Learn about an adverb that can be used in several different ways, depending on the pronunciation
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo。(Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And we are here with another intermediate lesson, season 2, lesson 10. Experiencing a Chinese Sandstorm. |
| Echo: 沙尘暴。(Shāchénbào) |
| David: Yeah which is something that’s kind of special to Beijing and Northern China. |
| Echo: 嗯，对。(Ń, duì.) |
| David: Right. We got a lot of sands from the Gobi desert that are blowing across the north. So we’ve got a dialogue that takes place in Beijing where we get sandstorms usually in the spring. |
| Echo: 嗯，没错，两个朋友在谈沙尘暴的事。(Ń, méi cuò, liǎng gè péngyǒu zài tán shāchénbào de shì.) |
| David: Yes they are two friends and they are talking about the sandstorm and because they are friends, this is casual Mandarin as always. Okay… |
| Echo: 嗯哼，我们来听一下吧。(Ń hēng, wǒmen lái tīng yīxià ba.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:又刮沙尘暴了，真讨厌，你看我这灰头土脸的。 |
| (A: Yòu guā shāchénbào le, zhēn tǎoyàn, nǐ kàn wǒ zhè huītóutǔliǎn de.) |
| B:哎，你别说，我现在倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bié shuō, wǒ xiànzài dào xǐhuan qǐ shāchénbào lái le.) |
| A:疯了吧你！ |
| (A: Fēng le ba nǐ!) |
| B:北京现在想看一个蓝天基本靠风，沙尘暴这一刮，可吸入颗粒物没了，你说好不好？ |
| (B: Běijīng xiànzài xiǎng kàn yīgè lántiān jīběn kào fēng, shāchénbào zhè yī guā, kěxīrùkēlìwù méi le, nǐ shuō hǎo bù hǎo?) |
| A:你这是破罐子破摔的想法... |
| (A: Nǐ zhè shì pòguànzipòshuāi de xiǎngfǎ…) |
| B:哎，你看见我的口罩没？我要出去一趟。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de kǒuzhào méi? Wǒ yào chūqù yī tàng.) |
| A:口罩？没有，这儿有一个防毒面具。 |
| (A: Kǒuzhào? Méiyǒu, zhè'er yǒu yīgè fángdúmiànjù.) |
| B:对，就是我的。 |
| (B: Duì, jiù shì wǒ de.) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:又刮沙尘暴了，真讨厌，你看我这灰头土脸的。 |
| (A: Yòu guā shāchénbào le, zhēn tǎoyàn, nǐ kàn wǒ zhè huītóutǔliǎn de.) |
| B:哎，你别说，我现在倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bié shuō, wǒ xiànzài dào xǐhuan qǐ shāchénbào lái le.) |
| A:疯了吧你！ |
| (A: Fēng le ba nǐ!) |
| B:北京现在想看一个蓝天基本靠风，沙尘暴这一刮，可吸入颗粒物没了，你说好不好？ |
| (B: Běijīng xiànzài xiǎng kàn yīgè lántiān jīběn kào fēng, shāchénbào zhè yī guā, kěxīrùkēlìwù méi le, nǐ shuō hǎo bù hǎo?) |
| A:你这是破罐子破摔的想法... |
| (A: Nǐ zhè shì pòguànzipòshuāi de xiǎngfǎ…) |
| B:哎，你看见我的口罩没？我要出去一趟。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de kǒuzhào méi? Wǒ yào chūqù yī tàng.) |
| A:口罩？没有，这儿有一个防毒面具。 |
| (A: Kǒuzhào? Méiyǒu, zhè'er yǒu yīgè fángdúmiànjù.) |
| B:对，就是我的。 |
| (B: Duì, jiù shì wǒ de.) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:又刮沙尘暴了，真讨厌，你看我这灰头土脸的。 |
| (A: Yòu guā shāchénbào le, zhēn tǎoyàn, nǐ kàn wǒ zhè huītóutǔliǎn de.) |
| A: The sandstorm started again. It's so annoying. And look at me, I'm all covered with sand. |
| B:哎，你别说，我现在倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ bié shuō, wǒ xiànzài dào xǐhuan qǐ shāchénbào lái le.) |
| B: Hey, now that you mentioned it, I actually like sandstorms now. |
| A:疯了吧你！ |
| (A: Fēng le ba nǐ!) |
| A: Are you crazy? |
| B:北京现在想看一个蓝天基本靠风，沙尘暴这一刮，可吸入颗粒物没了，你说好不好？ |
| (B: Běijīng xiànzài xiǎng kàn yīgè lántiān jīběn kào fēng, shāchénbào zhè yī guā, kěxīrùkēlìwù méi le, nǐ shuō hǎo bù hǎo?) |
| B: If you want to see a blue sky now in Beijing, it needs to be a windy day. And the pollution goes when the sandstorm comes. Don't you think it's good? |
| A:你这是破罐子破摔的想法... |
| (A: Nǐ zhè shì pòguànzipòshuāi de xiǎngfǎ…) |
| A: You are throwing the handle after the blade. |
| B:哎，你看见我的口罩没？我要出去一趟。 |
| (B: Āi, nǐ kànjiàn wǒ de kǒuzhào méi? Wǒ yào chūqù yī tàng.) |
| B: Hey, did you see my mask? I need to go out. |
| A:口罩？没有，这儿有一个防毒面具。 |
| (A: Kǒuzhào? Méiyǒu, zhè'er yǒu yīgè fángdúmiànjù.) |
| A: Mask? No. Here's a gas mask. |
| B:对，就是我的。 |
| (B: Duì, jiù shì wǒ de.) |
| B: Yeah. That's mine. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: That’s about it. Also if you notice… |
| Echo: 我真的看到有人在北京的大街上戴防毒面具。 (Wǒ zhēn de kàn dào yǒurén zài běijīng de dàjiē shàng dài fángdú miànjù.) |
| David: Yes! Also it’s more and more common last year or two years, especially since last winter. Tones of people were wearing them. So, sandstorm and pollution. |
| Echo: 我觉得比较来说我更喜欢沙尘暴了。(Wǒ juédé bǐjiào lái shuō wǒ gèng xǐhuān shāchénbàole.) |
| David: I don’t mind sandstorms neither. Anyway, we’ve got a lot of vocab that is sandstorms-related. So, let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 刮 (guā) |
| David: to blow |
| Echo: 刮 (guā) |
| Echo: 灰头土脸 (huītóutǔliǎn) |
| David: all covered with dust |
| Echo: 灰头土脸 (huītóutǔliǎn) |
| Echo: 你别说 (nǐ bié shuō) |
| David: now that you mention it |
| Echo: 你别说 (nǐ bié shuō) |
| Echo: 可吸入颗粒物 (kě xīrù kēlìwù) |
| David: inhalable particles |
| Echo: 可吸入颗粒物 (kě xīrù kēlìwù) |
| Echo: 破罐子破摔 (pò guànzi pò shuāi) |
| David: to throw the handle after the blade |
| Echo: 破罐子破摔 (pò guànzi pò shuāi) |
| Echo: 口罩 (Kǒuzhào) |
| David: face mask |
| Echo: 口罩 (Kǒuzhào) |
| Echo: 防毒面具 (fángdúmiànjù) |
| David: gas mask |
| Echo: 防毒面具 (fángdúmiànjù) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay there is a ton of interesting and kind of advanced stuff here. The most interesting for me is this – to throw the handle after the blade. |
| Echo: 这是我最喜欢的一个短语，破罐子破摔。(Zhè shì wǒ zuì xǐhuān de yīgè duǎnyǔ, pò guànzi pò shuāi.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again a bit slower. |
| Echo: 破罐子破摔，一个已经坏了的罐子，就是它已经坏了反正就算了。(Pò guànzi pò shuāi, yīgè yǐjīng huàile de guànzi, jiùshì tā yǐjīng huàile fǎnzhèng jiùsuànle.) |
| David: It’s already broken, it doesn’t really matter what you do with it. |
| Echo: 所以你就把这情况变得更糟糕。(Suǒyǐ nǐ jiù bǎ zhè qíngkuàng biàn dé gèng zāogāo.) |
| David: Okay. So you know the situation is already really bad, what does it matter? |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Okay yeah in the dialogue, we heard that as a standalone sentence almost. |
| Echo: 对，你这是破罐子破摔的想法。(Duì, nǐ zhè shì pò guànzi pò shuāi de xiǎngfǎ.) |
| David: Right. The air is already this bad. So loving a sandstorm isn’t really the worst you can do. |
| Echo: 嗯，没错，很多时候你都可以用这个，比如说一个人他早上迟到了，起床起的很晚，然后他就想，哎算了，我已经迟到了，那我今天不去了。(Ń, méi cuò, hěnduō shíhòu nǐ dōu kěyǐ yòng zhège, bǐrú shuō yīgè rén tā zǎoshang chídàole, qǐchuáng qǐ de hěn wǎn, ránhòu tā jiù xiǎng, āi suànle, wǒ yǐjīng chídàole, nà wǒ jīntiān bù qùle.) |
| David: If I am going to be late, I may as well be late with style, right? |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Okay. |
| Echo: 那你这就是破罐子破摔的想法。(Nà nǐ zhè jiùshì pò guànzi pò shuāi de xiǎngfǎ.) |
| David: Yeah. A lot of the stuff, we’ve also got nouns like sandstorm. |
| Echo: 沙尘暴。(Shāchénbào.) |
| David: And we’ve got these two words for masks. First we’ve got the smaller, the mouth mask. |
| Echo: 对，正常大家用的口罩。(Duì, zhèngcháng dàjiā yòng de kǒuzhào.) |
| David: Right. Mouth mask |
| Echo: 口罩 (Kǒuzhào) |
| David: Which were first popular during SARS. People put white masks around their face. These days, the antipollution ones that fit are also… |
| Echo: 口罩 (Kǒuzhào) |
| David: Unless you are getting one that’s really big. |
| Echo: 嘿嘿，防毒面具 (Hēihēi, fángdú miànjù) |
| David: Literally an anti-poison mask. |
| Echo: 防毒面具，口罩呢一般是指罩住嘴和鼻子的，但是面具就是所有的整个脸 (Fángdú miànjù, kǒuzhào ne yībān shì zhǐ zhào zhù zuǐ hé bízi de, dànshì miànjù jiùshì suǒyǒu de zhěnggè liǎn) |
| David: Yeah it’s the whole phase also protecting the eyes which you need in a sandstorm sometimes. |
| Echo: 啊，我是有，我是比较破罐子破摔的 (A, wǒ shì yǒu, wǒ shì bǐjiào pò guànzi pò shuāi de) |
| David: You can’t see it all. It doesn’t… |
| Echo: 我是别说防毒面具了，连口罩都不用 (Wǒ shì bié shuō fángdú miànjùle, lián kǒuzhào dōu bùyòng) |
| David: Okay. We’ve got this wonderful expression now that you mentioned it. |
| Echo: 你别说 (Nǐ bié shuō) |
| David: Now that you mentioned it. |
| Echo: 你别说 (Nǐ bié shuō) |
| David: Which we’ve translated the way people will use it because literally you are saying like you don’t speak but what you are saying is, let me tell you about it. |
| Echo: 没错，这就像那个，别提了 (Méi cuò, zhè jiù xiàng nàgè, biétíle) |
| David: Yeah, yeah it’s not don’t mention it, it’s not, I don’t want to talk about this. |
| Echo: 是你想说 (Shì nǐ xiǎng shuō) |
| David: I want to talk about this. |
| Echo: 是一个说话的开始 (Shì yīgè shuōhuà de kāishǐ) |
| David: Yeah. Last but not least, if you do come to Beijing and experience the sandstorm, you are going to find yourself all covered with dust. |
| Echo: 灰头土脸 (Huītóutǔliǎn) |
| David: Right. Literally kind of that’s gray hair and dirt face. |
| Echo: 对(Duì)，或者是(Huòzhě shì)gray head，也可以 (Yě kěyǐ) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 灰头土脸，这个词特别好，除了它有表面的意思就是很脏，还有一个意思就是说这个人很不幸运 (Huītóutǔliǎn, zhège cí tèbié hǎo, chúle tā yǒu biǎomiàn de yìsi jiùshì hěn zàng, hái yǒu yīgè yìsi jiùshì shuō zhège rén hěn bù xìngyùn) |
| David: Yeah unlucky. |
| Echo: 比如说他今天来看一个朋友，但是他这个朋友没在家，他灰头土脸的回家了(Bǐrú shuō tā jīntiān lái kàn yīgè péngyǒu, dànshì tā zhège péngyǒu méi zàijiā, tā huītóutǔliǎn de huí jiāle) |
| David: In a sandstorm. |
| Echo: 哈哈，还赶上沙尘暴 (Hāhā, hái gǎn shàng shāchénbào) |
| David: Here is a question. Could you use this to describe your kids if you want them to take a bath? You know, they’ve been out playing outside. They are really dirty, can you say, you guys are really dirty, come take a bath. |
| Echo: 可以，但是你要想一想他们能不能明白这个词，灰头土脸 (Kěyǐ, dànshì nǐ yào xiǎng yī xiǎng tāmen néng bùnéng míngbái zhège cí, huītóutǔliǎn) |
| David: It’s educational. |
| Echo: 你看你灰头土脸的，快来洗澡 (Nǐ kàn nǐ huītóutǔliǎn de, kuài lái xǐzǎo) |
| David: Right. So a lot of advanced vocab in this lesson. We’ve got a nice grammar point for you too. So let’s get to it. It’s grammar time. Okay Echo, what are we talking about today? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 嗯，今天我们要谈的是这一个字，倒。(Ń, jīntiān wǒmen yào tán de shì zhè yīgè zì, dào.) |
| David: An adverb. |
| Echo: 倒 (Dào) |
| David: Right. This has different meanings based on the pronunciation. So we are going to talk about one of them but just to review, we’ve covered this word before. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: We’ve run into it twice as a verb. |
| Echo: 对，比如说倒水倒茶 (Duì, bǐrú shuō dào shuǐ dào chá) |
| David: Fourth tone meaning to pour, to pour water. |
| Echo: 倒水 (Dào shuǐ) |
| David: Right. We’ve got a meaning to fall over or to topple. |
| Echo: 倒，比如说摔倒 (Dào, bǐrú shuō shuāi dǎo) |
| David: Yeah to fall down and get kind of overturned in that fashion. Here we are using it as an adverb though in the fourth tone. |
| Echo: 倒 (Dào) |
| David: In our dialogue, we heard it in this line. |
| Echo: 我现在倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了(Wǒ xiànzài dào xǐhuān qǐ shāchénbào láile) |
| David: Now, I kind of like sandstorms. |
| Echo: 我现在倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了 (Wǒ xiànzài dào xǐhuān qǐ shāchénbào láile) |
| David: Yeah and we are not literally translating it but we are translating the way it changes the meaning of the sentence. It doesn’t mean I’ve always liked them. We are translating the way it changes the meaning of the sentence. Literally what it’s doing is it’s saying, this is unexpected. |
| Echo: 对，是相反的 (Duì, shì xiāngfǎn de) |
| David: Right it’s contrary to what you are expecting. You know, I know you are not expecting me to like sandstorms but actually I like them. |
| Echo: 对，就是一般人都不会喜欢，但是我倒喜欢起沙尘暴来了(Duì, jiùshì yībānrén dōu bù huì xǐhuān, dànshì wǒ dào xǐhuān qǐ shāchénbào láile) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 或者是我以前不喜欢，现在我倒喜欢了(Huòzhě shì wǒ yǐqián bù xǐhuān, xiànzài wǒ dào xǐhuānle) |
| David: Yeah and the important thing is you know the other person isn’t expecting it. |
| Echo: 没错 (Méi cuò) |
| David: So in English, it’s coming close to actually or you are not expecting this but… |
| Echo: 对，你看我们中文多简单，一个字，倒 (Duì, nǐ kàn wǒmen zhōngwén duō jiǎndān, yīgè zì, dào) |
| David: Just one sound. We’ve got a couple of examples for you. Echo? |
| Echo: 今天上海污染的很厉害，北京倒没事 (Jīntiān shànghǎi wūrǎn de hěn lìhài, běijīng dào méishì) |
| David: Today, Shanghai is really polluted, but Beijing is okay. |
| Echo: 今天上海污染的很厉害，北京倒没事 (Jīntiān shànghǎi wūrǎn de hěn lìhài, běijīng dào méishì) |
| David: Right because normally Beijing is much worse than Shanghai. |
| Echo: 嗯，没错，你平时不戴口罩，今天倒戴上口罩了 (Ń, méi cuò, nǐ píngshí bù dài kǒuzhào, jīntiān dào dài shàng kǒuzhàole) |
| David: Normally you don’t wear a mask but today you are wearing one. |
| Echo: 你平时不戴口罩，今天倒戴上口罩了 (Nǐ píngshí bù dài kǒuzhào, jīntiān dào dài shàng kǒuzhàole) |
| David: Yeah. Is that a question? |
| Echo: 啊，不是 (A, bùshì) |
| David: Or is it just a statement of… |
| Echo: 是表示有点吃惊的 (Shì biǎoshì yǒudiǎn chījīng de) |
| David: What’s going on. |
| Echo: 比如说平时天气很糟糕你不戴口罩，今天是一个蓝天，你怎么戴上口罩了(Bǐrú shuō píngshí tiānqì hěn zāogāo nǐ bù dài kǒuzhào, jīntiān shì yīgè lántiān, nǐ zěnme dài shàng kǒuzhàole) |
| David: Huh yeah you don’t wear mask when it’s polluted but you are wearing one today. That’s kind of weird, unexpected. |
| Echo: 对，没错 (Duì, méi cuò) |
| David: One more example. |
| Echo: 今天大家都来了，他倒迟到了 (Jīntiān dàjiā dōu láile, tā dào chídàole) |
| David: Everyone’s come today but he is late. |
| Echo: 今天大家都来了，他倒迟到了 (Jīntiān dàjiā dōu láile, tā dào chídàole) |
| David: Right and moreover when he came, he was covered with dust and dirt. |
| Echo: 灰头土脸的来了 (Huītóutǔliǎn de láile) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 他平时可能都是很早的就到了，但今天，他倒迟到了 (Tā píngshí kěnéng dōu shì hěn zǎo de jiù dàole, dàn jīntiān, tā dào chídàole) |
| David: Yeah and he is the most punctual of the group. What’s he doing late like this. Doesn’t make any sense, no one is expecting it. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: So this is actually really easy to use. |
| Echo: 对，就是一个 把它放在动词的前面 (Duì, jiùshì yīgè bǎ tā fàng zài dòngcí de qiánmiàn) |
| David: Yeah. And we just wanted to point it out because it’s really easy to miss it reading sentences in translation or trying to understand things literally. |
| Echo: 嗯，对 (Ń, duì) |
Outro |
| David: Okay with that we are at the end of our show. At the intermediate level, if you haven’t yet, make sure you do go and check out these PDFs we’ve got. |
| Echo: 没错，我们有这个语法生词 (Méi cuò, wǒmen yǒu zhège yǔfǎ shēngcí) |
| David: Yeah. Everything is written down. It’s really useful because you know, a lot of these words are lower frequency but if you see them, it really helps it stick. |
| Echo: 没错 (Méi cuò) |
| David: For now though, that’s all the time we have. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)echo |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见(Wǎngshàng jiàn)Bye bye. |
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