Learn how to make comparisons between two different things using a Chinese preposition
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: Hi and I am Dave and welcome to chineseclass101 Elementary series, season 2. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Where you will learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons. Today’s lesson is lesson 8. Dilemma of the Socialites. |
| Echo: Hmm we will also provide you with cultural insights and tips you won’t find in a textbook. |
| Dave: So today Echo, you and I are going to be judges. |
| Echo: Today we will learn how to compare things using a special word. |
| Dave: Not only are we going to give our listeners the power of comparison, we are also going to be spending the vocabulary section talking all about Chinese night life and what to expect. |
| Echo: Right. So this conversation takes place inside a home. |
| Dave: The conversation is between a boyfriend and a girlfriend. |
| Echo: And they are speaking casually as usual. |
| Dave: And before we listen to the dialogue, if you don’t already have one, stop by chineseclass101.com and sign up for your free life time account. Okay let’s go on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:咱们去酒吧吧！ (zánmen qù jiǔbā ba!) |
| B:不，去夜店吧。 (bù, qù yèdiàn ba.) |
| A:为什么？ (wèishénme?) |
| B:夜店比酒吧热闹。 (yèdiàn bǐ jiǔbā rènao.) |
| A:酒吧比夜店便宜。 (jiǔbā bǐ yèdiàn piányi.) |
| B:夜店的音乐比酒吧好。 (yèdiàn de yīnyuè bǐ jiǔbā hǎo.) |
| A:算了，不出去了。 (suànle, bù chūqù le.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly. |
| A:咱们去酒吧吧！ (zánmen qù jiǔbā ba!) |
| B:不，去夜店吧。(bù, qù yèdiàn ba.) |
| A:为什么？ (wèishénme?) |
| B:夜店比酒吧热闹。 (yèdiàn bǐ jiǔbā rènao.) |
| A:酒吧比夜店便宜。 (jiǔbā bǐ yèdiàn piányi.) |
| B:夜店的音乐比酒吧好。(yèdiàn de yīnyuè bǐ jiǔbā hǎo.) |
| A:算了，不出去了。 (suànle, bù chūqù le.) |
| Dave: One more time, with English. |
| Echo: 咱们去酒吧吧！ (zánmen qù jiǔbā ba!) |
| Dave: Let’s go to the bar. |
| Echo: 不，去夜店吧。 (bù, qù yèdiàn ba.) |
| Dave: No let’s go out to the club. |
| Echo: 为什么？ (wèishénme?) |
| Dave: Why? |
| Echo: 夜店比酒吧热闹。 (yèdiàn bǐ jiǔbā rènao.) |
| Dave: Because the club is livelier than the bar. |
| Echo: 酒吧比夜店便宜。 (jiǔbā bǐ yèdiàn piányi.) |
| Dave: The bar is cheaper than the club. |
| Echo: 夜店的音乐比酒吧好。 (yèdiàn de yīnyuè bǐ jiǔbā hǎo) |
| Dave: The club’s music is better than the bar’s. |
| Echo: 算了，不出去了。 (suànle, bù chūqù le.) |
| Dave: Forget it. Let’s just stay in tonight. So Echo, what do you think? Should they go to the bar or should they go to the club? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: I think they should go to eat 麻辣烫。 (Málà tàng.) |
| Dave: Maybe eating instead of drinking is a good way to spend the Saturday night. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Okay let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 比 (bǐ) |
| Dave: To compare. |
| Echo: 酒吧 (jiǔbā) |
| Dave: Bar. |
| Echo: 夜店 (yèdiàn) |
| Dave: Nightclub. |
| Echo: 热闹 (rènao) |
| Dave: Lively. |
| Echo: 音乐 (Yīnyuè) |
| Dave: Music. |
| Echo: 鸡尾酒 (jīwěijiǔ) |
| Dave: Cocktail. |
| Echo: 门票 (ménpiào) |
| Dave: Entrance ticket. |
| Echo: 威士忌 (wēishiji) |
| Dave: Whisky. |
| Echo: 跳舞 (tiàowǔ) |
| Dave: To dance. |
| Echo: 出去 (chūqu) |
| Dave: To go out. |
| Echo: 出去 (出去) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Echo: And first word is 比 (bǐ) |
| Dave: To compare |
| Echo: 比 (bǐ) |
| Dave: Now that’s a third tone. We are going to go over this word in more detail in our grammar section but for now, let’s hear a sample sentence, Echo. |
| Echo: 你比我胖。 (nǐ bǐ wǒ pàng.) |
| Dave: You are fatter than me. Well I thank you Echo, I’ve been working out. |
| Echo: 你比我胖。 (nǐ bǐ wǒ pàng.) Next one is 酒吧。 (Jiǔbā) |
| Dave: Bar. |
| Echo: 酒吧。 (Jiǔbā) |
| Dave: And the first character is the same as Alcohol. |
| Echo: Right 酒，他每天都去酒吧。 (Jiǔ, tā měitiān dū qù jiǔbā.) |
| Dave: He goes to the bar every day. |
| Echo: 他每天都去酒吧。夜店。 (Tā měitiān dū qù jiǔbā. Yèdiàn.) |
| Dave: Nightclub. |
| Echo: 夜店，周末去夜店吧。 (Yèdiàn, zhōumò qù yèdiàn ba.) |
| Dave: Let’s go to the club this weekend. |
| Echo: 周末去夜店吧。 (Zhōumò qù yèdiàn ba.) |
| Dave: Let’s go to the club this weekend. |
| Echo: 热闹。 (Rènào.) |
| Dave: Lively. |
| Echo: 热闹。 (Rènào.) |
| Dave: You can also use this word to describe something as having a fun and festive atmosphere. |
| Echo: 这很热闹。 (Zhè hěn rènào.) |
| Dave: It’s really lively here. |
| Echo: 这很热闹。 (Zhè hěn rènào.) And usually if you go to a bar or a club, you will use this word very often 鸡尾酒。 (Jīwěijiǔ.) |
| Dave: Cocktail. |
| Echo: 鸡尾酒，我爱喝鸡尾酒。 (Jīwěijiǔ, wǒ ài hē jīwěijiǔ.) |
| Dave: I like to drink cocktails. |
| Echo: 我爱喝鸡尾酒。 (Wǒ ài hē jīwěijiǔ.) |
| Dave: I like to drink beer most of the time. |
| Echo: I don’t like beer. I don’t know why. I just can’t get used to that taste. It’s too bitter. |
| Dave: Well I can’t get used to the taste of 二锅头。 (Èrguōtóu) |
| Echo: I can’t either. Next one. Yeah some Chinese nightclubs, they will have 门票。 (Ménpiào) |
| Dave: Yes a door ticket or cover. |
| Echo: 门票，门票多少钱？ (Ménpiào, ménpiào duōshǎo qián?) |
| Dave: How much is the cover? |
| Echo: 威士忌。 (Wēishìjì.) |
| Dave: Whisky. |
| Echo: 威士忌。 (Wēishìjì.) |
| Dave: Whisky. First tone followed by fourth tone and another fourth tone. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: I actually like whisky. |
| Echo: Yeah me too. I like whisky cock 威士忌可乐。 (Wēishìjì kělè.) |
| Dave: Now I like Scotch. You know, I don’t like to mix it. The example? |
| Echo: 威士忌加冰。 (Wēishìjì jiā bīng.) |
| Dave: Literally add ice to my whisky, thanks or we might say whisky on the rocks, thank you. |
| Echo: 跳舞。 (Tiàowǔ) |
| Dave: To dance. |
| Echo: 跳舞。 (Tiàowǔ) |
| Dave: To dance. And the first character there is the word for to jump. |
| Echo: 跳，去夜店跳舞吧。 (Tiào, qù yèdiàn tiàowǔ ba.) |
| Dave: Let’s go to the club and dance. |
| Echo: 去夜店跳舞吧。 (Qù yèdiàn tiàowǔ ba.) |
| Dave: Let’s go dancing at the club. |
| Echo: And then last one 出去。 (Chūqù) |
| Dave: To go out. |
| Echo: 出去。 (Chūqù) |
| Dave: To go out. First tone followed by fourth tone. |
| Echo: 你今晚想出去吗？ (Nǐ jīn wǎn xiǎng chūqù ma?) |
| Dave: Do you feel like going out tonight? |
| Echo: 你今晚想出去吗？ (Nǐ jīn wǎn xiǎng chūqù ma?) |
| Dave: Do you feel like going out tonight. It’s grammar time. The focus of this lesson is making comparisons using |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 比 (Bǐ) |
| Dave: This word |
| Echo: 比 (Bǐ) |
| Dave: Is a preposition used to make comparisons. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: A sentence with |
| Echo: 比 (Bǐ) |
| Dave: Ends with an adjective. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Which is the topic of comparison. |
| Echo: Let’s take a look at the example from the dialogue 夜店比酒吧热闹。 |
| Dave: The club is livelier than the bar. Now if you noticed in the sample sentence, the word |
| Echo: 比 (Bǐ) |
| Dave: Was put in between the two nouns being compared. |
| Echo: Right 夜店 (Yèdiàn) and 酒吧 (Jiǔbā) |
| Dave: The nightclub and the bar. |
| Echo: 夜店比酒吧热闹。 (Yèdiàn bǐ jiǔbā rènào.) |
| Dave: Now in grammatical terms, what we are doing here is comparing the subject, the nightclub. |
| Echo: 夜店 (Yèdiàn) |
| Dave: To the noun, the bar. |
| Echo: 酒吧 (Jiǔbā) And the formula that we want to follow is the subject plus 比 plus the noun plus the adjective and the adjective in that sentence was 热闹。 (Rènào.) |
| Dave: Lively. The nightclub is more lively compared to the bar. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: So let’s take a look at a few more sentences. Echo? |
| Echo: 你的钱比我多。 (Nǐ de qián bǐ wǒ duō.) |
| Dave: This literally translates to your money compared to mine is bigger. |
| Echo: Right 你的钱比我多。 (Nǐ de qián bǐ wǒ duō.) |
| Dave: So the meaning is you have more money than me. Your money compared to mine is bigger. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: So the subject in this sentence is |
| Echo: 你的钱。 (Nǐ de qián.) |
| Dave: And the noun is |
| Echo: 我 (Wǒ) |
| Dave: And as always, we put the adjective |
| Echo: 多 (Duō) |
| Dave: At the end. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Okay for our next example |
| Echo: 牛肉比猪肉好吃。 (Niúròu bǐ zhūròu hào chī.) |
| Dave: Beef tastes better than Pork. |
| Echo: 牛肉比猪肉好吃。 (Niúròu bǐ zhūròu hào chī.) |
| Dave: Beef tastes better than Pork. Literally Beef compared to Pork is tastier. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Now a point to note. When using |
| Echo: 比 (Bǐ) |
| Dave: To make comparisons, the adjective cannot be preceded by degree adverbs. |
| Echo: Such as 很 (Hěn) or 非常。 (Fēicháng) |
| Dave: So while 比 (Bǐ)cannot be proceeded by degree words, the adjective can be followed by phrases indicating degree or amount such as |
| Echo: 一点儿。 (Yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: Which means a little. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: For example |
| Echo: 这个比那个好看一点儿。 (Zhège bǐ nàgè hǎokàn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: This one looks a little better than that one. |
| Echo: 这个比那个好看一点儿。 (Zhège bǐ nàgè hǎokàn yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: Notice that the degree word |
| Echo: 一点儿。 (Yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: Directly followed the adjective. |
| Echo: 好看。 (Hǎokàn) |
| Dave: Let’s take a look at one more. |
| Echo: 昨天比今天热一点儿。 (Zuótiān bǐ jīntiān rè yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: Yesterday was a little warmer than today. |
| Echo: 昨天比今天热一点儿。 (Zuótiān bǐ jīntiān rè yīdiǎn er.) |
| Dave: Yesterday was a little warmer than today. |
| Echo: Right. The adjective 热 (Rè) hot is directly followed by 一点儿 (Yīdiǎn er |
| )a little. |
Outro |
| Dave: Well that just about does it for today. Before we go, we want to tell you about a way to drastically improve your pronunciation. |
| Echo: The voice recording tool. |
| Dave: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Echo: Right. Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Dave: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Echo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Dave: And you can compare it to native speakers |
| Echo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Dave: This will help you improve your pronunciation fast. All right that’s all for today. From Beijing, I am Dave. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you next week. |
| Echo: Thanks for listening 下周见。 (Xià zhōu jiàn.) |
| Dave: See you then. |
| Echo: Bye bye. |
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