Learn how to use Chinese measure words to talk about "a number" of things as well as meaning, "this" or "that"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Echo: Da jia hao. |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com Season 1, Lesson 9 in our Beginner Series. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: I'm your host Frank Fradella and I'm joined in the studio today by the amazing Echo. |
| Echo: 谢谢.(Xièxiè.) |
| Frank: Today's dialogue is between our two old friends. |
| Echo: Jang Fe and Mali. |
| Frank: And they are finally on their date. |
| Echo: Finally, yeah. |
| Frank: It's about time. |
| Echo: I'm looking forward to it. |
| Frank: I know. Our good man here is presenting her with two choices of presents. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: That's very nice of him. |
| Echo: Very nice. |
| Frank: The language he's using here is very informal. |
| Echo: Very casual. |
| Frank: Anybody can use it, so let's go have a listen and we'll be right back to translate it for you. |
| Echo: But before we do. |
| Frank: Before we do, we want to remind you to head up to ChineseClass101.com and comment. |
| Echo: Yes, comment. |
| Frank: And then comment some more. We want you to comment so much that the Polar ice caps melt, well maybe not, but a lot, certainly a lot. |
| Echo: Comment. |
| Frank: Let's hear the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 张飞:你想要这个还是这个？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Nǐ xiǎng yào zhège háishì zhège?) |
| 马丽:这个和这个！(MǍ LÌ: Zhège hé zhège!) |
| 张飞:但是一个是我的。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Dànshì yī ge shì wǒ de.) |
| 马丽:真的吗？(MǍ LÌ: Zhēn de ma?) |
| 张飞:不是。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Bù shì.) |
| English host: Let's hear that again, just a little more slowly. |
| 张飞:你想要这个还是这个？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Nǐ xiǎng yào zhège háishì zhège?) |
| 马丽:这个和这个！(MǍ LÌ: Zhège hé zhège!) |
| 张飞:但是一个是我的。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Dànshì yī ge shì wǒ de.) |
| 马丽:真的吗？(MǍ LÌ: Zhēn de ma?) |
| 张飞:不是。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Bù shì.) |
| Frank: Okay, we're back. This is an interesting dialogue. |
| Echo: What a lovely dialogue. |
| Frank: I know, I know. There's a little bit of switch there. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Do you want this one or do you want that one? |
| Echo: I want both. |
| Frank: Of course she does and he was prepared for that. Let's go ahead and listen to the dialogue and see how this transpired. |
| 张飞:你想要这个还是这个？(ZHĀNG FĒI: Nǐ xiǎng yào zhège háishì zhège?) |
| Frank: Do you want this one or this one? |
| 马丽:这个和这个！(MǍ LÌ: Zhège hé zhège!) |
| Frank: This one and this one! |
| 张飞:但是一个是我的。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Dànshì yī ge shì wǒ de.) |
| Frank: But one of those is mine. |
| 马丽:真的吗？(MǍ LÌ: Zhēn de ma?) |
| Frank: Really? |
| 张飞:不是。(ZHĀNG FĒI: Bù shì.) |
| Frank: Nope. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Well that was nice of him. |
| Echo: Yes and now finally she got two presents. |
| Frank: Exactly, there's a little bit of a switch at the end there, but it turned out to be okay. |
| Echo: Yes, so lovely. |
| Frank: Let's go ahead and go through the vocabulary word by word so we can really dissect this. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| Frank: Let's do it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 要(yào) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To want. |
| Echo: 要(yào) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 要(yào) [natural native speed]. 这个(zhège) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: This one. |
| Echo: 这个(zhège) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 这个(zhège) [natural native speed]. 还是(háishì) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Or. |
| Echo: 还是(háishì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 还是(háishì) [natural native speed]. 和(hé) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: And. |
| Echo: 和(hé) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 和(hé) [natural native speed]. 但是(Dànshì) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: But. |
| Echo: 但是(Dànshì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 但是(Dànshì) [natural native speed]. 真的(zhēn de) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Really. |
| Echo: 真的(zhēn de) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 真的(zhēn de) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay, we're back. We've already learned how to say I wish. |
| Echo: 我想.(Wǒ xiǎng.) |
| Frank: As in, I wish to eat. |
| Echo: 我想吃.(Wǒ xiǎng chī.) |
| Frank: I wish to go to Beijing. |
| Echo: 我想去北京.(Wǒ xiǎng qù běijīng.) |
| Frank: Today's word. |
| Echo: 要.(yào.) |
| Frank: That's a bit stronger. You use this when you're asking for something like, I want this one. |
| Echo: Yes. 我要这个。(Wǒ yào zhège.) |
| Frank: He does not want this. |
| Echo: 他不要这个.(Tā bùyào zhège.) |
| Frank: Now, that's a bit strong. And if you want to make that a little more polite, you can actually put this in front of it. |
| Echo: 想.(Xiǎng.) |
| Frank: Like this, I would like this one. |
| Echo: 我想要这个.(Wǒ xiǎng yào zhège.) |
| Frank: She doesn't want it. |
| Echo: 她不想要.(Tā bùxiǎng yào.) |
| Frank: Now, there are times where it's okay to be a little bit more direct, a little bit more forceful. There're a lot of street vendors here in China, when they're costing you, it's okay to say … |
| Echo: 不要.(Bùyào.) |
| Frank: I don't want it. |
| Echo: 不要.(Bùyào.) |
| Frank: I don't want it. This is perfectly fine to use. |
| Echo: Yes, 不要，不要，不要，不要，我不要.(Bùyào, bùyào, bùyào, bùyào, wǒ bùyào.) |
| Frank: Echo really doesn't want it. Now, we're going to move over to the next thing. I've been really excited about this one. It's conjunction junction. When I was a kid, there was a carton conjunction junction, what's your function. Seriously, this is how I learned conjunctions and now we're going to teach them to you. The word for and. |
| Echo: 和.(Hé.) |
| Frank: So you can ask for this and that. |
| Echo: 这个和那个.(Zhège hé nàgè.) |
| Frank: The word for but. |
| Echo: 但是.(Dànshì.) |
| Frank: But I don't want it. |
| Echo: 但是我不要.(Dànshì wǒ bùyào.) |
| Frank: And finally the word for or. |
| Echo: 还是.(Háishì.) |
| Frank: This or that. |
| Echo: 这个还是那个？(Zhège háishì nàgè?) |
| Frank: Tea or coffee? |
| Echo: 茶还是咖啡？(Chá háishì kāfēi?) |
| Frank: And, but, or, they'll get you pretty far. Next up, the word for really. |
| Echo: 真的.(Zhēn de.) |
| Frank: We hear in the dialogue, someone is actually asking the question. |
| Echo: Yes, 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| Frank: Really? And the answer you would use is … |
| Echo: 真的.(Zhēn de.) |
| Frank: Really? Really? |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Really? |
| Echo: 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| Frank: Really. |
| Echo: 真的.(Zhēn de.) |
| Frank: There is it. |
Lesson focus |
| Let's head over to grammar. Next up, we've got measure words. This come before countable nouns in Chinese. Now, we've got this kind of thing in English, something very similar to it. Like we use things like a roll of coins, a litter of puppies, a carton of milk. |
| Echo: Yeah, a pair of shoes. |
| Frank: Exactly. These are the things that we use and it's done almost exactly the same way in Chinese. Here we learn the measure word … |
| Echo: 个.(Gè.) |
| Frank: Such as one person. |
| Echo: 一个人.(Yīgè rén.) |
| Frank: One American. |
| Echo: 一个美国人.(Yīgè měiguó rén.) |
| Frank: One of this. |
| Echo: 一个这个.(Yīgè zhège.) |
| Frank: One of those. |
| Echo: 一个那个.(Yīgè nàgè.) |
| Frank: You can use this everywhere. You can use it instead of now if people already know what you're talking about, like its self evident. Let's say you're in a restaurant and you're pointing at a menu, you can say, I'd like this thing. |
| Echo: 我要这个.(Wǒ yào zhège.) |
| Frank: Or you can say, I want that. |
| Echo: 我要那个.(Wǒ yào nàgè.) |
| Frank: I only want one. |
| Echo: 我只要一个.(Wǒ zhǐyào yīgè.) |
| Frank: The measure word … |
| Echo: … 个 …(… Gè…) |
| Frank: … is the most useful one. You can use it for almost everything. That's why in this dialogue … |
| Echo: … 这个 …(… Zhège…) |
| Frank: … means, this one. It's really this one thing. |
| Echo: 这个。(Zhège.) |
| Frank: And that brings us to our next point. If you listen to the dialogue, you'll hear our speaker say … |
| Echo: … 这.(… Zhè.) |
| Frank: That's the most common way to pronounce, this one. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: But you'll also hear people say … |
| Echo: … 这.(… Zhè.) |
| Frank: It isn't wrong. It's just another way of pronouncing the word. |
| Echo: Technically 这个(Zhège) means 这一个.(Zhè yīgè.) |
| Frank: This one thing. Let's hear some examples of that, do you want this one? |
| Echo: 你要这个吗?(Nǐ yào zhège ma?.) |
| Frank: I really don't want this one. |
| Echo: 我真的不想要这个.(Wǒ zhēn de bùxiǎng yào zhège.) |
| Frank: What is this? |
| Echo: 这是什么? Or 这是什么?(Zhè shì shénme? Or zhè shì shénme?) |
| Frank: Either pronunciation is perfectly correct. And you should practice those using the voice recording tool up at ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Right, record your voice. |
| Frank: Compare it to native speakers and really get this stuff down. You'll be talking Mandarin in no time flat. But for now from here in Beijing, the land of 串儿(Chuàn er), which is meat on a stick. |
| Echo: Well, I'll have that. |
| Frank: We do, we do. I'm Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: I'm Echo. |
| Frank: And we'll see you next time. 再见.(Zàijiàn) |
| Echo: 再见.(Zàijiàn) |
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