Showing posts with label Character and vocabulary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Character and vocabulary. Show all posts

Friday, December 2, 2016

A Character a Day 也



Keynotes:
也  yě  also , too

Both parts are positive statements.

我会说中文,她也会说中文。
wǒ huì shuō zhōngwén, tā yě huì shuō zhōngwén
I can speak Chinese. She can also speak Chinese.

我会说中文,也会说英语。
wǒ huì shuō zhōng wén , yě huì shuō yīngyǔ
I can speak Chinese. Also I can speak English.

我有姐姐,也有妹妹。
wǒ yǒu jiějie , yě yǒu mèimei
I have older sister, also I have younger sister.

Both parts are negative statements.

我不会说法语,她也不会说法语。
wǒ bú huì shuō fǎyǔ, tā yě búhuì shuō fǎyǔ
I can’t speak French. She can’t speak French either.

我不会说法语,也不会说德语。
wǒ bú huì shuō fǎ yǔ  , yě bú huì shuō déyǔ
I can’t speak French. I can’t speak German either.

你不去,我也不去。
nǐ bú qù , wǒ yě bú qù
You don’t go, I don’t go either.


也许 yě xǔ  perhaps, maybe
可能   kě néng it’s possible that….,  maybe

也许他会来。
yě xǔ tā huì lái
Perhaps he will come.

试试这个方法,也许有用。
shì shi zhè ge fāngfǎ , yěxǔ yǒuyòng
Try this method. Maybe it works.

Position of 也 in a sentence


Tuesday, November 8, 2016

A character a Day 会



Keynotes:
This character has two sounds.  huì and kuài
When it sounds huì, it can mean meeting, assembly
聚会    party
星期五晚上我们有个聚会。你要来吗?
We will have a party this Friday evening. Would you like to come?

晚会  lit. evening party.  
春节晚会  Spring Festival Gala

The CCTV New Year's Gala (中国中央电视台春节联欢晚会) is the premier mainland Chinese television event of the year. It is an evening gala of the drama, dance, and song, which is broadcast on the Chinese New Year EVE, Because it is viewed by an estimated 700 million people on New Year's Eve every year, the CCTV New Year's Gala has become a cultural phenomenon which began in the early 1980s, and since then it has become a necessity of New Year's nights. On New Year’s Eve, all the families are gathering together, eating delicious food and watching the 春节晚会 on TV.

会  also means ‘can, be able to ‘  When we talk about we can do something that requires effort to learn and practice, we use 会.
我会说英语。
I can speak English.

我会驾驶大卡车。
I can drive big truck.

会 can mean ‘understand’
误会   misunderstanding
这完全是一个误会。
This is totally a misunderstanding.

会 also sounds kuài, which means ‘sum, total’
会计  Accounting

注册会计师     Certified Public Accountant

Monday, November 7, 2016

A Character a Day 出

The basic meaning of 出 is 'proceed from inside to outside'. The following short video shows you how this character evolved through time.



Next, let's see the common usage of this character in our daily life.



出来
chūlái
come out

出去
chūqù
 go out

你出来一下,我想和你谈谈。
nǐ chūlái yíxià , wǒ xiǎng hé nǐ tāntan .
Come out for a while, I want to talk to you.


我出去一下,马上回来。
wǒ chūqù yíxià , mǎshàng huílai
I am getting out for a short while, and I will be back soon.

出差
chūchāi
go on a business trip

明天我要去纽约出差。
míngtiān wǒ yào qù niǔyuē chūchāi
I am going to New York for a business trip tomorrow.


出国
chūguó
go abroad

他已经出国了。
tā yǐjīng chūguó le
He already left the country.

出版
chūbǎn
 Publish

这家出版社出版了不少好书。
zhè jiā chūbǎnshè chūbǎn le bùshǎo hǎoshū
This press has published many good books.






Tuesday, October 18, 2016

A Character a Day 要




manuscript: 
大家早上好,goodmorning everyone.
In this video, we are going to learn this character 要.
The basic meaning of 要 is to want or need. Just like in English, we say,” I want something”, we can say, “ 我要something”
For example:
我要茶。
wǒ yào chá.    I want tea.
我要牛排。
wǒ yào niú pái .   I want steak.
我要炒饭。
wǒ yào chǎo fàn . I want fried rice.

This sentence structure is very useful when you want to buy something or order food when you are eating out.


In English, we also say, “ I want to do something.”  Similarly, we can say ,” 我要do something.”
我要看电影。
wǒ yào kàn diàn yǐng .   I want to  see a movie.
我要买书。
wǒ yào mǎi shū .      I want to buy some books.
我要学中文。
wǒ yào xué zhōng wén . I want to learn Chinese.

Let’s wrap it up. Two main sentence patterns:
我要  something.
我要 to do something.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

A Character a Day 时 part 5

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

This video will focus on:
the topic about time difference (时差)
jet lag (飞行时差反应)
to get over jet lag (倒时差)




Notes about this video:

There is a time difference between different time zone. Time difference will be 时差。

A  和 B的 时差是多少?
What is the time difference between place A and place B?

纽约和北京的时差是多少?
What is the time difference between New York and Beijing?

纽约和北京的时差是12 小时。
The time difference between New York and Beijing is 12 hours.


Nowadays, more and more people are involved in international travel. Jet lag is a common problem.
Jet lag is 飞行时差反应 . But we seldom use this phrase. So please don't worry about it.

When we talk about Jet lag in Chinese, we more likely to talk about  'to get over jet lag'  That will be '倒时差‘

怎么倒时差?
 How to get over jet lag?

你有国际旅行经验吗?
Do you have international travel experience ?

你怎么倒时差?
How do you get over jet lag?

Monday, March 14, 2016

A Character a Day 时 part 4

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3



This video focus on sentence pattern:
从 A 到 B ( way of travel ) 需要多少时间?
How long does it take to travel from A to B by ( way of travel)?




Notes about this video:

Here is a very useful sentence pattern. You may use it to ask how long it takes to move from place A to place B by certain way of travel.

从 A 到 B ( way of travel ) 需要多少时间?
How long does it take to travel from A to B by  ( way of travel)?

ways of travel :
走路  walk
骑车  ride bicycle
开车  drive a vehicle
坐公交  take bus
坐火车  take train
乘飞机  take airplane

从你家到学校,走路需要多少时间?
How long does it take to walk from your home to the school?

从他家到公司,坐公交需要多少时间?
How long does it take to get to the company from his home by bus?

Quiz:
Please translation the following sentence into English
从北京到上海,坐火车需要多少时间?

Part 5

Sunday, March 13, 2016

A Character a Day 时 part 3

Part 1

Part 2


This video focuses on a sentence pattern:
(to do something) 需要多少时间?
How long does it take to do something?




Notes about this video:
When we want to ask how long it takes to do certain thing, we can simply ask “ How long does it take? “
需要多少时间?  
or
需要多长时间?

If we want to ask “ How long does it take to do something?”
The sentence pattern is :  do something 需要多少时间?

For example,
完成这幅画需要多少时间?
How long does it take to finish this painting?

完成这个项目需要多少时间?
How long does it take to finish this project?

Part 4

Part 5

Saturday, March 12, 2016

A Character a Day 时 part 2


This video includes some dialogue about 时间:
How to ask another person whether he/she has time
Positive answer
Negative answer





Notes about this video:

明天你有时间吗? 我们去看场电影。
Do you have time tomorrow? Let's go to watch a movie.

 好啊! 我有时间。你想看什么电影?
Great! I do have some time. What movie do you want to watch?

不好意思, 明天我没时间。改天和你一起看。
I am sorry. I don't have time tomorrow. Would love to do it with you another day.

Part 1

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Friday, March 11, 2016

A Character a Day 时 part 1


This video covers:
The component of the character 时
common word 小时
Common word 时间




Notes about this video:

Good morning, the character we are going to talk about is 时. The basic meaning of the this character is time.

The left part of this character is 日, which means sun or day. The right part of this character is 寸, which is a unit of length that we are still using nowadays.
Before the Chinese tailors make a dress for the customer, they need to do some measure. And the unit they are still using is 寸. One 寸 equals to 0.033 meters.
By the way, inch in Chinese is called 英寸.

So maybe we can understand character 时 as the measure of the movement of the sun, or measure of the day. That is time. Hope this will help you remember how to recognize this character.

I bet the first word you meet will be 小时, hour.
Three hours 三小时 or 三个小时
In our daily speaking, we use the word时间 to refer to time.

最近我很忙,没有时间画画。
Recently I am so busy that I don't have time to paint.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5


Sunday, March 6, 2016

A Character a Day 说 part 4





This video will cover several common phrases in our daily talk: 说明书 instruction manual 说不定 can't say for sure, maybe 说白了 frankly speak 说实话 speak the truth, to be honest



Notes about this video:

说明 explain
说明书 instruction manual, book of directions
相机说明书 camera instruction manual
打印机说明书 printer manual


说不定 maybe, can't say for sure
说不定明天他就回来了。 Maybe he will come back tomorrow.

说白了 to speak frankly
说白了,她并不喜欢你。 Frankly speaking, she doesn't like you at all.
并不 not at all, emphatically not.

说实话 to speak the truth, frankly
说实话,她并不喜欢你。 To be honest, she doesn't like you at all.




Saturday, March 5, 2016

A Character a Day 说 part 3


This video will focus on two common phrases: 说好话(speak well of somebody) and 说坏话 (speak ill of somebody)



说好话 speak well of somebody, plead for mercy for somebody
我把事情搞砸了,你帮我跟老板说说好话。
搞砸 to mess something up,
I totally messed things up. Please speak well of me in front of our boss.

说坏话 speak ill of somebody 坏话 malicious words, unpleasant talk
不要在别人的背后说坏话。

Don't grumble behind others' backs.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 4


A Character a Day 说 part 2


说话 is a very common verb in our daily speaking. Sometime an extra character can be added between the two characters and we get some interesting phrases like gossip (说闲话), 说废话 (talk nonsense) etc.




Notes about this video:
说话 speak, talk
这个人不爱说话。 This person doesn't like to talk.
别说话了,老师来了。 Stop talking anymore. The teacher is coming.

说闲话 gossip, make sarcastic or critical comments
说废话 to talk nonsense
说实话 to speak the truth, frankly

part 1

Part 3

Part 4


Thursday, March 3, 2016

A Character a Day 说 part 1

说 is often used to speak a certain language or dialect.  Sentence pattern is:

subject 说 language / dialect

讲 and 说 can both be used in this sentence pattern.



Part 2

Part 3

Part 4


Tuesday, March 1, 2016

A character a Day 边 part 4

This video focuses on sentence structure:
subject 一边  verb,  一边  verb. 
This sentence structure is often used to express the simultaneous progression or development of two actions.



Notes about this video:

The following sentence structure is often used to express the simultaneous progression or development of two actions.

Subject 一边 verb, 一边 verb.

我一边画画,一边听音乐。 I listen to the music when I paint a picture.

我喜欢一边画画,一边听音乐。 I like listening to the music when I paints a picture.

我正在一边画画,一边听音乐。 I am listening to the music while painting a picture.

开车 drive vehicle 打电话 talk on the phone
吃饭 eat food 看电视 watch TV
上课 attend class 玩手机 play cell phone
洗澡 take shower or bath 唱歌 sing

What are the two things that you like to do the same time? Please leave your answer as comments.

A Character a Day 边 part 3


边 is used in the phrase for location. This video will cover sentence pattern:
subject 在 location;
subject 在 reference (的) location
subject 在 refeence 的 location + verb




Part 1

Part 2

Part 4


Sunday, February 28, 2016

A Character a Day 边 part 1

Character 边 basically means edge, border, etc. This video will cover how 边 is combined with other words to describe location.



Notes about this video:

Good morning. This video is made to answer one of my audiences' question.
Stephen, thank you for your kinds words about my work. And I am going to talk about character 边 in this video.
The basic meaning of 边 is edge, side, margin, border.
河边 riverside
海边 seaside, sea shore

In our daily speak, 边 often works like a suffix to describe the location.
东边 east
西边 west
南边 south
北边 north

前边 in front, ahead
后边 back , behind
上边 above, top
下边 bottom, below

左边 left
右边 right

外边 outside

里边 inside

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4





Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A Character a Day 到


到 has the meaning like 'to get to a place, arrive' , this video focuses on the sentence structure : 从 A 到 B“ (from A to B)




Notes about this video:

Good morning, we will talk about 到 today.

到 has the meaning like 'get to a place', 'arrive', or 'reach'

到了! Here we are! The taxi driver may use the phrase when you arrive your destination.

我到了! I am here! You may use this sentence on the phone to tell your friend who is supposed to give you a ride when you arrive at the airport.

A common sentence structure:

从 A 到 B , A and B can be a physical location, also can be a time word.

从地球到太阳 from the earth to the sun

从去年到今年 from last year to this year

从他家到公司,坐公交需要一个小时。 It needs one hour to take a bus from his home to the company.

从周一到周五,他一直很忙。 He has been very busy from Monday to Friday.