Learn an incredibly useful Chinese phrase that will keep your Chinese conversation flowing
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com, I am David. |
| Jane: 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Jane。 |
| David: Right. We are here with Jane as well as intermediate series, season 2, Lesson 21. |
| Jane: The Most Luxurious Hotel in China. |
| David: Right. This lesson, we are taking you to the peak of luxury here in Beijing, 5-Star Hotel style and what you are going to find might be a bit surprising. |
| Jane: I think so. |
| David: Our conversation is in a hotel room. It takes place between a guest and someone who is trying to sell them the room. |
| Jane: And they are speaking in casual Mandarin. |
| David: So we are going to get you to the dialogue in a sec. Before we do that, we want to remind you that we have flashcards right up there on chineseclass101.com |
| Jane: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: If you are at the intermediate level, you already know that a lot of learning language is picking up new words. Our online flashcards make this really, really easy. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: With just one click, you can be studying these words and it’s really going to help them stick. |
| Jane: 赶快开始吧。(Gǎnkuài kāishǐ ba.) |
| David: That being said though, let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 这个房间可真大呀！(Zhège fángjiān kě zhēn dà yā!) |
| 那是，总统套房。(Nà shì, zǒngtǒng tàofáng.) |
| 这张床真软！(Zhè Zhāng Chuángzhēn ruǎn!) |
| 当然，五星级，都是进口的。(Dāngrán, wǔ xīng jí, dōu shì jìnkǒu de.) |
| 这厕所真高级！哎？怎么没有热水？(Zhè cèsuǒ zhēn gāojí! āi? zěnme méiyǒu rèshuǐ?) |
| 哦？又停电了。(ò? Yòu tíngdiànle.) |
| 又。。。？(Yòu... ?) |
| 忘了告诉你，这里隔三差五就会停会儿电。节约用电嘛！(Wàng le gàosu nǐ, zhèli gésānchàwǔ jiù huì tíng huì ér diàn. Jiéyuē yòngdiàn ma!) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 这个房间可真大呀！(Zhège fángjiān kě zhēn dà yā!) |
| 那是，总统套房。(Nà shì, zǒngtǒng tàofáng.) |
| 这张床真软！(Zhè Zhāng Chuángzhēn ruǎn!) |
| 当然，五星级，都是进口的。(Dāngrán, wǔ xīng jí, dōu shì jìnkǒu de.) |
| 这厕所真高级！哎？怎么没有热水？(Zhè cèsuǒ zhēn gāojí! āi? zěnme méiyǒu rèshuǐ?) |
| 哦？又停电了。(ò? Yòu tíngdiànle.) |
| 又。。。？(Yòu... ?) |
| 忘了告诉你，这里隔三差五就会停会儿电。节约用电嘛！(Wàng le gàosu nǐ, zhèli gésānchàwǔ jiù huì tíng huì ér diàn. Jiéyuē yòngdiàn ma!) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 这个房间可真大呀！(Zhège fángjiān kě zhēn dà yā!) |
| This room is really big! |
| 那是，总统套房。(Nà shì, zǒngtǒng tàofáng.) |
| Of course, it's the presidential suite. |
| 这张床真软！(Zhè Zhāng Chuángzhēn ruǎn!) |
| This bed is so soft. |
| 当然，五星级，都是进口的。(Dāngrán, wǔ xīng jí, dōu shì jìnkǒu de.) |
| Of course, it's five stars and is an imported. |
| 这厕所真高级！哎？怎么没有热水？(Zhè cèsuǒ zhēn gāojí! āi? zěnme méiyǒu rèshuǐ?) |
| The washroom is so high-class! Hey, why isn't there hot water? |
| 哦？又停电了。(ò? Yòu tíngdiànle.) |
| Oh, must be another blackout. |
| 又。。。？(Yòu... ?) |
| Another...? |
| 忘了告诉你，这里隔三差五就会停会儿电。节约用电嘛！(Wàng le gàosu nǐ, zhèli gésānchàwǔ jiù huì tíng huì ér diàn. Jiéyuē yòngdiàn ma!) |
| I forgot to tell you, there are occasional power cuts here. It saves energy. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So our lesson today is all about living in style. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: Right even when you don’t have power which you will still have happening on occasions here in Beijing but…. |
| Jane: Better right now, yeah. |
| David: Yeah it’s getting better and better. |
| Jane: Especially in bigger cities, yeah. |
| David: Yeah, yeah especially down south actually near Shanghai. They used to black out the cities around Shanghai to keep the lights on in the big one. Anyway, our vocab is useful for anyone who ever visits a 5-Star hotel. So let’s get to it. |
| Jane: 好吧。(Hǎo ba.) |
| David: And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jane: 总统套房(Zǒngtǒng tàofáng) |
| David: Presidential suite. |
| Jane: 总统套房，总统套房。五星级(Zǒngtǒng tàofáng, zǒngtǒng tàofáng. Wǔ xīng jí) |
| David: 5-Star. |
| Jane: 五星级，五星级。进口(Wǔ xīng jí, wǔ xīng jí. Jìnkǒu) |
| David: To import. |
| Jane: 进口，进口。高级(Jìnkǒu, jìnkǒu. Gāojí) |
| David: High level. |
| Jane: 高级，高级。隔三差五(Gāojí, gāojí. Gésānchàwǔ) |
| David: Once in a while. |
| Jane: 隔三差五，隔三差五。节约用电(Gésānchàwǔ, gésānchàwǔ. Jiéyuē yòng diàn) |
| David: To conserve power. |
| Jane: 节约用电，节约用电。停电(Jiéyuē yòng diàn, jiéyuē yòng diàn. Tíngdiàn) |
| David: Blackout. |
| Jane: 停电，停电。(Tíngdiàn, tíngdiàn.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we want to talk about is |
| Jane: 五星级(Wǔ xīng jí) |
| David: 5-Star level. |
| Jane: 五星级(Wǔ xīng jí) |
| David: And of course, this is an adverbial phrase. So you can say, a 5-Star hotel. |
| Jane: 五星级酒店(Wǔ xīng jí jiǔdiàn) |
| David: A 4-Star hotel. |
| Jane: 四星级酒店(Sì xīng jí jiǔdiàn) |
| David: Or maybe a 3-Star restaurant. |
| Jane: 三星级饭店(Sān xīng jí fàndiàn) |
| David: Pretty easy. It’s literally 5-Star level. |
| Jane: 五星级(Wǔ xīng jí) |
| David: And then the object we are describing. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: Right. In this lesson, it’s a hotel and a presidential suite. |
| Jane: 总统套房(Zǒngtǒng tàofáng) |
| David: Now, a presidential suite is very high level. |
| Jane: 高级，高级。(Gāojí, gāojí.) |
| David: And this is the second word we want to highlight. Jane, what else do we have besides high level? |
| Jane: 还有“初级”(Hái yǒu “chūjí”) |
| David: Which is beginning level. |
| Jane: 中级(Zhōngjí) |
| David: Intermediate, mid-level and you can also combine them. You can have lower intermediate level. |
| Jane: 初中级(Chūzhōng jí) |
| David: Or mid high level. |
| Jane: 中高级(Zhōng gāojí) |
| David: And as before, you can use this like an adjective putting it in front of nouns. |
| Jane: 高级酒店(Gāojí jiǔdiàn) |
| David: A high level hotel and if you take the HSK, there is the beginning HSK. |
| Jane: 初级考试。(Chūjí kǎoshì.) |
| David: Mid-level HSK. |
| Jane: 中级考试。(Zhōngjí kǎoshì.) |
| David: And then the difficult one, the advanced HSK. |
| Jane: 高级考试。(Gāojí kǎoshì.) |
| David: Right. Our next word is pretty tricky. |
| Jane: 隔三差五(Gésānchàwǔ) |
| David: So this is a phrase. Jane, how do we use this? |
| Jane: 这个(Zhège)phrase它是这样非常口语化的。其实就是说...(Tā shì zhèyàng fēicháng kǒuyǔ huà de. Qíshí jiùshì shuō...) |
| David: Once in a while. |
| Jane: 对，过了一阵儿，一阵儿就来的意思。(Duì,guòle yīzhèn er, yīzhèn er jiù lái de yìsi.) |
| David: Yeah or time and time again. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: something happens not too often but it keeps happening. |
| Jane: 对，比如说这个句子:他隔三差五就来医院看我。(Duì, bǐrú shuō zhège jùzi: Tā gésānchàwǔ jiù lái yīyuàn kàn wǒ.) |
| David: He comes to the hospital every now and then to see me. |
| Jane: 他隔三差五就来医院看我。(Tā gésānchàwǔ jiù lái yīyuàn kàn wǒ.) |
| David: He comes to the hospital every now and then to see me. |
| Jane: 即是它也是一个(Jí shì tā yěshì yīgè)time phrase,它应该直接放在主语的后面。(Tā yīnggāi zhíjiē fàng zài zhǔyǔ de hòumiàn.) |
| David: Right. Our next and last word is |
| Jane: 节约用电(Jiéyuē yòng diàn) |
| David: To conserve power. |
| Jane: 节约用电(Jiéyuē yòng diàn) |
| David: And we just want to touch on this because it’s really, really common and there is another phrase as well Jane. I know you are dying to stick in here. |
| Jane: 非常中国式的 － 节约用水。(Fēicháng zhōngguó shì de - jiéyuē yòngshuǐ.) |
| David: That would be to conserve water. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: So two really common expressions to conserve power. |
| Jane: 节约用电(Jiéyuē yòng diàn) |
| David: And to conserve water. |
| Jane: 节约用水(Jiéyuē yòngshuǐ) |
| David: And of course, you can use the word to conserve in other context too. |
| Jane: 节约。(Jiéyuē.) |
| David: With that though, that’s our vocab for today. Let’s get on to the grammar point. |
| Jane: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Our grammar point today is actually less a grammar point than an emotional point. It’s not really difficult grammar. What we are going to be talking about is two different ways of saying the same thing that have these different – slight difference in meaning to them. |
| Jane: 就是你说话的时候，那个音调会有一点变化。(Jiùshì nǐ shuōhuà de shíhòu, nàgè yīndiào huì yǒu yīdiǎn biànhuà.) |
| David: Yeah. Let’s go back and listen to two key sentences in today’s dialogue. |
| Jane: 那是，总统套房。(Nà shì, zǒngtǒng tàofáng.) |
| David: Of course, it’s the presidential suite. The second sentence is |
| Jane: 当然，五星级，都是进口的。(Dāngrán, wǔ xīng jí, dōu shì jìnkǒu de.) |
| David: Of course, it’s 5-Stars and they’re import. The common point between them is the two words we translate as of course. |
| Jane: 那是(Nà shì) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 当然(Dāngrán) |
| David: Let’s hear those again. |
| Jane: 那是(Nà shì) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 当然(Dāngrán) |
| David: Although these mean the same thing, there is a slight emotional difference to them. 当然(Dāngrán) is relatively formal. |
| Jane: 对，和“那是“比较起来，”那是“比较口语一点。(Duì, hé “nà shì “bǐjiào qǐlái,” nà shì “bǐjiào kǒuyǔ yīdiǎn.) |
| David: But it’s also emphasizing something a bit more and it’s showing an amount of pride. When we have a dialogue, they are being shown the presidential suite and they say, well of course, this is the presidential suite. |
| Jane: 而且你在说这个词的时候，你要吧重点放在第一个字的上面:“那”。(Érqiě nǐ zài shuō zhège cí de shíhòu, nǐ yào ba zhòngdiǎn fàng zài dì yī gè zì de shàngmiàn:“Nà”.) You say 那是。(Nà shì.) |
| David: Like of course, it should be self evident. This is the presidential suite, of course it’s big. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: So this is a really small point. We’ve got two more sample sentences for you to hopefully help drive this home. |
| Jane: 比如说，如果有人夸你的女朋友长得很漂亮，你可以这么回答“那是，当模特儿的。”(Bǐrú shuō, rúguǒ yǒurén kuā nǐ de nǚ péngyǒu zhǎng dé hěn piàoliang, nǐ kěyǐ zhème huídá “nà shì, dāng mótè ér de.”) |
| David: Of course, she is pretty. She is a model and we’ve got a very colloquial expression, maybe a feeling of kind of pride there too. |
| Jane: 那是，当模特儿的。(Nà shì, dāng mótè ér de.) |
| David: Jane, how about another example of 当然(Dāngrán) |
| Jane: 比如说，有人说你的电脑挺好用的，你可以说“当然，我买的都是进口的。”(Bǐrú shuō, yǒurén shuō nǐ de diànnǎo tǐng hǎo yòng de, nǐ kěyǐ shuō “dāngrán, wǒ mǎi de dōu shì jìnkǒu de.”) |
| David: Of course, what I bought is all imported although I think more and more computers are made in China. So it’s harder and harder to get one that isn’t. That being said, the difference between these two words is very small. It’s a difference of really tone and intonation. Now, you are at the intermediate level though, you are ready to start focusing on these things. |
| Jane: 你要考虑怎么用来把你的重点放在哪一个字上面，来表达不同的意思。(Nǐ yào kǎolǜ zěnme yòng lái bǎ nǐ de zhòngdiǎn fàng zài nǎ yīgè zì shàngmiàn, lái biǎodá bùtóng de yìsi.) |
Outro |
| David: So that’s our lesson for today. As always, we have plenty more examples and a full write up of this grammar point in our lesson PDF. If you are a premium subscriber, you can come and get that from our site. For now though, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Jane: 我是(Wǒ shì)Jane。 |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you at chineseclass101.com |
| Jane: 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
| David: Bye bye. |
Comments
Hide