Learn how to say that one thing or person resembles another
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好，我是 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: And we are here today with upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 13. |
| Echo: 一个完美的阿姨。 (Yīgè wánměi de āyí.) |
| David: An Almost Perfect 阿姨 (Āyí). Not quite, Not quite… |
| Echo: 对，差不多完美的。 (Duì, chàbùduō wánměi de.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 几乎完美的。 (Jīhū wánměi de.) |
| David: So we have a dialogue here that takes place between two friends and they are talking about the household help. |
| Echo: 没错，他们有一家人新顾的一个保姆。 (Méi cuò, tāmen yǒuyī jiārén xīn gù de yīgè bǎomǔ.) |
| David: Yeah. So this is casual Mandarin as always. Let’s go to the dialogue. I don’t think anyone is pretty as Zhang Ziyi would work as 阿姨 (Āyí). |
| DIALOGUE |
| A 那个女的是谁？ (A Nà ge nǚ de shì shéi?) |
| B 我家新雇的保姆。 (B Wǒ jiā xīn gù de bǎomǔ.) |
| A 长得真漂亮，跟章子怡似的。 (A Zhǎng de zhēn piàoliang, gēn Zhāng Zǐyí shìde.) |
| B 不但人长得标致，干起家务来更是没得挑。 (B Bùdàn rén zhǎng de biāozhì, gàn qǐ jiāwù lái gèng shì méidetiāo.) |
| A 她能不能也来我家打扫打扫卫生？ (A Tā néngbùnéng yě lái wǒ jiā dǎsǎo dǎsǎo wèishēng?) |
| B 她哪儿都好，可就有一样儿。 (B Tā nǎrdōuhǎo, kě jiù yǒu yīyàngr.) |
| A 怎么了？ (A Zěnme le?) |
| B 她睡觉时呼噜打得山响，吵得我们全家都睡不着。 (B Tā shuìjiào shí hūlu dǎ de shān xiǎng, chǎo de wǒmen quánjiā dōu shuìbuzháo.) |
| A: Who is that woman there? |
| B: The new housemaid we just hired. |
| A: She is really pretty, and looks like Zhang Ziyi. |
| B: She is not only pretty, but even the way she does housework is impeccable. |
| A: Can she also come to clean our house? |
| B: She is nice in every aspect except one. |
| A: What is it? |
| B: When she sleeps, she snores so loudly that no one in my family can get to sleep. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I don't think anyone as pretty as Zhang Ziyi would work as 阿姨 (āyí) |
| Echo: 唔，她可能是刚刚进城的, 刚开始工作。 (Wú, tā kěnéng shì gānggāng jìnchéng de, gāng kāishǐ gōngzuò.) |
| David: Okay. So give her another 3 months and she will be on TV. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Okay now… |
| Echo: 不过要小心她哪个打呼噜的毛病。 (Bùguò yào xiǎoxīn tā nǎge dǎ hūlū de máobìng.) |
| David: I think 章子怡 (Zhāngziyí) is great. Interestingly, a lot of Beijing people think she is somewhat plain. |
| Echo: Ah…..我觉得有些人可能觉得她.... 有今天这个成绩, 是跟她和男人的关系有关系。 (Wǒ juédé yǒuxiē rén kěnéng juédé tā.... Yǒu jīntiān zhège chéngjī, shì gēn tā hé nánrén de guānxì yǒu guānxì.) |
| David: I think they are just jealous. Anyway, our vocab today is about dealing with housemaids and cleaning. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 没错。保姆。 (Méi cuò. bǎomǔ.) |
| David: Nanny. |
| Echo: 保 姆, 保姆, 没得挑。 (bǎo mǔ, bǎomǔ, méi dé tiāo.) |
| David: Impeccable. |
| Echo: 没 得 挑, 没得挑, 保洁。 (méi dé tiāo, méi dé tiāo, bǎojié.) |
| David: To do cleaning. |
| Echo: 保 洁, 保洁, 打呼噜。 (bǎo jié, bǎojié, Dǎ hūlū.) |
| David: To snore. |
| Echo: 打 呼 噜, 打呼噜, 打得山响。 (Dǎ hū lū, Dǎ hūlū, dǎ dé shān |
| xiǎng.) |
| David: To snore loudly. |
| Echo: 打 得 山 响, 打得山响, 标致。 (dǎ dé shān xiǎng, dǎ dé shānxiǎng, biāozhì.) |
| David: Pretty. |
| Echo: 标 致, 标致, 雇。 (biāo zhì, biāozhì, gù.) |
| David: To hire. |
| Echo: 雇, 雇。 (gù, gù.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is |
| Echo: 保姆。 (Bǎomǔ.) |
| David: Nanny. |
| Echo: 保姆。 (Bǎomǔ.) |
| David: And the other word you will hear for this is |
| Echo: 阿姨。 (Āyí.) |
| David: There is technically a difference. |
| Echo: 对，保姆一般是看孩子的, 照顾孩子的, 然后阿姨呢一般就是做家务的, 但是现在你说哪个都可以。 (Duì, bǎomǔ yībān shì kàn háizi de, zhàogù háizi de, ránhòu āyí ne yībān jiùshì zuò jiāwù de, dànshì xiànzài nǐ shuō nǎge dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. So you could call your 阿姨 保姆 (Āyí bǎomǔ), but technically – technically the 保姆 (Bǎomǔ) takes care of the kids. |
| Echo: 没错，还有另外一种叫 “小时工”。 (Méi cuò, hái yǒu lìngwài yī zhǒng jiào “xiǎoshígōng”.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 小时工。 (Xiǎoshígōng.) |
| David: And that’s more like hourly hired help. |
| Echo: 没错, 就是如果我们说阿姨或者保姆, 很有可能她会住在你的家里, 但是如果你说小时工, 她可能每个星期来几个小时帮你打扫。 (Méi cuò, jiùshì rúguǒ wǒmen shuō āyí huòzhě bǎomǔ, hěn yǒu kěnéng tā huì zhù zài nǐ de jiālǐ, dànshì rúguǒ nǐ shuō xiǎoshígōng, tā kěnéng měi gè xīngqí lái jǐ gè xiǎoshí bāng nǐ dǎsǎo.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 所以我们有三个, 保姆, 阿姨, 小时工。 (Suǒyǐ wǒmen yǒusān gè, bǎomǔ, āyí, xiǎoshígōng.) |
| David: Yes. So if you don’t have an 阿姨 (Āyí) you can look at hiring one. |
| Echo: 雇。 (Gù.) |
| David: To hire. |
| Echo: 雇。 (Gù.) |
| David: Right and what you are hiring them for is to do cleaning. |
| Echo: 保洁。 (Bǎojié.) |
| David: To do cleaning. |
| Echo: 保洁。 (Bǎojié.) |
| David: And this word isn’t just cleaning for households. |
| Echo: 对，不只是给家里打扫卫生的人, 可以叫保洁, Ah….比如说你在大街上..... (Duì, bù zhǐshì gěi jiālǐ dǎsǎo wèishēng de rén, kěyǐ jiào bǎojié, Ah…. Bǐrú shuō nǐ zài dàjiē shàng.....) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 打扫哪个大姐。 (Dǎsǎo nǎge dàjiě.) |
| David: People who sweep the streets are also doing this work. |
| Echo: 对，保洁。 (Duì, bǎojié.) |
| David: And that’s got to be – that’s got to be an awful job. |
| Echo: 唔，他妈妈从前是做保洁的, 很辛苦。 (Wú, tā māmā cóngqián shì zuò bǎojié de, hěn xīnkǔ.) |
| David: Right. In that sentence, it would be saying, his mother used to be a cleaner, life was really hard. |
| Echo: 他妈妈从前是做保洁的, 很辛苦。 (Tā māmā cóngqián shì zuò bǎojié de, hěn xīnkǔ.) |
| David: Right. Let’s skip ahead to this word that says impeccable. |
| Echo: 没得挑。 (Méi dé tiāo.) |
| David: Impeccable. |
| Echo: 没得挑。 (Méi dé tiāo.) |
| David: And what this really means is, there is nothing to pick. |
| Echo: 对，没有什么你可以挑剔的。 (Duì, méiyǒu shé me nǐ kěyǐ tiāotì de.) |
| David: Yeah. So you can’t pick something out and complain about it. |
| Echo: 对，就是说明他做得非常好, 比如说他热情的服务真是没得挑。 (Duì, jiùshì shuōmíng tā zuò dé fēicháng hǎo, bǐrú shuō tā rèqíng de fúwù zhēnshi méi dé tiāo.) |
| David: Right. His excellent service, his enthusiastic service is |
| Echo: 没得挑。 (Méi dé tiāo.) |
| David: Nothing wrong with it. Finally, we have two words for snoring. |
| Echo: 唔，第一个是 打呼噜。 (Wú, dì yī gè shì dǎ hūlū.) |
| David: To snore. |
| Echo: 打呼噜。 (Dǎ hūlū.) |
| David: And the second is related. |
| Echo: 对，第二个是 打得山响。 (Duì, dì èr gè shì dǎ dé shānxiǎng.) |
| David: And you can’t use this one alone. |
| Echo: No. |
| David: You have to pair it with |
| Echo: 呼噜, 比如说 呼噜打得山响。 (Hūlū, bǐrú shuō hūlū dǎ dé shānxiǎng.) |
| David: Right. The snoring was 打得 (Dǎ dé) to the point of |
| Echo: 山都响了。 (Shān dū xiǎngle.) |
| David: Right. The mountain was echoing with the sounds. |
| Echo: 没错，呼噜打得山响。 (Méi cuò, hūlū dǎ dé shānxiǎng.) |
| David: Right. So this is relatively literary Chinese. |
| Echo: Uhmm, 对, 非常的高级，比如说昨天晚上我老公呼噜打得山响, 我一晚上也没睡。 (Duì, fēicháng de gāojí, bǐrú shuō zuótiān wǎnshàng wǒ lǎogōng hūlū dǎ dé shānxiǎng, wǒ yī wǎnshàng yě méi shuì.) |
| David: Right or maybe that’s the 阿姨 (Āyí). |
| Echo: 啊！对，也可能是阿姨的呼噜打得山响。 (A! Duì, yě kěnéng shì āyí de hūlū dǎ dé shānxiǎng.) |
| David: Right. So a lot of vocab about cleaning up, being impeccable and then maybe snoring. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: With that, let’s go to our grammar point. |
| Echo: 好的。 (Hǎo de.) |
| David: It’s grammar time. What we want to talk about today is seeming like something or someone. |
| Echo: 唔，用这个结构，跟.... 什么什么....似的。 (Wú, yòng zhège jiégòu, gēn.... Shénme shénme.... Shì de.) |
| David: Right. To be like 章子怡 (Zhāngziyí). |
| Echo: 跟章子怡似的。 (Gēn zhāngziyí shì de.) |
| David: To be like 章子怡 (Zhāngziyí). |
| Echo: 跟章子怡似的。 (Gēn zhāngziyí shì de.) |
| David: Right. So that’s a person. So in our dialogue, you could say, the maid looks a lot like 章子怡 (Zhāngziyí). |
| Echo: 保姆长得跟章子怡似的。 (Bǎomǔ zhǎng dé gēn zhāngziyí shì de.) |
| David: Right but this could be anything. |
| Echo: 对, 差不多会, 比如说你的房间真干净, 跟有保姆打扫过似的。 (Duì, chàbùduō hui, bǐrú shuō nǐ de fángjiān zhēn gànjìng, gēn yǒu bǎomǔ dǎsǎoguò shì de.) |
| David: Your room is really clean as if it’s been cleaned by an 阿姨 (Āyí) or a 保姆 (Bǎomǔ). |
| Echo: 对，你的房间真干净, 跟有保姆打扫过似的。 (Duì, nǐ de fángjiān zhēn gànjìng, gēn yǒu bǎomǔ dǎsǎoguò shì de.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 还有有时候我们会说 比如说一个阿姨或者是谁把家里的地面打扫得非常干净, 我们可以说.... 我们可以说跟镜子似的。 (Hái yǒu yǒu shíhòu wǒmen huì shuō bǐrú shuō yīgè āyí huòzhě shì shéi bǎ jiālǐ dì dìmiàn dǎsǎo dé fēicháng gānjìng, wǒmen kěyǐ shuō.... Wǒmen kěyǐ shuō gēn jìngzi shì de.) |
| David: Right. Like a mirror. |
| Echo: 对，比如说这个地板真干净，跟镜子似的。 (Duì, bǐrú shuō zhège dìbǎn zhēn gānjìng, gēn jìngzi shì de.) |
| David: The ground is really clean. It’s polished like a mirror. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. So we can use this with anything. The tricky thing is this 似的 (Shì de). |
| Echo: 似的。 (Shì de.) |
| David: Because that’s a 多音字 (Duō yīnzì)。 |
| Echo: 唔，对，它有两个音，一个是 “似”，一个是 “似”。 (Wú, duì, tā yǒu liǎng gè yīn, yīgè shì “shì”, yīgè shì “shì”.) |
| David: Right. So you are going to hear people from other parts of China and in Southern China, they are going to say |
| Echo: 似的。 (Shì de.) |
| David: Yes 跟什么什么似的似的似的 (Gēn shénme shénme shì de shì de shì de)。 |
| Echo: 对，这个是错的。 (Duì, zhège shì cuò de.) |
| David: Yes but it is common enough that if you hear it, this is what they mean. |
| Echo: 唔, 对, 如果你听到你可能知道... 啊！他们其实说的是 “似的”。 (Wú, duì, rúguǒ nǐ tīng dào nǐ kěnéng zhīdào... A! Tāmen qíshí shuō de shì “shì de”.) |
| David: Right but don’t forget to get that [*] . It’s going to make you sound much more native. |
| Echo: 似的。 (Shì de.) |
| David: Okay. So let’s hear two more examples. |
| Echo: 她长得真标致，跟个电影明星似的。 (Tā zhǎng dé zhēn biāozhì, gēn gè diànyǐng míngxīng shì de.) |
| David: She is really pretty like a movie star. |
| Echo: 她长得真标致，跟个电影明星似的。 (Tā zhǎng dé zhēn biāozhì, gēn gè diànyǐng míngxīng shì de.) |
| David: And that could be him as well. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Because that adjective |
| Echo: 标致。 (Biāozhì.) |
| David: Works for both men and women. |
| Echo: 对, 但是如果他是说男人的时候，一般是指很漂亮的男人。 (Duì, dànshì rúguǒ tā shì shuō nánrén de shíhòu, yībān shì zhǐ hěn piàoliang de nánrén.) |
| David: Yes. A more kind of feminine beauty. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Last example. |
| Echo: 这里的服务没得挑，跟五星级酒店似的。 (Zhèlǐ de fúwù méi dé tiāo, gēn wǔ xīng jí jiǔdiàn shì de.) |
| David: The service here is impeccable like a 5-Star restaurant. |
| Echo: 这里的服务没得挑，跟五星级酒店似的。 (Zhèlǐ de fúwù méi dé tiāo, gēn wǔ xīng jí jiǔdiàn shì de.) |
Outro |
| David: Right. So an advance pattern, but not a difficult one to use. As always, if you have any questions about this or if you’d like to see the pinyin or the characters for these words, check out our lesson transcript. |
| Echo: 对, 它就在我们的 (Duì, tā jiù zài wǒmen de) premium learning center. |
| David: Right and we’ve got a separate one for every lesson. They are really useful for helping you review this stuff. For now though, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks for listening to our show and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 咱们网上见吧！ (Zánmen wǎngshàng jiàn ba!) Bye bye. |
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