Nà nǐ xiǎng yào shénme yánsè?) |
| Bunny: 我想要蓝色。(BUNNY: Wǒ xiǎng yào lánsè.) |
| Frank: Okay. Great dialogue today. Echo, if you could paint the walls in here, what color would you paint them? |
| Echo: White. |
| Frank: White. Pretty easy. I thought you’d be like the pink family. That was your favorite color. |
| Echo: Or maybe some hearts. |
| Frank: Exactly. Like pink over there. Probably I’m the only person who gets that reference. Somebody call out on the forums if you understand that one. Let’s get on to the line-by-line now. |
| Bunny: 什么颜色好呢？(BUNNY: Shénme yánsè hǎo ne?) |
| Frank: What color is good? |
| 张颖: 红色怎么样？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Hóngsè zěnmeyàng?) |
| Frank: How about red? |
| Bunny: 不怎么样。(BUNNY: Bù zěnmeyàng.) |
| Frank: Not so great. |
| 张颖: 那你想要什么颜色？(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Nà nǐ xiǎng yào shénme yánsè?) |
| Frank: Then what color do you want? |
| Bunny: 我想要蓝色。(BUNNY: Wǒ xiǎng yào lánsè.) |
| Frank: I want blue. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: I like blue too. |
| Frank: I like blue. But it’s not my favorite color but it’ll do. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| Frank: It’ll just have to do. Let’s get on to the vocab section now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 颜色(yánsè) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Color. |
| Echo: 颜色(yánsè)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 颜色(yánsè)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 红(hóng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Red. |
| Echo: 红(hóng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 红(hóng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 不怎么样(bù zěnmeyàng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Not that good. |
| Echo: 不怎么样(bù zěnmeyàng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 不怎么样(bù zěnmeyàng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 那(nà) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Then. |
| Echo: 那(nà)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 那(nà)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 想要(xiǎng yào) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To want. |
| Echo: 想要(xiǎng yào)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 想要(xiǎng yào)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 蓝色(lánsè) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: The color blue. |
| Echo: 蓝色(lánsè)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 蓝色(lánsè)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay. Our vocab section today is devoted to colors. |
| Echo: 颜色。(yánsè.) |
| Frank: Since we’re starting from scratch, let’s start with the primary colors. |
| Echo: 好勒。(Hǎo lēi.) |
| Frank: Echo, what’s the word for “red”. |
| Echo: 紅(hóng) |
| Frank: Blue? |
| Echo: 蓝(Lán) |
| Frank: Yellow? |
| Echo: 黃(huáng) |
| Frank: Say that one more time. |
| Echo: 红。蓝。黄。(Hóng. Lán. Huáng.) |
| Frank: The first thing I know about colors in Chinese is that they’re adjectives. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò) |
| Frank: How do we say “very red”? |
| Echo: 很红。(Hěn hóng.) |
| Frank: Or not blue? |
| Echo: 不蓝。(Bù lán.) |
| Frank: Or very yellow? |
| Echo: 很黄。(Hěn huáng.) |
| Frank: Good. Here are some of the other colors you should know. Black. |
| Echo: 黑 .(Hēi.) |
| Frank: White. |
| Echo: 白。(Bái.) |
| Frank: Green. |
| Echo: 绿。(Lǜ.) |
| Male: 什么颜色好呢？(Shénme yánsè hǎo ne?) |
| Female: 红色怎么样？(Hóngsè zěnmeyàng?) |
| Frank: Now there’s something interesting going on in the dialogue today. |
| Echo: You’re right. 红色怎么样？(Hóngsè zěnme yàng?) We didn’t say 红(hóng), we said 红色(hóngsè). We didn’t 蓝(Lán), we said 蓝色(lánsè)in the dialogue. |
| Frank: So what’s happening here? |
| Echo: Because colors are adjectives and they can modify nouns. |
| Frank: Exactly. We already learned this. To modify a noun, just put the adjective before it. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò) |
| Frank: So red socks is… |
| Echo: 红袜子。(Hóng wàzi.) |
| Frank: Yellow pants is… |
| Echo: 黄裤子。(Huáng kùzi.) |
| Frank: Blue color is… |
| Echo: 蓝色. 色(Lán sè. Sè) means color. |
| Frank: Perfect. Let’s review all of this with some sample sentences. |
| Echo: 好。(Hǎo.) |
| Frank: The red flowers are very red. |
| Echo: 红花很红。(Hóng huā hěn hóng..) |
| Frank: I like black shoes. |
| Echo: 我喜欢黑鞋。(Wǒ xǐhuān hēi xié.) |
| Frank: The water is really blue. |
| Echo: 水真蓝。(Shuǐ zhēn lán.) |
| Frank: This is a traffic light. |
| Echo: 这是红绿灯。(Zhè shì hónglǜdēng.) |
| Frank: Little bit of a curve there, isn’t that? Now the word for traffic light, let’s hear that one more time. |
| Echo: 红绿灯。(Hóng lǜ dēng.) |
| Frank: The red green light. |
| Echo: 没错.(Méi cuò.) Without yellow. |
| Frank: Exactly. I don’t know why they didn’t like the yellow light, but they left it out. |
| Echo: 红绿灯。(Hóng lǜ dēng.) |
| Frank: Last sentence, “I like green tea”. |
| Echo: 我喜欢绿茶。(Wǒ xǐhuān lǜchá.) |
| Frank: Let’s hear that one more time. |
| Echo: 我喜欢绿茶。(Wǒ xǐhuān lǜchá.) |
| Frank: Okay. Speaking of green things, we’re got a green light to head on to the grammar section. Let’s do it. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| Frank: Our grammar point is about the conjunction… |
| Echo: 那(nà) |
| Frank: We’ve already learned that this means “that”. |
| Echo: 那。(nà.) |
| Frank: Or “there”. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: So something strange is going on because in the dialogue, we heard this sentence… |
| Female: 那你想要什么颜色？(Nà nǐ xiǎng yào shénme yánsè?) |
| Frank: Then what color do you want? |
| Echo: Yeah. In this sentence, 那(nà) is a conjunction. |
| Frank: It means “then” or “because of that”. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Let’s have some more examples. |
| Echo: 那我也去。(Nà wǒ yě qù.) |
| Frank: Then I’ll go too… |
| Echo: 那你吃什么？(Nà nǐ chī shénme?) |
| Frank: Then what will you eat? |
| Echo: 他不要，那我要。(Tā bùyào, nà wǒ yào.) |
| Frank: If he doesn’t want it, then I’ll take it. |
| Echo: 你饿了(Nǐ èle)，那吃吧。(Nà chī ba.) |
| Frank: “If you’re hungry, then eat.” This is really colloquial Chinese. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) It is exactly the way people really speak in China. |
| Frank: It’s a really powerful way to express the idea of conditionality. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| Frank: The if-then statement. |
| Frank: Okay, Echo, we’re at the end of our grammar section, but before we go, I wanted to clarify a point. The verb “to want”. |
| Echo: 想要。(Xiǎng yào.) |
| Frank: Okay, we heard this another way as well. |
| Echo: 要。(Yào.) |
| Frank: Sounds very similar. What’s the difference between those two? |
| Echo: Both 想要(Xiǎng yào) and 要(Yào) mean “to want”. 想要，要.(Xiǎng yào, yào.) |
| Frank: So there’s no difference. |
| Echo: Not exactly, because 想要案(Xiǎng yào'àn)is actually a bit more polite. |
| Frank: A little softer. |
| Echo: Uh-hmm. |
| Frank: All right. There you have it, folks. I just wanted to clarify that before we close out for the day. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: But we are out of time. It’s time for us to go. But before we leave, we want to remind you to head up to ChineseClass101.com, sign up for that free lifetime account. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: It takes you less than seven seconds. |
| Echo: It’s just that easy. |
| Frank: It’s just that easy. We’ll see you there. But for now, from Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo |
| Frank: From our studios here, we’ll see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见。(Xià cì jiàn.) |
| Frank: 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
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Comments
HideShopping for clothing is a lot of fun. Do you have any tips for getting a better deal when you're out in the markets, or good places to shop for cheap clothing at a great price? Tell us the details so that we can too!
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 lesson
my favorite words are : 他不要，那我要。
robert
Hi Kyle
Thanks for learning with us.😄
Amy
Team ChineseClass101.com
Happy Days ...@Frank.....Says a lot about my age! I got the reference.....?
Hi Elijah,
On behalf of Cho, you're welcome!
In case of any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ChineseClass101.com
thanks for letting me know your amazing Cho xiexie.
Hello, elijah roesner,
Yes, you are right!
红= red
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
ok so i say blue as a noun like this, lan, and red is, hong?
Hello, elijah roesner,
red = 红（noun），红色(noun)，红色的(adject)
blue = 蓝（noun）,蓝色（noun）,蓝色的（adject）
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
nihao echo i need jiuming i am having a hard time with the colors red and blue is three an easier way to say them?
I like pink 我喜歡粉紅色
Hi, 卫力,
Always thanks for your comments.
I'm from Shanghai (south of China) and the grammers what I told you are all Cho-made, so maybe it's not so widely used.
(I hope they are all correct:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)
If you find any exception, please let me know. We can talk about that.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
Cho，
What a great grammar point! 有趣的是， 你的回答。
卫力
Hi, 卫力，
that is interesting about the monk’s robes being the color of the earth：
有趣的是，（在中国，）和尚的僧衣是土色的。
grammer:
。。。的是, (replace ... by adjectives ): it is .... that
Eg, It is sad that... 另人难过的是
It is wonder that....精彩的是
It is unexpected that... 没想到的是
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好， Cho,
I meant to say, that is interesting about the monk's robes being the color of the earth.
卫力
你好，卫力，
在中国有许多和尚，因为有很多庙。（temple）
by the way, what's the meaning for 颜色的衣服的和尚很有趣?
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
谢谢你！
颜色的衣服的和尚很有趣。
在中国有多少和尚？
你好，卫力，
80 points.
because it's a calm color.
因为蓝色比较沉稳（chénwěn）。
BTW, in China, the robe of monks are usually in earth color.
Cho
Team ChineseClass101.com
大家好，
蓝色是我最喜欢的颜色， 因为蓝色是很安色。我穿黑衣, 因为我是一个和尚。（Lán sè shì wǒ zuì xǐhuān de yánsè, yīnwèi lán sè shì hěn ān sè. Wǒ chuān hēi yī, yīnwèi wǒ shì yīgè héshàng.）
My favorite color is blue, because it’s a calm color. I wear black, because I am a monk.
再见，
卫力
Hi Jori,
那么 is a bit formal and old, so you won't hear it often when people speak to each other. It is mostly used as another meaning "so". Like 他那么好，你怎么不喜欢他 (He's so nice, and why don't you like him). 那 is more common.
Echo
Team ChineseClass101.com