Learn how to use the advanced double negative pattern
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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 19. The Chinese Mother with Big Dreams. |
| Echo: 我觉得所有的中国妈妈都有 (Wǒ juédé suǒyǒu de zhōngguó māmā dōu yǒu) Big Dreams. |
| David: Yes. They have big, crushingly large dreams and roll over you very easily. |
| Echo: 就像我们前几节课讲过的哪个虎妈的故事, 今天我们的对话呢是两个妈妈, 其中有一个妈妈在讲她是怎么教育孩子的。 (Jiù xiàng wǒmen qián jǐ jié kè jiǎngguò de nǎge hǔ mā de gùshì, jīntiān wǒmen de duìhuà ne shì liǎng gè māmā, qízhōng yǒu yīgè māmā zài jiǎng tā shì zěnme jiàoyù háizi de.) |
| David: Right. And they are speaking casual Mandarin as always. So let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A 听说你儿子奥数比赛获奖了？ (A Tīngshuō nǐ érzi àoshù bǐsài huòjiǎngle ?) |
| B 不值一提，才得了个二等奖。 (B Bùzhí yī tí, cái dé le ge èrděngjiǎng.) |
| A 多不容易呀。要是我儿子，我非乐死不可。 (A Duō bù róngyì ya. Yàoshi wǒ érzi, wǒ fēi lè sǐ bù kě.) |
| B 不行，我批评他了，下次一定要拿个一等奖。 (B Bùxíng, wǒ pīpíng tā le, xiàcì yīdìng yào ná ge yīděngjiǎng.) |
| A 你对他要求也太高了吧。 (A Nǐ duì tā yāoqiú yě tàigāo le ba.) |
| B 不高，现在的社会竞争多激烈呀。不是名牌儿大学毕业的都找不着工作。 (B Bùgāo, xiànzài de shèhuì jìngzhēng duō jīliè ya. Bù shì míngpáiér dàxué bìyè de dōuzhǎobùzháo gōngzuò.) |
| A 可他现在才上小学五年级呀。 (A Kě tā xiànzài cái shàng xiǎoxué wǔ niánjí ya.) |
| B 可他将来是要上牛津哈佛的，现在不严格点儿怎么行。我们隔壁夫妇的女儿才四岁，已经开始学弹钢琴了。 (B Kě tā jiānglái shì yào shàng niújīn hāfó de, xiànzài bù yángé diǎnr zěnme xíng.Wǒmen gébì fūfù de nǚér cái sì suì, yǐjīng kāishǐ xué tángāngqín le.) |
| A: I heard your son just won a prize in the Olympic Math competition. |
| B: Not worth mentioning. It was only a second prize. |
| A: What an effort. If it were my son, I'd be thrilled for sure. |
| B: It wasn't good enough and I told him. Next time he must win first prize. |
| A: Your expectations are too high. |
| B: No. Competition in this society is fierce. Those who don't graduate from top ranking universities can't find jobs. |
| A: But he's only a fifth-grader now. |
| B: But if he's going to go to universities like Oxford and Harvard, I'll have to be even stricter. Our neighbor's daughter is only four years old and she's already started to learn to play the piano. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 所以 David 你听说过奥数比赛吗？ (Suǒyǐ David nǐ tīng shuōguò àoshù bǐsài ma?) |
| David: I have although I have never participated. |
| Echo: 唔，我也没参加过。 (Wú, wǒ yě méi cānjiāguò.) |
| David: That does not surprise me. |
| Echo: Hay! 客气点！Anyway 虽然我们都没参加过, 但是今天我们的生词是跟这些比赛有关系的。 (Kèqì diǎn!Anyway suīrán wǒmen dōu méi cānjiāguò, dànshì jīntiān wǒmen de shēngcí shì gēn zhèxiē bǐsài yǒu guānxì de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 奥数。 (ào shǔ.) |
| David: Math Olympiad. |
| Echo: 奥 数, 奥数, 二等奖。 (ào shǔ, ào shǔ, èrděngjiǎng.) |
| David: Second prize. |
| Echo: 二 等 奖, 二等奖, 批评。 (èr děng jiǎng, èrděngjiǎng, pīpíng.) |
| David: To criticize. |
| Echo: 批 评, 批评, 高考。 (pī píng, pīpíng, gāokǎo.) |
| David: University entrance exam. |
| Echo: 高 考, 高考, 激烈。 (gāo kǎo, gāokǎo, jīliè.) |
| David: Fierce. |
| Echo: 激 烈, 激烈, 严格。 (jī liè, jīliè, yángé.) |
| David: Strict. |
| Echo: 严 格, 严格, 名牌儿。 (yán gé, yángé, Míngpái er.) |
| David: Famous brand. |
| Echo: 名 牌 儿, 名牌儿, 竞争。 (Míng pái er, Míngpái er, jìngzhēng. ) |
| David: To compete. |
| Echo: 竞 争, 竞争。 (jìn gzhēng, jìngzhēng.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: So neither Echo nor I have done it but we have it on good authority that the Math Olympiad is very popular in China. |
| Echo: 对, 奥数。 (Duì, àoshù.) |
| David: Mathematics Olympiad. |
| Echo: 奥数。 (Àoshù.) |
| David: It’s much cleaner in Chinese, isn’t it? |
| Echo: 唔，就是奥林匹克数学。 (Wú, jiùshì àolínpǐkè shùxué.) |
| David: Yes, the Olympics of Math and if you are lucky, you will manage to get second place prize. |
| Echo: 二等奖。 (Èr děng jiǎng.) |
| David: Second prize. |
| Echo: 二等奖。 (Èr děng jiǎng.) |
| David: Someone in Echo’s class will be walking away with first place prize. |
| Echo: 对, 一等奖。 (Duì, yī děng jiǎng.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 或者有人可能得了特等奖。 (Huòzhě yǒurén kěnéng déliǎo tèděng jiǎng.) |
| David: Yes. Special prize, is that good in China? |
| Echo: 这个说不好, 这有两种情况, 有一种情况就是特等奖比一等奖更好, 但是还有一种情况就是特等奖, 我们就是我们所说的..... (Zhège shuō bu hǎo, zhè yǒu liǎng zhǒng qíngkuàng, yǒuyī zhǒng qíngkuàng jiùshì tèděng jiǎng bǐ yī děng jiǎng gèng hǎo, dànshì hái yǒuyī zhǒng qíngkuàng jiùshì tèděng jiǎng, wǒmen jiùshì wǒmen suǒ shuō de.) |
| David: It’s the thanks for coming out. |
| Echo: 对，安慰奖。 (Duì, ānwèi jiǎng.) |
| David: Are they also called participational words. In English, we’d say it’s you know, it’s the thanks for coming out. You get a 参加奖 (Cānjiā jiǎng). |
| Echo: 参与奖, 一般我们不这么说, 一般可能就是特等奖。 (Cānyù jiǎng, yībān wǒmen bù zhème shuō, yībān kěnéng jiùshì tèděng jiǎng.) |
| David: Okay. Special prize. Anyway, moving on, there is an interesting word in our dialogue which we translated as famous brand. |
| Echo: 名牌儿。 (Míngpái er.) |
| David: Because this is a noun on its own. |
| Echo: 对, 对, 就是如果你单独说名牌儿, 可能就是跟.... (Duì, duì, jiùshì rúguǒ nǐ dāndú shuō míngpái er, kěnéng jiùshì gēn....) |
| David: It’s Gucci or |
| Echo: 对, 衣服, 包 ….. (Duì, yīfú, bāo…..) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 化妆品..... 这样有关系的。 (Huàzhuāngpǐn..... Zhèyàng yǒu guānxì de.) |
| David: But here it’s being used almost like an adjective to modify the word University. |
| Echo: 名牌儿大学。 (Míngpái er dàxué.) |
| David: Right. You could also say |
| Echo: 名牌儿手表。 (Míngpái er shǒubiǎo.) |
| David: Right. That’s a name brand watch. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: So any big brands |
| Echo: 唔, 对, 一般来说除了这个大学以外, 其他的名牌儿什么 都是跟手表, 包, 衣服, 化妆品有关系。 (Wú, duì, yībān lái shuō chúle zhège dàxué yǐwài, qítā de míngpái er shénme dōu shì gēn shǒubiǎo, bāo, yīfú, huàzhuāngpǐn yǒu guānxì.) |
| David: Yeah. The thing to note is that we are using this instead of saying famous. |
| Echo: 著名。 (Zhùmíng.) |
| David: Because the emphasis is not on the fame, it’s on it being a big brand. |
| Echo: 对，这是.... 好像是很中国特色的。 (Duì, zhè shì.... Hǎoxiàng shì hěn zhōngguó tèsè de.) |
| David: Yeah. Last but not least, we wanted to highlight the adjective strict. |
| Echo: 严格。 (Yángé.) |
| David: Strict. |
| Echo: 严格。 (Yángé.) |
| David: A lot of people get this confused with severe. |
| Echo: 唔，应该是严重。 (Wú, yīnggāi shì yánzhòng.) |
| David: Or |
| Echo: 严肃。 (Yánsù.) |
| David: Right. So there are three words here, three adjectives easy to confuse. |
| Echo: 对, 但是 …. 对，严格, 严重, 严肃。 (Duì, dànshì…. Duì, yángé, yánzhòng, yánsù.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 严格一般就是表示 Ah, 谁的...... 对管教别人...... 很严格。 (Yángé yībān jiùshì biǎoshì Ah, shéi de...... Duì guǎnjiào biérén...... Hěn yángé.) |
| David: Yes. It also – it implies that something is up to a certain standard. |
| Echo: 唔, 没错, 严格。 (Wú, méi cuò, yángé.) |
| David: Right. You’ve crossed over the bar. |
| Echo: 对，比如说老板对员工很严格。 (Duì, bǐrú shuō lǎobǎn duì yuángōng hěn yángé.) |
| David: Right. The boss is strict to his employees. |
| Echo: 所以 严格, 严重, 严肃。 (Suǒyǐ yángé, yánzhòng, yánsù.) |
| David: Three words, it’s easy to confuse. |
| Echo: Uhoo… |
| David: With that though, that’s our vocab section. Let’s move on to our grammar point. It’s grammar time. In the international grammar point Olympiad, this grammar point takes first prize. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 对，应该是 一等奖的。 (Duì, yīnggāi shì yī děng jiǎng de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 非.....什么什么..... 不可。 (Fēi..... Shénme shénme..... Bùkě.) |
| David: Right. This is a pattern. |
| Echo: 非.....什么什么..... 不可。 (Fēi..... Shénme shénme..... Bùkě.) |
| David: Right. We don’t say the 什么什么 (Shénme shénme) Echo. |
| Echo: No. |
| David: We put something in the middle of life. |
| Echo: 非..... 不可。 (Fēi..... Bùkě.) |
| David: Like in our dialogue. Echo, where did we hear this? |
| Echo: 要是我儿子，我非乐死不可。 (Yàoshi wǒ érzi, wǒ fēi lè sǐ bùkě.) |
| David: If it was my son, I |
| Echo: 非乐死不可。 (Fēi lè sǐ bùkě.) |
| David: I’d be really happy. |
| Echo: 对，就笑死了。 (Duì, jiù xiào sǐle.) |
| David: Yes. Actually in this situation, 非 (Fēi) here means not. |
| Echo: 非。 (Fēi.) |
| David: But we have it in the double negative. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: So not happy, not possible. |
| Echo: 非乐死不可。 (Fēi lè sǐ bùkě.) |
| David: Right. Echo, you’ve got some more examples for us. |
| Echo: 唔, 没错, 比如说 我儿子奥数比赛 没得奖, 我非批评他不可。 (Wú, méi cuò, bǐrú shuō wǒ érzi àoshù bǐsài méi dé jiǎng, wǒ fēi pīpíng tā bùkě.) |
| David: That’s pretty mean. |
| Echo: It’s not mean. |
| David: It is mean. |
| Echo: 他没得奖, 所以我要批评他。 (Tā méi dé jiǎng, suǒyǐ wǒ yào pīpíng tā.) |
| David: He didn’t get a prize and so you couldn’t do anything but criticize the kid. |
| Echo: 对，这是很多中国家长都这样, 我儿子奥数比赛 没得奖, 我非批评他不可。 (Duì, zhè shì hěnduō zhōngguó jiāzhǎng dōu zhèyàng, wǒ érzi àoshù bǐsài méi dé jiǎng, wǒ fēi pīpíng tā bùkě.) |
| David: Right. And we’ve got a verb in there instead of an adjective that time. So this is a really flexible pattern. |
| Echo: 对, 没错。 (Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s have another example. |
| Echo: 比如说 中国竞争太激烈了, 家长们非严格要求孩子不可。 (Bǐrú shuō zhōngguó jìngzhēng tài jīlièle, jiāzhǎngmen fēi yángé yāoqiú háizi bùkě.) |
| David: Even more difficult than verb phrase, competition in China is very intense. What do parents have to do? |
| Echo: 家长们非严格要求孩子不可。 (Jiāzhǎngmen fēi yángé yāoqiú háizi bùkě.) |
| David: They’ve got to be really strict with the requirements they give their children. |
| Echo: 中国竞争太激烈了, 家长们非严格要求孩子不可。 (Zhōngguó jìngzhēng tài jīlièle, jiāzhǎngmen fēi yángé yāoqiú háizi bùkě.) |
| David: I don’t think that’s actually true but it’s definitely the way most parents in China seem to think. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Anyway that’s our grammar point for today. Before we go, we should remind people of something you learned earlier this season. |
| Echo: 哪个字 “非”。 (Nǎge zì “fēi”.) |
| David: By itself can also mean indeed or very. |
| Echo: 对，一定。 (Duì, yīdìng.) |
| David: Right. So if you see this character, look to see if it’s part of this pattern or not. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
Outro |
| David: That said, that’s our lesson. Thanks for listening. |
| Echo: From Beijing, 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: I am David. |
| Echo: 我们网上见。 (Wǒmen wǎngshàng jiàn.) |
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