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I Wish You Good Health!: Key Words of The Day
I Wish You Good Health!: Key Words of The Day
I Wish You Good Health!: Key Words of The Day
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Yajie: Perfect Chinese your way, in only five minutes a day. Welcome to Chinese Studio. I’m
Yajie.
Cam: Hi, everyone, I’m Cam. Yajie, have you bought a present yet for Louis? It’s his
birthday tomorrow.
Yajie: No, not yet!
Cam: I got him something… but I need to learn how to say Happy Birthday in Chinese when
I see him tomorrow.
Yajie: I’ll teach you. Today we can learn some expression of congratulations when
somebody is celebrating a birthday. Let’s check Key Words of the Day.
Yajie: Cam, how do you think you would respond if somebody said zhu ni sheng ri kuai le?
Cam: Could I say: xie xie?
Yajie: Yes, that’s right. Sometimes people just say 生日快乐 for short.
Coryright 2007 cchello.com
www.cchello.com
Cam: Ok, this sounds reasonable, because 祝你 means wishing you…. In English, we say
Happy Birthday for short instead of Happy Birthday to you. When wishing somebody a happy
birthday, it’s not necessary to specify the person. So it’s the same as Chinese. There is no
need to say 祝你(zhù nǐ).
Yajie: You got it. Besides 生日快乐, there are other relevant expressions. For example, you can
say 祝你身体健康 which means “I wish you good health” 身体 is body. 身, s-h-e-n, shēn, the
first tone; 体, t-i, tǐ, the third tone.
Cam: 身体, shēn tǐ.
Yajie: And 健康 means fine, or healthy. 健, jiàn, the forth tone; 康, k-a-ng-, kāng, the first
tone.
Cam: 健康 (jiànkāng).
Yajie: Together you can say 祝你身体健康(zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng).
Cam: 祝你身体健康(zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng).
Coryright 2007 cchello.com