Learn how to say "to think"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to ChineseClass101.com. I'm David. |
| Amber: 大家好，我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: And we’re here today with another Upper Beginner Lesson, Season 1, Lesson 21 - An awkward situation in China. |
| Amber: 有这么一点尴尬。(Yǒu zhème yīdiǎn gāngà.) |
| David: Right. That’s the Chinese word for “awkward”. |
| Amber: 尴尬。(Gāngà.) |
| David: Right, and we’ve got a dialogue that’s about what happens when you put your foot in your mouth. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: How to take it out in Chinese. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Amber, where does this dialogue take place? |
| Amber: 在家里有两个朋友。(Zài jiā li yǒu liǎng gè péngyǒu.) |
| David: Right. So it’s two friends, in their home, they’re looking at photographs. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And this is in casual Mandarin, as always. Let’s go to the dialogue. Okay, so this is a lesson about a photo. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 这张照片上是谁？(Zhè zhāng zhàopiàn shàng shì shéi?) |
| B: 那是我爸爸。(Nà shì wǒ bàba.) |
| A: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù Sānfānshì.) |
| B: 这是我父母离婚前照的。(Zhè shì wǒ fùmǔ líhūn qián zhào de.) |
| A: 哦，不好意思。(ò, bùhǎoyìsi .) |
| B: 没事，当时我还小，已经习惯了。(Méishì, dāngshí wǒ hái xiǎo, yǐjīng xíguàn le.) |
| A: Who is in this photo? |
| B: That's my father. |
| A: I thought he lived in San Francisco. |
| B: This was shot before my parents divorced. |
| A: Oh, I'm sorry. |
| B: It's OK, at that time i was only a little kid, I'm already used to it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: 老照片。(Lǎo zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Right. And the only thing we know about it is that it’s not showing San Francisco. |
| Amber: 对，因为他说 我以为他住三藩市。(Duì, yīnwèi tā shuō wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.) |
| David: Yeah, and we’re going to get to that. But first we want to review some of the vocabulary. And a lot of this vocab has to do with photography. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn) |
| David: Photograph. |
| Amber: 照 片, 照片, 照。(zhào piàn, zhàopiàn, zhào.) |
| David: To photograph. |
| Amber: 照, 照, 张。(zhào, zhào, zhāng.) |
| David: Measure word for photos. |
| Amber: 张, 张, 三藩市。(zhāng, zhāng, sānfānshì.) |
| David: San Francisco. |
| Amber: 三 藩 市, 三藩市, 旧金山。(sān fān shì, sānfānshì, Jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: San Francisco. |
| Amber: 旧 金 山, 旧金山, 父母。(Jiù jīn shān, Jiùjīnshān, fùmǔ.) |
| David: Parents. |
| Amber: 父 母, 父母, 离婚。(fù mǔ, fùmǔ, líhūn.) |
| David: To divorce. |
| Amber: 离 婚, 离婚, 当时。(lí hūn, líhūn, dāngshí.) |
| David: At that time. |
| Amber: 当 时, 当时, 习惯。(dāng shí, dāngshí, xíguàn.) |
| David: To get used to. |
| Amber: 习 惯, 习惯。(xí guàn, xíguàn.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay, first things first. We have two words for San Francisco in our vocab today. Amber, what is going on? |
| Amber: 唔，在对话里我们听到 三藩市。(Wú, zài duìhuà li wǒmen tīng dào sān fān shì.) |
| David: San Francisco. |
| Amber: 三藩市。(Sān fān shì.) |
| David: Right, the San Fran city is San Francisco. |
| Amber: 没错, 唔 …. 另外一个说法是 旧金山。(Méi cuò, wú…. Lìngwài yīgè shuōfǎ shì jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: And this literally translates as “old gold mountain”. |
| Amber: 没错, 旧金山。(Méi cuò, jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: But it’s also San Francisco. |
| Amber: 对，唔。(Duì, wú.) |
| David: Right? So we have two words that are fighting. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: They are fighting it out right now to see which people are going to use. The older one is “old gold mountain”. |
| Amber: 旧金山。(Jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: And it’s much more common where? |
| Amber: 在中国的北方。(Zài zhōngguó de běifāng.) |
| David: Yeah, it’s more common on the Mainland, but also in expat communities outside China. |
| Amber: 对，在可能在其他的国家。(Duì, zài kěnéng zài qítā de guójiā.) |
| David: Right. |
| Amber: 如果你学中文。(Rúguǒ nǐ xué zhōngwén.) |
| David: Right. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So, Chinese people who move to the United States will often refer to San Francisco as… |
| Amber: 旧金山。(Jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: Right. And this newer option… |
| Amber: 三藩市。(Sān fān shì.) |
| David: Is more common in southern China. |
| Amber: 对，或者香港，广东 尤其 …..。(Duì, huòzhě xiānggǎng, guǎngdōng yóuqí…....) |
| David: Yeah, and it’s a more contemporary usage. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So, we’ll see what people are saying in 10-20 years. Right? For now, though, if you live in San Francisco, you could say, “I live in San Francisco”. |
| Amber: 我住在三藩市。(Wǒ zhù zài sān fān shì.) |
| David: Or, “I live in San Francisco.” |
| Amber: 我住在旧金山。(Wǒ zhù zài jiùjīnshān..) |
| David: Right. And if you want to really confuse people you can say, “I used to live in San Francisco, but now I live in old gold mountain.” |
| Amber: 哈哈哈 …… 我以前住在三藩市, 现在住在旧金山。(Hāhā hā…… wǒ yǐqián zhù zài sān fān shì, xiànzài zhù zài jiùjīnshān.) |
| David: Right, you’re going to confuse people with that. |
| Amber: 对，所以说 …. 吓！(Duì, suǒyǐ shuō…. Xià!) |
| David: I didn’t think there was a difference. I guess there is. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Moving on. What we’ve got here that’s sort of difficult is this photography vocabulary. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: We’ve got the word for “photograph”. |
| Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Photograph. |
| Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn.) |
| David: And we’ve also got a verb meaning “to take a photo”. |
| Amber: 对，照。(Duì, zhào.) |
| David: To take a photo. |
| Amber: 照。(Zhào.) |
| David: So the noun here is 照片, 片 (Zhàopiàn, piàn) is the slice that you take, really. There are also some other words you’re going to hear. For instance, people will often say “to shoot a photo”. |
| Amber: 拍照片。(Pāi zhàopiàn.) |
| David: To shoot a photo. |
| Amber: 拍照片。(Pāi zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Right. And when you’re at the tourist attraction in China, people will often ask you if you can take a photo of them. |
| Amber: 你能给我们拍照片吗？(Nǐ néng gěi wǒmen pāi zhàopiàn ma?) |
| David: Right. So, in most cases, you actually want to use… |
| Amber: 拍。(Pāi.) |
| David: To shoot. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: However, in this dialogue, we use… |
| Amber: 照。(Zhào.) |
| David: And the reason for this is that 照 (Zhào) doesn’t generally take an object, so you don’t generally 照 (Zhào) a photograph, but you will 拍 (Pāi) a photograph. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? So, again, if you want someone to take your photo, you should ask them, “Please, take a photo.” |
| Amber: 请给我拍照片。(Qǐng gěi wǒ pāi zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Right. Moving on we have a measure word. |
| Amber: 张。(Zhāng.) |
| David: Which is a measure word for anything that is flat. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? So we can use this for a table …… |
| Amber: 一张桌子。(Yī zhāng zhuōzi.) |
| David: or a sheet of paper. |
| Amber: 一张纸。(Yī zhāng zhǐ.) |
| David: Or, in this case, a photograph. |
| Amber: 一张照片。(Yī zhāng zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Right. It’s flat, it’s rectangular-ish, so it’s 一张.(Yī zhāng.) |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Okay, the last word we want to call to your attention is “at that time”. |
| Amber: 当时。(Dāngshí.) |
| David: At that time. |
| Amber: 当时。(Dāngshí.) |
| David: Use this to start sentences when you’re talking about the past. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: For instance, at that time it was a little awkward. |
| Amber: 当时有一点尴尬。(Dāngshí yǒu yīdiǎn gāngà.) |
| David: At that time, it was a bit awkward. |
| Amber: 当时有一点尴尬。(Dāngshí yǒu yīdiǎn gāngà.) |
| David: Or maybe, “At that time, I didn’t know.” |
| Amber: 当时我不知道。(Dāngshí wǒ bù zhīdào.) |
| David: At that time I didn’t know, but now I do. |
| Amber: 当时我不知道, 但是现在我知道了。(Dāngshí wǒ bù zhīdào, dànshì xiànzài wǒ zhīdàole.) |
| David: Right. When you use this, people have to know what time period you’re talking about. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? So it’s not just in the past. |
| Amber: 以前。(Yǐqián.) |
| David: It’s referring to a time in the past that you’ve already mentioned. |
| Amber: 没错, 就是要说具体的时间, 再说当时。(Méi cuò, jiùshì yào shuō jùtǐ de shíjiān, zàishuō dāngshí.) |
| David: Right. And, with that, let’s move on to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| M2: It’s grammar time! |
| David: In our grammar section today, we want to review three verbs for thinking. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: These three verbs are… |
| Amber: 以为，认为，想。(Yǐwéi, rènwéi, xiǎng.) |
| David: Okay. And we’re cheating because we actually want to speak mostly about the first, but all three of these verbs mean “to think”. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s hear them again. |
| Amber: 以为，认为，想。(Yǐwéi, rènwéi, xiǎng.) |
| David: Now, the easiest of these is… |
| Amber: 想。(Xiǎng.) |
| David: Means “to wish” or “to desire”. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? Also “to miss”, but usually “to think”. For instance… |
| Amber: 让我想一下。(Ràng wǒ xiǎng yīxià.) |
| David: Let me think a bit. |
| Amber: 对， 让我想一下。(Duì, ràng wǒ xiǎng yīxià.) |
| David: “Let me think about it.” What about our next one? |
| Amber: 认为，比如说 我认为我们应该这样做。(Rènwéi, bǐrú shuō wǒ rènwéi wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.) |
| David: I think we should do it this way. |
| Amber: 我认为我们应该这样做。(Wǒ rènwéi wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.) |
| David: Now, we can swap 认为 out for 想 in that sentence. |
| Amber: 没错, 你也可以说 我想我们应该这样做。(Méi cuò, nǐ yě kěyǐ shuō wǒ xiǎng wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.) |
| David: Right. Or how about “I think we’ve met”? |
| Amber: 我想我们见过。(Wǒ xiǎng wǒmen jiànguò.) |
| David: Or… |
| Amber: 我认为我们见过。(Wǒ rènwéi wǒmen jiànguò.) |
| David: Right. So those two are mostly interchangeable. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? It’s just about your degree of certainty, whereas 想 (Xiǎng) is maybe a bit less certain. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? But what we see in our dialogue today is totally different. |
| Amber: 不太一样。(Bù tài yīyàng.) |
| David: Not just 不太一样 (Bù tài yīyàng) , it’s very much different. |
| Amber: 对，对，对。(Duì, duì, duì.) |
| David: Let’s see where this surfaces in the dialogue. |
| Amber: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.) |
| David: I thought he lived in San Francisco. |
| Amber: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.) |
| David: Now, notice here that we’re automatically kind of talking about the past tense because the meaning of the verb is not “think”, it’s “to think mistakenly”. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So, “I mistakenly thought he lived in San Francisco.” |
| Amber: 没错, 我以为他住三藩市。(Méi cuò, wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.) |
| David: Right. So the fact that we’re using this verb means we know that this isn’t the case. |
| Amber: 对，我其实现在已经知道错了。(Duì, wǒ qíshí xiànzài yǐjīng zhīdào cuòle.) |
| David: Yes, I know I'm wrong, so we can't swap this out for… |
| Amber: 认为。(Rènwéi.) |
| David: Or… |
| Amber: 想。。(Xiǎng..) |
| David: Because the meaning would be different. |
| Amber: 没错, 因为 “认为” 和 “想” 没有 “错” 的意思。(Méi cuò, yīnwèi “rènwéi” hé “xiǎng” méiyǒu “cuò” de yìsi.) |
| David: Right. So you’d mean, “I think he’s in San Francisco” …... |
| Amber: 对对对。(Duì duì duì.) |
| David: or “I'm pretty certain he’s in San Francisco.” Here it means “I don’t know why I was wrong. I thought he was in San Francisco.” |
| Amber: 对，我再给你一些例子, 比如说我以为你住北京。(Duì, wǒ zài gěi nǐ yīxiē lìzi, bǐrú shuō wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng.) |
| David: I thought you lived in Beijing. |
| Amber: 我以为你住北京。(Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng.) |
| David: Right. And you may hear that as part of a longer sentence - "I thought you lived in Beijing but you actually live in Shanghai.” |
| Amber: 我以为你住北京, 但是你其实住在上海。(Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng, dànshì nǐ qíshí zhù zài shànghǎi.) |
| David: Right. How about “I thought the boss had left”? |
| Amber: 我以为老板下班了。(Wǒ yǐwéi lǎobǎn xiàbānle.) |
| David: I thought the boss had left. |
| Amber: 我以为老板下班了。(Wǒ yǐwéi lǎobǎn xiàbānle.) |
| David: Right, but he hasn’t. |
| Amber: 没错, 他还在办公室。(Méi cuò, tā hái zài bàngōngshì.) |
| David: He’s in his office, looking at me. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? So, this is a bit of a review point but it’s really important. And when you hear Chinese people using 以为 (Yǐwéi), there’s a subtlety to what they’re saying that’s missed if you just think of it as “to think of”. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: It’s “to think of mistakenly”. |
| Amber: 唔，我现在知道我错了，所以才用 “以为”。(Wú, wǒ xiànzài zhīdào wǒ cuòle, suǒyǐ cái yòng “yǐwéi”.) |
| David: Yeah. So, again, there are these three verbs for thinking about things. |
| Amber: 想, 认为, 以为。(Xiǎng, rènwéi, yǐwéi.) |
| David: The first two are interchangeable, but the last one is quite different. |
| Amber: 唔 ..唔。(Wú.. Wú.) |
Outro |
| David: And, with that said, that’s the end of our lesson for today. So, thank you for listening. Form Beijing, I'm David. |
| Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: And we’ll see you on the site. |
| Amber: 网上见。(Wǎngshàng jiàn.) Bye-bye. |
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