Learn a word that will help you emphasize the difference between two things as a result of a comparison
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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: Hi, 大家好，我是Echo.(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: And we’re coming at you today with Lower Intermediate Series, Season 1, Lesson 20 – “Pregnancy in China”. Now, we’ve got a conversation today between two friends about how one of them is about to be a pa. |
| Echo: Right. What a great moment. Since they’re friends, they’re speaking casual mandarin. |
| Brendan: Now, we’re going to take you to the dialogue in just a moment, 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, log in to our premium Learning Center. We’ve got online flashcards there, and they’re a wonderful way of reviewing vocabulary and testing yourself to make sure that you really got this stuff. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| Brendan: Let’s go to the dialogue. Of course, that’s a traditional method of child rearing, especially in China… |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:我妻子怀孕了。(Wǒ qīzi huáiyùn le.) |
| B:恭喜你。什么时候生？(Gōngxǐ nǐ. shénme shíhòu shēng?) |
| A:下个月。(Xià ge yuè.) |
| B:你一定很高兴吧？(Nǐ yīdìng hěn gāoxìng ba?) |
| A:其实更害怕。(Qíshí gèng hàipà.) |
| B:别担心，养一个小孩很容易。(Bié dānxīn, yǎng yī ge xiǎohái hěn róngyì.) |
| A:真的？(Zhēnde?) |
| B:对，把他给爷爷奶奶就行了。(Duì, bǎ tā gěi yéye nǎinai jiù xíng le.) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:我妻子怀孕了。(Wǒ qīzi huáiyùn le.) |
| B:恭喜你。什么时候生？(Gōngxǐ nǐ. shénme shíhòu shēng?) |
| A:下个月。(Xià ge yuè.) |
| B:你一定很高兴吧？(Nǐ yīdìng hěn gāoxìng ba?) |
| A:其实更害怕。(Qíshí gèng hàipà.) |
| B:别担心，养一个小孩很容易。(Bié dānxīn, yǎng yī ge xiǎohái hěn róngyì.) |
| A:真的？(Zhēnde?) |
| B:对，把他给爷爷奶奶就行了。(Duì, bǎ tā gěi yéye nǎinai jiù xíng le.) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:我妻子怀孕了。(Wǒ qīzi huáiyùn le.) |
| A: My wife is pregnant. |
| B:恭喜你。什么时候生？(Gōngxǐ nǐ. shénme shíhòu shēng?) |
| B: Congratulations, when is the baby due? |
| A:下个月。(Xià ge yuè.) |
| A: Next month. |
| B:你一定很高兴吧？(Nǐ yīdìng hěn gāoxìng ba?) |
| B: You must be very excited. |
| A:其实更害怕。(Qíshí gèng hàipà.6.) |
| A: More scared, really. |
| B:别担心，养一个小孩很容易。(Bié dānxīn, yǎng yī ge xiǎohái hěn róngyì.) |
| B: Don't worry, raising a kid is easy. |
| A:真的？(Zhēnde?) |
| A: Really? |
| B:对，把他给爷爷奶奶就行了。(Duì, bǎ tā gěi yéye nǎinai jiù xíng le.) |
| A: Sure. Just give it to grandma and grandpa. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: Where, you know, you’ve got a lot of people who, who will leave to work outside their hometowns. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: And so, a lot of the time, they’ll leave their kids with their parents to raise. |
| Echo: Honestly, I don’t think is a very good way. |
| Brendan: Well, it’s rough for everybody… |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: It’s rough for the kids, it’s rough for the parents. Really rough for the grandparents. Anyway, we’ve got some vocab from today’s dialogue and also about related topics. So, let’s go through it very quickly. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: Ok. 怀孕 (huáiyùn) |
| Brendan: “Pregnant” |
| Echo: 恭喜 (gōngxǐ) |
| Brendan: “Congratulations” |
| Echo: 妻子 (qīzi) |
| Brendan: “Wife” |
| Echo: 丈夫 (zhàngfu) |
| Brendan: “Husband” |
| Echo: 生 (shēng) |
| Brendan: “To be born” |
| Echo: 小孩儿 (Xiǎo hái'ér) |
| Brendan: “Kid” |
| Echo: 养 (yǎng) |
| Brendan: “To raise” |
| Echo: 坐月子 (zuò yuèzi) |
| Brendan: “A rest month after having a baby” |
| Echo: 奶奶 (nǎinai) |
| Brendan: “Grandma” |
| Echo: 爷爷 (yéye) |
| Brendan: “Grandpa” |
| Echo: 爷爷 (Yéyé) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: So, there’s our vocab. Now, we’re going to take a look at some sample sentences to see the way that these words behave in context. |
| Echo: The first word is 怀孕。(Huáiyùn.) |
| Brendan: “Pregnant” |
| Echo: 你老婆怀孕了？(Nǐ lǎopó huáiyùnle?) |
| Brendan: “Your wife is pregnant?” |
| Echo: 你老婆怀孕了？(你老婆怀孕了？) If someone’s wife is pregnant, you may want to say 恭喜。(Gōngxǐ.) |
| Brendan: “Congratulations.” |
| Echo: 恭喜你得了个儿子啊！(Gōngxǐ nǐ déliǎo gè er zi a!) |
| Brendan: “Congratulations. You have a son.” |
| Echo: 妻子 (Qīzi) |
| Brendan: That is “a wife”. |
| Echo: 我妻子去逛街了。(Wǒ qīzi qù guàngjiēle.) |
| Brendan: “My wife’s gone out shopping.” |
| Echo: 我妻子去逛街了。(Wǒ qīzi qù guàngjiēle.) |
| Brendan: And of course the opposite number of a wife is: |
| Echo: 丈夫 (Zhàngfū) |
| Brendan: “Husband” |
| Echo: 这是我丈夫。(Zhè shì wǒ zhàngfū.) |
| Brendan: “This is my husband.” |
| Echo: 这是我丈夫。(Zhè shì wǒ zhàngfū.) |
| Brendan: Now, the next word is: |
| Echo: 生 (Shēng) |
| Brendan: “To be born” |
| Echo: 这孩子是去年生的。(Zhè háizi shì qùnián shēng de.) |
| Brendan: “This child was born last year.” |
| Echo: 这孩子是去年生的。小孩儿。(Zhè háizi shì qùnián shēng de. Xiǎo hái'ér.) |
| Brendan: “Kid” |
| Echo: 小孩儿都很可爱。(Xiǎo hái'érdōuhěn kě'ài.) |
| Brendan: “Kids are all cute.” Not necessarily cute, but… That doesn’t… |
| Echo: On Brandon’s face there’s a big “I’m not believing.”. |
| Brendan: There are some kids who are very cute. There are many kids who are very cute. |
| Echo: So, we say 小孩都很可爱。(Xiǎohái dōu hěn kě'ài.) The next word is 养。(Yǎng.) |
| Brendan: Which means “to raise”. |
| Echo: 养孩子不容易吧。(Yǎngháizibù róngyì ba.) |
| Brendan: “It can’t be easy to raise a kid.” |
| Echo: 养孩子不容易吧。坐月子。(Yǎng háizi bù róngyì ba. Zuò yuè zi.) |
| Brendan: This is a tough one actually to translate. It’s literally “to sit for a month”. And what it is, is a rest month. After a woman has a child, she’ll rest up in bed and not do any hard work for a month, traditionally. |
| Echo: 我妻子还在坐月子。(Wǒ qī zǐ huán zài zuò yuè zi.) |
| Brendan: “My wife is still in her rest month after having the baby.” |
| Echo: 我妻子还在坐月子。(Wǒ qī zǐ huán zài zuò yuè zi.) The next word is 奶奶。(Nǎinai.) |
| Brendan: “Grandma” |
| Echo: 我的奶奶70岁了。(Wǒ de nǎinai 70 suìle.) |
| Brendan: “My grandma’s 70 years old.” |
| Echo: 我的奶奶70岁了。爷爷。(Wǒ de nǎinai 70 suìle. Yéyé.) |
| Brendan: “Grandpa” |
| Echo: 爷爷和奶奶对我都很好。(Yéyé hé nǎinai duì wǒ dū hěn hǎo.) |
| Brendan: “Grandma and grandpa are both very good to me.” |
| Echo: 爷爷和奶奶对我都很好。(Yéyé hé nǎinai duì wǒ dū hěn hǎo.) |
| Brendan: So, there’s our vocab. We’ve got a lot of stuff about family and about kids. Now, we’ve got a grammar point today and it’s about comparisons, which is something you do as a Chinese parent definitely, so… |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: “Why aren’t you as good as the other children in your class?” Anyway, let’s go on to the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| C: It’s grammar time. |
| Brendan: So, our grammar point for today is all about making comparisons. |
| Echo: Using 更。(Gèng.) |
| Brendan: Now, we see this in the dialogue where there is an exchange between the two friends. One of them says “You must be really excited.” and the other one says “I’m more afraid, actually.”. |
| Echo: 其实更害怕。(Qíshí gèng hàipà.) |
| Brendan: Now, this is actually kind of a nice example of a comparison because it’s not A more than B. The A’s implied. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: You’re just saying “more afraid”. |
| Echo: 其实更害怕。(Qíshí gèng hàipà.) |
| Brendan: Now, 更 (Gèng) behaves almost exactly like the English word “more”. So, it’s pretty straightforward. Let’s look at a few sentences so you can get an idea of how it’s used. |
| Echo: Yes. 你更喜欢哪一个？(Nǐ gèng xǐhuān nǎ yīgè?) |
| Brendan: “Which one do you like more?” |
| Echo: 你更喜欢哪一个？其实我更害怕他。(Nǐ gèng xǐhuān nǎ yīgè? Qíshí wǒ gèng hàipà tā.) |
| Brendan: “Actually, I’m more afraid of him.” |
| Echo: 其实我更害怕他。你更愿意在家里呆着还是出来玩儿？(Qíshí wǒ gèng hàipà tā. Nǐ gèng yuànyì zài jiālǐ dāizhe háishì chūlái wán er?) |
| Brendan: “Do you prefer to stay at home or to go out?” |
| Echo: 你更愿意在家里呆着还是出来玩儿？(Nǐ gèng yuànyì zài jiālǐ dāizhe háishì chūlái wán er?) |
| Brendan: Now, one thing to bear in mind is that in English you would say “I like more” or “I like something more”, in Chinese 更(Gèng)always comes before the verb. |
| Echo: 对， 它是一个 (Duì, tā shì yīgè) adverb. |
| Brendan: Right. So, just bear in mind that it will always be “I more like”. “I’m more willing”. |
| Echo: Right. 我更喜欢。我更愿意。我更愿意租房而不是买房。(Wǒ gèng xǐhuān. Wǒ gèng yuànyì. Wǒ gèng yuànyì zūfáng ér bùshì mǎifáng.) |
| Brendan: “I prefer renting a house to buying one.” |
| Echo: 我更喜欢租房而不是买房。你更喜欢狗还是猫呢？(Wǒ gèng xǐhuān zūfáng ér bùshì mǎifáng. Nǐ gèng xǐhuān gǒu háishì māo ne?) |
| Brendan: “Do you prefer dogs or cats?” |
| Echo: 你更喜欢狗还是猫呢？(Nǐ gèng xǐhuān gǒu háishì māo ne?) |
| Brendan: That’s the ultimate question, really. So, that’s it for our grammar point. Just remember that 更 (Gèng) behaves like the English word “more”. It comes before the verb and it’s what let’s you say “I like something more”. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: “I’m more willing to do something”, that kind of thing. |
| Echo: Yes, it’s not hard. |
Outro |
| Brendan: No. So, that wraps it up for today’s lesson. Before we go, a reminder. In our premium Learning Center we’ve got a voice recording tool. You can log in, record yourself speaking Chinese… |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Brendan: And play it back so that you can more clearly identify things that you need to work on in your pronunciation. This is really painful to do, it’s difficult, I don’t know about you, but I hate listening to myself, but it is the best thing you can do for your Chinese pronunciation. I guarantee it. |
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