Learn how to speak of a certain point in time or the frequency of an action
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dave: Hi and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) and thanks again for being here with us for this Elementary series, season 2 Lesson. |
| Dave: And I am Dave. Today is the final podcast in season 2 of our Elementary series. |
| Echo: And the title of today’s lesson is, don’t forget to pay your Chinese bills. |
| Dave: In this lesson, you will learn how to pay for your utilities in China. |
| Echo: And also what happens when you don’t. |
| Dave: The conversation is between two roommates arguing over who needs to pay the electricity bill. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Okay but before we get to the dialogue, just a reminder if you haven’t already. Go to chineseclass101.com and register for a free lifetime account. |
| Echo: Right. It will only take you a couple of seconds. |
| Dave: Okay let’s go on to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| B:这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| A:上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| A:哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| B:还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit more slowly. |
| A:哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| B:这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| A:上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| B:是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| A:哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| B:还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: And now with the English translation. |
| Echo: 哎呀，停电了！你没买电吗？ (āiya, tíngdiànle ! nǐ méi mǎi diàn ma?) |
| Dave: Ah the electricity went out. You didn’t pay the electricity bill. |
| Echo: 这次应该你买吧？ (zhècì yīnggāi nǐ mǎi ba?) |
| Dave: Isn’t it your turn to pay? |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (shàng cì bù shì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: Didn’t I pay last time? |
| Echo: 是我买的。电卡还在我这儿呢！ (shì wǒ mǎi de. diàn kǎ hái zài wǒ zhèr ne!) |
| Dave: I paid last time. I still have the electricity card right here. |
| Echo: 哦，那我现在去银行买吧。 (ò, nà wǒ xiànzài qùyín xíng mǎi ba.) |
| Dave: Oh then, I will go to the bank right now and pay. |
| Echo: 还有水费，煤气费，这次也应该你交。 (hái yǒu shuǐfèi, méiqì fèi, zhècì yě yīnggāi nǐ jiāo.) |
| Dave: Also pay the water bill and the gas bill. It’s your turn to pay for those. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dave:I remember this happened to me once when all the electricity went out. |
| Echo: So what did you do? |
| Dave: Well since it was at night, all the banks were closed so we couldn’t turn the power back on. |
| Echo: So you had to stay in the dark the whole night? |
| Dave: Well we went out and bought some candles and that helped until the next day. |
| Echo: It turns to be a romantic night? |
| Dave: Well I only had male roommates at that time and none of us had girlfriend. So it wasn’t romantic. |
| Echo: Okay anyway, today’s vocab is good to know because you never know when you need to pay the electricity bill. |
| Dave: That’s right. So let’s go to the vocab section now before anyone’s power goes out. And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 哎呀 |
| Dave: Goodness gracious. |
| Echo: 停电 (āiya) |
| Dave: Electrical blackout. |
| Echo: 次 (cì) |
| Dave: A point in time. |
| Echo: 应该 (yīnggāi) |
| Dave: Should. |
| Echo: 上次 (shàng cì) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 下次 (xiàcì) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 电卡 (diàn kǎ) |
| Dave: Electricity card. |
| Echo: 银行 (yínháng) |
| Dave: Bank. |
| Echo: 水费 (shuǐfèi) |
| Dave: Water bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi) |
| Dave: Gas bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费 (méiqì fèi) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Okay. Let’s take a closer look at usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Echo: Okay. The first word is 哎呀 (āiya) |
| Dave: Goodness, goodness gracious. |
| Echo: 哎呀，我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.) |
| Dave: Oh goodness! I forgot. |
| Echo: 哎呀，我忘了。 (Āiyā, wǒ wàngle.) |
| Dave: And you might say that because there has been |
| Echo: 停电。 (Tíngdiàn.) |
| Dave: An electrical blackout or a loss of power. |
| Echo: 停电。昨天晚上我家停电了。 (Tíngdiàn. Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle.) |
| Dave: Last night, the power went out in my home. |
| Echo: 昨天晚上我家停电了。次。 (Zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒjiā tíngdiànle. Cì.) |
| Dave: A point in time. |
| Echo: 我去过3次北京。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng.) |
| Dave: I’ve been to Beijing three times. |
| Echo: 我去过3次北京。应该。 (Wǒ qùguò 3 cì běijīng. Yīnggāi.) |
| Dave: Should. |
| Echo: 应该。你应该说对不起。 (Yīnggāi. Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ.) |
| Dave: You should say, I am sorry. |
| Echo: 你应该说对不起。上次。 (Nǐ yīnggāi shuō duìbùqǐ. Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 上次。上次我见你的时候，你还很小。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.) |
| Dave: Last time I saw you, you were still small. |
| Echo: 上次我见你的时候，你还很小。下次。 (Shàng cì. Shàng cì wǒ jiàn nǐ de shíhòu, nǐ hái hěn xiǎo.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 下次。下次我一定给你礼物。 (Xià cì. Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù.) |
| Dave: Next time, I will certainly give you a gift. |
| Echo:下次我一定给你礼物。电卡。 (Xià cì wǒ yīdìng gěi nǐ lǐwù. Diàn kǎ.) |
| Dave: Electricity card. This is an electronic card that you can place into your electric meter. You place money on it in a bank… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: And then use the card to deposit money on the meter in order to buy electricity for your home or office. |
| Echo: Right 电卡。我的电卡找不到了 (Diàn kǎ. Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole) |
| Dave: I can’t find my electricity card. |
| Echo: 我的电卡找不到了。 (Wǒ de diàn kǎ zhǎo bù dàole.) |
| Dave: Now to pay your bills in China, you have to go personally to the |
| Echo: 银行。 (Yínháng.) |
| Dave: Bank. |
| Echo: 银行。银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng. Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.) |
| Dave: The bank has already closed. |
| Echo: 银行已经下班了。 (Yínháng yǐjīng xiàbānle.) |
| Dave: Another bill that you need to pay is. |
| Echo: 水费。 (shuǐfèi) |
| Dave: The water bill. |
| Echo: 水费。这次应该你交水费。 (Shuǐ fèi. Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.) |
| Dave: This time, you should pay the water bill. |
| Echo: 这次应该你交水费。 (Zhè cì yīnggāi nǐ jiāo shuǐ fèi.) |
| Dave: And finally, the last bill to pay. |
| Echo: 煤气费。 (méiqì fèi) |
| Dave: The gas bill. |
| Echo: 煤气费。这次的煤气费是多少钱？ (Méiqì fèi. Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?) |
| Dave: How much is the gas bill this time? |
| Echo: 这次的煤气费是多少钱？ (Zhè cì de méiqì fèi shì duōshǎo qián?) |
| Dave: Okay. That’s it for the vocabulary section. Let’s go on to grammar. |
| It’s grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dave: So the grammar focus for today’s lesson is an easy one. What is it Echo? |
| Echo: 次。 (Cì.) |
| Dave: This is a verbal measuring word for indicating the frequency of an action. |
| Echo: Right. We can use this to tell how many times we’ve taken the bus, been to a place or even watch a movie. |
| Dave: We can also combine this word with three other characters to mean last time. |
| Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.) |
| Dave: And this time. |
| Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.) |
| Dave: Right. So there isn’t much to this. We are going to run through some examples. |
| Echo: Okay. It is important to know that since it’s our time word, we place it at the front of the sentence. |
| Dave: So in our first example |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: Didn’t I pay last time? |
| Echo: 上次不是我买的吗？ (Shàng cì bùshì wǒ mǎi de ma?) |
| Dave: We place 上次 (Shàng cì) at the beginning of the question. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: Okay what’s our next example? |
| Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.) |
| Dave: This time, it’s my fault. |
| Echo: 这次是我的错。 (Zhè cì shì wǒ de cuò.) |
| Dave: It does seem like most of the time, it is my fault. I need to look into that. Okay on to our next sentence. |
| Echo: 下次，我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.) |
| Dave: Next time, I will definitely go. |
| Echo: 下次，我一定去。 (Xià cì, wǒ yīdìng qù.) |
| Dave: Okay and our next example is a little bit long. So listen closely. |
| Echo: 上次他没来，上上次他也没来，这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.) |
| Dave: Last time, he didn’t come. The time before that, he also didn’t come. This time, he came. |
| Echo: 上次他没来，上上次他也没来，这次他来了。 (Shàng cì tā méi lái, shàng shàng cì tā yě méi lái, zhè cì tā láile.) |
| Dave: Notice how we say the time before last time. |
| Echo: 上上次 (Shàng shàng cì) And by the way, the time after next time should be 下下次。 (Xià xià cì.) |
| Dave: In both cases, they are simply a repetition of the first word |
| Echo: 上。 (Shàng.) |
| Dave: Or |
| Echo: 下。 (Xià.) |
| Dave: Okay next example. |
| Echo: 这次我错了，下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.) |
| Dave: This time I am wrong. Next time, I will be more careful. |
| Echo: 这次我错了，下次我一定注意。 (Zhè cì wǒ cuòle, xià cì wǒ yīdìng zhùyì.) |
| Dave: I messed up this time. I will be more careful the next time. Okay and for our final example |
| Echo: 你下次什么时候休息，下下次呢？ (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?) |
| Dave: When will you rest next and the time after that. |
| Echo: 你下次什么时候休息，下下次呢？ (Nǐ xià cì shénme shíhòu xiūxí, xià xià cì ne?) |
| Dave: Okay. So to review, we learned three words for a point in time. |
| Echo: 上次。 (Shàng cì.) |
| Dave: Last time. |
| Echo: 下次。 (Xià cì.) |
| Dave: Next time. |
| Echo: 这次。 (Zhè cì.) |
| Dave: This time. And the best way to remember these words is by constantly repeating them. |
| Echo: Right. And the next way to do that is through our voice recording tool. |
| Dave: That’s right. The voice recording tool will help you to improve your pronunciation dramatically. |
| Echo: Right. Record your voice with a click of a button. |
| Dave: And then play it back just as easily. This will help you improve your pronunciation fast and effectively. |
| Echo: Right. You can find the voice recording tool in the premium learning center on chineseclass101.com. |
Outro |
| Dave: Okay that wraps it up for this lesson and for season 2. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: From Beijing, I am Dave. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you soon. |
| Echo: 下次见 (Xià cì jiàn) Bye bye. |
| Dave: See you next time. |
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