Lesson 1

Video and text
Listening and speaking
Vocabulary
Grammar exercises
Characters
Multiple choice

Question: Ask your friend politely if you could have a look at his new 新 xīn bike.

Hint 1   The verb 看 should be softened
Hint 2   看 一 下
Answer  我 看 一 下 你 的 新 车 行 吗? Listen
Comments  Alternatively: 我 看 看 你 的 新 车 行 吗 wŏ kànkan nĭ de xīn chē xíng ma? Or 我 看 一 看 你 的 新 车 行 吗 wŏ kàn yikàn nĭ de xīn chē xíng ma ? 看 一 下 kàn yíxià to have a look. 一 下 yíxià is used to soften the preceding verb. This is often done when a verb has to be placed at the end of a sentence. Without the pattern V一下 Vyíxià , it would sound very demanding or bossy. The reduplicated verb phrases or V一V  VyiV phrases are used in a similar way. 一 下 yíxià can also be used as a time measure which means for a little while.
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