Lesson 21A

Does the red one look nice?

 

Basic expressions

   

Mary is shopping in Beijing, looking for a coat. Today’s dialogue is carried out between a shop assistant and Mary.  The shop assistant is trying to persuade Mary to buy a coat. Let’s learn the new expressions in the dialogue first.

 

1.

shòuhuòyuán

         

 

shop assistant

sell goods person

 

2.

xiăojiĕ

      

 

Miss

young sister

A surnames is appeared before xiăojie小姐 Miss, such as

               

                Lǐ xiăojiĕ 李小姐              Miss  Li

                Zhào xiăojiĕ  赵小姐         Miss  Zhao

                Wáng xiăojiĕ 王小姐         Miss  Wang

 

3.

jiàn

 

[MW for top part of garment]

JIAN

 

4.

hóng

 

red

red

More colours are given below:

       lǜ                    绿            green

       huáng                          yellow

       lán                              blue

       zǐ                                purple

       fěn                             pink

       bái                             white

       hēi                             black

       zōng                           brown

       huāde              花的       mingle-colours

 

5.

hăokàn

     

 

beautiful

good to look at

 Hăogood can precede verbs of action to imply nice to as in hăotīng 好听nice to listen.

 

6.

duō (me)

多(么)

 

how….

DUOME

 Duōis followed by a stative verb to form an expression which shows speaker’s admiration, such as 多好看how beautiful!

 

7.

biéde

    

 

other

other DE

 

8.

yánsè

  

 

colour

colour colour

   

9.

shìshi

 

 

try

try try

 A duplicated verb is pronounced in neutral tone. A duplicated verb of action phrase implies that 1) an action which lasts for a short time, it is similar to V+一下such as in

 

      wŏ kàn kan jiù   gĕi    nĭ.

   a.               你。

    I  look look then give you

I’ll have a look (for a little while first) and I’ll give it to you;

 

2) it is used to soften the tone of voice as in

        ná     qù gĕi   tā  kàn kan.

    b.              看。

    take go give her look look

Take it to her and let her have a look.

The latter one is often used when a verb is placed at the end of a sentence. A duplicated verb is pronounced in neutral tone as indicated above.

 

10.

tĭng

 

very

very

tĭng very is similar to hĕn. tĭ

ng is more frequently used in spoken Chinese than hĕn.

 

11.

héshì

 

suitable, fit

fit suitable

 

12.

juéde

             

 

to feel, to think, consider

conscious obtain

The particle le for completed action is not used for verbs of feeling, such as juéde觉得.

 

    wŏ juéde hĕn lèi.

      觉得     累。

    I  feel/felt very tired.

 

13.

yǒudiănr

点儿

 

a little bit

have   a little

 yidiănr 一点儿 proceeds a noun as in tā néng shuō (yi)diănér zhōngwén 她能说()点儿中文。She can speak a little Chinese. yǒudiănr 有点儿 proceeds a verb or a stative verb as in

wǒ yóu dián ér mánɡ 我有点儿忙I am a little busy.

 

14.

jĭn

 

tight

tight

    a. zhè jiàn yīfu hĕn jĭn 这件衣服很紧。this clothe very tight: this top is very tight.

    b. wŏ qián hĕn jĭn 我钱 很紧。 my money very tight: I am short of money.

 

15.

ài

 

[sound sigh, used to express sadness]

AI

 

16.

nán

 

difficult

difficult

a. 

zhōngwén nán中文难。Chinese is difficult.

b. 

yīngwén yĕ nán 英文也难。English is difficult too.

           

            Nán can also be placed before a verb to indicate: difficult to…as in

c.  zhōngwén nán         xué

                        学。

   Chinese     difficult   learn

   Chinese is difficult to learn.

d.  zhènli zhōngwén shū hĕnshăo.  hĕn   nán     măi

这里                   少,很             买。

here   Chinese     books very few very difficult buy

There are very few Chinese books here, so it is difficult to buy .

 

 17.

féi

 

 fat. [It implies loose fitting.]

fat

 

18.

yàngshì

     

 

style

shape type

 

19.

xīn

 

new

new

 

20.

mănyì

   

 

satisfied, to be pleased

full  meaning

 

21.

huānyíng

  

 

welcome

joy  to face

a.   wŏmen fēichang huānyíng nín

                     您。

    we     extremely welcome you

    We  welcome  you  warmly.

b.   huānyíng  nĭmen lái     zhōngguó.

    欢迎      你们        中国。

    welcome you    come China

    Welcome you to China.