Learn about the adverb meaning "first"
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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 with lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 19. |
| Echo: Feeling Under the Weather in China. |
| David: Right. So we have a fast-paced dialogue, casual Mandarin as always about someone who is feeling sick. |
| Echo: Right and he is talking to his colleague. |
| David: Yes because even though he is sick, he came to work. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Right to make them sick. |
| Echo: Well in China, we call that you know, as a very good spirit like you work hard and you come to work even if you are sick. |
| David: And then you make everyone else sick. Let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:真不好意思，我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.) |
| B:怎么了，要去医院吗？(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?) |
| A:没事，就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.) |
| B:那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.) |
| A:好，我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.) |
| David: Once more, a bit slower. |
| A:真不好意思，我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.) |
| B:怎么了，要去医院吗？(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?) |
| A:没事，就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.) |
| B:那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.) |
| A:好，我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.) |
| David: And now with an English translation. |
| Echo: 真不好意思，我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.) |
| David: I am really sorry, I am a little bit sick. |
| Echo:怎么了，要去医院吗？(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?) |
| David: What’s wrong, do you need to go to the hospital? |
| Echo: 没事，就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.) |
| David: It’s no problem, I just have a bit of a headache. |
| Echo: 那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.) |
| David: Then please go home to rest. |
| Echo: 好，我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.) |
| David: Okay I will go now. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 我觉得他的同事和老板很好。(Wǒ juédé tā de tóngshì hé lǎobǎn hěn hǎo.) |
| David: I think tomorrow when his boss gets a headache; he is not going to be in. He is not going to be the most welcomed employee of the year. |
| Echo: Well he can – well the boss can go back home and rest himself too. |
| David: I guess anytime he wants. Yeah anyway, do we have a theme for vocab today? |
| Echo: Yes it’s pretty much about illness and uncomfortable. |
| David: Okay. So it’s another depressing podcast. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 有点。(Yǒudiǎn.) |
| David: To be a little. |
| Echo: 有点,有点, 难受。(Yǒudiǎn, yǒudiǎn, nánshòu.) |
| David: Troubled. |
| Echo:难受, 难受, 医院。(Nánshòu, nánshòu, yīyuàn.) |
| David: Hospital. |
| Echo: 医院,医院,就是。(Yīyuàn, yīyuàn, jiùshì.) |
| David: Just. |
| Echo: 就是,就是,头疼。(Jiùshì, jiùshì, tóuténg.) |
| David: Headache. |
| Echo: 头疼,头疼,先。(Tóuténg, tóuténg, xiān.) |
| David: First. |
| Echo: 先,先,回去。(Xiān, xiān, huíqù.) |
| David: To return. |
| Echo: 回去,回去,休息。(Huíqù, huíqù, xiūxí.) |
| David: To rest. |
| Echo: 休息,休息。(Xiūxí, xiūxí.) |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. First up. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 有点。(Yǒudiǎn.) |
| David: Yes this is what – people always forget this. |
| Echo: Yeah or always like mix up with another one. |
| David: Well it’s the verb people mix up because in English, we want to say, I am a little sick. That’s tricky in a way. A lot of people make this mistake. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: It’s the verb to have. |
| Echo: 有。(Yǒu.) |
| David: It’s to have a little. |
| Echo: 没错(Méi cuò), It’s not to be a little. |
| David: Yes literally… |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Right but in English, we say things like I am a bit cold. |
| Echo:我有点儿冷。(Wǒ yǒudiǎn er lěng.) |
| David: Or I am a bit hot. |
| Echo: 我有点儿热。(Wǒ yǒudiǎn er rè.) |
| David: Right. So we can’t just translate this idea literally. |
| Echo: 对, 你不能说 是点儿。(Duì, nǐ bùnéng shuō shì diǎn er.) |
| David: Yes. Can’t say that, don’t say it. |
| Echo: It’s always 有点儿。(Yǒudiǎn er.) |
| David: Always, always and we can put adjectives after it. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: To have a little adjective. |
| Echo: 唔, 他有点儿难受。(Wú, tā yǒudiǎn er nánshòu.) |
| David: He is feeling a little rough. |
| Echo: 或者是 他有点儿不舒服。(Huòzhě shì tā yǒudiǎn er bú shūfú.) |
| David: Yeah and that’s our second word. |
| Echo: 难受。(Nánshòu.) |
| David: Troubled. |
| Echo:难受。(Nánshòu.) |
| David: Feeling uncomfortable. |
| Echo: Right this can be both physically and emotionally. |
| David: Yeah literally it’s 难 (Nán) as in difficult and 受 (Shòu) as in to bear something. |
| Echo: 没错 (Méi cuò) So hard to bear. |
| David: Yeah a situation that’s hard to bear, yeah. I hear it used a bit more I think with emotions than physical problems. |
| Echo: Both okay. I think it’s because you know, people don’t like to express when they are physically 难受.(Nánshòu.) |
| David: Yeah or maybe it’s that 难受 (Nánshòu) is it’s pretty vague. So people will use it just for you know, you’ve got a bit of a headache and maybe a bit nauseous but you can’t specify what it is. |
| Echo: And also 难受 (Nánshòu) is like stronger than 不舒服.(Bú shūfú.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: So if you say oh 你很难受 (Nǐ hěn nánshòu) it’s something wrong. |
| David: Yeah but you don’t necessarily know what because as soon as you know it’s a fever, you are going to say I’ve got a fever. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So 难受 (Nánshòu) is basically, it’s the universal under the weather phrase in Chinese. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Okay. Echo, our next word is what? |
| Echo: 就是。(Jiùshì.) |
| David: Precisely to be. |
| Echo: 就是。(Jiùshì.) |
| David: Right or just. |
| Echo: 对, 我就是有点儿头疼。(Duì, wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er tóuténg.) |
| David: Yeah it’s providing emphasis but it’s saying you know it’s in this case, it’s saying it’s not that serious. |
| Echo: Not a big deal, yeah. |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 我就是有点儿不舒服。(Wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er bú shūfú.) |
| David: And just a little uncomfortable. |
| Echo: Or 他就是有点儿感冒。(Tā jiùshì yǒudiǎn er gǎnmào.) |
| David: Right or if you see a friend who is crying, you might go over and ask why and he could say, oh, I am just a little bothered. |
| Echo: 唔, 我就是有点儿难受。(Wú, wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er nánshòu.) |
| David: Yeah. Give him a wet towel. So with that, that’s the end of our vocab list. We’ve got a great grammar point for you today. It’s grammar time. Okay our grammar point today is about a very special adverb. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 先。(Xiān.) |
| David: First. |
| Echo: 先。(Xiān.) |
| David: Now let’s step back to our dialogue and look at the line where we hear this. |
| Echo: 我先走了。(Wǒ xiān zǒule.) |
| David: We translated this as okay, I will go now. |
| Echo: 我先走了。 (Wǒ xiān zǒule.) |
| David: Because that’s how Chinese people use it most of the time. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Right. It literally means it’s first but it’s more polite to say that than I am going now, right now. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Right because it implies while you are going to, I am just you know, 5 seconds, 10 seconds early. |
| Echo: 哈哈, 我先走了。(Hāhā, wǒ xiān zǒule.) |
| David: Right. So we put this in front of verbs. For instance |
| Echo: 你先去, 然后我也去。(Nǐ xiān qù, ránhòu wǒ yě qù.) |
| David: You go first and then I will go too. |
| Echo: 你先去, 然后我也去。(Nǐ xiān qù, ránhòu wǒ yě qù.) |
| David: So maybe you are with a friend and you are looking for two different cabs. Right, one cab pulls up and you say to them like you take this cab, I will take the next one. Another example. |
| Echo: 他先吃, 你再吃。(Tā xiān chī, nǐ zài chī.) |
| David: That’s he is going to eat now and then... |
| Echo: You can eat. |
| David: You can eat. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Maybe someone is serving food. |
| Echo:他先吃, 你再吃。(Tā xiān chī, nǐ zài chī.) |
| David: There is only enough space at the table for one person. |
| Echo: 对, 或者是让老人先看病。(Duì, huòzhě shì ràng lǎorén xiān kànbìng.) |
| David: Right. Let the elderly people see the doctor first. |
| Echo: 让老人先看病。(Ràng lǎorén xiān kànbìng.) |
| David: Yeah. So this can be the same subject. So people doing activities can be the same person. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Or they can be different people. |
| Echo: 都可以。(Dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Right. In previous examples, we’ve mostly been dealing with different people you know. You go first and then I will go or I will go first and then you do this. You can also use this when the subject doesn’t change. When you are describing two things that you are going to do. |
| Echo: 没错, 比如说我先休息一下 再工作。(Méi cuò, bǐrú shuō wǒ xiān xiūxí yīxià zài gōngzuò.) |
| David: I am going to rest a bit first and then work. |
| Echo: 我先休息一下 再工作。(Wǒ xiān xiūxí yīxià zài gōngzuò.) |
| David: I am going to rest and then work. Okay so remember, the adverb |
| Echo: 先。(Xiān.) |
| David: It literally means first but Chinese people will use it colloquially in the same sense as now but people will use it colloquially in the sense of now. |
| Echo: 先。(Xiān.) |
Outro |
| David: Perfect. And with that, that’s our show. Before we go, we want to remind you, how many seconds it takes to sign up at chineseclass101? |
| Echo: 唔....只有七秒。(Wú.... Zhǐyǒu qī miǎo.) |
| David: Yes not 6, not 8 but maybe 6 if your internet is fast. Normally it’s 7 seconds, national average. |
| Echo: 对, 你们先把邮箱给我们, 然后我们给你。(Duì, nǐmen xiān bǎ yóuxiāng gěi wǒmen, ránhòu wǒmen gěi nǐ.) |
| David: Your password. Okay and if you have any problems, write us. Our email address is contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: For now, that’s our show. Thank you for listening and we hope to hear from you. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo, 网上见吧! (Wǒ shì Echo, wǎngshàng jiàn ba!) |
| David: See you later. |
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