Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chinese Pharases
Chinese Pharases
Han Meimei:
Li Lei:
ask someone for help or interrupt a person when this person is in the middle of
something, <d ro y xi> <Excuse me.> is a polite way to start the
conversation.
Then, Han Meimei asks, ? <zn me le?> <whats up?> This is a colloquial
expression in Chinese people's daily life. It is used between people who are familiar
with each other. We have learned a question word <zn me yng?> <how?>
which means how. The meaning of <zn me le > <whats up?> is
completely different. It means What's the matter?, What's up? or What's new?
Li Lei asks whether he can use Han Meimei's car, ? <w yng
y xi n de ch xng ma > < May I use your car?>; <yng> <use> is a verb
we have learned, which means to use. <n de ch><your car> means your
car. <de> is the marker of a possessive relationship, which we are very familiar
with. Again, we find the phrase <y xi> after the verb. This pattern is often
used when asking for permission. It softens the tone of the request. It is very similar
to the reduplication of verbs that we have learned. In fact, they are interchangeable
when you ask for permission to use an object. For example, the following examples
mean the same thing.
<w yng y xi n de ch> <I want to use your car for a little bit.>
<w yng yng n de ch> <I want to use your car for a little bit.>
To further soften the tone of the request, Li Lei uses a tag question ?<xng ma?
><ok?> When we talked about the reduplication of verbs, we learned that there are
four common tag questions asking for permission or compliance. They are:
<ho b ho?><ok?>
<xng ma?><ok?>
Then, Han Meimei asks <shn me sh hu hun w?> < When will
you return me?>
<shn me sh hu> <when?> is a question word we are familiar with,
which means when. So far, we have encountered the character <hi> <return>
twice. In comparing two objects, the character <hi> is used before the adjective
in the pattern: A b +Adjective. <hi> <return> is also used with the
character <sh> to form a new phrase <hi sh> <or>, which means or.
In this lesson, <hun> <return> changes its pronunciation and becomes a verb,
which means to return. In the Chinese language, there are a lot of multifunctional
characters and a certain amount of characters with multiple pronunciations.
Last, Li Lei answers, <jn tin wn shng> <tonight.> , which is a time word
that means tonight.
!<hn ho> <Thats Great> I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Remember that
practice is the key to success in learning Chinese. The more you practice, the more
you will grasp.
< Talking About WeatherThe Verb - yu - have >
< Prev Next >
Copyright 2012-2013 All Rights