Learn Chinese subject omission
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101. I am David. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是 (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: And we’ve got lesson 13 in our first elementary series for you today. |
| Echo: 第十三课。(Dì shísān kè.) |
| David: And our title is The No bargain Zone in China. So in this lesson, we are going to talk about the perils of buying cheap products. So we’ve got a conversation that takes place in a discount electronic store. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: And it’s between a stall operator and a customer. We are going to hear and attempt to haggle. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: And our speakers are adversaries but they are still speaking casual Mandarin. |
| Echo: As usual. |
| David: But before we go to the dialogue, as always we want to remind you something. If you have questions |
| Echo: You can always write to us at contact us at chineseclass101.com |
| David: Or leave a comment on the site. |
| Echo: Yeah we all love comments. |
| David: Right and we are waiting here to answer any questions you might have. With that though, let’s get to the dialogue. From my experience in a 虹桥 (Hóngqiáo), I bet he is trying to buy a T-Shirt. |
| Echo: 一千二。(YīQiānÈr.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 怎么这么贵啊？(zěnme zhème guì a?) |
| B: 便宜没好货，质量好的都不便宜。(piányi méi hǎo huò, zhìliàng hǎo de dōu bùbiàn yi.) |
| A: 但是1200也太贵了。不能便宜一点儿吗？(dànshì yīqiān èr yě tài guì le. bù néng piányi yīdiǎnr ma?) |
| B: 对不起，我们这儿不砍价。(duìbuqǐ, wǒmen zhèr bù kǎn jià.) |
| A: 这儿不是红桥市场吗？(zhèr bù shì hóng qiáo shìchǎng ma?) |
| Once more slowly. |
| A: 怎么这么贵啊？(zěnme zhème guì a?) |
| B: 便宜没好货，质量好的都不便宜。(piányi méi hǎo huò, zhìliàng hǎo de dōu bùbiàn yi.) |
| A: 但是1200也太贵了。不能便宜一点儿吗？(dànshì yīqiān èr yě tài guì le. bù néng piányi yīdiǎnr ma?) |
| B: 对不起，我们这儿不砍价。(duìbuqǐ, wǒmen zhèr bù kǎn jià.) |
| A: 这儿不是红桥市场吗？(zhèr bù shì hóng qiáo shìchǎng ma?) |
| Once more, with English translation. |
| A:怎么这么贵啊？(zěnme zhème guì a?) |
| A: How is this so expensive? |
| B:便宜没好货，质量好的都不便宜。(piányi méi hǎo huò, zhìliàng hǎo de dōu bùbiàn yi.) |
| B: Cheap products aren't good. Good quality doesn't come cheap. |
| A:但是1200也太贵了。不能便宜一点儿吗？(dànshì yīqiān èr yě tài guì le. bù néng piányi yīdiǎnr ma?) |
| A: But twelve hundred RMB is also too expensive. You can't make it any cheaper? |
| B:对不起，我们这儿不砍价。(duìbuqǐ, wǒmen zhèr bù kǎn jià.) |
| B: I'm sorry, we can't bargain here. |
| A:这儿不是红桥市场吗？(zhèr bù shì hóng qiáo shìchǎng ma?) |
| A: But isn't this the HongQiao market? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: They mark prices up like crazy there. |
| Echo: 他们应该去秀水。(Tāmen yīnggāi qù xiùshuǐ.) |
| David: Even 秀水。(Xiùshuǐ.) |
| Echo: Or 更地道的应该去动物园。(Gèng dìdào de yīnggāi qù dòngwùyuán.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: Really cheapest. |
| David: If it’s Beijing, it’s the zoo but… |
| Echo: Yeah really, really cheap. |
| David: Yeah. Fortunately though even at these places like 虹桥 (Hóngqiáo), if you speak Chinese, you can get them lower the price. |
| Echo: 啊，没错。(A, méi cuò.) |
| David: You just got to make them know that you know what the price is. We’ve got a lot of vocab that’s going to help you do that as well as great grammar section. |
| Echo: Yep. |
| David: Let’s start with the vocab. This is stuff you can use to haggle. |
| Echo: 好。(Hǎo.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: And now the vocab section. |
| Echo: 这么 (zhème) |
| David: This very. |
| Echo: 那么 (nàme) |
| David: That very |
| Echo: 便宜 (piányi) |
| David: Inexpensive. |
| Echo: 便宜没好货 (piányi méi hǎohuò) |
| David: Cheap products aren’t good. |
| Echo: 质量 (zhìliang) |
| David: Quality. |
| Echo: 砍价 (kǎnjià) |
| David: To haggle. |
| Echo: 市场 (shìchǎng) |
| David: Market. |
| Echo: 市场 (shìchǎng) |
| David: We started off our vocab section with two adjectives. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 这么。(zhème.) |
| David: Which means this very. |
| Echo: Yeah 这么。(zhème.) |
| David: Right. This can also function as the word that. We use this for emphasis. |
| Echo: 这个房间怎么这么小。(Zhègè fángjiān zěnme zhème xiǎo.) |
| David: How is this room so small? |
| Echo: 这个房间怎么这么小。(Zhègè fángjiān zěnme zhème xiǎo.) |
| David: Right. How is the room this very small? |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: 这么小。(Zhème xiǎo.) Right. Our next word is similar. |
| Echo: 那么。(Nàme.) |
| David: This also means so or that very. |
| Echo: 那么。(Nàme.) |
| David: We see this word used very similarly. |
| Echo: 你的房间怎么那么大。(nǐ de fángjiān zěnme nàme dà.) |
| David: Your room, how is it that big! |
| Echo: 你的房间怎么那么大。(nǐ de fángjiān zěnme nàme dà.) |
| David: How is your room so big? |
| Echo: 这个房间怎么这么小。你的房间怎么那么大。(Zhègè fángjiān zěnme zhème xiǎo. nǐ de fángjiān zěnme nàme dà.) |
| David: Right and you are paying less than me too. |
| Echo: 对，真奇怪。(Duì, zhēn qíguài.) |
| David: So we’ve gone from saying this |
| Echo: 这么。(Zhème.) |
| David: Like this much so very to that… |
| Echo: 那么。(Nàme.) |
| David: Right. This phrase is part of your first line of defense against the sidewalk vendors. Our next phrase is something you are going to hear from a lot of sellers. |
| Echo: 便宜没好货。(Piányí méi hǎo huò.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 便宜没好货。(Piányí méi hǎo huò.) |
| David: Right. 没 (Méi) means 没有 (Méiyǒu) and what we are hearing is cheap. There are no good products. |
| Echo: 便宜没好货。(Piányí méi hǎo huò.) |
| David: When you are haggling with someone over price, they are going to trot this out. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: You are going to hear this again and again. Don’t believe it. You can get a good price. Right Echo? |
| Echo: 没错 (Méi cuò) |
| David: Maybe not in 红桥市场。(Hóng qiáo shìchǎng.) |
| Echo: 我就喜欢便宜。(Wǒ jiù xǐhuān piányí.) |
| David: It’s just – I only like cheap. I care about the price. So this brings us to our next word though. Our next word is the word for quality. |
| Echo: 质量。(Zhìliàng.) |
| David: Quality. |
| Echo: 质量。(Zhìliàng.) |
| David: You can say |
| Echo: 这件衣服质量不错。(Zhè jiàn yīfú zhìliàng bùcuò.) |
| David: This piece of clothing, the quality is not bad. |
| Echo: 这件衣服质量不错。(Zhè jiàn yīfú zhìliàng bùcuò.) |
| David: The quality is not bad for this piece of clothing. |
| Echo: 能便宜点吗？(Néng piányí diǎn ma?) |
| David: Right. Can you be the cheaper? |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Before this podcast, we were talking about tactics. One tactic you don’t want to take according to Echo is to criticize the quality. |
| Echo: Umm they always payback. |
| David: And then have the discount yeah. Instead, so don’t say like 质量不好。(Zhìliàng bù hǎo.) |
| Echo: Just say 质量不错。(Zhìliàng bùcuò.) |
| David: It’s not bad and then ask for a discount. |
| Echo: 能便宜吗？(Néng piányí ma?) |
| David: Okay. That’s the Chinese way to haggle. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Compliment…. |
| Echo: First make them happy. |
| David: And then take down the price. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| David: And if you try this, you are going to be haggling. |
| Echo: 砍价。(Kǎn jià.) |
| David: Or bargaining. |
| Echo: 砍价。(Kǎn jià.) |
| David: Or cutting the price. |
| Echo: 砍价。(Kǎn jià.) |
| David: Right. For some people, this is actually a sport. |
| Echo: 我最喜欢砍价。(Wǒ zuì xǐhuān kǎn jià.) |
| David: Yeah I really like to haggle. |
| Echo: 我最喜欢砍价。(Wǒ zuì xǐhuān kǎn jià.) |
| David: Right and if you like to haggle, you want to be going to the market. |
| Echo: 市场。(Shìchǎng.) |
| David: Which is where you can practice. |
| Echo: 市场。(Shìchǎng.) |
| David: China is flushed with markets. You’ve got big ones |
| Echo: 这儿有一个大市场。(Zhè'er yǒu yīgè dà shìchǎng.) |
| David: Right and you’ve got small ones too. |
| Echo: 小市场。(Xiǎo shìchǎng.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. So that’s our vocab section. In our grammar section, we are going to tell you how to 砍 (Kǎn) your own sentences. Cut them off, to make Chinese easier. Okay we’ve actually seen this before. In Chinese, often the subject of a sentence will be omitted. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: And not only are you allowed to do this, you are encouraged to do this. |
| Echo: Yeah like 吃饭了吗？(Chīfànle ma?) |
| David: Have you eaten? |
| Echo: 吃饭了吗？(Chīfànle ma?) |
| David: In this sentence, our subject is |
| Echo: 你。(Nǐ.) |
| David: And it’s implied. So you don’t have to say it. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: The full sentence is obviously |
| Echo: 你吃饭了吗？(Nǐ chīfànle ma?) |
| David: Have you eaten? |
| Echo: 你吃饭了吗？(Nǐ chīfànle ma?) |
| David: Subject, verb, object but in this context, we know what’s going on. |
| Echo: Because I am asking you 你。(Nǐ.) |
| David: Now when you are haggling in the markets, you are going to do exactly the same thing. |
| Echo: Yep like 能便宜一点儿吗？(Néng piányí yīdiǎn er ma?) |
| David: Can you make it any cheaper? |
| Echo: 能便宜一点儿吗？(Néng piányí yīdiǎn er ma?) |
| David: Right. Can you make it any cheaper and note, we’ve left off that opening |
| Echo: 你 (Nǐ) The subject. |
| David: Right. If you say that all the time, it’s going to sound awkward. It’s going to sound a bit unnatural and you are probably not going to get as much of a discount. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So we’ve got a couple more examples for you. Echo? |
| Echo: 有什么事儿？(Yǒu shé me shì er?) |
| David: What’s the problem? |
| Echo: 有什么事儿？(Yǒu shé me shì er?) |
| David: Usually it should have you. |
| Echo: 你。(Nǐ.) |
| David: You to have what problem. |
| Echo: 你有什么事儿？(Nǐ yǒu shénme shì er?) |
| David: But we are leaving that out. |
| Echo: Or 快喝点儿热茶吧。(Kuài hē diǎn er rè chá bā.) |
| David: Why don’t you drink this hot tea a bit faster? |
| Echo: Why? It sounds so weird of this frustration. No… |
| David: But it’s really natural in Chinese. |
| Echo: It’s pretty polite in Chinese. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: You are like, well come in and have some hot tea. |
| David: Right and then you will buy stuff at my overinflated prices. |
| Echo: Yeah maybe. 快喝点儿热茶吧。(Kuài hē diǎn er rè chá bā.) |
| David: Normally we are going to see this happen a lot with the pronoun you. So that’s where it’s most common. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So we’ve got some more sample sentences for you that you can go out and use right away when you are haggling. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: So picture yourself you’ve just walked into this Chinese 批发市场 (Pīfā shìchǎng) its wholesale market. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: You are going to blow these people away with your Chinese. Echo, what can you say? |
| Echo: You say 生意怎么样？(Shēngyì zěnme yàng?) |
| David: Right. Business how is it. |
| Echo: 生意怎么样？(Shēngyì zěnme yàng?) |
| David: Right how is business and they are going to tell you, they are going to give you the sob story. Oh business is awful! I sold one T-Shirt the whole week. |
| Echo: Ah! |
| David: So you’ve opened with a bit of chitchat and then you see something you like and you are interested in getting it. |
| Echo: You can say 质量不错。(Zhìliàng bùcuò.) |
| David: Right. So you might say the quality is not bad and then you are going to ask, can we haggle here? |
| Echo: 能砍价吗？(Néng kǎn jià ma?) |
| David: Right. Subject is omitted and they are probably going to tell you, maybe they are going to say, I can take a bit off. |
| Echo: 能便宜点儿。(Néng piányí diǎn er.) |
| David: Right. Maybe they are going to say, I can take a bit off. |
| Echo: 能便宜点儿。(Néng piányí diǎn er.) |
| David: Because you get the friend price. |
| Echo: 朋友价。(Péngyǒu jià.) |
| David: Yeah you are going to hear that friend price. |
| Echo: 朋友价。(Péngyǒu jià.) |
| David: I’ve actually pulled that out with people on occasion. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: If you use it before they use it, you can have some fun. |
| Echo: Or you will say 我会回来的。(Wǒ huì huílái de.) |
| David: I will come back or I like to… |
| Echo: 我会带朋友来。(Wǒ huì dài péngyǒu lái.) |
| David: That’s good. They like that. I really like offering out that. What can I have the friend price first though? It’s a bit awkward for them because you get to it before they do. Anyway so you are there and you are going to ask them, can we haggle? |
| Echo: 能砍价吗？(Néng kǎn jià ma?) |
| David: And if they say no, you can say well |
| Echo: 算了，不买了。(Suànle, bú mǎile.) |
| David: Yeah forget it. I don’t want it. If they say yes though, you might want to say well, you know how low will you go? |
| Echo: 能便宜多少？(Néng piányí duōshǎo?) |
| David: Right. Notice that in all of these sentences, we are omitting the subject at the beginning. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: So once more, how low can you go? |
| Echo: 能便宜多少？(Néng piányí duōshǎo?) |
| David: Right. They might toss out the line quality doesn’t come cheap. |
| Echo: 便宜没好货。(Piányí méi hǎo huò.) |
Outro |
| David: Don’t believe them. You’ve got the tools now to go out and actually haggle this price down. Okay anyway that’s our lesson for today. We hope you liked it. We hope it enables you to go out and buy lots of stuff cheap. |
| Echo: 你知道什么又便宜又好吗？(Nǐ zhīdào shénme yòu piányí yòu hǎo ma?) |
| David: What is cheap and good? |
| Echo: 是我们的 (Shì wǒmen de) product. |
| David: Yes the PDFs especially. So sign up, get your hands on that and make use of them. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Print them out, review them the day after you listen to a lesson and the stuff is going to stick. |
| Echo: 没错。又便宜又好。(Méi cuò. Yòu piányí yòu hǎo.) |
| David: It’s inexpensive and good and with that, our time is up. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见吧 (Wǎngshàng jiàn ba) Bye bye. |
| David: Bye bye. |
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