Dialogue 1

What day is it?

xīngqīyī Monday xīngqī’èr Tuesday xīngqīsān Wednesday xīngqīsì Thursday xīngqīwŭ Friday xīngqīliù Saturday xīngqīrì Sunday    or xīngqītiān Sunday (formal) yíyuè January èryuè February sānyuè March sìyuè April wŭyuè May liùyuè June qīyuè July bāyuè August jiŭyuè September shíyuè October shíyīyuè November shí’èryuè December

jīntiān today nián year yuè month míngtiān tomorrow hào date jìjié season chūntiān spring xiàtiān summer qiū tiān autumn hé and dōngtiān winter

Jīntiān shì xīngqī jĭ?

Jīntiān shì xīngqī’èr.

Yī ge xīngqī yóu jĭ tiān?

Yī ge xīngqī yóu qī tiān.

Yī nián yóu jĭ ge yuè?

Yī nián yóu shí’èr ge yuè.

Míngtiān shì jĭ hào?

Míngtiān shì yījiújiŭsì nián yīyuè shíbā hào?

Yī nián yóu jĭ ge jìjié?  Tāmen shì shénme?

Sì ge jìjié.  Tāmen shì chūntiān, xiàtiān, qiū tiān hé dōngtiān.

Notes to Dialogue 1.

Days of the week

To form the words for the first six days of the week, put xīngqī in front of the numbers from ‘one’ to ‘six’. The word xīngqī literally means ‘week’ when used by itself but for our purpose here we can think of it meaning ‘weekday’.

‘Sunday’ is xīngqīrì or xīngqītiān, rì being a formal term for ‘the sun’ and tiān meaning ‘day’  or ‘sky’.

Months of the year

The word for month is yuè. Simply place the number ‘one’ through ‘twelve’ in front of yuè.

Year and date

If you want to express a particular year, simply say the numbers individually.  However, remember to use the word nián (year) at the end to differentiate the year from other numbers.  For example:

yī jiú jiŭ sì nián        1994

yī bā sì líng nián      1840

As in English, the first two numbers of the year can be omitted.

The order for a date including month and year is the reverse of that used in English: year, month and date. Also the term hào (date) must be used.  For example:

27^th December 1993    yī jiú jiŭ sān nián shí’èryuè èrshíqī hào.

10^th February ‘94           jiŭsì nián èryuè shí hào.

Use of hé

The conjunction word hé (and) is never used to link two sentences.  When two sentences share the same subject (e.g. ‘you’ ‘I’), the subject is omitted in the second sentence and a comma is used.  For example:

Tā jīnnián èrshí sùi, shì dà xuésheng.

He is twenty this year and he is a university student.

The word hé is used only to link two or more nouns, pronouns or noun phrases.  And if you want to say ‘somebody and I’ , ‘I’ is mentioned first in Chinese.  For example:

Wó yóu liăng ge gēge, yī ge dìdi.

I have two elder brothers and one younger brother.

 

Wŏ hé Xiáo Lĭ xīhuān yóuyŏng hé pīng pāng qiú.

Xiao Li and I like swimming and table tennis.

Dialogue 2

Shénme shíhou…. ?  When…. ?

lěng to be cold/cold fēicháng/tèbié extremely/very xiàxuě to snow rè to be hot/hot zuì most zuì hăo best zěnme why? (see note) dăsuàn to plan shì’a yes shénme shíhou when (lit “what time”) jìrán… jiù as….  then…. shuō to say míng nián next year háishi or (only in a question) jiā plus duō jiŭ how long? yígòng altogether dàyuē approximately/about/around

Běijīng de dōngtiān lěng ma?

Fēicháng lěng.  Cháng xiàxué.

Xiàtiān zěnme yang?

Qīyuè hé bāyuè tèbié rè.

Shénme jìjié zuì hăo?

Qiūtiān, shíyuè zuŏyòu.  Zěnme?  Ní dăsuàn qù Běijīng ma?

Shì’a.

Shénme shíhou?

Jìrán nĭ shuō shíyuè zuì hăo, wŏ jiù míng nián shíyuè qù.

Nĭ qù lŭyóu háishi gōngzuò?

Lŭyóu jiā gōngzuò.

Nĭ qù duō jiŭ?

Lŭyóu liăng ge xīngqī, gōngzuò sān tiān, yígòng dàyuē sān ge xīngqī.

 

Notes to Dialogue 2

Use of cháng

The adverb cháng, meaning ‘often’ or ‘frequently’, is always placed before the verb, and it is often repeated like some one syllable words.  For example:

Nĭ cháng yóuyŏng ma?

Do you often swim?

 

Andrew chángchang chūmén.

Andrew is frequently away.

 

Wŏ bù cháng hē kāfēi.

I don’t often drink coffee.

Use of zuì

In English, the word ‘most’ cannot be put in front of every adjective or adverb (e.g. ‘the most difficult’ but ‘the easiest’).  However, in Chinese, the word zuì , meaning ‘most’, can be placed in front of every word or verbal phrase to describe its degree.  For example:

Xiăo Wáng zuì niánqīng.

Xiao Wang is the youngest.

 

Zhè běn shū zuì yŏu yìsi.

This book is most interesting.

 

Tā zuì bù xĭhuān zuòfàn

He dislikes cooking most.

Use of zěnme

Although zěnme is translated as ‘why?’ in most contexts, it can also be used where it does not seek an answer but is used to express surprise (rhetorical).  For example:

Q:  Māma, zánmen jĭ diăn chī fàn?

      Mum, what time are we going to eat?

A:  Zěnme, nĭ è le ma?

      Why, are you hungry already?

Zěnme can also mean ‘how come?’, which is weaker than wèishénme (why?).  For example:

Q:  Nĭ jīntiān zěnme bù gāoxìng?

      How come you aren’t happy?

A:  Wó yě bù zhīdào.

      I don’t know either.

Q:  Nĭ wèishénme jīntiān bú shàngxué?

      Why are you not going to school today?

A:  Yīnwèi jīntiān shì xīngqītiān.

      Because it’s Sunday.

 

Adding of a

In spoken Chinese, especially in Southern China, a is frequently attached to some short expressions to add a touch of informality and friendliness.  For example, if someone is knocking at your door, you can say Shéi’a? (Who is it?).  Also when you see something beautiful you can say Zhēn  piàoliang’a! (Really beautiful).

Question word háishi

Whenever you want to ask a question which gives two or more options, and you want the respondent to specify one or the other, put háishi in between the last two choices.  Thus, háishi can only be used to raise questions.  For example:

Nĭ shì Yīngguórén háishi Měiguórén?

Are you British or American?

Question words duō jiŭ

The question words duō jiŭ (how long?) are used if you have no idea at all of duration.  For example:

Ní dăsuàn  zài Běijīng dāi duō jiŭ?

How long are you staying in Beijing for?

 

But if you know that they are staying for only a few days, you use the question word jĭ.

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