Vocabulary (Review)

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

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.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

Hēi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ jiào Mǎ Yànrú. Hi everybody! I’m YanruMa.
Welcome to ChineseClass101.com’s “Sān fēnzhōng Hànyǔ”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Chinese.
In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb zuò, which means "to do" in Chinese.
In this lesson, we will learn how to use xǐhuān, a very romantic Chinese verb, which is also the third verb in our series dedicated to the most common Chinese verbs.
In this lesson we are going to see how to use it correctly. Let’s go!
Imagine you are in a restaurant with your fiancé and he or she asks you Nǐ xǐhuān Zhōngguó cài ma ?
This means "Do you like Chinese food?"
So supposing you like it (even if it is not so romantic!) You can say èn, wǒ xǐhuān which means “Yes, I like it.”
[slowly] Èn, wǒ xǐhuān.
So let’s break down this answer:
First we had-
èn, which is simply "Yes."
Then wǒ’ which is "I" in Chinese. After that we have xǐhuān, which means "like".
Note that in China we use the verb xǐhuān to express that we "just like" something or someone. If you want to show that you really like or you love something or someone, there is another word - ài.
But when it comes to the word ài, you should be careful. When you use this word to talk about something, it just means you like something really a lot. But when you want to use it to someone, be careful because this person must be your lover or a family member. And actually it’s not that common for people to say this word even to their families, as most Chinese people feel shy about discussing this kind of feeling. If they do love you, they might act that way rather than say it. So don’t use it with someone even if you really really like him or her, because you might be misunderstood to be trying to confess something and it may cause you trouble!
But if you are talking to the person you fell in love with, you can tell him or her Wǒ ài nǐ. which is the famous "I love you" in Chinese! Isn’t that romantic?
Now it’s time for Yanru’s Tips.
In Chinese, if you really want to insist on the fact that you love something but in an informal way, you can use the adverbs hěn or fēicháng which mean “very much”, to modify the word xǐhuān. You will certainly hear Wǒ hěn /fēicháng xǐhuān jiàqī! This means "I really like holidays!" It’s stronger than xǐhuān but weaker than ài.
In this lesson, we learned how to use the verbs xǐhuān and ài depending on the degree of your feeling!
Next time, we’ll learn another very useful and romantic verb, lái. Do you know what this Chinese verb means? I’ll be waiting with the answer in the next Sān fēnzhōng Hànyǔ.
Zài jiàn !

Comments

Hide
25 Comments
Please to leave a comment.
ChineseClass101.com
2013-03-22 18:30:00

What Chinese food do you like the most?

ChineseClass101.com
2019-12-23 01:44:58

你好 robert groulx,

谢谢 for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄

Kind regards,

雷文特 (Levente)

Team ChineseClass101.com

robert groulx
2019-12-19 01:54:23

thank you for the lesson transcript

fvoritephrase is Nǐ xǐhuān Zhōngguó cài ma ?

robert

ChineseClass101.com
2019-08-09 13:48:30

Hello Jason,

Thank you for your comment. We don't use 是 to answer all the yes-no questions, depending on the context, we normally simply repeat the verb used in the questions. In short, we can just say 喜欢 (xǐhuān), which means "yes (I like it)".

Let us know if you have any questions.

Ngai Lam

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jason
2019-08-07 19:59:53

Hi. To give an affirmative response, Chen says 嗯,我喜欢。 - en, wǒ xǐhuān. Is it also possible to answer 是,我喜欢。- Shì, wǒ xǐhuān. ?

Many thanks

ChineseClass101.com
2019-06-11 23:52:07

Hello Jacob Wright,

Thank you for your comment. You can say 草莓甜甜圈.😄

Let us know if you have any questions.

Ngai Lam

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jacob Wright
2019-06-08 14:11:25

我很喜欢草莓的甜甜圈。

ChineseClass101.com
2018-12-19 21:51:31

Hello Ben,

Thank you for your comment! 😄

You can say 我喜欢在学中文 => 我喜欢学中文.

As always, let us know if you have any questions.

Ngai Lam

Team ChineseClass101.com

Ben
2018-12-19 00:04:08

我喜欢在学中文。 😄

ChineseClass101.com
2016-12-19 00:19:23

Hi, Andrew,

Commonly, 英文 = 英语, 法文 = 法语, so 中文,英文,法文 = 中文,英语,法语。。。

Both of them are correct to say.:smile:

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Andrew
2016-12-10 18:22:12

Hi Cho,

I am confused now. I saw your comment with Jano20 and you wrote what is 中文, 英文, 法文 etc..

Are these Chinese words not commonly used in China? Because where I am 中文, 英文 和法文 are always used。

I thought both were correct to say? Or is this a location thing?

Team ChineseClass101.com
2015-07-04 11:02:11

Hi John,

I know what you mean now.

For the meaning, 等等=什么的

等等 is the most formal one.

什么的 is close to "~~", just used in oral Chinese between friends.

So you can use 什么的 in a conversation.

I think if you learn some new phrase, you can make some sentences to master it completely.

Welcome to show us your sentence.

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jano20
2015-06-27 18:38:45

Hello Cho,

Thank you for the comment! It was very useful! I learnt 什么的 from a textbook and maybe they wrote it wrong.

BTW 谢谢你 for cheering me up because of the mistakes. Innovative Language Larning = :heart::thumbsup:

John

Team ChineseClass101.com
2015-06-27 10:58:47

Hello 约翰,

Thank you for your reply.

The translation may be "我学习中文,法语,英语,意大利语,德语等等。"

Please don't feel sorry to make make mistakes, it will make you rember more clearly and get improvement.

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jano20
2015-06-20 22:51:05

Cho 你好。:smile:

对不起!:grin: I Wanted to write that I learn Chinese, French, English, Italian, German, etc. etc. etc.

Sorry Again!

约翰

Team ChineseClass101.com
2015-06-20 10:00:17

你好,约翰。

非常高兴认识你。

谢谢你喜欢我们的课。

(Thank you for enjoying our lessons.)

Could you tell me what's the meaning of

"我是中文,法文,英文,意大利文,德文,什么的,什么的 什么的学生。"?

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jano20
2015-06-13 18:31:24

大家好!我的名字是约翰。非常非常高兴认识你。我是中文,法文,英文,意大利文,德文,什么的,什么的 什么的学生。我是匈牙利人。我十二岁。我非常非常非常非常非常非常非常爱Innovative Language Learning!

Jano20
2015-04-20 21:45:22

:smile::sunglasses::wink::innocent::thumbsup::smile::sunglasses::laughing::wink::innocent::thumbsup::smile::innocent::wink::smile::sunglasses::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

ChineseClass101.com
2015-04-20 21:27:50

Hi Jano20,

不用谢 (bùyòng xiè)! You're welcome! :grin:

Olivia

Team ChineseClass101.com

Jano20
2015-04-16 02:01:03

Ni hao, Olivia!

Xie xie for your comment! I :heart: these three minutes series! 3 and 6 are my lucky number. (Could your make a 6 minutes series?::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

John

ChineseClass101.com
2015-04-14 00:22:08

Hi Jano20,

hahaha Hi John, yes I teach on CantoneseClass101.com, and help out on ChineseClass101.com sometimes too :sweat_smile:

Olivia

Team ChineseClass101.com

Top