Dialogue 1

cèsuŏ toilet zuŏ left yòu right biān side fùjìn nearby/close by gōngyòng public (lit “public use”) diànhuà telephone (lit “electric talk” kàn jiàn to see/to have seen kàn de jiàn to be able to see qiánmiàn ahead hónglù dēng traffic light (lit “red green light”) zŏu to walk dào until/up to wăng yòu guăi to turn right (lit “towards right turn”) jìde to remember nàr there néng can/could zuò to take/to catch (lit “to sit”) lù route/road chē car/bus huŏchē zhàn railway station bú yòng no need/do not need zŏulù to walk (lit “walk road” jiù….. le emphasise verb between Zěnme zŏu? How do I get there?/to..  (lit “How to walk”) dìyī first lùkŏu crossroads/junction dōng east xī west nán south běi north

(a)           Inside a hotel.

You:                 Qĭng wèn, cèsuŏ zài năr?

Chinese:         Zài cāntīng de zŏ biān.

(b)          In the street.

You:                 Qĭng wèn, fùjìn yŏu gōngyòng diànhuà ma?

Chinese:         Kŏngpà méi yŏu.  Nĭ kàn de jiàn qiánmian hónglù dēng ma?

You:                 Kàn de jiàn.

Chinese:         Zŏu dào hónglù dēng, wăng yòu guăi.  Wŏ jìde nàr yŏu.

 (c)          In the street.

You:                 Nĭ néng gàosu wŏ zuò jĭ lù chē qù huŏchē zhàn ma?

Chinese:          Bú yòng zuò chē.  Zŏulù shí fēnzhōng jiù dào le.

You:                 Zěnme zŏu?

Chinese:         Dì yī ge lùkŏu wăng dōng guăi.

 

Notes to Dialogue 1

Zuō and yòu

Remember the term zuŏyòu we saw earlier which means ‘approximately’?  On its own, zuō means ‘left’ and ‘yòu’ means ‘right’.  If you want to say ‘A is on the left/right’, you must use the word biān and say:

A zài zuŏ/yòu biān.

For example:

Nán cèsuŏ zài zuŏ biān. Nŭ césuŏ zài yòu biān.

The men’s toilet is on the left.  The women’s toilet is on the right.

If you want to say ‘A is to the left/right of B’ or ‘A is on B’s left/right’, you must say:

A zài B de zuŏ/yòu biān.

For example:

Yóujú zài cāntīng de yòu biān.

The Post Office is to the right of the restaurant.

 

Wŏ mèimei zài wŏde zuŏ biān.

My sister is on my left.

Other direction words

Whilst zuō and yòu can be used to describe boith human beings and objects, dōng, nán, xī and běi (east, south, west, north) can only be used to describe objects.  Otherwise the usage is the same as zuō/yòu. For example:

Băihuò shāngdiàn zài Běijīng Fàndiàn de dōng biān.

The departments store is to the East of teh Beijing Hotel.

The combinations of these words are the opposite from the convention used in English:

dōngbēi            northeast            dōngnán             southeast

xīběi                   northwest            xīnán                   southwest

 

More on yōu

Previously we’ve seen yōu used as the verb ‘to have’.  However, yōu can also be used without a noun preceding it to mean ‘There is/are...’ The adverb fùjìn (near by) is often used in front of yŏu in this case.  For example:

Fùjìn yŏu yī jiā hěn dà de yínháng.

Nearby have one very large bank.

There is a very large bank nearby.

 

Fùjìn yŏu cèsuŏ ma?

Is there a toilet nearby?

Use of kàn de jiàn

When the word jiàn is put after the verb kàn (to see) or tīng (to listen), it indicates the effect of those verbs.  With de inserted between kàn or tīng and jiàn, i.e. kàn de jiàn or tīng de jiàn, the emphasis is on whether one is able to see or hear.  For example:

A:  Nĭ kàn de jiàn ma?

      Can you see?

B:  Kàn de jiàn.

      Yes I can.

To negate, replace de with bù.  For example:

Wŏ kàn bú jiàn hónglù dēng.

I can’t see the traffic lights.

 

Wŏ tīng bú jiàn nĭ shuō shénme.

I can’t hear what you’re saying.

If you want to say ‘to have seen/heard’, there is no need to use de, simply say kàn jiàn le or tīng jiàn le, which again is different from kàn le or tīng le because the latter means ‘looked at’ or ‘listened’ respectively.  For example:

Wŏ kàn jiàn le cèsuŏ.

I’ve seen the toilet/I saw the toilet.

 

Wŏ kàn le césuŏ.

I looked at the toilet.

Note that to negate the above, place méi or méi yŏu in front of the verb.  Compare the two negations:

Wŏ méi yŏu kàn jiàn cèsuŏ.

I didn’t see the toilet.

 

Wŏ kàn bú jiàn césuŏ.

I can’t see the toilet.

Use of wāng... guăi

The Chinese equivalent of ‘to turn left’ is wāng zuó guăi..  Simply place any direction word between wāng and guăi.  For example:

Zŏu dào hónglù dēng, wāng dōng guăi.

Walk as far as the traffic lights, then turn east.

Use of jìde

The verb jìde is used to indicate things that you now remember or have remembered.  For example:

Nĭ jìde tā tàitai de míngzi ma?

Do you remember his wife’s name?

 

Wŏ jìde nĭ.

I remember you.

To negate, use bù in front of the verb.  For example:

Wŏ bú jìde tā duō dà le.

I don’t remember how old he is.

Note that the verb jìde cannot be used to express a notion of future time.  For example, it cannot be used to say ‘Please remember something’ or I will remember something’.

Position of nàr and zhèr

Remember the two pronouns nà (that) and zhè (this)?  Once èr is added to them we get nàr (there) and zhèr (here), which are always placed either before the verb or after zài (to be at/to be in).  For example:

Nàr yŏu yī ge gōngyòng diànhuà.

There’s a public telephone there.

 

Wŏde dàxué zài zhèr.

My university is here.

Diference between huì and néng

Earlier we learnt the auxiliary verb huì which means ‘can’ or ‘to be able to’.  Huì emphasises ability whereas néng emphasises willingness.  For example:

Wŏ gēge bú huì yóuyŏng.

My elder brother cannot swim.

 

Nĭ néng jiè géi wŏ yìxiē qián ma?

Could you lend me some money?

Shortening of gōnggòng qìchē to chē

Anything that has wheels is a chē.  Thuse we have:

zìxíngchē bicycle (zìxíng means ‘self pedalling) xiăochē car (xiăo means ‘small’) huŏchē train (huŏ means ‘fire’) chūzūchē taxi (chūzū means ‘on rent’) măchē horse-drawn carriage (mă means ‘horse)

However, gōnggòng qìchē (gōnggòng means ‘public together’ and qìchē means ‘vehicle’) is often shortened to chē in mainland China.  For example:

Nĭ kéyĭ zuò shí lù chē qù Tiān’ānmén.

You take bus No. 10 to go to Tian’anmen.

More on question word jĭ

This question word has appeared earlier in various questions that have to do with numbers.  Jĭ is also used to ask which number bus to take. For example:

Qĭng wèn, zuò jĭ lù chē qù huăchē zhàn?

Could you tell me which number bus to catch to get to the railway station.

 

Zhè shì jĭ lù chē?

Which number bus is this?

Use of bú yòng

Earlier we saw that the negative form of děi (to have to) is bú yòng.  Basically, bú yòng means ‘there is no need to’ or ‘do not need’. For example:

Nĭ bú yòng géi wŏ mái lĭwù.

You don’t need to buy me any presents.

 

Bú yòng xiè.  Zánmen shì hăo péngyou.

No need to thank.  We are good friends.

Don’t mention it. We’re good friends.

Construction jiù.. le

One usage of this construction is to emphasise the verb or verb-adjective which is inserted between jiù and le .  It is very difficult to find a direct English equivalent for this construction.  Let us look at some examples:

Zŏulù shí fēnzhōng jiù dào le.

Walk ten minutes get there.

I’s only ten minutes walk and you’ll be there.

 

Shí kuài qián jiù gòu le.

Ten yuan will be enough.

Zěnme zŏu?

This is a very common way of asking how to get somewhere, although the phrase literally means ‘How to walk?’  You can put your desired destination in front of zěnme zŏu.  For example:

Huŏchē zhàn zěnme zŏu?

How do I get to the railway station?

You can also place the verb qù (to go) before the destination.  For example:

Qù nĭménde dàxué wěnme zŏu?

How do I get to your university?

Ordinal numbers

It is very easy to form ordinal numbers in Chinese.  Simply put dì in front of a numeral.  For example:

dì yī                  first                  dī èr                        second

dì shíyī            eleventh          dĭ èrshísān             twenty-third

If you want to say, for example, ‘the first junction’, the measure word gè needs to be inserted between the ordinal number and the noun.  Thus we have:

dì yī ge lùkŏu.

 

Dialogue 2

Borrowing a bike

jiè to borrow zìxíngchē bicycle yào to be going to/will yéxŭ perhaps dàxué university dànshì but wó xiăng I think….. zhăo dào to succeed in finding something xiāngxìn to believe nĭ zuìhăo you’d better chá to check dìtú map háo zhŭyi good idea qí to ride xūyào to require/to need xiăoshí hour

Frank:        Fēixiá, wŏ kéyĭ jiè yíxià nĭde zìxíngchē ma?

Fēxiá:        Dāngrán kéyĭ.  Nĭ yào qù năr?

Frank:        Yéxŭ xīngqītiān qù Zhōngshān Dàxué.

Fēxiá:        Nĭ zhīdào zěnme zŏu ma?

Frank:        Bú zhīdào.   Dànshì, wŏ xiăng wŏ néng zhăo dào.

Fēxiá:        Wŏ bù xiāngxìn.  Nĭ zuìhăo xiān chá yíxià dìtú.

Frank:       Háo zhŭyi.  Qí chē dàyuē xūyào duō jiŭ?

Fēxiá:        Yī ge bàn xiăoshí zuŏyòu.

Notes to Dialogue 2

Use of jiè

In Chinese, the word for ‘to borrow’ is the same as the word for ‘to lend’.  The only difference lies in its usage.  Let’s compare jiè (to borrow) with jiè (to lend):

Wó xiăng jiè yíxià nĭde zìxíngchē.

I’d like to borrow your bike.

 

Wŏ jiè gěi le Xiáo Lĭ wŏde zìxíngchē.

I lent my bike to Xiao Li.

Note that yíxià here does not have any specific meaning except reducing abruptness of the tone. Yíxià usually follows jiè when it means ‘to borrow’; and gěi always follows jiè when it means ‘to lend’.  For example:

Wŏ kéyĭ jiè yíxià nĭde dìtú ma?

Could I borrow your map?

 

Nĭ kéyĭ jiè géi wŏ nĭde dìtú ma?

Could you lend me your map?

Use of yào

In addition to the meaning of ‘to want’, yào can also be used in front of verbs to indicate that something, often a planned action, is happening in the near future. For example:

Susan yào Zhōngguó lŭyóu.

Susan is going to China to travel.

 

Wŏ fùmŭ liùyuè yào lái Yīngguó.

My parents are coming to England in June.

Verb phrase zhăo dào

When the phrase zhăo dào is preceded by néng or kéyĭ, it means ‘to be able to find’.  If you cannot find something, put bù between zhăo and dào.  For example:

A:  Nĭ néng zhăo dào huŏchē zhàn ma?

      Can you find the railway station?

B:  Zhăo bú dào.

      I can’t.

When zhăo dào is followed by le, it means ‘to have found’ or ‘found’, and if you have not or did not find something, put the negation word méi (yŏu) in front of zhăo dào .  For example:

A:  Nĭ zhăo dào nĭde qiánbāo le ma?

      Have you found the wallet?

B:  Méi yóu zhăo dào.

      No, I haven’t found it.

Verb xiāngxìn

If you want to say ‘I don’t believe it’, you can say Wŏ bù xiāngxìn or Wŏ bù xìn.  In spoken Chinese, xiāng is often omitted from xiāngxìn.  For example:

A:  Wŏ jīnnián sānshíwŭ suì.

      I’m 35 this year.

B:  Wŏ bú xìn.

      I don’t believe it.

Use of qí

When qí is followed by zìxíngchē, it means ‘to ride a bike’, ‘by bike’ or ‘go cycling’.  For example:

Nĭ huì qí zìxíngchē ma?

Can you ride a bike?

 

Zuótiān, wŏ qí zìxíngchē qù le Tiān’ānmén.

I went to Tian’anmen by bike yesterday.

 

Ní xĭhuān qí zìxíngchē ma?

Do you like cycling?

Use of xūyào

The verb xūyào means ‘to require’ or ‘to need’.  It can also be translated as ‘It takes...’ in certain contexts.  For example:

Tā xūyào yī iàn máoyī.

He needs a jumper.

 

Qí zìxíngchē qù Zhōngshān Dàxué xūyào èrshí fēnzhōng.

It takes twenty minutes to get to Zhongshan University by bike.

Xiăoshí as opposed to diăn

Xiăoshí (hour) is used for the duration of time and diăn is used to tell the time.  For example:

A:  Cāntīng jĭ diăn kāimén?

      What time does the restaurant open?

B:  Hái yŏu yī ge xiăoshí.

      Still an hour to go.

Let us compare the use of bàn (half) in combination with diăn and xiăoshí:

yī diăn bàn                       half past one

yī ge bàn xiăoshí            one hour and a half

bàn ge xiăoshí                half an hour

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