Learn how to check into a hotel room in China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to ChineseClass101. I’m David. |
| Echo: Hi! 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: Echo, we are here with Lesson 43 in our first Beginner series. |
| Echo: 没错。第四十三课.(Méi cuò. Dì sìshísān kè.) |
| David: We’ve got a lesson for you guys today, which is all about getting what you want. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: When you stumble into a hotel and it doesn’t have what you expected. So we’ve got a dialogue that’s taking place here between a hotel customer and the front receptionist. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: The customer wants something. We’re going to see if he is able to get that. Before we do though, we wanted to point out, China is not like a lot of countries in Asia. You can’t just get by in English. So if you go to hotel, especially outside Beijing in Shanghai, you’re going to need to speak Chinese. |
| Echo: Right. Yeah. |
| David: So come to the premium learning center we’ve got at CC101 and check out that voice-recording tool. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: With that, let’s get on to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| David: Hello. Front desk? |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| David: Hello. Can you please give me another blanket? |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| David: Which room are you in? |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| David: Number 1217. |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| David: Okay. Please wait. We'll send it over right away. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: A lot of hotels in China actually don’t even have telephones, which makes it easier, although it is tough to my blanket. |
| Echo: Well, more practice. |
| David: Yes. Anyway, our vocab for you today is words you can use once you’ve checked into a hotel. Okay. Let’s get started. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now the vocab section. |
| Echo: 前臺(qiántái) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Front desk. |
| Echo: 前臺(qiántái) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 前臺(qiántái) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Give me another. |
| Echo: 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 床(chuáng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Measure word for blankets. |
| Echo: 床(chuáng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 床(chuáng) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 被子(bèizi) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Blanket. |
| Echo: 被子(bèizi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 被子(bèizi) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 馬上(mǎ shàng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Right away. |
| Echo: 馬上(mǎ shàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 馬上 (mǎ shàng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 送(sòng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To deliver. |
| Echo: 送(sòng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 送(sòng) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: A lot of useful vocab. In the rest of our vocab section, we want to highlight words that you might find yourself needing to ask for. |
| Echo: Like被子.(bèizi.) |
| David: Blanket. |
| Echo: 被子.(bèizi.) |
| David: Give me another blanket. |
| Echo: 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Yeah. Pay attention to the measure word there. |
| Echo: 床。 再给我一床被子。(Chuáng. Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: As we’ve taught you in our earlier lesson, all of these objects have their own measure words. “One blanket”. |
| Echo: 一床被子。(Yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: A lot of more upscale hotels will also have little soaps and toothbrush and a toothpaste and stuff. So you might say, “I need soap”. |
| Echo: 我要香皂.(Wǒ yào xiāngzào.) |
| David: In a lot of hotels, you might only have hot water at certain times of the day. |
| Echo: Yeah. That’s really bad. 我要热水。马上。现在。(Wǒ yào rè shuǐ. Mǎshàng. Xiànzài.) |
| David: There’s probably not much they’re going to do for you. |
| Echo: Well, they can buy the water. |
| David: For a bath? Hello? |
| Echo: Just say… |
| David: We’ve got shampoo. |
| Echo:洗发水。(xǐfàshuǐ) |
| David: Really useful not to pack that stuff. |
| Echo: 洗发水。(xǐfàshuǐ) |
| David: Give me shampoo. |
| Echo: 给我洗发水。(Gěi wǒ xǐ fǎ shuǐ.) |
| David: Other thing you might need to ask for, you might need to ask for a towel. |
| Echo: 毛巾.(máojīn.) |
| David: What’s the measure word for towel. |
| Echo: 条。(Tiáo.) |
| David: So it’s one towel. |
| Echo: 一条毛巾。(Yītiáo máojīn.) |
| David: Give me two towels. |
| Echo: 给我两条毛巾。(Gěi wǒ liǎng tiáo máojīn.) |
| David: We’ve also got the pillow. |
| Echo:枕头。再给我一个枕头。(Zhěntou. Zài gěi wǒ yīgè zhěntou.) |
| David: “Give me another pillow.” We’ve got 个 there. |
| Echo: 一个枕头.(Yīgè zhěntou) |
| David: Yeah. So you can use the common measure word for that, the easiest one. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Two others we’ve got for you are glass. |
| Echo: 杯子(bēizi) [natural native speed]. |
| David: And paper. |
| Echo: 手纸。(Shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: Both of these were Echo’s idea. |
| Echo: Yes. It’s necessary. They’re very useful. |
| David: They are very useful. What’s the measure word for “glass”. |
| Echo: 一个杯子。(Yīgè bēizi) |
| David: Yeah. So again, we’ve got the most common one. But for paper, we can’t say 一个纸.(Yīgè zhǐ) |
| Echo: Yeah. This is a little bit complex, 一卷儿.(Yī juàn er) |
| David: J-U-A-N. |
| Echo: Plur R. |
| David: And you’re adding that 儿化音.(Ér huà yīn.) |
| Echo: 一卷儿手纸。(Yī juàn er shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: So, “give me paper”. |
| Echo: 给我一卷儿手纸。(Gěi wǒ yī juàn er shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: Tricky. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: But not too tricky for you, guys. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér) |
| David: If you get the 儿化音(Ér huà yīn) there, you’re going to sound really native. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: It’s going to sound really good. |
| Echo: You will impress people. |
| David: Yeah. They might start speaking to you in high-speed Mandarin, which is what we want. Anyway, that’s our vocab section for today. In the grammar section, we’re going to review how to ask for things. Let’s move on to that now. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| David: Okay. Our grammar section for today is all about getting things. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér) |
| David: Me, me, me. |
| Echo: Yeah, asking for things. |
| David: Yeah. We’re going to go over a couple of ways. Some we’ve already learned. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So to start with, we’ve got the most basic one, we tell you, which is “I want”. |
| Echo: 我要。(Wǒ yào.) |
| David: I want a blanket. |
| Echo: 我要一床被子。(Wǒ yào yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: I want a towel. |
| Echo: 我要一条毛巾。(Wǒ yào yītiáo máojīn.) |
| David: I want hot water now. |
| Echo: 我要热水。现在。马上。(Wǒ yào rè shuǐ. Xiànzài. Mǎshàng.) |
| David: Right. It’s very, very strong. |
| Echo: Yeah, a bit direct. |
| David: Yeah. Our next one is also pretty direct. It’s, “Give me”. |
| Echo: 给我。(Gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Give me a pillow. |
| Echo: 给我一个枕头。(Gěi wǒ yīgè zhěntou) |
| David: Give me a blanket. |
| Echo: 给我一床被子。(Gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: So, that’s review for us, okay? The new phrases we have in this lesson are… |
| Echo: 再 给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: And… |
| Echo: 再来。再给我。再来。(Zàilái. Zài gěi wǒ. Zàilái.) |
| David: These are pretty close. We already know most of the first one. |
| Echo: Right. 再给我. 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ. Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Right. So 给我(Gěi wǒ) is “give me another”. |
| Echo: Right. 再给我.(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Give me another blanket. |
| Echo: 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Give me another towel. |
| Echo: 再给我一条毛巾。(Zài gěi wǒ yītiáo máojīn) |
| David: Yup. Our next one is… |
| Echo: 再来。(Zàilái.) |
| David: Which literally means, “Again to bring”. |
| Echo: Right. These are pretty easy and very 口语(Kǒuyǔ), very colloquial. |
| David: So Echo, can you give us an example of using 再来?(Zàilái?) |
| Echo: 再来一点儿餐巾纸。(Zàilái yīdiǎn er cānjīnzhǐ.) |
| David: “Can you bring me some napkins?” My favorite is, “Give me another bottle”. |
| Echo: 再来一瓶。(Zàilái yī píng.) |
| David: Give me another bottle of water. |
| Echo: 再来一瓶水。(Zàilái yī píng shuǐ.) |
| David: Right. So we’ve got these two new ones. What’s the difference between 再给我(Zài gěi wǒ)and 再来?(Zàilái?) |
| Echo: 再给我(Zài gěi wǒ) is more like we talk to someone face to face. |
| David: So in the dialogue, we had a conversation on the phone, and he didn’t say, “Bring another”. He said… |
| Echo: 再给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Yup. So to review, we have four ways of asking for something now. We have, “I want”.. |
| Echo: 我要。(Wǒ yào.) |
| David: Or… |
| Echo: 我想要。 |
| David: We’ve got the always useful, “Give me”. |
| Echo: 给我。(Gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Now we’ve got two new ones. |
| Echo: 再给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: And… |
| Echo: 再来.(Zàilái.) |
| David: The first can be used anywhere, but especially over the phone. |
| Echo: Right, 再给我.(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Right. And the second should be used when you’re in the same room as the person. |
| Echo: 再来。(Zàilái.) |
| David: Face-to-face style. With that, we’re at the end of our lesson for today. |
| Echo: You know David, before we go, I have to say actually most hotel, they’re really nice and they want not to give you a towel. |
| David: Yes. Most hotels in China, we will admit, will give you towels. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: However… |
| Echo: If you can speak Chinese… |
| David: If you can speak Chinese… |
| Echo: They may give you two. |
| David: They may give you two. So, all of the pain, all of the frustration you may be feeling at times, guys, it’s worth it. |
| Echo: It’s worth it. |
| David: Yeah. So stick through to the end, keep practicing, and if you have any questions or if you need any help, you guys can just write us or leave a comment on the site. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: We’re glad to hear from you. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér.) |
| David: From Beijing, I’m David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you next week. |
| Echo: 下次见吧。(Xià cì jiàn ba.) |
| David: Bye-bye. |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
Comments
HideTalking Chinese over the phone is especially hard because you can't rely on body language and gestures to help you out if you forget a word or have trouble understanding. Have you ever had a phone conversation entirely in mandarin? How did it go?
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 : 再给我
robert
Hello Tony,
Good to see you here again! 来 lái and 去 qù indicate the direction of the verb, yes it has to do with the position of the speaker. In general, if the action gets closer to the speaker, 来 lái is used; if the action gets further from the speaker, 去 qù is used.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello Ngai Lam,
Thanks for your explanation regarding sòng guòqù . You conveyed clearly how that phrase (compound verb?) expands from the base word sòng to express the action involved. In the following lesson, "Code Red in China", sòng guòlai was introduced.
As in this sentence:
Duìbuqǐ, wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòlai.
Presumably the same principle applies, with … lai or …qù indicating the speaker's position in the action process? A confirmation/clarification on this would be appreciated. All my Chinese word/sentence references are in Pinyin because I am learning spoken Chinese only.
Thanks, Tony
Hello Tony,
Thank you for your comment. Yes 送 sòng itself means to send/ deliver. 过去 guòqù here is used after the verb 送 sòng, it is used to express that someone or something moved from one place to another through the action. 送过去 sòng guòqù means to send or deliver something from one place to another place.
Hope it helps, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hello,
I have a query about the word sòng, as used in this line of the dialogue: Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù. In the Vocab section sòng is introduced as meaning to send/deliver. But in the highlighted line, it gets joined up with guòqù. I would appreciate if you would please help me understand how we are to read the difference in meaning between sòng on its own and in the fuller form sòng guòqù. I recognise qù as the word to go. This is a useful word/phrasing to know, so I'd like to better understand what is happening with this word formation process. Thanks.
Hello pjtpjt,
Thank you for your comment. 😄 Good to know that there is such a phrase in Hungarian!
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
马上 Comes to me naturally, because in Hungarian we have a phrase "lóhalálában" (ló - horse, halál - death), which means "at utmost urgency", "with extreme haste", and literally means "to the horse's death".
Hello andy,
Thank you for your comment and suggestion! We will take it into account for our future development.
As always, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
"and I second Azhar with the idea that you could notify us when our comments are have an answer, sometimes I also forget which are the lessons I have comment on as they're many! 😆 It'd be super herlpful! thanks! :)"
I agree with Gerald and Azhar!!
I don't know where my comments are and don't want to have to search for them.
Thanks!
Hi Gerald,
Thank you so much for your comment and suggestion. We are always working on improving our materials, and your opinion is highly valuable!
If you have any questions, please let us know!👍
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ChineseClass101.com
大家好！谢谢你的课！
当我在酒店，我总是要求新毛巾。我不喜欢脏枕头！还有, 酒店必须有热水也好早餐 😁 我很喜欢水果，绿茶和Cereals加豆浆
👍
下次见! 😄
Hi everyone! thanks for the lesson.
When I'm at a hotel, I always ask for new towels. I don't like dirty towels! Also, the hotel must have hot water and a good breakfast! 😁 I like fruits a lot, green tea and cereals with soy milk 👍
See you next time!
and I second Azhar with the idea that you could notify us when our comments are have an answer, sometimes I also forget which are the lessons I have comment on as they're many! 😆 It'd be super herlpful! thanks! :)
Hello Becci,
Thank you for your comment. 一 is usually pronounced as "yāo" when we talk about numbers, in this case, the room number. It's the same word but a different pronunciation. In '我们马上送过去', 过去 here means 'over there, go over', it means the blanket will be sent over to the room.
Thank you for learning with us, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi, in the dialogue the speaker gives their room number as "Yāo èr yāo qī hào" (1217号). Is "yāo" another word for 1?
I also wondered if you could please explain what the characters "过去" mean in the phrase "我们马上送过去."
谢谢
Hello Bryan Walters,
Haha sometimes the literal meanings of Chinese words are funny. 😄
Thank you for learning with us, let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
马上cracks me up! “I’m on the horse!” = “right away!”
Hello Azhar,
You're very welcome! 😄 And thank you for your suggestion!
Let us know if you have any questions, see you soon!
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Thank you so much Ngai Lam! That is super informative! 👍
And again developers, I hope you can turn the comments section into threads by posts. It's useful as I can get notifications if anyone replied my post. I had to searched back where I had posted my comments previously, not everyone has a good memory you know lol just kidding! You guys are fun!
Hello Azhar,
Thank you for your comment. 儿化音(Ér huà yīn) is more of a regional difference, commonly used in northern China, you can find out a bit more from this video:
https://www.chineseclass101.com/lesson/absolute-beginner-questions-answered-by-yinru-18-using-%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%8B-yixia-and-%E4%B8%80%E7%82%B9%E5%84%BF-yi-di%C7%8En-er/
The Han Chinese is the largest ethnic group in China, they live all across China. I think your friends may get the answer from their families.
It's cool that you want to learn more about the Chinese culture and language. Let us know if you have any questions. :)
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
Hi there!
Are there any lesson that goes in depth on 儿化音(Ér huà yīn)? I'm a Malay living in Singapore and I'm really intrigue by the Mandarin slang that may have evolve throughout the Asia region. Most of my 好朋友 are Chinese and while they sometimes make fun of me speaking with Mainland Chinese slang as we usually omit the (R) sound, I often make fun of them as well because they don't really know their ancestral origins lol. I can slowly adapt to interchangeably omit the R sound over here but it would be pretty cool to know some cool facts about the language n history. 😉 I think my friends' ancestors came from Southern China but Wikipedia says Singaporean Chinese are Han Chinese.