LESSON TRANSCRIPT

Absolute Beginner S3 #19

The perfect Chinese boyfriend

CONTENTS
2 INTRODUCTION
3 DIALOGUE
4 POST CONVERSATION BANTER
5 VOCAB LIST
6 VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
10 LESSON FOCUS
13 OUTRO

# 19
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 INTRODUCTION

Canaan: Hello and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most
enjoyable way to learn Chinese.

Jane: 嗨，大家好。我是 Jane。 (hài , dàjiā hǎo. Wǒ shì Jane.) And thanks again for
being with us today for this Absolute Beginner series, season 3, lesson 19.

Canaan: The perfect Chinese boyfriend. So Jane, tell me, what would you consider to
be a perfect Chinese boyfriend?

Jane: What a question is that?

Canaan: I don’t know. You tell me.

Jane: But I do know what it means though. Just a couple of months ago, I read on the
internet about a lot of Chinese girls think that for them to even considering marrying a
guy, he must own his own house at least.

Canaan: Yeah and good luck to them with real estate prices the way they are.

Jane: But that doesn’t really mean every single Chinese girl thinks like that though.

Canaan: True although unfortunately the one in our dialogue seems to be.

Jane: Well let’s find out then and also in this lesson, you will learn two very important
conjunction words.

Canaan: Now this conversation takes place in a café between a girl and a guy who look
like they’ve just met and probably won’t meet again.

Jane: And of course, they are speaking casual Mandarin as always.

Canaan: Now before we take you to this brutally realistic dialogue, we would like to

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remind you of our online flashcard tool which is available at our premium learning
center.

Jane: And you can review all the vocabularies you’ve learned so far anytime you like
and as any times as you like.

Canaan: Right until they stick in your mind. Great tool it is.

Jane: 没错 (méicuò)

Canaan: Now let’s go to the dialogue. Well, this is one desperate girl.

DIALOGUE

你有车吗？(Nǐ yǒu chē ma?)

有。(Yǒu.)

你有房子吗？(Nǐ yǒu fángzi ma?)

有。(Yǒu.)

我爱你。(Wǒ ài nǐ.)

我还有一个老婆。(Wǒ hái yǒu yī ge lǎopo.)

Canaan: And now with the English translation.

你有车吗？(Nǐ yǒu chē ma?)

Do you have a car?

有。(Yǒu.)

Yes.

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你有房子吗？(Nǐ yǒu fángzi ma?)

Do you have a house?

有。(Yǒu.)

Yes.

我爱你。(Wǒ ài nǐ.)

I love you.

我还有一个老婆。(Wǒ hái yǒu yīgè lǎopó.)

I also have a wife.

POST CONVERSATION BANTER

Jane: Yeah I feel sorry for her.

Canaan: It was an interesting phenomenon that’s been appearing more and more
recently in China. It is suggesting that for a girl to even consider a guy for marriage, he
has to have a house, a car and a bank account with six digits.

Jane: Yeah but 30 years ago in the 70s that was quite different though. I heard that the
standard three big items that the groom had to provide to the bride was a bike, a watch
and a sewing machine.

Canaan: And then in the 80s, these three items changed to a TV, a washing machine
or a fridge.

Jane: And in the 90s, it was a computer, a telephone and an air conditioner.

Canaan: Interesting changes over the years.

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Jane: Yeah and this is shame that people are getting more and more materialistic
these days.

Canaan: It does look like that, doesn’t it? Well luckily this oncoming materialism is
also reflective in our vocabulary today with plenty of words for things that are worth a
lot of money.

Jane: 让我们看一下吧。(ràng wǒmen kàn yíxià ba .)

VOCAB LIST

Jane: 车 (chē)

Canaan: Vehicle.

Jane: 车 车 (Chē chē)

Jane: 房子 (fángzi)

Canaan: House.

Jane: 房子 房子 (Fáng zǐ fángzi)

Jane: 老婆 (lǎopo)

Canaan: Wife.

Jane: 老婆 老婆 (Lǎopó lǎopó)

Jane: 楼房 (lóufáng)

Canaan: Apartment building.

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Jane: 楼房 楼房 (Lóufáng lóufáng)

Jane: 平房 (píngfáng)

Canaan: One-storey house.

Jane: 平房 平房 (Píngfáng píngfáng)

Jane: 别墅 (biéshù)

Canaan: Townhouse.

Jane: 别墅 别墅 (Biéshù biéshù)

Jane: 民宅 (mínzhái)

Canaan: Older apartment.

Jane: 民宅 民宅 (Mínzhái mínzhái)

Jane: 公寓 (gōngyù)

Canaan: Condominium.

Jane: 公寓 公寓 (Gōngyù gōngyù)

VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE

Canaan: All right. Now there is a bunch of words for stuff that I will never be able to
afford in China. Let’s find out how to use them.

Jane: And the first word is

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车 (chē)

Canaan: Vehicle.

Jane: 车 (chē)

Canaan: Although a general term for all sorts of vehicles, the word is generally used
today to refer to private cars which are becoming more and more common here in
China now.

Jane: 是的。(shì de .) 我的朋友买了一辆新车。(Wǒ de péngyou mǎi le yī liàng

xīnchē.)

Canaan: My friend bought a new car.

Jane: 我的朋友买了一辆新车。(Wǒ de péngyou mǎi le yī liàng xīnchē.)

Canaan: Now the next word is something worth even more than 车 chē

Jane: 房子 (fángzi)

Canaan: House.

Jane: 房子 (fángzi)

Canaan: And now just as the word 房子 (fángzi) this word is a general term that can
refer to all sorts of living spaces including

Jane: 平房 (píngfáng)

Canaan: One storey house.

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Jane: 平房 (píngfáng) 我住平房。(Wǒ zhù píngfáng .)

Canaan: I live in a one storey house

Jane: 我住平房。(Wǒ zhù píngfáng .)

Canaan: Now here the word 住 (zhù) is the verb meaning to live in but of course, in
these days in Beijing, the number of 平房 (píngfáng) is disappearing quickly because
they keep getting torn down certainly because there is a greater and greater need for…

Jane: 楼房 (lóufáng)

Canaan: Apartment buildings or high rises.

Jane: 楼房 (lóufáng) 北京有很多楼房。(Běijīng yǒu hěn duō lóufáng .)

Canaan: There are a lot of apartment buildings in Beijing.

Jane: 北京有很多楼房。(Běijīng yǒu hěn duō lóufáng .)

Canaan: Now among the different types of 房子 (fángzi), the one in which most
Chinese people live in is called

Jane: 民宅 (mínzhái)

Canaan: Older apartment.

Jane: 民宅 (mínzhái)

Canaan: This is a word commonly used by real estate agents when they are helping
you find places to rent because

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Jane: 民宅 (mínzhái)

Canaan: Are the most common type of housing and relatively cheaper to rent than

Jane: 公寓 (gōngyù)

Canaan: Condominiums.

Jane: 公寓 (gōngyù)

Canaan: This type of apartment is generally expensive to rent and much, much more
expensive to buy.

Jane: 在北京住公寓很贵。(zài Běijīng zhù gōngyù hěn guì .)

Canaan: In Beijing, it’s expensive to live in a condominium.

Jane: 在北京住公寓很贵。(zài Běijīng zhù gōngyù hěn guì .)

Canaan: But of course there is something that is even more expensive than 公寓
(gōngyù)

Jane: 別墅 (biéshù)

Canaan: Townhouse.

Jane: 別墅 (biéshù)

Canaan: Now 別墅 (biéshù) here refers to the independent freestanding living space
that we understand often as a house or if you live in a suburb, a townhouse.

Jane: 这个别墅真漂亮。(zhège biéshù zhēn piàoliang .)

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Canaan: This townhouse is really pretty.

Jane: 这个别墅真漂亮。(zhège biéshù zhēn piàoliang .)

Canaan: And of course, if you have a 別墅 (biéshù) then you probably don’t have to
worry about finding a wife here in China.

Jane: 老婆 (lǎopo)

Canaan: Wife.

Jane: 老婆 (lǎopo)

Canaan: So according to our young Chinese female netizens, 车 (chē) plus 房子

(fángzi) plus 钱(Qián) is the equation to get a 老婆 (lǎopo) Now in our grammar
section, we are going to teach you how to link nouns like this right up together in a
single sentence using a useful conjunction that will make you sound like the wealthy,
influential, eligible bachelor that you are.

Jane: Let’s have a look.

LESSON FOCUS

Canaan: It’s grammar time. In today’s grammar section, we are going to look at a very
useful conjunction which you can use to put short subordinate clauses together with.

Jane: 是的。(shì de .) And the pattern is 有...还有...(yǒu ...hái yǒu ...)

Canaan: Have, also have. So when you want to list different things that you have like
the guy from our dialogue altogether in one sentence, you can say

Jane: 我有车，有房，还有老婆。(Wǒ yǒu chē , yǒu fáng , hái yǒu lǎopo .)

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Canaan: I have a car, a house and a wife as well.

Jane: 我有车，有房，还有老婆。(Wǒ yǒu chē , yǒu fáng , hái yǒu lǎopo .)

Canaan: How about another one that makes a little bit more sense?

Jane: 屋里有大人，还有小孩。(wū lǐ yǒu dàren , hái yǒu xiǎohái .)

Canaan: There are both adults and children in the room.

Jane: 屋里有大人，还有小孩。(wū lǐ yǒu dàren , hái yǒu xiǎohái .)

Canaan: Note that you can use this pattern to list two or three things as you feel like.
Now what about more than three things?

Jane: Usually it wouldn’t because the sentence is just becoming too long.

Canaan: So it’s a style thing. Can we have one more?

Jane: 这里的花有红的，有黄的，还有白的。(zhèli de huā yǒu hóng de , yǒu

huáng de , hái yǒu bái de .)

Canaan: There are red, yellow and white flowers here.

Jane: 这里的花有红的，有黄的，还有白的。(zhèli de huā yǒu hóng de , yǒu

huáng de , hái yǒu bái de .)

Canaan: There are red, yellow and white flowers here. All right now I know we have a
similar conjunction that goes

Jane: 也有 (yě yǒu)

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Canaan: Which is very similar to

Jane: 还有 (hái yǒu)

Canaan: Right, when translated into English. Now can we say 也有 (yě yǒu) in this
case?

Jane: I will give you an example first.

Canaan: Okay.

Jane: 他有这本书，我也有。(tā yǒu zhè běn shū , Wǒ yě yǒu .)

Canaan: He has this book, so do I.

Jane: 他有这本书，我也有。(tā yǒu zhè běn shū , Wǒ yě yǒu .)

Canaan: Oh I see. So in this sentence that you just gave us, there are two people
involved. There are two separate subjects while in the sentences before, each one only
had one subject.

Jane: 是的。(shì de .) We use 有，也有 (yǒu, yě yǒu) pattern when there are two or
more subjects having the similarities or similar characteristics.

Canaan: Okay. Can you give us another example?

Jane: 他有两个女儿，我也有两个女儿。(tā yǒu liǎng ge nǚér , Wǒ yě yǒu liǎng ge

nǚér .)

Canaan: He has two daughters, so do I.

Jane: 他有两个女儿，我也有两个女儿。(tā yǒu liǎng ge nǚér , Wǒ yě yǒu liǎng ge

nǚér .)

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Canaan: Now with this pattern, you can also change the verb as well.

Jane: It doesn’t have to always be 有 (yǒu.) For example, Canaan会说英文，还会说

中文。我也会说。(Canaan huì shuō Yīngwén , hái huì shuō Zhōngwén . Wǒ yě huì
shuō .)

Canaan: Canaan can speak English as well as Chinese, so can I.

Jane: Canaan会说英文，还会说中文。我也会说。(Canaan huì shuō Yīngwén , hái

huì shuō Zhōngwén . Wǒ yě huì shuō .)

Canaan: Canaan can speak English as well as Chinese, so can I. Right, so we hope
that you’ve understood the difference between 还 (hái) and 也 (yě) through that last
sentence.

OUTRO

Jane: But don’t worry. If you are still not 100% sure, you can always write to us or
leave a comment on the site.

Canaan: Yeah or check out the website for the full PDF transcript in our online
premium learning center.

Jane: 是的。(shì de .)

Canaan: But for now, this is Canaan.

Jane: And Jane from Beijing.

Canaan: See you next time.

Jane: 下次见吧。(xiàcì jiàn ba .)

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