Learn a Chinese modal particle that will help you make simple suggestions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Anthony: Welcome to chineseclass101, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 大家好，我是Echo。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Anthony: And I am Anthony. Today we have lesson 9, A Trip to the Cinema. |
| Echo: In the second season of our beginner series. |
| Anthony: Now Echo, I got a question for you. Do you think you are a punctual person? |
| Echo: Yes I am always on time. |
| Anthony: So what do you do when you have some friends who are lagging behind? |
| Echo: Well I would just tell them 快点儿。 (Kuài diǎn er.) |
| Anthony: Yeah hurry up! And that is what today’s lesson is about. Getting to places in a timely fashion. |
| Echo: Right. Today you will learn how to make suggestions. |
| Anthony: Now this conversation takes place on a sidewalk while two guys are loitering and since these guys are good friends, they will be |
| Echo: Speaking casually. |
| Anthony: Before we go to the dialogue, I want to make a suggestion. |
| Echo: 快点儿。 (Kuài diǎn er.) |
| Anthony: For $10 a month, you can become a premium subscriber at chineseclass101.com. It’s a great deal. With this you will get access to the review and dialogue track. What this does is it gets you access to all the vocabulary… |
| Echo: Right. |
| Anthony: And sample sentences with the click of a button. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Anthony: With that said, on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 我们走吧。 (Wǒmen zǒu ba.) |
| 去哪儿？ (Qù nǎr?) |
| 去看电影！ (Qù kàn diànyǐng!) |
| 哦，对，快走吧。 (O, duì, kuài zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: One more time a little bit slower. |
| 我们走吧。 (Wǒmen zǒu ba.) |
| 去哪儿？ (Qù nǎr?) |
| 去看电影！ (Qù kàn diànyǐng!) |
| 哦，对，快走吧。 (O, duì, kuài zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: One more time with English. |
| Echo: 我们走吧。 (Wǒmen zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: Let’s go. |
| Echo: 去哪儿？ (Qù nǎr?) |
| Anthony: Where are we going? |
| Echo: 去看电影！ (Qù kàn diànyǐng!) |
| Anthony: We are going to see a movie. |
| Echo: 哦，对，快走吧。 (O, duì, kuài zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: All right, hurry up. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Anthony: So Echo, do you think the two people on our dialogue were going to see Avatar or the new Confucius movie? |
| Echo: It’s hard to say but I think Avatar is more popular in China now. |
| Anthony: Yeah it’s so popular that it’s already made a billion dollars in China. |
| Echo: And there are still so many people who are waiting for seeing it. |
| Anthony: Yeah and since there are so many people waiting to see it, ticket scalpers have begun to wait in line and buy tickets for them. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Anthony: And sell those tickets at a profit. |
| Echo: And we call them 黄牛。 (Huángniú.) |
| Anthony: Yeah yellow bulls. |
| Echo: 黄牛。 (Huángniú.) |
| Anthony: Trying to take advantage of excess demand. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: So Echo, besides waiting in line to see Avatar, we have some really important vocabulary to go over in this podcast. Isn’t that right? |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) And today’s vocab is mainly about time. |
| Anthony: Yes time. So if you are on time running late or in a rush… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: We have a great vocab lesson for you today. |
| Echo: Why don’t we go to our vocab section now? |
| Anthony: Right now. |
| Anthony: And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 走 (qù) |
| Anthony: To go. |
| Echo: 走, 走. 吧 (qù, qù. Ba) |
| Anthony: Suggestive particle. |
| Echo: 吧, 吧. 看 (Ba, Ba. kàn) |
| Anthony: To watch. |
| Echo: 看, 看. 电影 (kàn, kàn. diànyǐng) |
| Anthony: Movie. |
| Echo: 电影, 电影. 对 (diànyǐng, diànyǐng. duì) |
| Anthony: Correct. |
| Echo: 对, 对. 快 (duì, duì. kuài) |
| Anthony: Fast. |
| Echo: 快, 快. 一起 (kuài, kuài. yìqǐ) |
| Anthony: Together. |
| Echo: 一起, 一起. 先 (yìqǐ, yìqǐ. Xiān) |
| Anthony: First. |
| Echo: 先, 先. 稍等 (Xiān, Xiān. shāoděng) |
| Anthony: Wait a moment. |
| Echo: 稍等, 稍等. 按时 (shāoděng, shāoděng. ànshí) |
| Anthony: To be on time. |
| Echo: 按时, 按时. (ànshí, ànshí.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Anthony: Okay. So Echo, let’s go over that first word that we saw in the vocab list. |
| Echo: 走。 (Zǒu.) |
| Anthony: To go. |
| Echo: 走。 (Zǒu.) |
| Anthony: And that’s third tone. |
| Echo: Right like 我走了。 (Wǒ zǒule.) |
| Anthony: This is, I am leaving. |
| Echo: 我走了。 (Wǒ zǒule.) |
| Anthony: Okay and our next one. |
| Echo: 吧。 (Ba.) |
| Anthony: And this is a suggestive particle. |
| Echo: 吧。你快来吧。 (Ba. Ba. Nǐ kuài lái ba.) |
| Anthony: Come quickly. |
| Echo: 你快来吧。 (Ba. Nǐ kuài lái ba.) |
| Anthony: Hurry on over here. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| Anthony: Correct. |
| Echo: Yeah if you want to agree with someone, you can use this word 对。 (Duì.) |
| Anthony: Right. |
| Echo: Okay right. 你说得对。 (Nǐ shuō dé duì.) |
| Anthony: What you are saying is correct. |
| Echo: Right Anthony, 你说得对。 (Nǐ shuō dé duì.) |
| Anthony: Or I could say hey Echo, the summers in Beijing are really hot. |
| Echo: 对，你说得真对。 (Duì, nǐ shuō dé zhēn duì.) |
| Anthony: Yeah you are right on the money. |
| Echo: Yeah and also this winter is really cold. |
| Anthony: Yes Echo, you are very right. Okay so what’s our next word? |
| Echo: 快 (Kuài) |
| Anthony: And this means fast. |
| Echo: Right 快。快点儿，好吗？ (Kuài. Kuài diǎn er, hǎo ma?) |
| Anthony: Hurry up, okay. |
| Echo: 快点儿，好吗？ (Kuài diǎn er, hǎo ma?) |
| Anthony: Now you can also find this word for “fast” in another important word and what is that word? |
| Echo: 快餐 (Kuàicān) |
| Anthony: Literally fast food. |
| Echo: 快餐 (Kuàicān) |
| Anthony: Great. Okay our next one. |
| Echo: 一起 (Yīqǐ) |
| Anthony: And this is together. |
| Echo: 一起 (Yīqǐ) |
| Anthony: Let’s hear that in a sample sentence. |
| Echo: 我们一起走吧。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: How about we go together? |
| Echo: 我们一起走吧。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: And our next word. |
| Echo: 先 (Xiān) |
| Anthony: First. |
| Echo: 先 (Xiān) |
| Anthony: Now this is the same character that we see in Mr. |
| Echo: Right 先生。 (Xiānshēng.) yeah but here the meaning is different, of course 先。你先走吧。 (Xiān. Nǐ xiān zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: How about you go first? |
| Echo: If someone says 我们一起走吧 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu ba) and you don’t really want to go with him or her, you can say 你先走吧。 (Nǐ xiān zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: Yeah how about you go first, I am going to hang back. |
| Echo: Right or if you are busy with something else, yeah you can say 你先走吧 (Nǐ xiān zǒu ba) Okay next word. 稍等。 (Shāo děng.) |
| Anthony: Wait a moment. |
| Echo: Umm that’s very polite too 非常客气。 (Fēicháng kèqì.) |
| Anthony: Now I hear this word most often at the restaurant when I am asking him, hey where is my food? |
| Echo: Yeah they will say 稍等 (Shāo děng) yeah and after an hour… |
| Anthony: After an hour, my food still hasn’t come. Where is it and then they will say this sentence. |
| Echo: 稍等，马上来。 (Shāo děng, mǎshàng lái.) |
| Anthony: Yeah wait a moment! It’s on its way. It’s coming quickly so… |
| Echo: Yeah 稍等，马上来。 (Shāo děng, mǎshàng lái.) It’s coming right now. |
| Anthony: But they are lying. That never comes right now. So this is our last vocabulary word of the vocab section. |
| Echo: And we all love it. It’s 按时。 (Ànshí.) |
| Anthony: Yes to be on time. |
| Echo: Right. 按时。 (Ànshí.) |
| Anthony: On time. |
| Echo: 请按时来。 (Qǐng ànshí lái.) |
| Anthony: Please come on time. |
| Echo: Right, 请按时来。 (Qǐng ànshí lái.) |
| Anthony: Now my parents when I was in high school, they would always say this to me on the weekends. |
| Echo: 请按时回家。 (Qǐng ànshí huí jiā.) |
| Anthony: Yeah please be home on time. |
| Echo: Anthony, 请按时回家 (Qǐng ànshí huí jiā.) |
| Anthony: But it is more like if you don’t come home on time, you are grounded. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: Well that’s it for vocab section. Let’s go to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Anthony: Okay we are back and welcome to the grammar section. The focus of this lesson is about making a suggestion. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Anthony: In the dialogue, we heard this sentence. |
| Echo: 快走吧。 (Kuàizǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: Hey, how about you, hurry up. |
| Echo: 快走吧 (Kuàizǒu ba.) and 吧 (ba.) really softens the sentence up. |
| Anthony: Right so instead of making a command to hurry up, this turns into a suggestion, can you please hurry. |
| Echo: 快走吧, (Kuàizǒu,) and the 吧 (ba) here changes the statement into a suggestion. |
| Anthony: So we have a few examples here to show how this works. First we are going to say the statement. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: And then we are going to say the suggestion. |
| Echo: Right with adding 吧 (ba) there. |
| Anthony: That’s right. So let’s hear the first sample. |
| Echo: 我们一起走。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu.) |
| Anthony: We are going together. |
| Echo: 我们一起走。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu.) |
| Anthony: Yeah we are going together. |
| Echo: That sounds like an order. |
| Anthony: Yeah. So let’s hear the suggestion. |
| Echo: 我们一起走吧。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: And this is how about we go together? |
| Echo: 我们一起走吧。 (Wǒmen yīqǐ zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: This version is a little less forceful. You are not dragging somebody against their will. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Anthony: Okay another example. |
| Echo: 你先走。 (Nǐ xiān zǒu.) |
| Anthony: You go first. |
| Echo: 你先走。 (Nǐ xiān zǒu.) |
| Anthony: Now the suggestion. |
| Echo: 你先走吧。 (Nǐ xiān zǒu ba.) |
| Anthony: So this is a really easy way to soften a sentence up. |
| Echo: 没错, (Méi cuò,) to make it more polite. |
| Anthony: So the last thing we are going to go over in this grammar point is a little trick. |
| Echo: Right a lot of times you can drop that subject like instead of saying 你快一点儿吧。 (Nǐ kuài yīdiǎn er ba.) |
| Anthony: You please hurry up. |
| Echo: We can say 快一点儿吧。 (Kuài yīdiǎn er ba.) |
| Anthony: And this is just, let’s hurry up. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: So this is more general and it can be used to address a lot of people or just one person. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Anthony: So this next example sentence, I get a lot of usage out of. |
| Echo: 说慢点儿。 (Shuō màn diǎn er.) |
| Anthony: Yeah this is, speak slower please. |
| Echo: Yeah 说慢点儿。 (Shuō màn diǎn er.) |
| Anthony: Yeah so I find that a lot of people, you know if you say a few sentences to them in Chinese, they will get the impression that you are fluent speaker. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: And you may even be a fluent speaker but they will start talking really fast and you want to tell them please slow down. |
| Echo: 说慢点儿。 (Shuō màn diǎn er.) |
| Anthony: If you don’t want to forcefully tell them and you want to just suggest it, you should say |
| Echo: 说慢点儿吧。 (Shuō màn diǎn er ba.) |
| Anthony: That’s right. So let’s take a look at one more example where we can omit the subject of the sentence. |
| Echo: 过来吧。 (Guòlái ba.) |
| Anthony: Yeah this is come over. Now you don’t need to specify who. Just say this in a general direction of a large group of people and then all of them will kind of come over. |
| Echo: 过来吧。 (Guòlái ba.) |
| Anthony: Okay great. So in review, when you want to change a statement into a suggestion, all you do is |
| Echo: Adding a 吧 (ba) at the end. |
| Anthony: Right. Now if you want, you can also omit the subject from the beginning of the sentence. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Anthony: Okay so that does it for our grammar section. |
| Echo: Right. |
Outro |
| Anthony: Okay now before we go, don’t forget to stop by chineseclass101.com and pick up the latest lesson notes. It has vocab, sample sentences, a grammar explanation and cultural insights. So with that, from Beijing, I am Anthony. |
| Echo: 我是Echo。 (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Anthony: And we will see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见! (Xià cì jiàn!) Thanks for listening. |
| Anthony: Bye bye. |
| Echo: Bye bye. |
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