| 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. |
| Have you ever been frustrated in your Chinese learning journey? |
| We all need some encouragement and praises from time to time, to be able to continue. |
| In this lesson, you will learn three groups of encouragement phrases in Chinese. |
| Well, the first group is used to boost someone’s confidence. |
| 加油 (jiāyóu) is the first and most important one you should know, because of how often it is used in daily life. |
| 加油 (jiāyóu) literally means "to add gas" or "to add oil." |
| It’s similar to "Go for it!" or "Come on!" in English. |
| It is used to tell someone to try hard and fight for it. |
| A typical situation for this phrase to be used is at a sport event. You hear the audience yell 加油加油 (jiāyóu jiāyóu) to the team they support. |
| Or another scenario: Suppose that tomorrow you’re taking your HSK exam, which is a standardized test for Chinese learners, and your family is cheering you on and firing you up by saying 加油 (jiāyóu) to you. |
| Another phrase to build someone’s confidence is: 相信自己 (xiāngxìn zìjǐ), meaning "believe in yourself." |
| 相信 (xiāngxìn) means "to believe." |
| 相信 (xiāngxìn) |
| And 自己 (zìjǐ) means "oneself." |
| 自己 (zìjǐ) |
| And together, 相信自己 (xiāngxìn zìjǐ) “believe in yourself.” |
| Don’t doubt yourself. You can do this. |
| And the third phrase in this group is 你是最棒的！(Nǐ shì zuì bàng de!) |
| This is saying: "You are the greatest!" |
| 你是 (nǐ shì) "you are" |
| 你是 (nǐ shì) |
| 最 (zuì) is used before adjectives to indicate the highest level. |
| And 棒 (bàng) is an adjective meaning "great.” |
| 最棒的 (zuì bàng de), together, is "the greatest." |
| So together, 你是最棒的！(Nǐ shì zuì bàng de!) “You are the greatest! “ |
| 你是最棒的！(Nǐ shì zuì bàng de!) “You are the greatest!” |
| Nobody can beat you. You are on top of the world! |
| The next group is compliments and praises you can give to people to reward their work. |
| First one: 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo), meaning "excellent." |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| 非常 (fēicháng) means "extraordinary." |
| 非常 (fēicháng) |
| And 好 (hǎo) means "good." |
| So 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo), together, is "over-the-top good" or "excellent." |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| Well, another compliment with the word 好 (hǎo) "good" is 你做得很好！(Nǐ zuò de hěnhǎo!) |
| 你做得很好！(Nǐ zuò de hěnhǎo!) meaning "You did very well!" |
| 做 (zuò) means "to do." |
| 做 (zuò) |
| And 得 (de) is a particle that connects a verb and an adjective. |
| So, our verb here is 做 (zuò) “to do” and 很好 (hěn hǎo) means "very good." |
| 做得很好 (zuò de hěnhǎo) means "does something good," "does something well or “did something well.” In this case, there’s no difference in tenses. |
| Together, 你做得很好！(Nǐ zuò de hěnhǎo!) “You did very well” or “You did something very well.” |
| We can use specific actions to replace 做 (zuò) in this sentence. |
| For example: 你说得很好！(Nǐ shuō de hěnhǎo!) |
| 说 (shuō) means "to speak” or “to say.” |
| 你说得很好！(Nǐ shuō de hěnhǎo!) means "you spoke very well" or “you speak very well” or “you said (something) well” as in, “You speak Chinese very well.” 你中文说得很好。(Nǐ Zhōngwén shuō de hěn hǎo.) |
| Or “That’s a good point!” “Well said!” 你说得很好！(Nǐ shuō de hěnhǎo!) |
| Another verb: 唱 (chàng) means "to sing." |
| 唱 (chàng) |
| 你唱得很好！(Nǐ chàng de hěnhǎo!) "You sing very well!" |
| 你唱得很好！(Nǐ chàng de hěnhǎo!) |
| The third phrase in this compliment group is a phrase that got popular on the Internet and has become a slang in everyday language. |
| 给你点赞 (gěi nǐ diǎnzàn) |
| 给你点赞 (gěi nǐ diǎnzàn) |
| 给你 (gěi nǐ) means "to give you" or "to do (something) for you." |
| 给你 (gěi nǐ) |
| 点 (diǎn) in this, in this context means "to click." |
| And 赞 (zàn) originally means "compliment," but on social media, 赞 (zàn) is "like" as in the "like” button on Facebook or YouTube or WeChat. |
| So, 给你点赞 (gěi nǐ diǎnzàn) literally is "to give you hit the ‘like’ button" or to click or to hit the like button for you, or it could be translated as “to give you the thumbs-up.” |
| 给你点赞 (gěi nǐ diǎnzàn) |
| This expression is only used in very casual settings, to say "good job." |
| 给你点赞 (gěi nǐ diǎnzàn) |
| The third group of encouragement phrases is meant to give people faith in difficult times. |
| 坚持住 (jiānchí zhù), meaning "hang in there." |
| 坚持 (jiānchí) means "to keep going" or "to persist in." |
| 住 (zhù) indicates the motion of grasping ahold of something. |
| Together, 坚持住 (jiānchí zhù) is to keep going, “keep going and hold on tight" or in an English phrase, "Hang in there." |
| 坚持住 (jiānchí zhù) |
| Next, 别放弃 (bié fàngqì) “don’t give up.” |
| 放弃 (fàngqì) is "to give up." |
| 放弃 (fàngqì) |
| 别 (bié) is "don’t." |
| 别放弃 (bié fàngqì) “don’t give up.” |
| The last one: 继续努力 (jìxù nǔlì) |
| 继续 (jìxù) means "to continue." |
| 继续 (jìxù) |
| And 努力 (nǔlì) means "to work hard." |
| 努力 (nǔlì) |
| 继续努力 (jìxù nǔlì), together, can be used to encourage someone to try again or to keep trying when something has failed, or it can be used to tell someone to keep up the good work. |
| 继续努力 (jìxù nǔlì). |
| In this lesson, we learned nine encouragement phrases used in three different situations. |
| Suppose you’re taking a course to learn Chinese characters 汉字 (Hànzì), but it seems so hard and so time-consuming, so you come to me and ask me what to do. And I, as a Chinese teacher, would most likely to be telling you not to give up your effort by telling you, by saying… |
| “Don’t give up,” which in Chinese is 别放弃 (bié fàngqì). |
| 别放弃 (bié fàngqì) |
| Suppose, your sister is going to have her...a job interview for the first time in her life. You’re on the phone with her and telling her to "Go for it!" This commonly used cheering phrase, in Chinese, is … |
| 加油 (jiāyóu) |
| 加油 (jiāyóu) |
| To comment on a well-done job by your subordinate, you can use the phrase "excellent," which in Chinese is… |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| 非常好 (fēicháng hǎo) |
| You guys did a great job! 非常好！(Fēicháng hǎo!) |
| 给你们点赞 (gěi nǐmen diǎn zàn) |
| I’ll give you the big thumbs up. |
| Thank you for watching. I’ll see you next time! 下次见 (xiàcì jiàn)！ |
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