Learn about the adverb "almost" and how strict the Chinese school system is
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to Chineseclass101.com. I’m David. |
| Amber: 大家好，我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: And, we’re here today with Upper Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 19 - Patience is a virtue in China. |
| Amber: 唔，其实和 (Wú, qíshí hé) Patience 没有关系, 是关于上课的。(Méiyǒu guānxì, shì guānyú shàngkè de.) |
| David: Right. So, we had a lesson that take place at home, the dialogue is between two parents ….. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: who are talking about their kids, and their children’s future… |
| Amber: 可怜的孩子。(Kělián de háizi.) |
| David: Is famous [*], I guess. So, yes. So this is casual mandarin, as always. Let’s get to the dialogue. |
| So, Amber, were you forced to take music classes as a kid? |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 孩子们在哪儿？(Háizimen zài nǎr?) |
| B: 出去玩儿了，怎么了？(Chūqù wánr le, zěnme le?) |
| A: 玩儿？还有20分钟就要上钢琴课了。(Wánr? Háiyǒu èrshí fēnzhōng jiù yào shàng gāngqín kè le.) |
| B: 我以为这学期已经结束了。(Wǒ yǐwéi zhè xuéqī yǐjīng jiéshù le.) |
| A: 我说快结束了，快。(Wǒ shuō kuài jiéshù le, kuài.) |
| B: 哦，那我去找他们吧。(ò, nà wǒ qù zhǎo tāmen ba.) |
| A: Where are the children? |
| B: They've gone out to play, why? |
| A: Playing? They have piano class in twenty minutes. |
| B: I thought this semester was already over. |
| A: I said almost over, almost. |
| B: Oh, then I'll go find them. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: 我是自己愿意学的。(Wǒ shì zìjǐ yuànyì xué de.) |
| David: It was the piano? |
| Amber: 不是，古筝。(Bùshì, gǔzhēng.) |
| David: Ah! So, you studied the Chinese instrument, that’s… |
| Amber: 唔，我觉得哪个声音很好听。(Wú, wǒ juédé nǎge shēngyīn hěn hǎotīng.) |
| David: Very, very patriotic. So, our vocab today is all about classes, and semesters in courses and stuff. So, let’s get to it. |
| Amber: 孩子。(háizi.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Child. |
| Amber: 孩 子, 孩子, 玩儿。(háizi, háizi, wánr.) |
| David: To play. |
| Amber: 玩 儿, 玩儿, 钢琴。(wánr, wánr, gāngqín.) |
| David: Piano. |
| Amber: 钢 琴, 钢琴, 课。(gāngqín, gāngqín, kè.) |
| David: Class. |
| Amber: 课, 课, 节。(kè, kè, jié.) |
| David: Measure word for “a single class”. |
| Amber: 节, 节, 门。(jié, jié, mén.) |
| David: Measure word for “an entire course”. |
| Amber: 门, 门, 学期。(mén, mén, xuéqī.) |
| David: Semester. |
| Amber: 学 期, 学期, 已经。(xuéqī, xuéqī, yǐjīng.) |
| David: Already. |
| Amber: 已 经, 已经, 结束。(yǐjīng, yǐjīng, jiéshù.) |
| David: To finish. |
| Amber: 结 束, 结束, 放假。(jiéshù, jiéshù, fàngjià.) |
| David: To go on break. |
| Amber: 放 假, 放假, 快。(fàngjià, fàngjià, kuài.) |
| David: Soon, almost. |
| Amber: 快, 快。(kuài, kuài.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s have a closer look at some of these words. Our first word is? |
| Amber: 课。(kè.) |
| David: Class. |
| Amber: 课。(kè.) |
| David: Right. As in “English class”. |
| Amber: 英文课。(Yīngwén kè.) |
| David: Chinese class. |
| Amber: 中文课。(Zhōngwén kè.) |
| David: Right. Or anything else… Physics class. |
| Amber: 数学课，音乐课。(Shùxué kè, yīnyuè kè.) |
| David: Yes. So, and classes are normally organized into semesters. |
| Amber: 唔，学期。(Wú, xuéqí.) |
| David: Semester. |
| Amber: 学期。(Xuéqí.) |
| David: And, that’s literally “study period”. |
| Amber: 没错, 学习的时期。(Méi cuò, xuéxí de shíqí.) |
| David: Right. A study period of time. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Now, we’ve got two measure words for courses that we cover in this lesson. The first is in the dialogue. It’s? |
| Amber: 节。(Jié.) |
| David: A measure word for “class”. |
| Amber: 节。(Jié.) |
| David: As in “one class”. |
| Amber: 一节课。(Yī jié kè.) |
| David: Two classes. |
| Amber: 两节课。(Liǎng jié kè.) |
| David: Three classes. |
| Amber: 三节课。(Sānjié kè.) |
| David: Right. But, this is different than a course. |
| Amber: 唔，没错。(Wú, méi cuò.) |
| David: So, here we’re talking about just one individual class. |
| Amber: 没错, 就是可能一天有四节课这样。(Méi cuò, jiùshì kěnéng yītiān yǒu sì jié kè zhèyàng.) |
| David: Right. So, in one day, there are four classes. |
| Amber: 没错, 一天里有四节课。(Méi cuò, yītiān li yǒu sì jié kè.) |
| David: “In one day, there are four classes.” |
| Amber: 一天里有四节课 (Yītiān li yǒu sì jié kè) |
| David: Right. In a semester, you have three courses. |
| Amber: 一个学期有三门课。(Yīgè xuéqí yǒusān mén kè.) |
| David: “A semester has three courses.” |
| Amber: 一个学期有三门课。(Yīgè xuéqí yǒusān mén kè.) |
| David: Right. So, there are two measure words. The first? |
| Amber: 节。(Jié.) |
| David: Is for individual classes. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. You take those classes and you turn them into a course. And, you need to say? |
| Amber: 一门课。(Yī mén kè.) |
| David: Right. |
| Amber: 可能一个学期一门课，要上十节课。(Kěnéng yīgè xuéqí yī mén kè, yào shàng shí jié kè.) |
| David: Right. I think a lot more than that, in most… |
| Amber: 可能二十节，三十节 ….. 对。(Kěnéng èrshí jié, sānshí jié….. Duì.) |
| David: Right. Maybe for piano, if you’re doing it once a week. That’s three months. |
| Amber: 对，有可能。(Duì, yǒu kěnéng.) |
| David: But, eventually, the semester is going to end. |
| Amber: 结束。(Jiéshù.) |
| David: “To end” |
| Amber: 结束。(Jiéshù.) |
| David: Or, “to finish”. Right. |
| Amber: 对，都是结束。(Duì, dōu shì jiéshù.) |
| David: Right. And, that’s a verb, of course. Often, when it finishes, people will go on vacation, and we heard that word in our dialogue, too. |
| Amber: 唔，放假。(Wú, fàngjià.) |
| David: “To go on vacation” |
| Amber: 放假, 比如说这个学期结束了，他们放假了。(Fàngjià, bǐrú shuō zhège xuéqí jiéshùle, tāmen fàngjiàle.) |
| David: “This semester is finished, they’ve gone on break.” |
| Amber: 唔，这个学期结束了，他们放假了。(Wú, zhège xuéqí jiéshùle, tāmen fàngjiàle.) |
| David: Right. And, they’re talking with the teachers, here. They’ve run out. |
| Amber: 没错, 我觉得当老师特别好，可以经常放假。(Méi cuò, wǒ juédé dàng lǎoshī tèbié hǎo, kěyǐ jīngcháng fàngjià..) |
| David: Anyway, that’s our vocab for today. We’re going to move on to the grammar section, now. We’ve got a great adverb for you. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| M2: It’s grammar time. |
| David: Our grammar point today is about the adverb? |
| Amber: 快。(Kuài.) |
| David: Now, we’ve run into this in earlier lessons, but we saw it there as an adjective. |
| Amber: 没错, 快。(Méi cuò, kuài.) |
| David: Right. Meaning “fast” or “quickly”. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: For instance… |
| Amber: 很快，非常快，他说话很快。(Hěn kuài, fēicháng kuài, tā shuōhuà hěn kuài.) |
| David: Right. “He’s speaking very quickly.” |
| Amber: 唔，他说话很快唔，(Wú, tā shuōhuà hěn kuài wú,) |
| David: Or, literally, “His words very fast.” |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. In our dialogue, though, we hear it in a different context with a different meaning. Let’s listen to that sentence again. |
| Amber: 我说快结束了，快。(Wǒ shuō kuài jiéshùle, kuài.) |
| David: “I said almost over. Almost.” |
| Amber: 我说快结束了，快。(Wǒ shuō kuài jiéshùle, kuài.) |
| David: Right. So, in this case, it’s not an adjective. We’ve got an adverb. It’s coming in front of the verb and it’s meaning that something is going to happen soon. |
| Amber: 没错, 在对话里，这个妈妈说 ”快结束了” 它的意思是。(Méi cuò, zài duìhuà li, zhège māmā shuō ” kuài jiéshùle” tā de yìsi shì.) |
| David: Right. It’s going to end soon, it’s almost over, very soon it’s going to be over. Right? For instance, “We’ll be on vacation, quickly.” |
| Amber: 我们快放假了。(Wǒmen kuài fàngjiàle.) |
| David: “We’ll be on vacation, quickly.” |
| Amber: 我们快放假了。(Wǒmen kuài fàngjiàle.) |
| David: Right. How about the sentence “He’s coming to China”, soon.”? |
| Amber: 他快来中国了。(Tā kuài lái zhōngguóle.) |
| David: “He’s coming to China, soon.” |
| Amber: 他快来中国了。(Tā kuài lái zhōngguóle.) |
| David: Right. And, that’s a good example, because he’s not moving to China, quickly. |
| Amber: 对，不是跑得特别快。(Duì, bùshì pǎo dé tèbié kuài.) |
| David: Right. It’s not the active lie, which is happening quickly. It’s the sense that the verb, it’s going to happen soon. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Or, it’s almost here. |
| Amber: 可能几天就来了。(Kěnéng jǐ tiān jiù láile.) |
| David: Right. He’s going to be two, three days, he’s going to be in Beijing. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s take a look at another example. |
| Amber: 好，比如说 钢琴课快要结束了。(Hǎo, bǐrú shuō gāngqín kè kuàiyào jiéshùle.) |
| David: “Piano class is almost over.” |
| Amber: 钢琴课快要结束了。(Gāngqín kè kuàiyào jiéshùle.) |
| David: Right. That’s something the teacher might say to the student. And, there’re two interesting things to note. First is, we emphasize that something is going to happen quickly by adding an extra verb here. |
| Amber: 要。(Yào.) |
| David: This is optional. But, you can add this to add extra emphasis. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So, you could say either: |
| Amber: 快结束了。(Kuài jiéshùle.) |
| David: Or |
| Amber: 快要结束了。(Kuàiyào jiéshùle.) |
| David: And, the second point is that our sentences are ending with a 了.(Le.) |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. It’s the modal particle in playing change of state, because this change is going to happen soon. |
| Amber: 钢琴课快要结束了。(Gāngqín kè kuàiyào jiéshùle.) |
Outro |
| David: Right. All right. So, today, we talked about the adverb. |
| Amber: 快。(Kuài.) |
| David: When you put it in front of a verb, it doesn’t mean “fast”. It means “something is almost going to happen” or “it’s going to happen soon”. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And, with that, that’s our lesson for today. Ok. From Beijing, I’m David. |
| Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: Thanks for listening and we hope to hear from you. |
| Amber: 下次见, 拜拜！(Xià cì jiàn, bàibài!) |
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