Dialogue 1

At the hotel

kòng vacant/free fángjiān room Yào kàn qíngkuàng It depends (lit “will see situation”) dānrén single (lit “single person”) shuāngrén double (lit “double person”) chácha to check zhēn qiăo what a coincidence/coincidentally jiān measure word for rooms dài to include/to have/with wèishēng jiān bathroom (lit “hygiene room”) yàoshi key céng floor/layer lăoshí shuō frankly speaking/to be honest shì thing/matter Zěnme huí shì? What’s the matter? gébì next door chăo to be noisy bànyè early hours of the morning zhēn bàoqiàn many apologies chúlĭ to see to/to handle zhè jiàn shì this matter jiàn measure word – matters duì le right/by the way lĭ inside diàndēng light (lit “electric light”) huài le to have broken/does not work rang rén to send for someone xiū to repair wèntí problem zànshí at the moment/temporarily

Jonathan:            Qĭng wèn, nĭmen yŏu kòng fángjiān ma?

Receptionist:       Yào kàn qíngkuàng.  Nĭ yào dānrén fángjiān háishi shuāngrén fángjiān?

Jonathan:             Dān jiān.

Receptionist:       Zhù jĭ tiān?

Jonathan:             Sān tiān.

Receptionist:       Ràng wŏ chácha.  Zhēn qiăo! Yŏu yī jiān kòng fángjiān.

Jonathan:             Dān jiān dài wèishēng jiān ma?

Receptionist:       Dài.

Jonathan:             Duō shăo qián yī tiān?

Receptionist:       Liáng băi sān shí yuán.

Jonathan:             Wŏ yào le.

Receptionist:       Zhè shì nĭde fángjiān yàoshi.  Fángjiān zài dì sān céng.

Notes to Dialogue 1

Use of kòng fángjiān

Literally, kòng fángjiān means ‘empty room’.  In the context of booking into a hotel it can mean ‘vacancy’ or ‘room available’. For example:

Duìbùqĭ.  Wŏmen méi yŏu kòng fángjiān.

Sorry.  We don’t have any vacancies.

 

Nĭ zhīdào Běijīng Fàndiàn yŏu kòng fángjiān ma?

Do you know if there are any rooms available in the Beijing Hotel?

Phrase kàn qíngkuàng

This is a very useful phrase.  We actually learned the term qíngkuàng previously is sentences such as Gàosu wŏ nĭde qíngkuàng (tell me about yourself). The phrase Kàn qíngkuàng or Yào kàn qíngkuàng means ‘It depends’.  For example:

A:  Nĭ míngtiān qù yóuyŏng ma?

      Are you going swimming tomorrow?

B:  Kàn qíngkuàng

      It depends

If you want to say ‘It depends on something’ you must say Yào kàn + something.  For example:

A:  Nĭ xiáng măi zhēnsī lĭngdài ma?

      Do you want to buy some silk ties?

B:  Yào kàn  jiàgé.

      It depends on the price.

A:  Nĭ míngtiān qí zìxíngchē shàngbān ma?

      Are you going to work by bike tomorrow?

B:  Yào kàn tiānqì.

      It depends on the weather.

Shortening of noun phrases

Some noun phrases or proper nouns sometimes get shortened by omitting certain parts.  Unfortunately there seem to be no paticular rules for this.  Below are a few phrases that can be shortened:

dānrén fángjiān                dān jiān              single room

shuāngrén fángjiān         shuāng jiān      double room

Běijīng Dàxué                    Běi Dà                 Beijing University

Use of dài

Earlier dài was used as a verb to mean ‘to take’ or ‘to bring’.  Here it is also used as a verb but to mean ‘to include’ or ‘to have’ (in the sense of ‘to come with’ or ‘to possess’).  For example:

Nĭde fángjiān dài wèishēng jiān ma?

Does your room come with a bathroom?

 

Liùshíqī cì lièchē dài kōngtiáo ma?

Does the no. 67 train have air conditioning?

Dài can also be used as a preposition to mean ‘with’.  It is always placed after the noun phrase.  For example:

Shuāng jiān dài wèishēng jiān duōshăo qiàn?

How much is it for a double room with bathroom.

 

Wó xĭhuān kāfēi dài niúnăi.

I like coffee with milk.

Duō shăo qián yī tiān?

When you ask about a hotel tariff in English you ask how much it costs per night.  In China you ask how much it costs per day.  For example:

Dān jiān duō shăo qián yī tiān?

How much is it per night for a single room?

 

Běijīng Fàndiàn de shuāng jiān sān băi yuán yī tiān.

Double rooms at the Beijing hotel cost three hundred yuan per night.

In the west the price is per person.  In mainland China, the price quoted for a double room is usually for two people. However, if you choose to have a double room and you are the only customer, you still have to pay the double room rate.

 Dialogue 2

Diàndēng huài le.  -  The light is not working.

Duty Manager:      Zăoshàng hăo.  Nín zuówăn shuì de hăo ma?

Jonathan:               Lăoshí shuō, shuì de bù hăo.

Duty Manager:      Zěnme huí shì?

Jonathan:               Zuótiān wănshàng, gébì fángjiān hén chăo.  Chăo dào bànyè liáng diăn.

Duty Manager:       Zhēn bàoqiàn.  Wŏ huì chúlĭ zhè jiàn shì.

Jonathan:               Xièxie,  ò, duì le.  Wŏde fángjiān li yŏu ge diàndēng huài le.

Duty Manager:      Shĭ ma?  Wŏ yídìng rang rén qù xiū.  Hái yŏu biéde wèntí ma?

Jonathan:               Zànshí méi yŏu.  Huí jiàn.

Notes to Dialogue 1

Zěnme húi shì?

This is a very colloqial phrase.  The complete phrase should be Zěnme yī húi shì (lit: How one thing? – húi is another measure word for matters). This phrase is usually used if something has gone wrong and you want to find out about it.  It means ‘What’s the matter?’, ‘What’s the problem?’ or ‘What happened?’.  The word shì, which is a different word from shì (to be),  is a general term used to refer to abstract things.  For example:

Wŏ míngtiān yŏu shì.

I’ve got things to do tomorrow.

 

Shénme shì?

What is it?

 

Wŏ yóu liăng jiàn shì gàosu nĭ.

I’ve got two things to tell you.

More on the past tense

So far, we have learnt two different ways to indicate the past tense by using le or guo together with some verbs.  However, you must not use any of the above two devices in sentences which describe a stable state of affairs in the past as opposed to momentary action.  In the former case the past tense is indicated by time-related phrases such as zuótiān (yesterday), shàng ge xīngqī (last week), etc. In particular, le or guo is usually not used in the following four sentence types:

Sentences with static verbs such as shì (to be), yŏu (to have), xiăng (to want), xĭhuān (to like), zhīdăo (to know), etc.  For example:

Liăng nián qián, tā yŏu yī liàng zìxíngchē.

He had a bike two years ago.

 

Qù nián, tā shì dăoyóu.

She was a tourist guide last year.

 

Zuówăn, wŏ bù xiăng chī fàn.

I didn’t want to eat last night.

Sentences with verb-adjectives or the word zài (to be in/at).  For example:

Zuówăn, gébì hén chăo.

Next door was very noisy last night.

 

Zuótiān, wŏ bàba bú zài jiā.

My father wan’t at home yesterday.

Sentences with verbal phrases followed by de.  For example:

Zuówăn, wŏ shuì de hén hăo.

I slept very well last night.

Sentences negated with méi or méi yŏu. You may have noticed that, except yŏu (to have), other verbs used in the above sentences cannot be negated by méi or méi yŏu.

Use of dào

Dào (until) can be used after a verbal phrase, verb or verb-adjective to describe the duration of an event.  For example:

Wŏ děng tā dào shí’èr diăn.

I waited for him until twelve o’clock.

 

Tāmen chăo dào hén wăn.

They were noisy all night.

Usualy if the verb is a two-syllable word, put dào after the first syllable and omit the second syllable. Take kāimén (to open) as an example:

Cāntīng kāi dào wănshàng shí diăn.

The restaurant is open until ten o’clock.

Use of Duì le

This is used when the current topic of conversation reminds you of something.  It has the same effect as ‘Oh, yes/right’ in English when used in those circumstances.  For example:

A:  Xiáo Lĭ qíng wŏ chī wănfàn.

      Xiao Li has invited me to dinner.

B:  Duì le.  Wŏ wàng le gàosu nĭ....

      Oh, right.  I forgor to tell you....

 

A:  Wŏ măi le yī zhāng qù Shànghăi de huŏchē piào.

      I bought a train ticket for Shanghai.

B:  Duì le.  Lĭ Bīng shuō tā yě qù Shànghăi.

      Oh yes.  Li Bing says she is going to Shanghai as well.

Use of lĭ

The word lĭ meaning ‘inside’ or ‘in’, indicates the position of an object.  It is always placed after the noun.  For example:

Nĭménde fángdiān lĭ yŏu wéishēng jiān ma?

lit: Your room inside have bathroom?

Is there a bathroom in your room?

 

Wŏde qiánbāo lĭ méi yŏu qián.

lit: My wallet inside have no money.

There is no money in my wallet.

Something + huài le

Literally, huài means ‘bad’.  So we can say huài rén (bad person), huài zhùyi (bad idea), etc.  When huài le follows a noun, it means something ‘does not work’, ‘is broken’ or ‘has gone bad’.  For example:

Tāde fángjiān lĭ yŏu ge diăndēng huài le.

One of the lights in his room is not working.

 

Wŏde zìxíngchē huài le.

My bike is broken.

 

Māma, wŏ juéde kăo yā huài le.

Mum, I think the roast duck has gone off.

Construction ràng + somebody + do something

In this context, the verb ràng means ‘to ask’.  For example:

Lăo Wáng ràng wŏ dài nĭ qù yínháng.

Lao Wang asked me to take you to the bank.

 

Andrew ràng wŏ wèn nĭde fùmú hăo.

Andrew asked me to say hello to your parents

When rén (person) follows ràng, rén in this context means ‘somebody’.  Thus ràng rén can mean ‘to send for somebody’. or ‘to ask someone’.  For example:

Wŏ yídìng ràng rén qù xiū nĭde dēng.

I’ll definitely send someone to fix your light.

 

Mù Yīng huì ràng rén gěi wó măi yī zhāng huŏchē piào de.

Mu Ying will ask somebody to buy me a train ticket.

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