Learn a perfect past tense marker and why it is important
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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 one, lesson number 22: “Intercity Rivalries in China”. |
| Echo: Right. We have two friends here at someone’s house and they’re talking about cities in China. |
| Brendan: Yeah, and which ones are the best. Which one rule and which ones drool. |
| Echo: Right, and they are 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 you’re retaining all the vocabulary that we covered in these lessons, go to our premium learning center. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: We’ve got a flashcards tool there and it’s a really good way of quizzing yourself to make sure that you’re learning what you think you’re learning. Okay, let’s go to the dialogue. Now, this is a thinly fictionalized version of a real conversation. Well actually, people will would get together and talk about which city they like better and there’re these rivalries like Beijing and Shanghai, Shanghai and HongKong. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:香港和上海你喜欢哪儿？(Xiānggǎng hé Shànghǎi nǐ xǐhuān nǎr?) |
| B:我喜欢香港。(Wǒ xǐhuān Xiānggǎng.) |
| A:什么？你去过上海吗？(Shénme? nǐ qù guo Shànghǎi ma?) |
| B:当然。(Dāngrán.) |
| A:那你怎么会喜欢香港呢？(Nà nǐ zěnme huì xǐhuān Xiānggǎng ne?) |
| B:只是。。。(Zhǐ shì...) |
| A:上海是一个国际化大都市！(Shànghǎi shì yī ge guójìhuà dà dūshì!) |
| B:你去过香港吗？(Nǐ qù guo Xiānggǎng ma?) |
| A:我住在上海，去香港干啥？(Wǒ zhù zài Shànghǎi, qù Xiānggǎng gànshá?) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:香港和上海你喜欢哪儿？(Xiānggǎng hé Shànghǎi nǐ xǐhuān nǎr?) |
| B:我喜欢香港。(Wǒ xǐhuān Xiānggǎng.) |
| A:什么？你去过上海吗？(Shénme? nǐ qù guo Shànghǎi ma?) |
| B:当然。(Dāngrán.) |
| A:那你怎么会喜欢香港呢？(Nà nǐ zěnme huì xǐhuān Xiānggǎng ne?) |
| B:只是。。。(Zhǐ shì...) |
| A:上海是一个国际化大都市！(Shànghǎi shì yī ge guójìhuà dà dūshì!) |
| B:你去过香港吗？(Nǐ qù guo Xiānggǎng ma?) |
| A:我住在上海，去香港干啥？(Wǒ zhù zài Shànghǎi, qù Xiānggǎng gànshá?) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:香港和上海你喜欢哪儿？(Xiānggǎng hé Shànghǎi nǐ xǐhuān nǎr?) |
| A: Which do you like better? Hong Kong or Shanghai? |
| B:我喜欢香港。(Wǒ xǐhuān Xiānggǎng.) |
| B: I like Hong Kong better. |
| A:什么？你去过上海吗？(Shénme? nǐ qù guo Shànghǎi ma?) |
| A: What? Have you been to Shanghai? |
| B:当然。(Dāngrán.) |
| B:Of course. |
| A:那你怎么会喜欢香港呢？(Nà nǐ zěnme huì xǐhuān Xiānggǎng ne?) |
| A: So how can you like Hong Kong? |
| B:只是。。。(Zhǐ shì...) |
| B: It's just the… |
| A:上海是一个国际化大都市！(Shànghǎi shì yī ge guójìhuà dà dūshì!) |
| A: Shanghai is a major international city! |
| B:你去过香港吗？(Nǐ qù guo Xiānggǎng ma?) |
| B: Have you been to Hong Kong? |
| A:我住在上海，去香港干啥？(Wǒ zhù zài Shànghǎi, qù Xiānggǎng gànshá?) |
| A: I live in Shanghai. Why would I go to Hong Kong for? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: I think Beijing and Hong Kong get along fine. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Brendan: But, you know, Beijing and Shanghai born enemies. Of course, as we know perfectly well, Beijing is the best. |
| Echo: well, I like Shanghai too. |
| Brendan: Anyway, we better get to the vocabulary. |
| Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 香港 (Xiānggǎng) |
| Brendan: “Hong Kong” |
| Echo: 上海 (Shanghai) |
| Brendan: “Shanghai” |
| Echo: 一国两制 (yìguóliǎngzhì) |
| Brendan: “One country, two systems” |
| Echo: 小费 (xiǎofèi) |
| Brendan: “Tipping” |
| Echo: 岛 (Dǎo) |
| Brendan: “Island” |
| Echo: 现代 (xiàndài) |
| Brendan: “Modern” |
| Echo: 潮湿 (cháoshī) |
| Brendan: “Humid” |
| Echo: 文化 (wénhuà) |
| Brendan: “Culture” |
| Echo: 办公楼 (bàngōnglóu) |
| Brendan: “Office building” |
| Echo: 国际化 (guójìhuà) |
| Brendan: “international” |
| Echo: 国际化 (Guójì huà) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: That last one, by the way, also gets used to mean something like “cosmopolitan”, but “international” would be a more literal translation of it. Anyway, let’s take a look at some sample sentences, so we can see the way those words behave in their native context. |
| Echo: First word is 香港。(Xiānggǎng.) |
| Brendan: That is “Hong Kong” |
| Echo: 很多人都喜欢去香港购物。(Hěnduō rén dōu xǐhuān qù xiānggǎng gòuwù.) |
| Brendan: “Many people like going shopping in Hong Kong.” |
| Echo: 很多人都喜欢去香港购物。上海。(Hěnduō rén dōu xǐhuān qù xiānggǎng gòuwù. Shànghǎi.) |
| Brendan: “Shanghai”, you might’ve guessed. |
| Echo: 我没有去过上海。(Wǒ méiyǒu qùguò shànghǎi.) |
| Brendan: “I’ve never been to Shanghai.” |
| Echo: 我没有去过上海。一国两制。(Wǒ méiyǒu qùguò shànghǎi. Yīguóliǎngzhì.) |
| Brendan: That’s the “one country, two system” policy. So this is the policy that allows Hong Kong to enjoy many of the same freedoms and rights that they did under British roll. |
| Echo: 一国两制解决了很多问题。(Yīguóliǎngzhì jiějuéle hěnduō wèntí.) |
| Brendan: “The one country, two systems policy solved many problems.” |
| Echo:一国两制解决了很多问题。小费。(Yīguóliǎngzhì jiějuéle hěnduō wèntí. Xiǎofèi.) |
| Brendan: “Tipping.” |
| Echo: 中国不流行小费。(Zhōngguó bù liúxíng xiǎofèi.) |
| Brendan: “Tipping is not common in China.” |
| Echo: 中国不流行小费。(Zhōngguó bù liúxíng xiǎofèi.) |
| Brendan: That’s true. This is actually dangerous. When I go back home to the U.S, I have to remind myself that you have to tip in the U.S, and so I just end up living in fear of accidentally forgetting to tip somebody because I spend almost all my time here and it’s just not done here. |
| Echo: 岛 (Dǎo) |
| Brendan: “Island” |
| Echo: 台湾是一个岛。(Táiwān shì yīgè dǎo.) |
| Brendan: “Taiwan is an island.” |
| Echo: 台湾是一个岛。(Táiwān shì yīgè dǎo.) |
| Brendan: I think we can all agree on that. |
| Echo: 现代 (Xiàndài) |
| Brendan: “Modern” |
| Echo: 上海是个很现代的城市。(Shànghǎi shìgè hěn xiàndài de chéngshì.) |
| Brendan: “Shanghai is a very modern city.” |
| Echo: 上海是一个很现代的城市。潮湿。(Shànghǎi shì yīgè hěn xiàndài de chéngshì. Cháoshī.) |
| Brendan: “Humid” |
| Echo: 我不喜欢南方，那儿太潮湿了。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān nánfāng, nà'er tài cháoshīle.) |
| Brendan: “I don’t like southen China. It’s too humid.” |
| Echo: 我不喜欢南方，那儿太潮湿了。文化。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān nánfāng, nà'er tài cháoshīle. Wénhuà.) |
| Brendan: “Culture” |
| Echo: 不同的城市有不同的文化。(Bùtóng de chéngshì yǒu bùtóng de wénhuà.) |
| Brendan: “Different cities have different cultures.” But, Beijing is better. |
| Echo: 不同的城市有不同的文化。办公楼。(Bùtóng de chéngshì yǒu bùtóng de wénhuà. Bàngōng lóu.) |
| Brendan: “Office building” |
| Echo: 这个办公楼有一百多层呢。(Zhège bàngōng lóu yǒu yībǎi duō céng ne.) |
| Brendan: “This office builiding has more than 100 stories.” |
| Echo:这个办公楼有一百多层呢。国际化。(Zhège bàngōng lóu yǒu yībǎi duō céng ne. Guójì huà.) |
| Brendan: “International” |
| Echo: 北京是个国际化的大城市。(Běijīng shìgè guójì huà de dà chéngshì.) |
| Brendan: “Beijing is a major international city.” |
| Echo: 北京是个国际化的大城市。(Běijīng shìgè guójì huà de dà chéngshì.) |
| Brendan: And don’t you forget it. So, there’s our vocabulary. Now you’ve seen how those words behave in context. Now we’re going to take a look at grammar, so you can see one of the ways we string those words together to mean things. It’s grammar time! So, our grammar point today is a way of talking about the past, you know, Beijing is the future, Shanghai is the past, that kind of thing. It’s this word that we add to a sentence that changes the time frame that we’re talking about. In the dialogue, we hear this line. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 你去过上海吗？(Nǐ qùguò shànghǎi ma?) |
| Brendan: “Have you been to Shanghai?” |
| Echo: 你去过香港吗？(Nǐ qùguò shànghǎi ma?) |
| Brendan: “Have you been to Hong Kong?” So, the word we’re looking at in these sentences is 过 (Guò). Well, that does when you add to a sentence, puts it in basically the past perfect. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Brendan: So, if we take a sentence that says “Are you going to Beijing?” |
| Echo: 你去北京吗？(Nǐ qù běijīng ma?) |
| Brendan: And we add a 过 (Guò) to it. |
| Echo: 你去过北京吗？(Nǐ qùguò běijīng ma?) |
| Brendan: It becomes “Have you gone to Beijing?” Let’s look at some other sentences where 过 (Guò) is performing the same function. |
| Echo: 你见过他吗？(Nǐ jiànguò tā ma?) |
| Brendan: “Have you seen him?” Now, here elsewhere 过 is making this the past perfect. So instead of “Do you see him?” we have “Have you seen him?” |
| Echo: 你见过他吗？你是不是跟我一起上过课？(Nǐ jiànguò tā ma? Nǐ shì bùshì gēn wǒ yīqǐ shàngguò kè?) |
| Brendan: This is a more complicated sentence. If you take a careful look at it, you can see what’s going on here. It’s a question: “Haven’t you with me together taken a class?”, “Haven’t you taken a class with me?” |
| Echo: 你是不是跟我一起上过课？最后再教给大家一个很重要的。(Nǐ shì bùshì gēn wǒ yīqǐ shàngguò kè? Zuìhòu zài jiào gěi dàjiā yì gè hěn zhòngyào de.) |
| Brendan: Yeah. |
| Echo: 特别是对男孩子来说是很重要的。(Tèbié shì duì nán háizi lái shuō shì hěn zhòngyào de.) If you want to pick up a girl. |
| Brendan: Not pick up. If you want to flirt, if you want to chat up something. |
| Echo: Yeah. This sentence you might need. 我是不是在哪儿见过你？(Wǒ shì bùshì zài nǎ'er jiànguò nǐ?) |
| Brendan: “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?” |
| Echo: 我是不是在哪儿见过你？(Wǒ shì bùshì zài nǎ'er jiànguò nǐ?) |
| Brendan: “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before, sometime in the past perfect?” This is a dangerous question. Use it with caution. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
Outro |
| Brendan: And that pretty much wraps it up for today. If you want to practice this grammar pattern, because it’s a really useful one, log in our premium learning center. We’ve got professional tutors standying by, waiting to help you improve your Chinese with one on one tutoring. In the meantime, from Beijing, I’m Brandon. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: Good luck, have fun. |
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