Learn how to use 着 to talk about having insider knowledge of something, from a conversation between two people in China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好，我是Echo. (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And we are here today with intermediate, season 2, Lesson 4. Being Stubborn Might Pay Off in China. |
| Echo: 中国式拆迁。(Zhōngguó shì chāiqiān.) |
| David: Yes which is not just, it’s not just getting the building down, it’s also…. |
| Echo: 还有把人都弄死的呢。(Hái yǒu bǎ rén dōu nòng sǐ de ne.) |
| David: Not really moving them because they are building a giant dam. So Echo, we got dialogue here which is between two people. |
| Echo: 对，他们是朋友，有一个人他们家是正在拆迁，对，所以他正在给他的朋友解释发生了什么事。(Duì, tāmen shì péngyǒu, yǒuyī gèrén tāmen jiā shì zhèngzài chāiqiān, duì, suǒyǐ tā zhèngzài gěi tā de péngyǒu jiěshì fāshēngle shénme shì.) |
| David: Right. And this is casual Mandarin as always. Let’s get to the dialogue. |
| Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:听说你们家的老房子要拆迁了？ |
| (A: Tīngshuō nǐmen jiā de lǎofángzi yào chāiqiān le?) |
| B:对，不过我们家都商量好了做"钉子户"。 |
| (B: Duì, bùguò wǒmen jiā dōu shāngliang hǎo le zuò “dīngzihù”.) |
| A:怎么呢？政府的赔偿不满意？ |
| (A: Zěn me ne? Zhèngfǔ de péicháng bù mǎnyì?) |
| B:对，赔得太少，也不能原地回迁。 |
| (B: Duì, péi de tài shǎo, yě bù néng yuándì huíqiān.) |
| A:是吗？我听说很多人因为拆迁都成了千万富翁了。 |
| (A: Shì ma? Wǒ tīngshuō hěnduō rén yīnwèi chāiqiān dōu chéng le qiānwànfùwēng le.) |
| B:那是远郊区政府征地，我们这种危改的不行。 |
| (B: Nà shì yuǎn jiāoqū zhèngfǔ zhēngdì, wǒmen zhèzhǒng wēi gǎi de bùxíng.) |
| A:哦，我不知道这里面原来还有这么多学问。 |
| (A: O, wǒ bù zhīdào zhè lǐmiàn yuánlái háiyǒu zhème duō xuéwèn.) |
| B:这里边的门道儿多着呢。 |
| (B: Zhè lǐ biān de méndaor duō zhe ne.) |
| David: Once more, a little bit slower. |
| A:听说你们家的老房子要拆迁了？ |
| (A: Tīngshuō nǐmen jiā de lǎofángzi yào chāiqiān le?) |
| B:对，不过我们家都商量好了做"钉子户"。 |
| (B: Duì, bùguò wǒmen jiā dōu shāngliang hǎo le zuò “dīngzihù”.) |
| A:怎么呢？政府的赔偿不满意？ |
| (A: Zěn me ne? Zhèngfǔ de péicháng bù mǎnyì?) |
| B:对，赔得太少，也不能原地回迁。 |
| (B: Duì, péi de tài shǎo, yě bù néng yuándì huíqiān.) |
| A:是吗？我听说很多人因为拆迁都成了千万富翁了。 |
| (A: Shì ma? Wǒ tīngshuō hěnduō rén yīnwèi chāiqiān dōu chéng le qiānwànfùwēng le.) |
| B:那是远郊区政府征地，我们这种危改的不行。 |
| (B: Nà shì yuǎn jiāoqū zhèngfǔ zhēngdì, wǒmen zhèzhǒng wēi gǎi de bùxíng.) |
| A:哦，我不知道这里面原来还有这么多学问。 |
| (A: O, wǒ bù zhīdào zhè lǐmiàn yuánlái háiyǒu zhème duō xuéwèn.) |
| B:这里边的门道儿多着呢。 |
| (B: Zhè lǐ biān de méndaor duō zhe ne.) |
| David: And now, with English translation. |
| A:听说你们家的老房子要拆迁了？ |
| (A: Tīngshuō nǐmen jiā de lǎofángzi yào chāiqiān le?) |
| A: I hear your old apartment's getting torn down. |
| B:对，不过我们家都商量好了做"钉子户"。 |
| (B: Duì, bùguò wǒmen jiā dōu shāngliang hǎo le zuò “dīngzihù”.) |
| B: Yeah, but our family's decided to be the nail household. |
| A:怎么呢？政府的赔偿不满意？ |
| (A: Zěn me ne? Zhèngfǔ de péicháng bù mǎnyì?) |
| A: Why? You are not satisfied with the government's compensation? |
| B:对，赔得太少，也不能原地回迁。 |
| (B: Duì, péi de tài shǎo, yě bù néng yuándì huíqiān.) |
| B: Yeah. It's too little and we can't move back once the new building's up. |
| A:是吗？我听说很多人因为拆迁都成了千万富翁了。 |
| (A: Shì ma? Wǒ tīngshuō hěnduō rén yīnwèi chāiqiān dōu chéng le qiānwànfùwēng le.) |
| A: Really? I hear a lot of people became multi-millionaires because of demolition. |
| B:那是远郊区政府征地，我们这种危改的不行。 |
| (B: Nà shì yuǎn jiāoqū zhèngfǔ zhēngdì, wǒmen zhèzhǒng wēi gǎi de bùxíng.) |
| B: That's what happens when land is expropriated by the government in the suburbs. This kind of transformation of dangerous buildings isn't treated the same. |
| A:哦，我不知道这里面原来还有这么多学问。 |
| (A: O, wǒ bù zhīdào zhè lǐmiàn yuánlái háiyǒu zhème duō xuéwèn.) |
| A: Oh. I didn't know there was so much to learn about this. |
| B:这里边的门道儿多着呢。 |
| (B: Zhè lǐ biān de méndaor duō zhe ne.) |
| B: There's a lot going on here. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So this dialogue is interesting because there are a lot of words that they carry a lot of kind of Chinese meanings that you can’t just…. |
| Echo: 对，它里面有好多中国特色的这种词。(Duì, tā lǐmiàn yǒu hǎoduō zhōngguó tèsè de zhè zhǒng cí.) |
| David: Yeah you can’t just translate them. So the vocab section is going to be interesting. First, let’s just take a look at these words. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 拆迁 (chāiqiān) |
| David: To tear down. |
| Echo: 钉子户 (dīngzihù) |
| David: Nail household. |
| Echo: 赔偿 (péicháng) |
| David: Compensation. |
| Echo: 回迁 (huíqiān) |
| David: To move back. |
| Echo: 千万富翁 (qiānwànfùwēng) |
| David: Multimillionaire. |
| Echo: 征地 (zhēngdì) |
| David: To expropriate land. |
| Echo: 危改 (wēigǎi) |
| David: Transformation of a dangerous building. |
| Echo: 学问 (xuéwèn) |
| David: Knowledge. |
| Echo: 问道儿 (méndaor) |
| David: Inner qualities. |
| Echo: 问道儿 (méndaor) |
| David: Okay. A lot to talk about. Let’s tackle this from the start. Our first verb is |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 拆迁 (Chāiqiān) |
| David: To tear down. |
| Echo: 拆迁 (Chāiqiān) |
| David: Or to be condemned. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: Condemn to be demolished. You can see this in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. |
| Echo: 那个“拆”字到处都是，然后画一个圆圈。(Nàgè “chāi” zì dàochù dōu shì, ránhòu huà yīgè yuánquān.) |
| David: Yeah people will draw circle and they write the character 拆 in the middle, which means this compound is going to get ripped down. |
| Echo: 没错，“迁”的意思就是挪走，换一个地方。”拆“就是都拆掉了。(Méi cuò,“qiān” de yìsi jiùshì nuó zǒu, huàn yīgè dìfāng.” Chāi “jiùshì dōu chāi diàole.) |
| David: Yeah. Moving on, we have the concept of the nail household. |
| Echo: 钉子户 (Dīngzi hù) |
| David: Literally a nail household. It’s because they are stubborn. |
| Echo: 因为他们想要更多的赔偿。(Yīnwèi tāmen xiǎng yào gèng duō de péicháng.) |
| David: They want more money, they get stuck in. It’s really hard to pull them out. |
| Echo: 没错，有一些非常有名的钉子户，如果你们想看跟钉子户有关的新闻你们可以搜查一下。(Méi cuò, yǒu yīxiē fēicháng yǒumíng de dīngzi hù, rúguǒ nǐmen xiǎng kàn gēn dīngzi hù yǒuguān de xīnwén nǐmen kěyǐ sōuchá yīxià.) |
| David: Yeah and eventually the government gets frustrated and it builds the road around the 钉子户 (Dīngzi hù), you can see photos on the net. Moving on, we have the concept of compensation. |
| Echo: 赔偿 (Péicháng) |
| David: Compensation. |
| Echo: 赔偿 (Péicháng) |
| David: Which isn’t specific to housing. Specific to housing though is the notion of land expropriation. |
| Echo: 征地，有的时候你也会听到”政府征地“。因为征地一般都是政府的。(Zhēngdì, yǒu de shíhòu nǐ yě huì tīng dào” zhèngfǔ zhēngdì “. Yīnwèi zhēngdì yībān dōu shì zhèngfǔ de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 很多征地其实是在就是征收农民的这些地，农田，把这些地都改成现在改成商品房。(Hěnduō zhēngdì qíshí shì zài jiùshì zhēngshōu nóngmín de zhèxiē de, nóngtián, bǎ zhèxiē de dōu gǎi chéng xiànzài gǎi chéng shāngpǐnfáng.) |
| David: Yeah. So there is a conceptual difference in the dialogue and in real life, based on whether you are getting compensated because the government is |
| Echo: 征地还是危改 (Zhēngdì háishì wēi gǎi) |
| David: Right. If it’s 征地 (Zhēngdì) you get paid more money because it’s… |
| Echo: 因为征地是你自己的土地。(Yīnwèi zhēngdì shì nǐ zìjǐ de tǔdì.) |
| David: Yeah it’s for commercial use however if it is…. |
| Echo: 危改，这个就不会有太多的赔偿。(Wēi gǎi, zhège jiù bù huì yǒu tài duō de péicháng.) |
| David: Yeah. They are ripping it down because it’s considered dangerous. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So there are fights over you know, how things get classified when they get ripped down because it makes big difference. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: We’ve got this fantastic word at the end as well. |
| Echo: 门道儿。(Méndao er.) |
| David: Yes which is doorway. |
| Echo: 对，但是跟门没有太多的关系。(Duì, dànshì gēn mén méiyǒu tài duō de guānxì.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo:这个门道儿呢有一个我们经常说的，如果你看京剧，“外行看热闹，内行看门道儿”。(Zhège méndao er ne yǒu yīgè wǒmen jīngcháng shuō de, rúguǒ nǐ kàn jīngjù,“wàiháng kàn rènào, nèiháng kān méndao er”.) |
| David: Yeah it’s a really interesting word. It means kind of like inner qualities but it’s suggesting that if you know something |
| Echo: 如果你是专业的。(Rúguǒ nǐ shì zhuānyè de.) |
| David: You know what to look for. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. So in that sentence, it was in Beijing Opera. |
| Echo: 外行看热闹，内行看门道儿。(Wàiháng kàn rènào, nèiháng kān méndao er.) |
| David: Yeah. The new comers see the action on the stage but people who know the industry see the kind of the inner secrets or the advanced acting… |
| Echo: 没错，没错，就是这个专业的比如说这个人演的是不是专业，他唱的词对不对，就这些东西。(Méi cuò, méi cuò, jiùshì zhège zhuānyè de bǐrú shuō zhège rén yǎn de shì bùshì zhuānyè, tā chàng de cí duì bùduì, jiù zhèxiē dōngxī.) |
| David: Yeah how they are tilting their head while they speak. It doesn’t just need to be acting. I mean if you are buying things, you can also have 门道儿。(Méndao er.) |
| Echo: 对，没错。比如说特别是你买这些电子产品。(Duì, méi cuò. Bǐrú shuō tèbié shì nǐ mǎi zhèxiē diànzǐ chǎnpǐn.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 现在这个在北京，在百脑汇，在中关村，你要买什么比如说照相机，买电脑等等。(Xiànzài zhège zài běijīng, zài bǎi nǎo huì, zài zhōngguāncūn, nǐ yāomǎi shénme bǐrú shuō zhàoxiàngjī, mǎi diànnǎo děng děng.) |
| David: Yeah or there are two DVD players and they are almost the same. Which one do you get? |
| Echo: 对，你要知道门道儿。(Duì, nǐ yào zhīdào méndao er.) |
| David: Yeah. You’ve got to know enough about the stuff to know which one is good and what’s not. Right, so it suggests that it’s a secret and a hidden knowledge. A bit mysterious, a bit arcane. |
| Echo: 没错，今天的我们的这个语法点里面也有门道儿。(Méi cuò, jīntiān de wǒmen de zhège yǔfǎ diǎn lǐmiàn yěyǒu méndao er.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Yes. And with that, let’s get to the grammar point. It’s grammar time. And this is a fun grammar point because nobody teaches it. Echo, we are learning what? |
| Echo: 在我们的门道儿这个句子里， 这里边的门道儿多着呢。(Zài wǒmen de méndao er zhège jùzi lǐ, zhè lǐbian de méndao er duō zhene.) |
| David: Yeah. The inner knowledge, the arcane knowledge in this area |
| Echo: 多着呢。(Duō zhene.) |
| David: Yeah and there is a lot of it. |
| Echo: 我们学过“着”，对吧。比如说“他笑着说什么什么什么”，或者是“他吃着饭”。(Wǒmen xuéguò “zhe”, duì ba. Bǐrú shuō “tā xiàozhe shuō shénme shénme shénme”, huòzhě shì “tā chīzhe fàn”.) |
| David: Right. At this level, you already know it’s used with verbs for continuous action. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Something is ongoing. However in this case, we’ve got 着 following adjective. |
| Echo: 不是动词，是形容词，“多着呢”。(Bùshì dòngcí, shì xíngróngcí,“duō zhene”.) |
| David: Right. And in this case, it’s not continuous aspect, it’s emotional emphasis. |
| Echo: 没错，就是不只是多，而是多着呢，就是特别多，多到你无法想象。(Méi cuò, jiùshì bù zhǐshì duō, ér shì duō zhene, jiùshì tèbié duō, duō dào nǐ wúfǎ xiǎngxiàng.) |
| David: Really there is a lot. There is more than you know. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So it’s emotional tone that we are adding here and not present tense. It is really tricky because adjectives are also kind of verbs that yet confuses a lot of people. |
| Echo: 我们给大家一些例子:这片小区回迁以后房价高着呢。(Wǒmen gěi dàjiā yì xiē lìzi: Zhè piàn xiǎoqū huíqiān yǐhòu fángjià gāo zhāo ne.) |
| David: After people moved back, the prices in this complex went through the roof. |
| Echo: 这片小区回迁以后房价高着呢。(Zhè piàn xiǎoqū huíqiān yǐhòu fángjià gāo zhāo ne.) |
| David: Yeah. Not just – they didn’t just go up, they really went up. |
| Echo: 没错，特别特别高。(Méi cuò, tèbié tèbié gāo.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 中国的千万富翁多着呢，很多人在买房。(Zhōngguó de qiān wàn fùwēng duō zhene, hěnduō rén zài mǎifáng.) |
| David: There are a lot of multi-millionaires in China. A lot of people are buying housing. |
| Echo: 中国的千万富翁多着呢，很多人在买房。(Zhōngguó de qiān wàn fùwēng duō zhene, hěnduō rén zài mǎifáng.) |
| David: Yeah and it’s not just a few, there are a lot. There is this extra emphasis because we are using this pattern. |
| Echo: 对，这片危改房里面的钉子户厉害着呢。(Duì, zhè piàn wēi gǎi fáng lǐmiàn de dīngzi hù lìhài zhene.) |
| David: Let’s hear these three examples again. |
| Echo: 这里边的门道儿多着呢。这片小区回迁以后房价高着呢。 中国的千万富翁多着呢，很多人在买房。(Zhè lǐbian de méndao er duō zhene. Zhè piàn xiǎoqū huíqiān yǐhòu fángjià gāo zhāo ne. Zhōngguó de qiān wàn fùwēng duō zhene, hěnduō rén zài mǎifáng.) |
| David: So remember, there is a pattern here which is adjective plus 着呢 (Zhene). This is different than the verb 着呢 (Zhene) pattern. |
| Echo: 这个最重要的就是表达了你的这种语气。(Zhège zuì zhòngyào de jiùshì biǎodále nǐ de zhè zhǒng yǔqì.) |
| David: Yeah and also you are kind of communicating that the other person doesn’t know this but I am telling you because you just you have no idea. |
| Echo: 有的时候如果你遇到一些特别不客气，特别不礼貌的卖东西的人。(Yǒu de shíhòu rúguǒ nǐ yù dào yīxiē tèbié bù kèqì, tèbié bù lǐmào de mài dōngxī de rén.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 他们可能会说“这个贵着呢，你买得起吗？”。(Tāmen kěnéng huì shuō “zhège guì zhene, nǐ mǎi dé qǐ ma?”.) |
| David: Yeah. This is really expensive. Can you afford it? So again, intermediate, we are getting up there. This is a lot more about emotional emphasis but a really useful pattern to know. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
Outro |
| David: And with that we are at the end of our lesson. We hope you enjoyed it. Before we go, we did want to remind you that we have flashcards and other study tools in the premium learning center. |
| Echo: 没错，可以帮你你更好的学习更好的记住这些生词。(Méi cuò, kěyǐ bāng nǐ nǐ gèng hǎo de xuéxí gèng hǎo de jì zhù zhèxiē shēngcí.) |
| David: Yeah. It can help get the stuff, it can help get the new vocab stuck in your memory most of all. And with that, if you have any questions again our email address is |
| Echo: Contact us at chineseclass101.com |
| David: From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo (Wǒ shì Echo) |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见 Bye bye. (Wǎngshàng jiàn Bye bye.) |
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