| Welcome to Fun &Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com! |
| 嗨大家好，我是李殷如. (Hài dàjiā hǎo, Wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú.) Hi everyone, Yinru Li here. |
| Do you want to visit China? |
| China is a destination on many people’s bucket list for a number of reasons; whether it’s because it’s one of the oldest civilizations on earth, or it’s one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, you decide. |
| Cultural and language barriers shouldn’t get in the way of your plans to visit China, because after this lesson, you will have plenty of travel phrases you need to make your visit simpler! |
| Let’s start with the basic phrases you can use in any situation. |
| First is how to say "thank you". |
| 谢谢 (xièxie) |
| And next is how to say "sorry". |
| 对不起 (duìbuqǐ) |
| If you would like to ask a question, start with this phrase: |
| 请问 (qǐngwèn) |
| It means "May I please ask...". |
| 请 (qǐng) is a polite word meaning "please", 问 (wèn) means “to ask” |
| So 请问 is "may I please ask" or “excuse me”. |
| 请问 (qǐngwèn) |
| We’ll see a sample sentence with 请问 (qǐngwèn) later on in this lesson. |
| How to agree with someone? |
| To agree with someone, you can simply say 对 (duì), meaning "correct". |
| 对 (duì) |
| For example, if someone asks you "Is it your first time visiting China?" |
| 这是你第一次来中国吗? (Zhèshì nǐ dìyī cì lái Zhōngguó ma?) |
| You can agree with that by saying 对 (duì) "That’s right." |
| 对 (duì) |
| To say "very good" or "very nice", use this phrase: |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) means "very good" or "excellent" |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| So to answer this question, "How do you think of the hotel you’re staying at?", you can answer with 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) , "very good," "excellent." |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| Next you’re going to learn a group of essential phrases you can use at restaurants and stores. |
| First is to ask "how much" something is. "How much" in Chinese is, 多少钱? (duō shǎo qián?) 多少钱? (duō shǎo qián?) |
| Which literally means "much little money," or "how much money" |
| 多少钱? (duō shǎo qián?) |
| And to say "I want this" or "I’d like this", say: 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige.) |
| 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige.) |
| 我要 (Wǒ yào) means "I want." |
| 我要 (Wǒ yào) |
| And 这个 (zhèige) means "this." |
| 这个 (zhèige) |
| Together, 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige.) |
| 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige.) |
| This phrase could be very useful when you don't know the name of a certain dish in a restaurant; so you can point to the menu and say, 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige), "I want this one." |
| Or if you don’t know what a certain item is called in a store, you can point at the stuff on the shelf, and say, |
| 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige) |
| Ok. We can use the word 这个 (zhèige) "this" to make other phrases, such as: |
| 我喜欢这个 (Wǒ xǐhuān zhèige) |
| "I like this." |
| 我喜欢这个 (Wǒ xǐhuān zhèige) |
| 喜欢 xǐhuān means "like" |
| 我喜欢这个 (Wǒ xǐhuān zhèige) "I like this." |
| To say "I don’t like this," |
| 我不喜欢这个. (Wǒ bù xǐhuān zhèige.) |
| Did you notice the difference? it's here, 不 (bù), meaning "not". 我不喜欢这个. (Wǒ bù xǐhuān zhèige.) |
| "I don’t like this." |
| 我不喜欢这个. (Wǒ bù xǐhuān zhèige.) |
| Now to get attention from a sales person or a waiter or waitress, you can raise your hand to get their attention, and say: |
| 你好 (nǐhǎo) |
| Which is mostly used as a greeting meaning "hello", but in this context, it’s a polite way to get someone’s attention. |
| 你好 (nǐhǎo) |
| If you’d like one more order of something, you can say: |
| 再来一份 (zài lái yífèn) |
| 再来一份 (zài lái yífèn)means "one more order". |
| 再来一份 (zài lái yífèn) |
| And when you’re ready to pay or to check out, you can use: |
| 买单 (mǎidān) |
| literally means "to buy the bill" or "to pay for the bill". |
| 买单 (mǎidān) |
| Don't forget! |
| 买单 (mǎidān) |
| The next group of phrases will help you to get around in China. |
| If you need to ask where some place is, first, say the name of this place, and then stick this phrase afterwards: 在哪里? (zài nǎlǐ?) |
| 在 (zài) means "at"; 哪里 (nǎlǐ) means "where". |
| So, "[certain place] is at where?" |
| ... 在哪里? (... zài nǎlǐ?) |
| "[certain place] is at where?" |
| "Where is [this certain place]?" |
| ... 在哪里? (... zài nǎlǐ?) |
| For example, this has been proven, at least by me, to be the #1 must-know phrase you need when visiting a new place: |
| This phrase is, 厕所在哪里? (Cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| 厕所在哪里? (Cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| 厕所 (cèsuǒ) is "restroom", so "Where is the restroom?" |
| 厕所在哪里? (Cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| Well, to make you sound more polite, remember we talked about a phrase to start your question, which is right here... 请问 (qǐngwèn) "may I please ask". |
| So, "Excuse me, where is the restroom?" |
| 请问厕所在哪里？(Qǐng wèn cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| Taking the taxi is probably the easiest way to get around China when you are visiting for the first time. |
| So, to tell the taxi driver "to go (here)," "go here," in Chinese is |
| 去这里 (qù zhèli) |
| 去 (qù) means "to go". |
| And 这里 (zhèli) means "here". |
| So, 去这里 (qù zhèli) "To here". |
| This phrase can be used when you have your destination written on a card or written down somewhere, either on your phone or on a piece of paper that you can show the taxi driver. |
| 去这里 (qù zhèli) |
| If you know the place you want to go, you can simply replace 这里 (zhèli) with your destination. For example, if you're going to the Capital Airport in Beijing, you can say, |
| 去首都机场 (qù Shǒudōu Jīchǎng) |
| 首都机场 (Shǒudōu Jīchǎng) is "Capital Airport." |
| 去首都机场 (qù Shǒudōu Jīchǎng) "to the Capital Airport" |
| 去首都机场 (qù Shǒudōu Jīchǎng) |
| When you have arrived and you want to tell the taxi driver "stop right here," you can say: |
| 就到这里 (jiù dào zhèli) |
| We know 这里 (zhèli) means "here". |
| 就到这里 "To right here". |
| 就到这里 (jiù dào zhèli) |
| Finally, a couple phrases in case you need help: |
| 帮我一下好吗？(Bāng wǒ yíxià hǎo ma?) "Can you help me, please?" |
| 帮我一下好吗？(Bāng wǒ yíxià hǎo ma?) |
| "Can you please help me?" |
| In the case of life-threatening emergencies, yell: |
| 救命！(Jiùmìng!) |
| literally means "Save my life!" |
| 救命！(Jiùmìng!) |
| Well, I don’t think you’ll get a chance to use this phrase, 救命！(Jiùmìng!) considering the fact that China is a pretty safe country. But it’s always good to be prepared for the worst case scenario. |
| 救命！(Jiùmìng!) |
| "Help me!" "Save my life!" |
| 救命！(Jiùmìng!) |
| Let’s review by doing a quiz: |
| Suppose you’re at a restaurant, you see a picture on the menu that you really want to try; you can point to the picture and tell the waitress, "I want this." |
| Which in Chinese is... |
| 我要这个 (Wǒ yào zhèige) |
| This dish turns out to be great, you can tell your waiter or waitress that this is "very good", "this is excellent," by saying ... |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| Now your plate is empty but you want to have more, more of the same dish, you can say "one more serving, please" in Chinese, which is... |
| 再来一份 (zài lái yífèn) |
| Well, before you leave, you want to use the bathroom, which is a good idea. So you can ask where the bathroom is by politely saying, "Excuse me, where is the restroom?" |
| 请问厕所在哪里? (Qǐngwèn cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| 请问 (Qǐngwèn) "may I please ask" |
| 厕所 (cèsuǒ) "restroom" |
| 在哪里? (zài nǎlǐ?) "is at where?" |
| 请问厕所在哪里? (Qǐngwèn cèsuǒ zài nǎlǐ?) |
| Now you’re ready to go, you can either go up to pay at the counter or have the waiter or waitress bring you your bill by saying "Check, please." in Chinese. |
| In Chinese, it's... 买单 (mǎidān) |
| Now you’re taking a taxi to your hotel. You get in the taxi, you show the driver the hotel name on your phone in Chinese, you can point to the address and tell the taxi driver, "to here", which in Chinese is … |
| 去这里 (qù zhèli) |
| "to here" |
| Great job! |
| Thank you for watching and see you again on ChineseClass101.com. 再见！ (Zàijiàn!) |
Comments
Hide