Learn about Chinese superlatives at three different degrees
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dave: Hi everybody and welcome to chineseclass101, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And I am Dave and this is lesson 17 in the second season of our Elementary series. And today’s lesson is titled The Worst Chinese Movie. |
| Echo: Yeah today we are talking about extremes in Chinese. |
| Dave: And also cinema in China. |
| Echo: Right. So let’s get to the dialogue now. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:哎，今天的电影怎么样啊？ (āi, jīntiān de diànyǐng zěnmeyàng ā?) |
| B:别提了，烂透了。 (bié tí le, làn tòule.) |
| A:说说，怎么回事儿？ (shuōshuo, zěnme huí shìr ?) |
| B:时间太长，故事也没意思。 (shíjiāntàicháng, gùshi yě méiyìsi.) |
| A:比如？ (bǐrú?) |
| B:比如，女主角丑极了，男主角老死了。 (bǐrú, nǚ zhǔjué chǒu jí le, nánzhǔjué lǎo sǐ le.) |
| A:真的吗？ (zhēn de ma ?) |
| B:是啊，总之，感觉糟透了。 (shì a, zǒngzhī, gǎnjué zāo tòu le.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A:哎，今天的电影怎么样啊？ (āi, jīntiān de diànyǐng zěnmeyàng ā?) |
| B:别提了，烂透了。 (bié tí le, làn tòule.) |
| A:说说，怎么回事儿？ (shuōshuo, zěnme huí shìr ?) |
| B:时间太长，故事也没意思。 (shíjiāntàicháng, gùshi yě méiyìsi.) |
| A:比如？ (bǐrú?) |
| B:比如，女主角丑极了，男主角老死了。 (bǐrú, nǚ zhǔjué chǒu jí le, nánzhǔjué lǎo sǐ le.) |
| A:真的吗？(zhēn de ma ?) |
| B:是啊，总之，感觉糟透了。 (shì a, zǒngzhī, gǎnjué zāo tòu le.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly. |
| Echo: 哎，今天的电影怎么样啊？ (āi, jīntiān de diànyǐng zěnmeyàng ā?) |
| Dave: Ey how was the movie today? |
| Echo: 别提了，烂透了。 (bié tí le, làn tòule.) |
| Dave: I don’t want to talk about it, it was horrible. |
| Echo: 说说，怎么回事儿？ (shuōshuo, zěnme huí shìr ?) |
| Dave: Tell me, tell me what happened? |
| Echo: 时间太长，故事也没意思。 (shíjiāntàicháng, gùshi yě méiyìsi.) |
| Dave: It was way too long, the story was also pointless. |
| Echo: 比如？ (bǐrú?) |
| Dave: For example |
| Echo: 比如，女主角丑极了，男主角老死了。 (bǐrú, nǚ zhǔjué chǒu jí le, nánzhǔjué lǎo sǐ le.) |
| Dave: For example, the lead actress was awful, the male actor was discrepid. |
| Echo: 真的吗？ (zhēn de ma ?) |
| Dave: Really |
| Echo: 是啊，总之，感觉糟透了。 (shì a, zǒngzhī, gǎnjué zāo tòu le.) |
| Dave: Yeah anyways, I thought it was terrible. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: Dave, has this ever happened to you? |
| Dave: What? Have I ever seen a bad movie? |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: I don’t go to the theater much anymore but the last DVD I watched that I couldn’t finish was a Bruce Willis movie called Surrogate. I thought that was pretty awful. |
| Echo: One of the last movie I saw in the movie theater was Avatar and I like it. |
| Dave: You know what, I still haven’t seen it. |
| Echo: Really? |
| Dave: Yeah. |
| Echo: Oh my god! |
| Dave: I know some people apparently think it was the greatest movie of all time. |
| Echo: Well I wouldn’t go that far but this lesson does deal with describing how good or bad something is. |
| Dave: That’s right whether it be a horrible movie or an awesome song… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Our vocab lesson today will teach you how to strongly approve or disapprove of something. |
| Echo: Right. So let’s get to the vocab section. |
| Dave: And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 极 (jí) |
| Dave: Extremely. |
| Echo: 烂透了 (làn tòu le) |
| Dave: Horrible. |
| Echo: 主角儿 (zhǔjué) |
| Dave: Main role. |
| Echo: 故事 (gùshi) |
| Dave: Story. |
| Echo: 比如 (bǐrú) |
| Dave: For example. |
| Echo: 丑 (chǒu) |
| Dave: Ugly. |
| Echo: 糟 (zāo) |
| Dave: Bad. |
| Echo: 怎么回事？ (zěnme huí shìr) |
| Dave: What happened? |
| Echo: 总之 (zǒngzhī) |
| Dave: Anyways. |
| Echo: 总之 (zǒngzhī) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Okay. Let’s dive into the vocabulary from this lesson. |
| Echo: Okay the first word is 极 (jí) |
| Dave: Extremely. |
| Echo: 极 (jí) |
| Dave: This goes after an adjective and is usually followed by an aspectual particle such as 了 (Le) |
| Echo: Right. 弟弟高兴极了。 (dìdi gāoxìng jí le.) |
| Dave: Younger brother is extremely happy. |
| Echo: 弟弟高兴极了。 (dìdi gāoxìng jí le.) |
| Dave: And on the other side of the spectrum, we have |
| Echo: 烂透了。 (Làn tòule.) |
| Dave: Horrible. |
| Echo: 烂透了。 (làn tòu le) |
| Dave: It can also mean rotten. |
| Echo: Yeah 今天的天气烂透了。 (jīntiān de tiānqì làn tòu le 。) |
| Dave: Today’s weather is horrible. |
| Echo: 今天的天气烂透了。 (jīntiān de tiānqì làn tòu le 。) |
| Dave: Okay switching over to some movie related vocab, we have this word. |
| Echo: 主角儿。 (Zhǔjiǎo er.) |
| Dave: Main role. |
| Echo: 主角儿。这个故事的主角儿坏透了。 (Zhǔjiǎo er. Zhège gùshì de zhǔjiǎo er huài tòule.) |
| Dave: The main character in this story is really bad. |
| Echo: 这个故事的主角儿坏透了。 (Zhège gùshì de zhǔjiǎo er huài tòule.) |
| Dave: The main character is absolutely sinister. Okay and our next word is |
| Echo: 故事。 (Gùshì.) |
| Dave: Story. |
| Echo: 故事。 (Gùshì.) |
| Dave: This word can also be used for plot. |
| Echo: 我给你讲一个故事吧。 (Wǒ gěi nǐ jiǎng yīgè gùshì ba.) |
| Dave: I am going to tell you a story. |
| Echo: 我给你讲一个故事吧。 (Wǒ gěi nǐ jiǎng yīgè gùshì ba.) |
| Dave: Okay and the next word Echo |
| Echo: 比如。 (比如。) |
| Dave: For example |
| Echo: 比如。 (比如。) |
| Dave: Right. Let’s see a sample sentence. |
| Echo: 比如，那个女主角儿漂亮极了。 (Bǐrú, nàgè nǚ zhǔjiǎo er piàoliang jíle.) |
| Dave: For example, the lead actress was extremely beautiful. |
| Echo: 比如，那个女主角儿漂亮极了。 (Bǐrú, nàgè nǚ zhǔjiǎo er piàoliang jíle.) |
| Dave: Okay now let’s see some adjectives. |
| Echo: 丑 (Chǒu) |
| Dave: Ugly. |
| Echo: 丑 (Chǒu) |
| Dave: Third tone. |
| Echo: 那个衣服有点儿丑。 (Nàgè yīfú yǒudiǎn er chǒu.) |
| Dave: That outfit is a little ugly. |
| Echo: 那个衣服有点儿丑。 (Nàgè yīfú yǒudiǎn er chǒu.) |
| Dave: I got to be honest. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Okay our next word is |
| Echo: 糟。 (Zāo) |
| Dave: Bad. |
| Echo: 糟。 (Zāo) |
| Dave: And you will often hear this phrase |
| Echo: 糟糕。 (Zāogāo) |
| Dave: Meaning awful or crappy. |
| Echo: 他今天心情很糟。 (Tā jīntiān xīnqíng hěn zāo.) |
| Dave: He is in a bad mood today. |
| Echo: 他今天心情很糟。 (Tā jīntiān xīnqíng hěn zāo.) |
| Dave: This next one we are going to cover is a phrase. |
| Echo: 怎么回事？ (Zěnme huí shì?) |
| Dave: What happened? |
| Echo: 怎么回事？ (Zěnme huí shì?) |
| Dave: What happened? |
| Echo: 到底怎么回事？ (Dàodǐ zěnme huí shì?) |
| Dave: What actually happened. |
| Echo: 到底怎么回事？ (Dàodǐ zěnme huí shì?) |
| Dave: And finally our last vocab word of the day. |
| Echo: 总之。 (Zǒngzhī.) |
| Dave: Anyway. |
| Echo: 总之。总之，我不想去。 (Zǒngzhī. Zǒngzhī, wǒ bùxiǎng qù.) |
| Dave: Anyway I don’t feel like going. |
| Echo: 总之，我不想去。 (Zǒngzhī, wǒ bùxiǎng qù.) |
| Dave: Anyway I don’t want to go. Well I feel like going to the grammar section right now. |
| Echo: Okay. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dave: All right let’s go. It’s grammar time. Okay the focus of today’s grammar points are Chinese superlatives. This lesson will cover three different words to express extremes. Echo, what are those three words? |
| Echo: First we have 透 (Tòu) then 极 (Jí) and lastly, 死 (Sǐ) |
| Dave: All three words invoke a high degree with slight variations. The grammar point is straightforward. So we are just going to throw a lot of examples at you to clarify. |
| Echo: Okay. So from the dialogue, we saw this example 别提了，烂透了。 (Biétíle, làn tòule.) |
| Dave: I don’t want to talk about it. It was horrible. Here the superlative being used is |
| Echo: 透。 (Tòu.) |
| Dave: And the adjective being modified is |
| Echo: 烂。 (Làn.) |
| Dave: So literally the word means overcooked. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: So the thing to remember when these three characters are put together, it has the connotation of horrible. |
| Echo: 没错。烂透了。 (Méi cuò. Làn tòule.) Now let’s see some more examples of using 透 (Tòu) as a compliment. 今天我觉得糟透了。 (Jīntiān wǒ juédé zāo tòule.) |
| Dave: I feel awful today. |
| Echo: 今天我觉得糟透了。 (Jīntiān wǒ juédé zāo tòule.) |
| Dave: I feel awful today and the superlative here is |
| Echo: 糟透了。 (Zāo tòule.) |
| Dave: And this can mean miserable or awful. |
| Echo: Another example 那个男主角儿坏透了。 (Nàgè nán zhǔjiǎo er huài tòule.) |
| Dave: That actor was really sinister. |
| Echo: 那个男主角儿坏透了。 (Nàgè nán zhǔjiǎo er huài tòule.) |
| Dave: Okay now we are going to switch to the next compliment. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: What is it Echo? |
| Echo: 极。 (Jí.) |
| Dave: And this means extremely. |
| Echo: 极 (Jí) modifies adjectives, some verbs and it’s used colloquially. Usually there is a 了 (Le) following the superlative and our first example using 极 (Jí) is 她的妹妹丑极了。 (Tā de mèimei chǒu jíle.) |
| Dave: His sister is extremely unattractive. Yes the mother of all insults. |
| Echo: 她的妹妹丑极了。 (Tā de mèimei chǒu jíle.) |
| Dave: Harsh. Our next example using extremely. |
| Echo: 我真的开心极了。 (Tā de mèimei chǒu jíle.) |
| Dave: I am extremely happy. |
| Echo: 我真的开心极了。 (Tā de mèimei chǒu jíle.) |
| Dave: And notice that the compliment follows the adjective. |
| Echo: 开心极了。 (Kāixīn jíle.) |
| Dave: Extremely happy. Now the last superlative we are going to teach, maybe the most fun because it is the most figurative. |
| Echo: The word is 死。 (Sǐ.) |
| Dave: This character connotes death or to the utmost. |
| Echo: 死。 (Sǐ.) |
| Dave: Let’s see some examples. |
| Echo: 我快饿死了。 (Wǒ kuài è sǐle.) |
| Dave: I am going to die of starvation soon. |
| Echo: 我快饿死了。 (Wǒ kuài è sǐle.) |
| Dave: And the key point to take away is this. |
| Echo: 饿死了。 (È sǐle.) |
| Dave: Starving to death. |
| Echo: Our next example is 我这个星期累死了，一直加班。 (Wǒ zhège xīngqí lèi sǐle, yīzhí jiābān.) |
| Dave: I am exhausted this week. I keep working overtime. |
| Echo: 我这个星期累死了，一直加班。 (Wǒ zhège xīngqí lèi sǐle, yīzhí jiābān.) |
| Dave: And once again, pay attention to these three characters. |
| Echo: 累死了。 (Lèi sǐle.) |
| Dave: Tired to the point of death or exhausted. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: So in review, we covered three compliments to say extreme. Echo what were they? |
| Echo: 透，极 and 死。 (Tòu, jí and sǐ.) |
| Dave: So let’s leave all of our students at home with one last sample sentence. |
| Echo: Chineseclass101 有用极了。 (Yǒuyòng jíle.) |
| Dave: Chineseclass101 is extremely useful. |
| Echo: Right. |
Outro |
| Dave: Okay that wraps it up for this week. From Beijing, I am Dave. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见 (Xià cì jiàn) Bye bye. |
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