Learn a grammar pattern that helps tell location or where the action is happening
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brendan: You’re listening to Chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and funniest way to learn Chinese. I’m Brendan. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo.(Hāi,dàjiāhǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: And we’re coming at you from Beijing today with Lower Intermediate Series, Season 1, Lesson 18 – “House hunting in China”. |
| Echo: It’s a very popular topic right now. |
| Brendan: It is one of the least fun things you can do, at least as far as I’m concerned. But, I was house hunting recently, it was just stressful, it’s a stressful, stressful thing. |
| Echo: And, our dialogue today takes place in an empty house. |
| Brendan: Yes, and unfurnished house, between two people who are looking for houses together, as I was not so long ago. |
| Echo: And they are speaking casual mandarin. |
| Brendan: Right. Now, we’re going to take you to the dialogue in just a second, but before we do that, a reminder. If you want to make sure that you’re retaining all of the vocabulary that we cover in these lessons, one of the best things you can do is log in to our premium language Learning Center and check out our flashcards. All right. Let’s go to the dialogue. Now, this is kind of madness that I think deceased everybody who’s ever moved, you know, there’s a point when you’re, either when you’re looking for apartments or when you’re moving, and you think yourself like “All right. Forget this. I’m going to burn everything I own. I’m going to live like a Zen monk, you know, I’ll just, I’ll sleep in a little corner of the apartment. I don’t need any possessions.” |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:这套房子真大！(Zhè tào fángzi zhēn dà!) |
| B:只要5000块钱一个月。(Zhǐyào wǔqiān kuài yī ge yuè.) |
| A:100平米5000块钱？真的？(Yībǎi píngmǐ wǔqiān kuài ? Zhēnde?) |
| B:对，但这是空房。(Duì, dàn zhè shì kōng fáng.) |
| A:哦，所以我们还得买家具。(ò, suǒyǐ wǒmen hái dé mǎijiā jù.) |
| B:家具？我们不需要家具，睡在地上就行。(Jiājù? Wǒmen bù xūyào jiājù, shuì zàidishàng jiù xíng.) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:这套房子真大！(Zhè tào fángzi zhēn dà!) |
| B:只要5000块钱一个月。(Zhǐyào wǔqiān kuài yī ge yuè.) |
| A:100平米5000块钱？真的？(Yībǎi píngmǐ wǔqiān kuài ? Zhēnde?) |
| B:对，但这是空房。(Duì, dàn zhè shì kōng fáng.) |
| A:哦，所以我们还得买家具。(ò, suǒyǐ wǒmen hái dé mǎijiā jù.) |
| B:家具？我们不需要家具，睡在地上就行。(Jiājù? Wǒmen bù xūyào jiājù, shuì zàidishàng jiù xíng.) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:这套房子真大！(Zhè tào fángzi zhēn dà!) |
| A: This apartment is huge. |
| B:只要5000块钱一个月。(Zhǐyào wǔqiān kuài yī ge yuè.) |
| B: It's only 5000 Yuan a month. |
| A:100平米5000块钱？真的？(Yībǎi píngmǐ wǔqiān kuài ? Zhēnde?) |
| A: 100 square meters for 5000! Really? |
| B:对，但这是空房。(Duì, dàn zhè shì kōng fáng.) |
| B: Yes. But it's unfurnished. |
| A:哦，所以我们还得买家具。(ò, suǒyǐ wǒmen hái dé mǎijiā jù.) |
| A: Oh, so we still have to buy furniture. |
| B:家具？我们不需要家具，睡在地上就行。(Jiājù? Wǒmen bù xūyào jiājù, shuì zàidishàng jiù xíng.) |
| B: Furniture? We don't need furniture! We can sleep on the floor! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 这个太疯狂了。(Zhège tài fēngkuángle.) |
| Brendan: Anyway, we have some vocabulary from this lesson. Let’s run through it very quickly. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 公寓 (gōngyù) |
| Brendan: “Apartment” |
| Echo: 别墅 (biéshù) |
| Brendan: “Villa” |
| Echo: 阳台 (yángtái) |
| Brendan: “Balcony” |
| Echo: 客厅 (kètīng) |
| Brendan: “Living room” |
| Echo: 高层 (gāocéng) |
| Brendan: “High floor” |
| Echo: 租 (zū) |
| Brendan: “Rent” |
| Echo: 阁楼 (gélóu) |
| Brendan: “Penthouse” |
| Echo: 家具 (jiājù) |
| Brendan: “Furniture” |
| Echo: 地板 (dìbǎn) |
| Brendan: “Floor” |
| Echo: 地板 (Dìbǎn) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: So, that’s fairly straightforward stuff, but it’s all very useful if you’re looking for an apartment, and trying to describe what it is that you are / aren’t looking for. We’ve got some sample sentences, so let’s take a look at those to see how these words are used in context. |
| Echo: First word is 公寓。(Gōngyù.) |
| Brendan: Which is an “apartment”. |
| Echo: 公寓，听说你搬到新公寓了(Gōngyù, tīng shuō nǐ bān dào xīn gōngyùle) |
| Brendan: “I hear you move into a new apartment.” |
| Echo: 听说你搬到新公寓了。(Tīng shuō nǐ bān dào xīn gōngyùle.) |
| Brendan: Now, the next word is “villa”. This is not exactly what you or I would think of when the word “villa” comes up. Actually, when people are talking about a villa in China, it’s much more like a suburban free standing house in the U.S. |
| Echo: 别墅 (Biéshù) |
| Brendan: “A villa” |
| Echo: 我可买不起别墅。(Wǒ kě mǎi bù qǐ biéshù.) |
| Brendan: “I can’t afford to buy a villa.” And it’s true, you probably can’t. There’re much more expensive. |
| Echo: 我可买不起别墅。(Wǒ kě mǎi bù qǐ biéshù.) |
| Brendan: If you are going to be looking for apartments, then it’s good to get one that has, you know, a lot of sunlight. |
| Echo: 阳台 (Yángtái) |
| Brendan: “Balcony” |
| Echo: 我喜欢有阳台的房间。(Wǒ xǐhuān yǒu yángtái de fángjiān.) |
| Brendan: “I like rooms with balconies.” |
| Echo:我喜欢有阳台的房间。(Wǒ xǐhuān yǒu yángtái de fángjiān.) The next word is 客厅。(Kètīng.) |
| Brendan: And that just means “living room”. |
| Echo: 客厅，这客厅真大。(Kètīng, zhè kètīng zhēn dà.) |
| Brendan: “This living room is huge.” |
| Echo: 这客厅真大。高层。(Zhè kètīng zhēn dà. Gāocéng.) |
| Brendan: “A high floor” |
| Echo: 高层，我喜欢住在高层。(Gāocéng, wǒ xǐhuān zhù zài gāocéng.) |
| Brendan: “I like to live on a high floor.” |
| Echo: 我喜欢住在高层。租。(Wǒ xǐhuān zhù zài gāocéng. Zū.) |
| Brendan: Now, this means “rent” and it’s actually “to rent”. This is a verb. |
| Echo: 租，你想租个公寓住吗？(Zū, nǐ xiǎng zū gè gōngyù zhù ma?) |
| Brendan: “Do you want to rent an apartment?” |
| Echo:你想租个公寓住吗？阁楼。(Nǐ xiǎng zū gè gōngyù zhù ma? Gélóu.) |
| Brendan: “Penthouse” |
| Echo: 阁楼，我不喜欢住阁楼。(Gélóu, wǒ bù xǐhuān zhù gélóu.) |
| Brendan: “I don’t like living in a penthouse.” |
| Echo: 我不喜欢住阁楼。家具。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān zhù gélóu. Jiājù.) |
| Brendan: “Furniture” |
| Echo: 家具，我们下午去买家具吧。(Jiājù, wǒmen xiàwǔ qù mǎi jiājù ba.) |
| Brendan: “Let’s go buy furniture this afternoon.” |
| Echo: 我们下午去买家具吧。地板。(Wǒmen xiàwǔ qù mǎi jiājù ba. Dìbǎn.) |
| Brendan: “A floor” |
| Echo: 地板，好多人喜欢睡地板。(Dìbǎn, hǎoduō rén xǐhuān shuì dìbǎn.) |
| Brendan: “Many people like to sleep on the floor.” I’m actually one of them, from time to time. I find it, it’s good for my back to sleep on the floor. Anyway, that’s our vocabulary from this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Brendan: Now, our grammar point today is about talking about where things happen. In the last line of the dialogue: |
| Echo: 我们不需要家具，睡在地上就行。(Wǒmen bù xūyào jiājù, shuì zài dìshàng jiùxíng.) |
| Brendan: “We don’t need furniture. We can just sleep on the floor.” Now, that last bit, our verb is “to sleep”. It’s happening on the floor. |
| Echo: 睡在地上。(Shuì zài dìshàng.) |
| Brendan: So, verb 在 (Zài) saying 上(Shàng). Just means “to sleep on the floor”. What this is doing is it’s saying not just where something it’s happening, but in what relationship the action is occurring. It’s not happening in the ground, it’s not happening under the ground, it’s happening on 上(Shàng) “the ground”. |
| Echo: And also, here, the verb 睡 (Shuì) is actually continuous action. |
| Brendan: Right. It’s not happening at a discrete moment, it’s on going. You’re sleeping for, hopefully, the entire night. |
| Echo: Right. So, that is very different from what we taught you before, like putting the preposition phrase before the main verb. |
| Brendan: Right. That’s something it’s happening at a discrete instant. |
| Echo: Let’s see some sample sentences. 我今晚睡在沙发上。(Wǒ jīn wǎn shuì zài shāfā shàng.) |
| Brendan: “I’ll sleep on the sofa tonight.” |
| Echo:我今晚睡在沙发上。(Wǒ jīn wǎn shuì zài shāfā shàng.) |
| Brendan: Now, this is the same pattern we saw earlier. We have an ongoing action and we’re saying not only where it’s happening, but where in relation to that location it’s going to happen. So, it’s going to happen at the couch. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: On the couch. |
| Echo: 我走在去公司的路上。(Wǒ zǒu zài qù gōngsī de lùshàng.) |
| Brendan: “I’m walking on the road to work.” |
| Echo: 我走在去公司的路上。(Wǒ zǒu zài qù gōngsī de lùshàng.) |
| Brendan: Here again. We have our action which is 走 (Zǒu)– “walking”, it’s an ongoing thing, you’re not just walking for an instant. |
| Echo: 他爬到山顶上。(Tā pá dào shāndǐng shàng.) |
| Brendan: “He climbed up on to the mountain top.” |
| Echo: So, here we can see we don’t have to use 在.(Zài.) |
| Brendan: Here we have a destination, because it’s an ongoing action, in this case it’s something that’s going somewhere. |
| Echo: 他爬到山顶上。(Tā pá dào shāndǐng shàng.) |
| Brendan: “He climbed up on to the mountain top.” |
| Echo: 孩子钻到被窝里。(Háizi zuān dào bèiwō li.) |
| Brendan: “The child nestled down into the covers.” |
| Echo: 孩子钻到被窝里。(Háizi zuān dào bèiwō li.) |
| Brendan: Now, here, we’re not using 上, we’re using 里 (Lǐ). |
| Echo: Right. |
Outro |
| Brendan: Because you’re in the covers, not on top of them. So, with all these sentences, we have an ongoing action. Something that’s not happening just at one discrete instant. And then we have not just the location of the action, but the relationship of the action to the location. Is it happening on it, in it, under it? That just about wraps it up for today. But, a reminder. If you have any questions about this or anything else that we covered in this lesson or any other lesson… |
| Echo: You can write to us at contactus@Chineseclass101.com or leave a comment on the site. |
| Brendan: And you’ll make our day. We really like you. |
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