Learn about speaking of the opposite sex
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Victor: 大家好，我是 Victor。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Victor.) |
| Amber: And I’m Amber. Welcome back to Gengo Chinese. This is Lesson 18. |
| Victor: Yeah, the The Beauty of the Orient—Pretty Girls and Handsome Boys. |
| Amber: Right. Of course, what story would be complete without some love interest, Victor? |
| Victor: Yeah. It’s a land of love. Yeah, so today, some guy-talk. |
| Amber: Yes. The eating, drinking, and being merry was all fine and dandy, but now, we get some juicy stuff! |
| Victor: Yep. |
| Amber: So Victor, I know you like pretty girls and all… |
| Victor: Yeah! |
| Amber: But we get into that, we should do a little review of last week's debacle in the translation. |
| Victor: Yes. Well, remember back to when the colleagues were all meeting up at the train station and they couldn't see Mike at the appointed meeting place. |
| Amber: Yeah. So we learned all about 看不见 (kànbùjiàn). |
| Victor: Yeah. This kind of verb compound expresses that a person is looking, but not able to see Mike. |
| Amber: That’s right. Also, we learned the word for “there.” |
| Victor: 那儿 (nàr) |
| Amber: Or its alter ego… |
| Victor: 那里 (nàlǐ) |
| Amber: Right. And the ever important cry for help, “I'm lost!” |
| Victor: 我迷路了。(Wǒ mílù le.) |
| Amber: Right! So, fortunately, there was a happy reuniting, a happy ending, which brings us to today's happy occasion, which is girl watching. |
| Victor: Let's see what kind of opportunities open up for Mike. |
| Amber: Right. So in this lesson, you’ll learn to talk a little bit about dating. |
| Victor: This conversation takes place in a park. |
| Amber: And it’s between our business associates and Mike on an outing. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Mike: 哇，那个女孩真漂亮。 (Wa, nàgè nǚhái zhēn piàoliàng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 哈哈，迈克，你喜欢漂亮的女孩！！ (Hāhā, Màikè, nǐ xǐhuān piàoliàng de nǚhái! !) |
| Mike: 中国的女人都很漂亮。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén dōu hěn piàoliàng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 你有女朋友吗？ (Nǐ yǒu nǚpéngyǒu ma?) |
| Mike: 呃……，没有。 (E.... méiyǒu.) |
| Manager Wang: 我们帮帮你，怎么样？ (Wǒmen bāngbāng nǐ, zěnmeyàng?) |
| Mr. Ma: 对。 (Duì.) |
| Mike: 不用，不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 我有一个很漂亮的同事。 (Wǒ yǒu yí gè hěn piàoliàng de tóngshì.) |
| Manager Wang: 而且你很帅，迈克。 (Erqiě nǐ hěn shuài, Màikè.) |
| Mike: 不用不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Manager Wang: 中国的女人一定喜欢你。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén yídìng xǐhuān nǐ.) |
| Victor: 重复一次, 慢速。 (Chóngfù yīcì, màn sù.) |
| Amber: One more time, a little slower. |
| Mike: 哇，那个女孩真漂亮。 (Wa, nàgè nǚhái zhēn piàoliàng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 哈哈，迈克，你喜欢漂亮的女孩！！ (Hāhā, Màikè, nǐ xǐhuān piàoliàng de nǚhái! !) |
| Mike: 中国的女人都很漂亮。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén dōu hěn piàoliàng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 你有女朋友吗？ (Nǐ yǒu nǚpéngyǒu ma?) |
| Mike: 呃……，没有。 (E.... méiyǒu.) |
| Manager Wang: 我们帮帮你，怎么样？ (Wǒmen bāngbāng nǐ, zěnmeyàng?) |
| Mr. Ma: 对。 (Duì.) |
| Mike: 不用，不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Mr. Ma: 我有一个很漂亮的同事。 (Wǒ yǒu yí gè hěn piàoliàng de tóngshì.) |
| Manager Wang: 而且你很帅，迈克。 (Erqiě nǐ hěn shuài, Màikè.) |
| Mike: 不用不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Manager Wang: 中国的女人一定喜欢你。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén yídìng xǐhuān nǐ.) |
| Victor: 重复一次, 加英文翻译。 (Chóngfù yīcì, jiā yīngwén fānyì.) |
| Amber: One more time, with the English. |
| Mike: 哇，那个女孩真漂亮。 (Wa, nàgè nǚhái zhēn piàoliàng.) |
| Amber: Wow, that girl is really beautiful. |
| Mr. Ma: 哈哈，迈克，你喜欢漂亮的女孩！！ (Hāhā, Màikè, nǐ xǐhuān piàoliàng de nǚhái! !) |
| Amber: Haha, Mike, you like pretty girls! |
| Mike: 中国的女人都很漂亮。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén dōu hěn piàoliàng.) |
| Amber: Chinese girls are all very beautiful. |
| Mr. Ma: 你有女朋友吗？ (Nǐ yǒu nǚpéngyǒu ma?) |
| Amber: Do you have a girlfriend? |
| Mike: 呃……，没有。 (E.... méiyǒu.) |
| Amber: Uh...no. |
| Manager Wang: 我们帮帮你，怎么样？ (Wǒmen bāngbāng nǐ, zěnmeyàng?) |
| Amber: We'll help you, what do you say? |
| Mr. Ma: 对。 (Duì.) |
| Amber: Yes. |
| Mike: 不用，不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Amber: No, no. |
| Mr. Ma: 我有一个很漂亮的同事。 (Wǒ yǒu yí gè hěn piàoliàng de tóngshì.) |
| Amber: I have a very beautiful co-worker. |
| Manager Wang: 而且你很帅，迈克。 (Erqiě nǐ hěn shuài, Màikè.) |
| Amber: Plus you are very handsome, Mike. |
| Mike: 不用不用。 (Búyòng, búyòng.) |
| Amber: No, no. |
| Manager Wang: 中国的女人一定喜欢你。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén yídìng xǐhuān nǐ.) |
| Amber: Chinese girls will definitely like you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: So, you know, Victor, I think this is pretty common, this dialogue, because Chinese people love to matchmake. |
| Victor: Yes, definitely! |
| Amber: I think, it’s not so much of a, sort of, bar scene, dating scene that people are hooking up. |
| Victor: No. |
| Amber: You know, generally, it’s through friends or family members. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Or even professional matchmakers that you’ll find the love of your life. |
| Victor: Right. The practice of just going up to a girl or a guy at a strange place and start talking is not very common in China. |
| Amber: Mm-hmm. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: So, if you wanna meet someone, you’re gonna have to listen to this vocabulary and learn it well. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Victor: 哇 (wa) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: wow |
| Victor: 哇 (wa) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 哇 (wa) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 那 (nà) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: that |
| Victor: 那 (nà) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 那 (nà) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 个 (gè) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: measure word |
| Victor: 个 (gè) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 个 (gè) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 女孩 (nǚhái) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: girl |
| Victor: 女孩 (nǚhái) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 女孩 (nǚhái) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 漂亮 (piàoliàng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: beautiful, pretty |
| Victor: 漂亮 (piàoliàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 漂亮 (piàoliàng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 都 (dōu) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: all |
| Victor: 都 (dōu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 都 (dōu) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 女朋友 (nǚ péngyǒu) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: girlfriend |
| Victor: 女朋友 (nǚ péngyǒu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 女朋友 (nǚ péngyǒu) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 帮 (bāng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: to help |
| Victor: 帮 (bāng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 帮 (bāng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: how is it |
| Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 怎么样 (zěnmeyàng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 对 (duì) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: correct, right |
| Victor: 对 (duì) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 对 (duì) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 用 (yòng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: to use |
| Victor: 用 (yòng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 用 (yòng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 而且 (érqiě) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: furthermore, plus |
| Victor: 而且 (érqiě) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 而且 (érqiě) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 帅 (shuài) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: handsome |
| Victor: 帅 (shuài) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 帅 (shuài) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 同事 (tóngshì) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: co-worker |
| Victor: 同事 (tóngshì) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 同事 (tóngshì) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 女人 (nǚrén) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: woman |
| Victor: 女人 (nǚrén) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 女人 (nǚrén) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: definitely, certainly |
| Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Amber: Okay, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Victor: Okay, well, today, we start out with the word appropriately for a girl. |
| Amber: Yeah, because Mike sees a girl, but even before we get to the word for girl, he starts out with a 哇!! (Wa!!) which I think we don’t really need to translate, do we, Victor? It’s kind of like “Wow!” |
| Victor: Yeah. And “girl” is 女孩 (nǚhái). 女 (Nǚ) is 3rd tone, 孩 (hái) is 2nd tone, or some people say 女孩儿 (nǚhái ér). |
| Amber: Yeah, it just depends on your accent. Some people add the 儿 (ér) sound onto the end. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: So, 女 (nǚ) is the word for “female,” and actually, interestingly, the 孩 (hái) is actually the word for “child.” |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: So, it’s kind of like maybe how we would say in English, you know, “girl” or “chick,” if that’s politically correct. Whatever term you prefer, kind of a more casual way of referring to a woman. |
| Victor: Correct. Well, also, in the dialogue, we hear him… Well, also, in the dialogue, we hear him say 女人 (nǚrén), which maybe is a little more mature sounding. |
| Amber: That’s right, because 女人 (nǚrén) is “woman,” which 人 (rén), being the word for “people,” and 女 (nǚ) being the word for “female.” So, it’s literally “female person.” But just for equality’s sake, Victor, I think at this point, perhaps we should throw in how you say “boy” and “man” in Chinese, Victor. |
| Victor: Sure, definitely. Very similar, you just swap out the word for “female” with the word for “male.” |
| Amber: Which is? |
| Victor: 男 (nán) |
| Amber: 男 (nán) |
| Victor: 男 (Nán) is 2nd tone. |
| Amber: Okay, so for “boy,” it’s… |
| Victor: 男孩 (Nánhái) or 男孩儿 (nánhái ér). |
| Amber: And for “man”? |
| Victor: It’s 男人 (nánrén). |
| Amber: Okay! So back to the story. Now, since China is so obviously swarming with beautiful girls, as we heard... |
| Victor: We hear him point out which girl by saying 那个女孩儿 (nàgè nǚhái ér). |
| Amber: Right. Now, remember, we learned 那 (nà) in an earlier lesson in this series. It means “that” and, of course, the 个 (gè) is our measure word. |
| Victor: Now, the next vocab word from that sentence, most people may know, from all the compliments they get from Chinese people! |
| Amber: Yes and a hint here, it’s not “big nose” and it’s not “fat,” neither of those compliments. It’s... |
| Victor: It’s 漂亮 (piàoliàng). 漂 (Piào) is 4th tone, 亮 (liang) is neutral tone. |
| Amber: Right, which means “beautiful”! |
| Victor: But this is for girls only. |
| Amber: Okay. Yes, that’s true. What about for guys? |
| Victor: Well, okay, we’ll give you a preview because it comes up later in the dialogue, but the word to compliment men is 帅 (shuài). |
| Amber: Right, “handsome.” Victor你很帅 (Victor nǐ hěn shuài). |
| Victor: Amber, Amber. |
| Amber: You didn’t say I was beautiful. |
| Victor: Okay. |
| Amber: I was trying to elicit a compliment. |
| Victor: Amber你很漂亮。 (Amber nǐ hěn piàoliang.) |
| Amber: Oh, thank you, thank you. |
| Victor: Amber你很漂亮。 (Amber nǐ hěn piàoliang.) Okay? |
| Amber: Okay. |
| Victor: And back to the vocab. |
| Amber: Yes, back to the vocab! So… |
| Victor: Back to the “pretty,” also note that she is 真漂亮 (zhēn piàoliang), not just 很漂亮 (hěn piàoliang). |
| Amber: Right! So, we know 很 (hěn) means “very,” but here, this 真 (zhēn) is actually the word for “really” pretty. |
| Victor: Really pretty. |
| Amber: 真 (Zhēn) is 1st tone. |
| Victor: Correct. And we’ll revisit the sentence in a moment... not because we love to dwell on pretty girls, but because there is an important grammar point! |
| Amber: Right. So, all of this pretty girl talk also leads us to the word naturally for “girlfriend.” |
| Victor: Which is 女朋友 (nǚ péngyǒu); 女 (nǚ) a 3rd tone, 朋 (péng) 2nd tone, and 友 (you) neutral tone. |
| Amber: So, if you break this down, in his side, we hear again the 女 (nǚ), the word for “female,” and 朋友 (péngyǒu) is actually the word for “friend.” |
| Victor: Right, 朋友 (péngyǒu). |
| Amber: Right. So, Victor, I’m going to grill you like they grilled Mike... 你有女朋友吗？ (Nǐ yǒu nǚ péngyǒu ma?) |
| Victor: 啊还没有。(A hái méiyǒu.) |
| Amber: So, I asked Victor, “Do you have a girlfriend?” He said, “He still doesn’t.” |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: So we are taking applications. |
| Victor: Right! |
| Amber: Okay. All right, all right. |
| Victor: But wait, Amber, —你有男朋友吗 (—nǐ yǒu nán péngyǒu ma)? |
| Amber: No, no, okay. Back to the lesson. We’re very sidetracked. Okay, so… |
| Victor: Very tactfully avoiding my question. |
| Amber: Right. 听不懂 (Tīng bù dǒng) “I don’t understand.” Okay! |
| Victor: That always works in China. |
| Amber: Yes! |
| Victor: 听不懂 (Tīng bù dǒng.) |
| Amber: It’s a good excuse. Okay. So lots of us seem to be getting embarrassed about these questions, and so, naturally, as we hear in the dialogue, Mike does kind of too. So, we hear him say another great phrase. What does he say when they ask him, does he need a girlfriend, does he want a girlfriend? |
| Victor: Yeah. He says, 不用, 不用 (búyòng, búyòng). |
| Amber: Which means “No need, no need.” But come on, every guy needs a girlfriend! |
| Victor: He seems to be concerned at the moment, though. |
| Amber: I think he is, I think he is lying. He’s shy. Okay, well, if you don’t have a girlfriend, Chinese people don’t really think you do need one. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: So, you can protest all you want, but it sounds like Mr. Ma, in the dialogue, has a willing candidate, or he feels that his beautiful co-worker would be into it. |
| Victor: Yeah, he says 我有一个很漂亮的同事 (Wǒ yǒu yīgè hěn piàoliang de tóngshì). |
| Amber: And the word for “co-worker” is… |
| Victor: 同事 (Tóngshì), 2nd tone and 4th tone. |
| Amber: The good old setup. Okay, and this is probably going to go over quite well because we hear next that Mike apparently is some kind of Brad Pitt. |
| Victor: Yes, the good thing about all foreigners looking alike is that apparently, you will all look like Brad Pitt. |
| Amber: It’s true! They’re very complimentary of a foreigner’s look and sometimes they’re like, what? I don’t think that guy is that good looking. |
| Victor: Or you look like Angelina Jolie. |
| Amber: Yeah, does it mean I look like Angelina Jolie to Chinese people? All right! |
| Victor: Well I can use our next vocab word to answer, Amber. |
| Amber: Okay. Is that good or bad? |
| Victor: 一定, 一定 (Yídìng, yídìng) |
| Amber: Oh, 一定 (yídìng) means “certainly.” It means I certainly do look like Angelina Jolie, is what you’re trying to say, okay. What are the tones on that? |
| Victor: 一 (Yī) is 1st tone, but because of the tone-change rule here, it is a 2nd tone, and 定 (dìng) is a 4th tone. |
| Amber: Good. so, 一定 (yídìng) means “definitely” or “certainly.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Amber: Okay, well, on that note, for our first grammar point, we are going to talk more about pretty girls, but mostly about modifying nouns. It’s like modifying nouns cloaked in pretty girls, to make it easier to swallow. Okay, so there’s a couple phrases we can pick out from this dialogue where we see a noun being modified. |
| Victor: Yes, the first one is 漂亮的女孩 (piàoliàng de nǚhái). |
| Amber: Okay. So the noun here is 女孩 (nǚhái), which is “girl.” |
| Victor: Yeah. And we want to say “pretty girl.” The word for pretty, we know, is 漂亮 (piàoliàng). |
| Amber: RIght. So, to modify the noun, we use the particle 的 (de) in Chinese. |
| Victor: So the words that modify the noun come first, then a 的 (de), then the noun |
| Amber: Right! So Mike doesn’t just like girls, he likes “pretty girls.” |
| Victor: 他喜欢‘漂亮的女孩。 (Tā xǐhuān ‘piàoliang de nǚhái.) |
| Amber: So he just said, “He likes pretty girls.” So, 漂亮的女孩 (piàoliàng de nǚhái) is the noun phrase here, “pretty girls.” How about our other example? |
| Victor: It’s very similar. Remember, 同事 (tóngshì) means co-worker. Well, we heard that Mr. Ma has a 漂亮的同事 (piàoliàng de tóngshì). |
| Amber: So, “a pretty co-worker,” in this case. What if I wanted to say a “handsome co-worker”? How would that sound? |
| Victor: You will say 帅的同事 (shuài de tóngshì). |
| Amber: Remember, 帅 (shuài) was the word for “handsome.” |
| Victor: Correct. |
| Amber: And there is something special to know here and that is that if the adjective you are attaching to your noun is a single syllable, like we have here with 帅 (shuài), you can actually omit the 的 (de) if you like. |
| Victor: Yeah. So, I could just say 帅同事 (shuài tóngshì). |
| Amber: All right. So, here in this dialogue, we actually see a little review, another usage of a grammar pattern that we already learned, which was the reduplication of verbs. |
| Victor: Yes, we heard 我们帮帮你 (wǒmen bāng bāng nǐ). |
| Amber: Right, 帮 (bāng) being the verb for “to help,” 1st tone. |
| Victor: Very eager colleague. |
| Amber: Yes, his ever-willing colleagues. |
| Victor: Yep. |
| Amber: Offering to “help him out.” |
| Victor: Always trying to set you up. |
| Amber: That’s right. So helpful, the Chinese. |
| Victor: That’s what friends do. |
| Amber: So remember, what’s the difference again when you double it up like that, Victor, the verb? Does it change the meaning? |
| Victor: It does not change the meaning. However, it does kind of soften the sentence a little bit. |
| Amber: So you could just say 帮你 (bāng nǐ) “help you.” |
| Victor: Yeah. That’s fine. It means “help you,” but when you double up the verb, you know, it’s kind of like… |
| Amber: Give you a little help, help you out a little, ‘give you that little push you need to stop being so shy with the girls. Okay, good. And don’t forget that in reduplicated verbs, the second time you say the verb, it changes to a neutral tone. |
| Victor: Correct. |
| Amber: So, it’s not 帮帮你 (Bāngbāng nǐ), it’s 帮帮你 (Bāngbang nǐ). |
| Victor: 帮帮 (Bāngbang), right. |
| Amber: Kind of like last time, remember, we learned, “have a taste”? |
| Victor: It’s 尝尝 (chángchang). |
| Amber: Right. |
| Victor: It’s not 尝尝 (chángcháng), but it’s 尝尝 (chángchang). |
| Amber: Second and neutral. Another really common one that gets reduplicated is “to have a look. |
| Victor: 看看 (kànkan) |
| Amber: Yeah. Or even “to have a listen”... |
| Victor: 听听 (Tīngting) |
| Amber: Right. All right! Next, we’re going to introduce you to a word that makes a lot of appearances in Chinese grammar, so it’s going to be part of your future, for sure. |
| Victor: This is the word 都 (dōu) that we hear in the sentence. |
| Amber: Right, 都 (dōu) is 1st tone and it basically means “all” or “both,” depending on the context. And you’re going to hear it in a lot of Chinese grammar patterns in different ways to come. |
| Victor: Today, we see it in the sentence, 中国的女人都很漂亮 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén dōu hěn piàoliàng). |
| Amber: Right. So, 都 (dōu) is an adverb, and it always occurs before the verb, or even in this case, or as in this case, the adjective phrase, which is here, 很漂亮 (hěn piàoliàng). So, as you mentioned, it will be in many Chinese grammar patterns, but today, it’s actually used as meaning “all.” So that sentence… |
| Victor: 中国的女人都很漂亮。 (Zhōngguó de nǚrén dōu hěn piàoliàng.) |
| Amber: It means “Chinese women are all very beautiful.” |
| Victor: And while we’re at it, there’s another word that is very, very often popping up in Chinese grammar structures, and that is 而且 (érqiě). |
| Amber: Right, which means “plus” or “furthermore.” And we heard it in this sentence… |
| Victor: 而且你很帅，迈克。 (Érqiě nǐ hěn shuài, Màikè.) |
| Amber: Which means, “Plus, you are really handsome, Mike.” So, basically, when you hear 而且 (érqiě), it means, so basically, 而且 (érqiě) here means “furthermore” or “plus.” And basically, you just place it like we would in English, when you’re adding a thought to something that came before. It’s kind of a good transition word. |
| Victor: Yes. 而且你很帅，迈克。 (Érqiě nǐ hěn shuài, Màikè.) And today is a nice intro to it, because today’s 而且 (érqiě) is light on the grammar. You’re going to see a lot of grammar structures to come. |
| Amber: Yes, another good word for future grammar reference. Now, one more important point, which is about negating verbs. |
| Victor: Now, we all know I love the negator we learned and use often, 不 (bù). |
| Amber: Yeah. And though it can be used, vast majority of the time, much of the time, there are certain exceptions where we use a different negator word, and that is the one we hear today, which is…? |
| Victor: 没有 (méiyǒu) |
| Amber: Right. So, the first rule, oh, first, the tones. |
| Victor: 没 (Méi) is 2nd tone, 有 (yǒu) is a 3rd tone. 没 (Méi), 2nd tone. |
| Amber: Right, okay. So, the first rule of how to choose which negator word to use is, in today’s dialogue, the verb being negated is 有 (yǒu), which means “to have.” And if you see the verb, 有 (yǒu), it’s always negated with 没 (méi). |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: You never say 不有 (bù yǒu). You say 没有 (méiyǒu). Now, there’re other situations as well where you’ll use 没 (méi), but for now, let’s just learn them one at a time and today, we found out that if you see 有 (yǒu), the verb, you know, if you want to make it negative, you use 没 (méi). You don’t use 不 (bù). |
| Victor: So, if you don’t have a girlfriend, you’re 没有 (méiyǒu). |
| Amber: Right. But if you do have a girlfriend, you can say 有 (yǒu). |
Outro |
| Amber: Okay, that does it for today’s Gengo Lesson 18. Everybody, listen to the dialogue one more time. Practice lots and maybe you too will get a beautiful girlfriend or a boyfriend. |
| Victor: Yeah, definitely! |
| Amber: And we’ll see you next time on Gengo Chinese. |
| Victor: 再见! (Zàijiàn!) |
| Amber: 再见! (Zàijiàn!) |
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