| Welcome to Fun &Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com! |
| 嗨大家好，我是李殷如. (Hài dà jiā hǎo, Wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú.) |
| Hi everyone, Yinru Li here. |
| Do you know any interjections in Chinese? |
| Interjections are words and phrases that are used to express comprehension and to show feelings and emotions. Interjections in English include “wow”, “eww”, “oops” “gosh” and so on. |
| In Chinese, there are quite a few words like these as well. They are very expressive, and you don’t need to be totally fluent in Chinese to be able to use them, but they sure do make you sound very native! |
| In this lesson, you’ll learn some of the most commonly used interjection phrases in Chinese. |
| 什么？(Shén me?) |
| 天哪！(Tiān na!) |
| 不会吧？(Bú huì ba?) |
| 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| 太好了！(Tài hǎo le!) |
| 讨厌！(Tǎo yàn!) |
| 烦死了！(Fán sǐ le!) |
| 吓死我了！(Xià sǐ wǒ le!) |
| First one, |
| 什么? (Shén me?) |
| 什么 means “what”. It can be used to ask someone to repeat what they said, or it can be used to express surprise. |
| 什么？ (shén me) |
| When your friend calls you the last minute and tells you that he can’t make it to your birthday party, you can say to him: |
| 什么？你不来了？(Shén me? Nǐ bù lái le?) |
| “What? You are not coming?” |
| (slow) 什么？你不来了？ |
| The next one... |
| 天哪! (Tiān na!) |
| 天哪 is another interjection to show surprise, is the equivalent of “Oh my gosh” in English. |
| 天 means “sky” or "heaven." 哪 here is a particle that’s attached to the end of a phrase to show strong emotions. |
| 天哪 (tiān na) |
| So Imagine you’re shopping at a luxury store. You see something really nice and you pick it up, you check the price. Of course the price is outrageous. In this case, you may say, |
| 天哪！这么贵！(Tiān na! Zhè me guì!) |
| “Oh my gosh, it's so expensive!” |
| (slow) 天哪！这么贵！ |
| 不会吧! (Bú huì ba?) |
| 不会吧 literally means “it can’t be possible”, or it could be translated as “no way”. This is another interjection phrase used to show surprise. [slow] 不会吧. |
| Compared to 天哪 “oh my gosh” we just mentioned, 不会吧 emphasizes more on the skepticism or disappointment, while 天哪 focuses more on the emotion of being shocked. |
| Say, your brother tells you that he doesn’t know who Brad Pitt is, you can tell him: |
| 不会吧？你不知道布拉德皮特？ |
| (Bú huì ba? nǐ bù zhī dào Bù lā dé pí tè?) |
| “No way! You don’t know Brad Pitt?” |
| Did you notice the translation for Brad Pitt? 布拉德皮特 (Bù lā dé pí tè). Each consonant in the English pronunciation becomes a syllable in Chinese with intonation. So together, |
| (slow) 不会吧？你不知道布拉德皮特？ |
| 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) means “really?”. It’s said to make sure something is true. It’s often a response with excitement. 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| For example, your cousin is getting married. You’re a little surprised by this news to but you’re so happy for her. So you can say to her, |
| 真的吗？恭喜恭喜! (Zhēn de ma? Gōng xǐ gōng xǐ!) |
| “Really? Congratulations.” |
| (slow) 真的吗？恭喜恭喜! |
| 太好了! (Tài hǎo le!) |
| 太好了! (Tài hǎo le!) literally means “too good”, but it’s often translated as “great” or “awesome”. It is also used to respond to something exciting. |
| 太好了！ Tài hǎo le! |
| When you step on the scale and find that you have lost weight, which is what you wanted, you can say: |
| 太好了，我瘦了！(Tài hǎo le , Wǒ shòu le!) |
| “It's great, I lost weight!” |
| (slow) 太好了，我瘦了！ |
| 讨厌 (Tǎo yàn!) |
| 讨厌 literally means “to hate” or “annoying”, but the connotation and tone in Chinese is not as strong. It is used when annoyed by someone’s behavior or comment. But keep in mind - |
| 1, 讨厌 (Tǎo yàn!) is often used by girls. |
| And 2, when girls say 讨厌, chances are, they mean the very opposite, meaning they’re liking what you said or did, but they’re too embarrassed to admit it. So guys, I know girls are hard to figure out, but if you’re not sure what the girl means by saying 讨厌, see if she’s smiling. If she is, you’re probably safe. |
| 烦死了! (Fán sǐ le!) |
| 烦死了 literally means “annoyed to death,'' you could be 烦死了 by a situation or by a person. |
| For example, every time you go visit your parents, they ask about when you’re going to bring home a boyfriend, in this case, you may say to them: |
| 你们别问了，烦死了! |
| (Nǐ men bié wèn le, fán sǐ le!) |
| meaning “You guys stop asking, it's so annoying!” |
| (slow) 你们别问了，烦死了! |
| Even though the word 死 (sǐ), meaning "to die" or "death, |
| is almost a taboo in Chinese, it is still a very frequently used word in everyday language, in order to show the extreme degree of a certain emotion or action. Here are more interjections with the word 死: |
| 吓死我了. It literally means “to be scared to death”. But it's more like “I got SO scared!” (slow) 吓死我了 |
| 笑死我了 (xiào sǐ wǒ le) |
| Pay attention it’s 笑，not 吓. |
| 笑，to laugh |
| 笑死我了 means “I’m laughing so hard I’m gonna die!” |
| 笑死我了 (xiào sǐ wǒ le) |
| and 气死我了(qì sǐ wǒ le) |
| 气, "to get mad" or "angry" |
| 气死我了(qì sǐ wǒ le) “I’m so mad I’m gonna die.” |
| and 累死我了 (lèi sǐ wǒ le) |
| 累, "to get tired" |
| 累死我了 (lèi sǐ wǒ le) “I’m so tired I’m gonna die.” |
| Now, let’s do a quick review. |
| Between 什么 and 天哪, which one is closer to the English expression “oh my gosh”? |
| 天哪！(Tiān na!) |
| Between the expressions 不会吧？and 真的吗？which one implies excitement? |
| 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| Between 讨厌 and 烦死了, which one is more used by girls and could mean the opposite? |
| 讨厌！(Tǎo yàn!) |
| Between 笑死我了 and 吓死我了, which one would you use when a wild cat jumps on you from nowhere while you’re walking alone at night? |
| 吓死我了！(Xià sǐ wǒ le!) |
| That is the end for this lesson. If you know some other interjections and examples you find interesting, please share them in the comment section below. Thank you for watching! See you next time, 再见！(zàijiàn!) |
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