Learn how to answer questions
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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 4 - Man versus printer in China. |
| Amber: 人大战打印机。(Rén dàzhàn dǎyìnjī.) |
| DAVID: Right. So this is a lesson about that guy in the office who can't seem to get things working. |
| Amber: 没错，办公室总有这样一个人。(Méi cuò, bàngōngshì zǒng yǒu zhèyàng yīgè rén.) |
| DAVID: Right. So our dialogue takes place in an office and it’s between two colleagues who are speaking casual Chinese, as always. |
| Amber: 对，我们去听对话吧！(Duì, wǒmen qù tīng duìhuà ba!) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 打印机怎么不工作？(Dǎyìnjī zěnme bù gōngzuò?) |
| B: 电源，打开了吗？(Diànyuán, dǎ kāi le ma?) |
| A: 开了。(Kāi le.) |
| B: 还有纸吗？有墨吗？(Háiyǒu zhǐ ma? Yǒu mò ma?) |
| A: 都有。(Dōu yǒu.) |
| B: USB线也没问题？(USB xiàn yě méi wèntí?) |
| A: 哦......(O......) |
| A: Why doesn't the printer work? |
| B: The power source, have you turned it on? |
| A: Yes, I have. |
| B: Is there paper? And ink? |
| A: Both are here. |
| B: And there's no problem with the USB cable? |
| A: Oh... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| DAVID: Right. So this lesson is about that guy in the office. |
| Amber: 没错，每个办公室总有这样一个人。(Méi cuò, měi gè bàngōngshì zǒng yǒu zhèyàng yīgè rén.) |
| DAVID: Yes. In our office, it’s Amber. |
| Amber: 啊！我现在好多了！(A! Wǒ xiànzài hǎoduōle!) |
| DAVID: Anyway, I'm kidding, Amber. Our vocab section today is all about useful office words, like for printers and the verbs you’re going to need to use them. |
| Amber: 对，办公室用品。(Duì, bàngōngshì yòngpǐn.) |
| DAVID: Let’s get to the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Amber: 打印机。(dǎyìnjī.) |
| DAVID: Printer. |
| Amber: 打 印 机, 打印机, 工作。(dǎyìnjī, dǎyìnjī, gōngzuò.) |
| DAVID: To work. |
| Amber: 工 作, 工作, 电源。(gōngzuò, gōngzuò, diànyuán.) |
| DAVID: Power source. |
| Amber: 电 源, 电源, 插。(diànyuán, diànyuán, chā.) |
| DAVID: To plug in. |
| Amber: 插, 插, 打开。(chā, chā, dǎkāi.) |
| DAVID: To turn on. |
| Amber: 打 开, 打开, 纸。(dǎkāi, dǎkāi, zhǐ.) |
| DAVID: Paper. |
| Amber: 纸, 纸, 墨。(zhǐ, zhǐ, mò.) |
| DAVID: Ink. |
| Amber: 墨, 墨, USB 线。(mò, mò, USBxiàn.) |
| DAVID: USB cable. |
| Amber: USB 线, USB 线。(USBxiàn, USBxiàn.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| DAVID: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is, of course, the word for printer. |
| Amber: 打印机。(dǎyìnjī.) |
| DAVID: Printer. |
| Amber: 打印机。(dǎyìnjī.) |
| DAVID: Right, which is literally the verb meaning “to print”. |
| Amber: 打印。(Dǎyìn.) |
| DAVID: Plus the word for “machine”. |
| Amber: 机。(Jī.) |
| DAVID: Yeah, so it’s a “printing machine”. |
| Amber: 打印机, 而且在对话里，我们听到 打印机不工作了。(Dǎyìnjī, érqiě zài duìhuà li, wǒmen tīng dào dǎyìnjī bù gōngzuòle.) |
| DAVID: The printer is not working. |
| Amber: 打印机不工作了。(Dǎyìnjī bù gōngzuòle.) |
| DAVID: And that’s an interesting choice of verb because you’re saying the printer is not working, and it is, it’s 工作.(Gōngzuò.) |
| Amber: 没错，工作。(Méi cuò, gōngzuò.) |
| DAVID: Yeah, we normally say this with people. You have a job, you’re working, but we use it with office equipment too. |
| Amber: 唔.... 对，因为我们可能会说 打印机坏了,可是现在它只是........(Wú.... Duì, yīnwèi wǒmen kěnéng huì shuō dǎyìnjī huàile, kěshì xiànzài tā zhǐshì.........) |
| DAVID: That’s only if you know it’s broken. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: In this situation it’s not set up right, it’s not working. |
| Amber: 没错, 就是不动。(Méi cuò, jiùshì bù dòng.) |
| DAVID: Yes. |
| Amber: 对，所以我们会说不工作。(Duì, suǒyǐ wǒmen huì shuō bu gōngzuò.) |
| DAVID: Right. Now, the culprit in this case was the USB cable. |
| Amber: USB 线。(USB xiàn.) |
| DAVID: Cable. |
| Amber: 线。(Xiàn.) |
| DAVID: And the terminology changes, but for any chord you’re going to use this word. So you could say a “USB cord”. |
| Amber: USB 线。(USB xiàn.) |
| DAVID: Or a “power chord”. |
| Amber: 电线。(Diànxiàn.) |
| DAVID: Right. In this case, the problem was that the printer USB cord was loose. |
| Amber: 对，在我们的对话里，问题是打印机的 USB 线松了。(Duì, zài wǒmen de duìhuà li, wèntí shì dǎyìnjī de USB xiàn sōngle.) |
| DAVID: The printer’s USB cable was loose. |
| Amber: 打印机的 USB 线松了。(Dǎyìnjī de USB xiàn sōngle.) |
| DAVID: And when something is loose, you’ve have to plug it in. |
| Amber: 插。(Chā.) |
| DAVID: To plug in. |
| Amber: 插。(Chā.) |
| DAVID: Right. And normally you’d say like 插好, like “plug it in well”. |
| Amber: 唔，没错。(Wú, méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: This verb on its own you may not use too often. However, it is really useful as part of the word for a power outlet. |
| Amber: 插座。(Chāzuò.) |
| DAVID: Power outlet. |
| Amber: 插座。(Chāzuò.) |
| DAVID: If you ever need a place to plug in your computer, your laptop, your iPad or your iPhone, you’re looking for a… |
| Amber: 插座, 比如说如果你去饭店 。(Chāzuò, bǐrú shuō rúguǒ nǐ qù fàndiàn.) |
| DAVID: Yes. |
| Amber: 你还带了一个电脑。(Nǐ hái dàile yīgè diànnǎo.) |
| DAVID: Yes. |
| Amber: 你可能就会问，你们这有插座吗？(Nǐ kěnéng jiù huì wèn, nǐmen zhè yǒu chāzuò ma?) |
| DAVID: Yes. You hear “Do you have a 插座 ?(Chāzuò?)” |
| Amber:你们这有插座吗？(Nǐmen zhè yǒu chāzuò ma?) |
| DAVID: Right. Although maybe less in a restaurant than in a café. |
| Amber: Okay. |
| DAVID: That time? Yeah, absolutely. You’re going to use this all the time and it can be an outlet in the wall, it can be an outlet in power chord. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Right? Use… |
| Amber: 插座。(Chāzuò.) |
| DAVID: And people will know exactly what you’re talking about. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: Okay? And with that, we’re at the end of our vocabulary for this lesson. Join us now as we go on to our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| DAVID: Our grammar point today is about answering questions in Chinese. |
| Amber: 怎么用中文回答问题。(Zěnme yòng zhōngwén huídá wèntí.) |
| DAVID: Right. In earlier lessons, we’ve taught you that to answer a question you usually echo back the main verb in either the positive or the negative form. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Right. So if someone asks you “Is it cold today?” |
| Amber: 今天冷吗？(Jīntiān lěng ma?) |
| DAVID: You can answer… |
| Amber: 冷。(Lěng.) |
| DAVID: Or… |
| Amber: 不冷。(Bù lěng.) |
| DAVID: Right. What’s interesting with our dialogue today is we have question and answer with change of state. We see this in the following line… |
| Amber: 电源打开了吗？(Diànyuán dǎkāile ma?) |
| DAVID: The power source, is it turned on? |
| Amber: 电源打开了吗？(Diànyuán dǎkāile ma?) |
| DAVID: Right. Now, this is a change of state because we’re asking “has it just happened?” |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: Right, it’s not always on. If we’re going to answer this in the affirmative, we’re going to say… |
| Amber: 开了。(Kāile.) |
| DAVID: It’s been turned on. |
| Amber: 开了。(Kāile.) |
| DAVID: So in the affirmative we’re keeping this change of state. |
| Amber: 没错, 我们会说 开了。(Méi cuò, wǒmen huì shuō kāile.) |
| DAVID: Let’s hear an example with the verb “plug in”. |
| Amber: 你的笔记本 插电源了吗？(Nǐ de bǐjìběn chā diànyuánle ma?) |
| DAVID: Is your laptop plugged in? |
| Amber: 你的笔记本 插电源了吗？(Nǐ de bǐjìběn chā diànyuánle ma?) |
| DAVID: Right, 插电源了吗？(Chā diànyuánle ma?) Has it been plugged in to the power source, right? |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: And the answer, of course, we’re going to keep this 了. |
| Amber: 插了。(Chāle.) |
| DAVID: Right. “It’s been plugged in.” One more example. |
| Amber: 你打印文件了吗？(Nǐ dǎyìn wénjiànle ma?) |
| DAVID: Have you printed the document? |
| Amber: 你打印文件了吗？(Nǐ dǎyìn wénjiànle ma?) |
| DAVID: Have you printed the document? And the answer to this in the affirmative is… |
| Amber: 打印了。(Dǎyìnle.) |
| DAVID: I have printed it. |
| Amber: 打印了。(Dǎyìnle.) |
| DAVID: So the change of state in the question is echoed in the answer. Now, what’s interesting about this is what happens if we want to make this negative. |
| Amber: 如果想说不，我们会说 未，然后说这个动词。(Rúguǒ xiǎng shuō bu, wǒmenhuì shuō wèi, ránhòu shuō zhège dòngcí.) |
| DAVID: Right, but there’s no 了 .(Le.) |
| Amber: 没有。(Méiyǒu.) |
| DAVID: Because we’re saying that it has not been a change of state and so we get rid of it and it becomes the simple past. Let’s take those three sentences as before and answer them in the negative. |
| Amber: 第一个，电源打开了吗？(Dì yī gè, diànyuán dǎkāile ma?) |
| DAVID: And the answer in the negative is… |
| Amber: 没打开。(Méi dǎkāi.) |
| DAVID: It hasn’t been turned on. |
| Amber: 第二个，你的笔记本 插电源了吗？(Dì èr gè, nǐ de bǐjìběn chā diànyuánle ma?) |
| DAVID: Has it been plugged in? |
| Amber: 答案是，没插。(Dá'àn shì, méi chā.) |
| DAVID: It hasn’t been plugged in. |
| Amber: 我们看最后一个, 你打印文件了吗？(Wǒmen kàn zuìhòu yīgè, nǐ dǎyìn wénjiànle ma?) |
| DAVID: Have you printed the document? |
| Amber: 答案是 没打印。(Dá'àn shì méi dǎyìn.) |
| DAVID: “It hasn’t been printed” or “I haven’t printed it.” This is a tricky little subtlety in language because something that was a change of state in the question… |
| Amber: 对。(Duì) |
| DAVID: In the affirmative answer, we’re still asserting that there was a change of state. |
| Amber: 因为刚刚发生了。(Yīnwèi gānggāng fāshēngle.) |
| DAVID: Right, cause I just did it. I just turned it on or it’s been printed. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| DAVID: But when we’re saying in the negative, we have to drop that. |
| Amber: 因为没有发生。(Yīnwèi méiyǒu fāshēng.) |
| DAVID: Cause nothing has happened so nothing has changed. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| DAVID: It makes a lot of sense but it can take people a little bit of time to really internalize this, so we’re just pointing it out in case you didn’t pick up on it. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| DAVID: Okay, so that’s our lesson for today. As always, we have a premium transcript in our Premium Learning Center that has this information and much more, so be sure to go check them out. For now though, that’s all the time we have. Thank you for listening. From Beijing, I'm David. |
| Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| DAVID: And we’ll see you on the site. |
| Amber: 咱们网上见。(Zánmen wǎngshàng jiàn.) |
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