Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

Let's take a closer look at the conversation.
First, do you remember how Mark asks Wei,
"How are you?"
你好吗？(Nǐ hǎo ma?)
First is 你 (nǐ), "you." 你. 你.
Next is 好 (hǎo),"good." 好. 好.
Pronunciation note, when there are two third tones in a row, the first one changes to the second tone. Listen to the pronunciation again. 你好 (Nǐ hǎo). 你好 (Nǐ hǎo).
Last is 吗 (ma), the question-marking particle. It turns a sentence into a question. 吗. 吗.
All together, 你好吗? (Nǐ hǎo ma?) literally "You good?," but it translates as "How are you?"
你好吗?
Let's take a closer look at the response.
Do you remember how Wei says,
"I'm good."
我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.)
First is (wǒ), "I." 我. 我.
Next is 很 (hěn), "very."很. 很.
Last is 好 (hǎo),"good." 好. 好.
Pronunciation note, here there are three third tones in a row, the first two change to the second tone. Listen to the pronunciation again. 我很好 (Wǒ hěn hǎo). 我很好(Wǒ hěn hǎo).
All together, 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.), literally, "I very good," but translates as, "I [am] good."
我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.)
Note, there is no linking verb in this sentence. Instead, 很 is placed between the noun, 我, and adjective, 好. This is a common pattern when describing a noun with an adjective.
Noun 很 Adjective.
When talking to someone of higher social status, such as a superior at the office, seniors, etc., you can say,
您好吗？(Nín hǎo ma?) How are you? 您好吗？(Nín hǎo ma?)
This starts with 您 (nín), "you" when using formal Chinese. 您 . 您.
您 is often used to show respect to people 您.
Remember this phrase 您好吗？(Nín hǎo ma?) "How are you?" you'll need it again later.
Note, Chinese native speakers are more likely to ask about each other's well-being when they haven't seen each other for a while.
When you want to show your concern because the other person does not look so well, a good phrase to use is 你还好吗？(Nǐ hái hǎo ma?)
"Are you alright?"
你还好吗？(Nǐ hái hǎo ma?)

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