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? Or 我 看 一 看 你 的 新 车 行 吗? 看 一 下 to have a look. 一 下 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 , it would sound very demanding or bossy. The reduplicated verb phrases or V一 V phrases are used in a similar way. 一 下 can also be used as a time measure which means for a little while.
Index