Unit 7 Mǎn zhāo sǔn, qiān shòu yì. Complacency incurs loss, humility attracts benefit. Traditional saying (in Classical Chinese), advocating humility. Contents 7.1 Pronunciation practice 7.2 Connecting sentences Exercise 1 7.3 Comfort stations 7.4 Speaking languages Exercise 2 7.5 Dialogue: Language abilities 7.6 Dialogue: Tea and coffee Exercise 3 7.7 Miscellany (that relate to shi de) Exercise 4 7.8 A note on the animal signs 7.9 Duration Exercise 5 7.10 More le-patterns Exercise 6 7.11 Weather Exercise 7 7.12 Dialogue: talking about the weather 7.13 Narrative Exercise 8 7.14 Class focus 7.15 Rhymes and rhythms 7.1 Pronunciation practice Here are three sets of phrases to practice reading aloud. The first set consists of miscellaneous phrases and signs, the second, of disyllabic words with the r-suffix, and the third, of titles of well known Chinese films. 7.1.1 Miscellany jūzhùqū zhíxiáshì jiāotōng-shūniǔ sīfǎjú ānquán-tōngdào jǐnjí-chūkǒu shāngwù-zhōngxīn gòuwù-zhōngxīn Qǐng wù xīyān. yíngyè shíjiān Xiǎoxīn ménxì. residential district (reside-live-district) ; (direct-jurisdiction-city) ; a city that is ruled directly by the central government; communication or transportation hub (communicationpivot) ; (judiciary-bureau) ; emergency route (safety-route) ; emergency exit (emergency-exit) ; business-center ; shopping center (buy-things=center) ; No smoking please (request don t draw+in-smoke) ; business hours (operation hours) ; Mind the gap (careful door-crevisse). 191
7.1.2 Colloquial words with the r-suffix: huāpíngr [huāpyér] vase (flower-bottle) húzuǐr [húzuěr] spout [of a kettle] (kettle-mouth) xiǎoqǔr [xiǎoqǚr] a popular ditty; song (little-tune) dònghuàpiānr [dònghuàpiār] cartoon (move-drawing-film) pūgaijuǎnr [pūgaijüǎr] bed roll; bed kit (bedclothes-roll) chǒujuér [chǒujüér] clown dànhuángr [dànhuá n r] egg-yolk 7.1.3 Film titles Literal translations of those films whose English title is not close to the Chinese are marked *. You can add to the list by asking Chinese friends about films that have been popular in China or Taiwan. Huáng Tǔdì Yellow Earth 1984 Hēipào Shìjiàn Black Cannon Incident 1986 Hóng Gāoliang Red Sorghum 1987 Dàhóng Dēnglóng Gāogāo Guà Raise the Red Lantern 1992 Qiūjú Dǎ Guānsi (*QJ Sues ) The Story of Qiu Ju 1992 Xìmèng Rénshēng (*Theater-dream Human-life) The Puppetmaster 1993 Bàwáng Biéjī (*The Conqueror Leaves his Consort) Farewell My Concubine 1993 Lán Fēngzheng Blue Kite 1993 Huózhe To Live 1994 Wòhǔ Cánglóng Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000 Huāyàng de Niánhuá (*Flower-like DE Age) In the Mood for Love 2000 Hé Nǐ Zài Yìqǐ Together 2002 Yīngxióng Hero 2002 Shímiàn Máifu (*10-sides Ambush) House of Flying Daggers 2005 7.2 Connecting Sentences In earlier units, you have encountered a category of words called conjunctions, that show logical relations between clauses. Examples include kěshi, dànshi, and yīnwèi: Wǒmen bù néng xiūxi, yīnwèi hái yǒu hěn duō gōngkè. We can t rest because we still have lots of homework. When the subordinate clause (eg the yīnwèi clause) is placed first, the logical connection is often marked in the second clause as well (generally by another conjunction, but also by adverbs). 7.2 examines three such sets of paired connectors. 7.2.1 Yīnwèi suǒyǐ because so Yīnwèi is paired with suǒyǐ, whose literal meaning is so or therefore ; but in many cases, suǒyǐ has no explicit correspondence in an English translation. In the Chinese (unlike English), when only one of the two connectors is present, it is more likely to be the second, eg suǒyǐ rather than yīnwèi. 192
<Yīnwèi> tiānqì hěn rè suǒyǐ wǒmen dōu hěn lèi. <Yīnwèi> xià xuě, suǒyǐ Wèi lǎoshī bù néng huílai. Because the weather s hot, we re all quite tired. Prof. Wei can t get back because it s snowing. Generally, conjunctions like yīnwèi and suǒyǐ precede the subject (yīnwèi tiānqi ). But where a single subject persists through the sentence ie when the whole sentence acts as a comment on the initial topic -- then it may precede yīnwèi: Tāmen [yīnwei qián bú gòu suǒyǐ bù néng mǎi hěn duō dōngxi]. They can t buy a lot of things because they don t have enough money. ( money not enough ) 7.2.2 Suīrán kěshì / dànshì although Roughly the same conditions apply to the pair suīrán kěshì although [but]. And again, while English requires only the single conjunction although, Chinese often omits suīrán, leaving the only explicit signal in the second clause. <Suīrán> fùmǔ shì Zhōngguó rén, dànshì tā méi qù guo Zhōngguó. Tā <suīrán> hěn è kěshì bù xiǎng chīfàn. Tā suīrán gèzi bù gāo, kĕshi tā lánqiú dǎ+de bú cuò. Although her parents are Chinese, she hasn t been to China. Although he s hungry he doesn t want to eat. Although he s not tall, he s quite good at basketball. 7.2.3 Yàoshi jiù The pair yàoshi jiù if then is a little different from the previous two pairs. In the first place, jiù is an adverb and, unlike suǒyǐ or kěshì, has to be placed directly before a verb (or another adverb). In addition, jiù is more likely to be omitted (with slight change of nuance) than yàoshi (or rúguǒ). Yàoshi qián bú gòu, nǐmen jiù yòng xìnyòngkǎ. Nǐ yàoshi méi diànnǎo, kěyǐ qù wǎngbā fā email. If [you] don t have enough money [cash], you can use a credit card. If you don t have a computer, you can go to an internet cafe to send email. Notes gòu yòng xìnyòng-kǎ be enough ; qián bú gòu; gòu le, gòu le that s fine ; use ; cf. bú yòng kèqi no use in being polite ; credit-card ; 193
diànnǎo computer (electric-brain) ; also jìsuànjī calculator; computer (calculate; compute-machine) ; wǎngbā internet café (net-bar) ; cf. shàng wǎng access the net ; fā email send email. A slightly more formal alternative for yàoshi is rúguǒ: Rúguǒ nǐ bù xiǎng qù, nà jiù ràng wǒ qù. If you don t want to go, then let me go. Both yàoshi and rúguǒ can be buttressed by the phrase de huà, placed at the foot of the clause. (Huà means word; speech ; the notion of de huà is similar to English let s say, or simply say, used as a conditional in sentences such as say it rains then we meet inside.) Yàoshi nǐ yǒu diànnǎo de huà, wǒ zhèlǐ yǒu Zhōngwén ruǎnjiàn. Bù néng qù de huà, jiù dǎ ge diànhuà ba! If you [happen to] have a computer, I have some Chinese software here. If [by chance] you can t go, then why don t you phone. Connecting clauses <yīnwèi> suŏyĭ because <suīrán> kěshi although dànshi yàoshi <de huà> rúguŏ <de huà> <jiù> <jiù> if Exercise 1. Choose a pair of words and conjoin the following sentences: 1. Màikè Qiáodān shi ge dǎlánqiú de. Tā bù zěnme ( so ) gāo. 2. Tā hěn lèi. Tā bù néng gōngzuò. 3. Tā bú ràng ( let ) wǒ kàn diànshì. Wǒ bú ràng tā tīng yīnyuè. 4. Zhōngwén kè hěn nán. Zhōngwén kè hěn yǒuyìsi. 5. Xuéshēng hěn duō. Lǎoshī hěn gāoxìng. 6. Méiyou bīngxiāng ( icebox ). Bù néng mǎi bīngqilín. 7. Tā shi zài Zhōngguó shēng de, zài Zhōngguó zhăngdà de. Tā chībuguàn Zhōngguó cài. 8. Tā zài Hélán de shíhou cháng chī Zhōngguó cài. Tā chīdeguàn Zhōngguó cài. 9. Tā mĕitiān zǎoshàng dōu hē kāfēi. Tā háishi zǒng xiǎng shuìjiào. 194
7.2.4 If The following conversation is, obviously, rather tongue-in-cheek, but it does give you a chance to practice conditionals. Jiǎ is the straightman, Yǐ, the joker! Jiǎ Wǒmen mǎi yì tǒng bīngqilín, Let s buy a carton of ice-cream! hǎo bù hǎo? Yǐ O, bù, nà bù xíng! No, we can t do that! Yàoshi mǎi bīngqilín, wǒmen jiù méi qián mǎi cài le. <Yàoshi> méi qián mǎi cài jiù méi dōngxi chī <le>. <Yàoshi> méi dōngxi chī, wǒmen jiù méiyou jìnr (le). <Yàoshi> méiyou jìnr, wǒmen jiù bù néng gōngzuò (le). <Yàoshi> bù néng gōngzuò, jiù gèng méi qián le. If we buy ice cream, we won t have any money to buy food! If we don t have money for food, we won t have anything to eat. If we don t have anything to eat, we won t have any energy! If we don t have any energy, we won t be able to work. If we can t work, we ll have even less money! Jiǎ Déle, déle; nǐ bié shuō le -- Enough already! Don t say anymore it s méiwán-méiliǎo. endless. Notes: yàoshi bīngqilín méiyou jìnr déle Yàoshi (or rúguǒ) may be omitted once the pattern is established. Similarly, once the pattern with new situation le is established (jiù méi qián mǎi cài le), le may not re-appear until the culminating sentence (gèng méi qián le). Dictionaries generally give bīngqilín as the pronunciation even though most people pronounce the final syllable as líng (despite the character used to write it), and many northerners (at least) say bīngjilín (or bīngjilíng). Or méiyou jīngshén ( vigor, energy ); cf. hěn yǒushén lively with the dé seen in the beginning of the multiplication table (yī sān dé sān etc.), where it means gets ; déle, then, means [I] ve got [it], and by implication, [that] s enough. méiwán-méiliǎo, literally not-finished not-complete. 7.3 Comfort stations Traditionally, as expected from a society where the majority of people have been farmers and human waste has been an important fertilizer, Chinese have generally been less prone to create euphemisms about the waste products of the human body and the places where 195
they are deposited. The most common term nowadays for the latter is cèsuǒ, literally leaning-place. However, hotels and fancy restaurants are more prone to euphemisms such as xǐshǒujiān (wash-hands-room) lavatory or guànxǐshì bathroom ; and the urban middle classes, particularly in Taiwan and overseas communities might use huàzhuāngjiān (make up-room) powder room or wèishēngjiān (hygiene-room). The latter is abbreviated in house listings, such as sānshì liǎngwèi or sānfáng liǎngwèi 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms. Examples: Qǐngwèn, cèsuǒ zài nǎr? Zài hòubiānr de yuánzi lǐ. Qǐngwèn, zhèr yǒu méiyǒu cèsuǒ? Cèsuǒ ne, hǎoxiàng zài lóuxià. Where s the toilet, please? In the back yard. Excuse me, is there a toilet [around] here? A toilet uhm, [I] believe it s downstairs. Qǐng wèn, zhèr yǒu xǐshǒujiān ma? Excuse me, is there a lavatory here? Xuésheng zhōngxīn yǒu. There s one in the student center. In the countryside, you are more likely to hear máofáng outhouse (thatchedhouse). The actual item, the bowl - the commode - is mǎtǒng horse-tub or gōngtǒng public-tub. The acts are sā niào to piss (release urine) or niàoniao to urinate; piss, or more euphemistically, xiǎobiàn, literally small-convenience, which can be a noun urine as well as a verb urinate; pee. Its larger complement is, unsurprisingly, dàbiàn N excrement or V to defecate. The less euphemistic version is lā shǐ shit (pull shit). While it is interesting to know the gritty details, as a novice, you should probably limit yourself to questions about location, of the kind illustrated above; if someone needs to know what kind, then xiǎobiàn and dàbiàn are appropriate: qù xiǎobiàn, qù dàbiàn. 7.4 Speaking Languages Language names are, for the most part, formed by the addition of bound nouns (such as huà words; talk; language or yŭ language ) to country names, or to the first syllable of country names: Rìbĕn > Rìbĕnhuà; Rìbĕn > Rìyŭ. General terms for foreign language are formed in the same way: wàiguóhuà wàiyŭ foreign [spoken] languages foreign languages ; biéde wàiyŭ other foreign languages 7.4.1 Forms with huà form names of spoken languages Huà 'speech' combines with full country names to form names of languages. These terms refer to the spoken languages, typically forming objects of verbs such as shuō and jiăng speak. Rìbĕnhuà Yìdàlìhuà Yìnníhuà Indonesian Făguóhuà Tàiguóhuà Yuènánhuà Vietnamese Déguóhuà Yìndùhuà Miăndiànhuà Burmese 196
7.4.2 Forms with wén form names for written language, or for language in general Wén written language or language in general, combines with either the first syllable of country names that end in guó (Zhōngguó > Zhōngwén), or with the full name (Yìdàlì > Yìdàlìwén) to form names of languages. The wén-forms occur as objects to verbs such as xué study ; and particularly in Taiwan, they also occur with speaking verbs, such as shuō and jiăng. Rìwén Făwén Déwén Yīngwén Yìdàlìwén Hánwén ( Korean ) Yìnníwén Zhōngwén Not all languages have a version with wén; there does not seem to be a word Tàiwén for Thai, for example, nor Yuènánwén for Vietnamese. Instead, the yŭ-forms are used. 7.4.3 Forms with yŭ form general names for languages The addition of yŭ (from yŭyán language ) to the first syllable of two syllable country names (Făguó > Făyŭ, Rìbĕn > Rìyŭ), otherwise, to full names (Yìdàlì > Yìdàlìyŭ) is quite regular, with the exception of Hànyŭ for Chinese (which uses the word for ethnic Chinese, Hàn). Éyŭ Rìyŭ Făyŭ Yīngyŭ Yìdàlìyŭ Hányŭ Korean (Táiwān usage) Tàiyŭ Thai Táiyǔ Taiwanese 7.4.4 English Because English is not just the language of England, the term Yīngguóhuà is not generally used for spoken English. For similar reasons, the term Mĕiguóhuà is not used either. The following are the more usual expressions for English language : Yīngyŭ Yīngwén Tā bú huì jiăng Yīngyŭ. Zhōngwén, Yīngwén dōu huì -- zhēn liǎobuqǐ! The distinction between British English and American English is formally expressed as Yīngshì de Yīngwén versus Mĕishì de Yīngwén. Shì in Yīngshì and Mĕishì means style or type -- so English-English versus American-English. 7.4.5 Chinese Pŭtōnghuà Guóyŭ ordinary language ; Mainland name for Mandarin national language ; Taiwan name for Mandarin, also heard in most overseas communities. 197
Huáyŭ Hànyŭ language of the Hua ; Hua is another, ancient, name for the Chinese. Huáyŭ is the word used in Singapore for Mandarin. language of the Han people ; this word is used for Chinese language in general (including regional and historical varieties) on both the Mainland and Taiwan. 7.4.6 Yìdiǎn<r> revisited a) Yǒu yìdiǎn<r> +SV Yǒu yìdiǎn<r> appears in conjunction with SVs; often the yi is elided to give yǒu diǎnr. Jīntiān, wǒ yǒu yìdiǎnr è! Yǒu diǎnr chòu. Tā yǒu yìdiǎnr xiàng bàba. I m a bit hungry today. [It] s a bit smelly! She looks a bit like her Dad. b) Yìdiǎn<r> + N Yìdiǎn<r> -- without a preceding yǒu can follow action verbs, and precede objects (if present). Yìdiǎndiǎn (also yìdiǎndiǎnr or even yìdiǎnrdiǎnr) a tiny bit is also an option. Tā yě huì shuō (yì)diǎn(r) Rìyǔ. Tā zhǐ huì shuō yìdiǎn(r). Wǒ zhǐ huì jiǎng yìdiǎndiǎn. Hē (yì)diǎnr chá ba. Jīntiān xiǎng qù mǎi diănr dōngxi. He also speaks some Japanese. She only speaks a little. I only speak a tiny little bit. Have some tea. [I] feel like doing a bit of shopping today. Exercise 2. Provide Chinese versions: 1. He s a bit gruff. 2. Things are rather expensive these days. 3. Have some ice-cream! 4. I only speak a little Chinese. 5. Have some Chinese tea. 7.5 Language abilities Yǐ is a foreign female student in China studying Chinese; Jiǎ is a middle-aged woman that she s just been introduced to. Yǐ is making an effort to be suitably modest and deferential. Jiǎ. Nǐ Pǔtōnghuà shuō+de hěn You speak Mandarin very properly biāozhǔn! ( standard ). Yǐ. Nǎlǐ nǎlǐ, nǐ guòjiǎng le. Naah, you re too nice. (you flatter-le) 198
Jiǎ Nà, nǐ néng rènshi Hànzì ma? So - can you read Chinese characters? Néng xiě ma? Can you write? Yǐ. Néng rènshi jǐ bǎi ge zì; yě néng I can read a bit; and I can write, but xiě, kěshì xiě+de bù hǎo. I don t write well. Jiǎ Duì a, Zhōngwén, tīng shuō That s right; with Chinese, listening and bǐjiào róngyì, kěshì dú xiě hěn speaking are relatively easy, but reading nán. and writing are hard. Yǐ Kě bushì ma! You said it! ( Isn t [that] really the case! ) Jiǎ Nǐ hái huì shuō biéde Do you speak any other foreign wàiyǔ ma? languages? Yǐ Wǒ yě huì shuō (yi)diǎnr I speak a little Japanese. Rìběn huà. Jiǎ O, Zhōngguó huà, Rìběn huà Oh, (you speak) Chinese and dōu huì shuō! Zhēn liǎobùqǐ Japanese -- that s amazing! Yǐ. A, mǎmahūhū, dōu shuō+de Well, so-so, I don t speak them bú tài hǎo! very well. Notes: nǐ Pǔtōnghuà... biāozhǔn guòjiǎng rènshi Hànzì tīng shuō dú xiě kě bushì ma. liǎobùqǐ Nǐ de Pǔtōnghuà is also possible, but Chinese prefers the topiccomment construction in this context, ie as for you, [your] Mandarin is... SV standard. Chinese often praise your language for being standard, meaning that you speak with the correct pronunciation, ie the one taught in schools and heard on the media. praise too much; flatter (exceed-speak). The phrase is a rather more formal response to flattery than nǎlǐ, and can be used when a person of higher status offers praise. The following le can be treated as part of the expression. in Chinese, the ability to read is treated differently from the act of reading; the former is often expressed as rènshi Hànzì, while the latter is simply kànshū. This is a more or less set way for talking about the four skills. Idiom: kě (in its written form) is the same kě as in kěyǐ and kěshì, but here it is an ADV, meaning really; indeed; surely (cf. kě bié wàng le Make sure you don t forget! ). A more literal translation of kě bushì ma would be isn t that just the case! Phrase: amazing ; the expression is built on the verb liǎo, whose root meaning is complete ; cf. méiwán-méiliǎo in the earlier dialogue. 199
7.5.1 Yǒu rén some (people) and similar expressions It is useful to be able to answer yes-no questions such as Zhōngguó rén xǐhuān hē kāfēi ma? with nuance, rather than simply yes or no. For this, the phrase yǒu rén there are people [who]; some people is useful. Yuèbǐng, yǒu rén xǐhuān, yǒu rén bù xǐhuān. Sìshēng, yǒu rén shuō+de hěn biāozhǔn, yǒu rén shuō+de bú tài biāozhǔn. Some people like mooncakes, some don t. [With] the four tones, some say them accurately, some don t. Yǒu shíhou or yǒu shíhou sometimes; at times is used in much the same way: Yīnyuè ne, yǒu shíhou wŏ tīng yáogǔnyuè, yǒu shíhou tīng gǔdiǎn yīnyuè. Sometimes I listen to rock and roll, and sometimes I listen to classical music. When the meaning is some members of a particular group, then yǒu de some [of them] is used: Wŏmen bān de xuésheng, yǒu de shì běnkēshēng, yǒu de shi yánjiūshēng. Sìchuān, yǒu de dìfang hěn gāo, yǒu de hěn dī. Some of the students in our class are undergraduates, some are graduates. Some parts of Sichuan are high, some are very low. 7.6 Dialogue: Tea and coffee Yǐ is a Chinese student and Jiǎ is a foreigner: Jiǎ Ai, jīntiān yǒu diǎn(r) lěng. Gosh, it s a bit cold today. Yǐ Hē (yì)diǎn(r) chá ba. Have some tea! (Drink little tea-ba) Jiǎ Hǎo, xièxie. Fine, thanks. Yǐ Nǐmen Měiguó rén bǐjiào xǐhuān You Americans prefer to drink coffee, hē kāfēi, duì ma? am [I] right? Jiǎ Bù yídìng, yǒu rén xǐhuān, yǒu rén Not necessarily, some do and some don t. bù xǐhuān. Yǒu rén shuō kāfēi duì People say coffee s not good for you. As shēntǐ bù hǎo. Wǒ ne, wǒ zǎoshàng for myself, I drink coffee in the morning 200
hē kāfēi, xiàwǔ hē chá. Bù hē kāfēi, [and] tea in the afternoon. [If] I don t wǒ méi jīngshen, dànshì hē tài duō, have coffee, I can t wake up ( not+have bù néng shuìjiào! energy ) but [if I] have too much, [I] can t sleep. Yǐ Yào bu yào fàng niúnǎi? Do you want milk? Do you take sugar? Fàng táng ma? Jiǎ Bú yòng le, bú yòng le. No thanks. ( No need LE ) Hē kāfēi, wǒ fàng niúnǎi, yě fàng [When I] have coffee, I add milk and táng, dànshì hē chá, wŏ píngcháng sugar as well, but [when I] drink bú fàng biéde dōngxi. tea, I don t usually add anything. Yǐ Wǒmen hē chá yǒu diǎnr xiàng [When] we drink tea [it] s a bit like you nǐmen hē shuǐ yíyàng, shénme drinking water, [you] can drink it anytime. shíhou dōu xíng. Zài Zhōngguó In China, you can t not drink tea! bù néng bù hē chá! Jiǎ Nà Zhōngguó rén bù hē chá hē So [when] Chinese don t drink tea shénme? what do they drink? Yī Nà hěn nán shuō. Yěxǔ bù hē chá hē That s difficult to say. I guess [if we] dòujiāng. Huòzhě qìshuǐ. Xiànzài don t drink tea, we drink soybean milk. nǚháizi hěn duō ài hē niúnǎi, [And] nowadays, women generally like rè niúnǎi. to drink milk, hot milk. Jiǎ Ài, wǒ zuì bù xǐhuān rè niúnǎi! Gosh, I really don t like hot milk! Yǐ Dànshì duì shēntǐ hǎo, duì ma? Duì But [it ] good for you, right? Good pífu hǎo. for the skin. Jiǎ Hěn qíguài, Zhōngguó rén xiànzài [It ] strange, nowadays Chinese drink hē niúnǎi chī miànbāo, Měiguó rén milk and eat bread, Americans eat rice chī báifàn, hē chá. Zěnme shuō and drink tea. How do [you] say it - shì guójìhuà! [it] s internationalization. Yǐ Huòzhě quánqiúhuà! Or globalization. Jiǎ O, quánqiúhuà - hěn yǒu yìsi! Aha, globalization interesting! Notes: duì be facing; be correct; right ; cf. duìbuqǐ; duì, in association with another verb, can also have a prepositional function roughly equivalent to to or for : duì shēntǐ bù hǎo (for body not good) not good for the body; not good for [you]. Notice the different word orders in the two languages. 201
jīngshen N. energy; vigor ; also an SV meaning animated. Jīngshén, with full tone on shén (but the same components and characters), as in the phrase jīngshénbìng mental illness, probably needs to be considered a separate word. Cf. tā yǎnjing hěn yǒu shén. fàng V put; place Shénme shíhou dōu xíng. Literally whatever time all okay. This is an additional example of the indefinite function of question words; cf. Wǒ bú qù nǎr. nǚháizi also nǚháir girl (female-child), but often used in the sense of young woman. The ordinary word for woman is nǚrén (parallel to nánrén men ), but just as woman in American usage used to be avoided in favor of euphemisms such as lady (cf. common usage that says men s room but lady s room ), so Chinese tend to use nǚde rather than nǚrén for women. Shàonián young-years is a youth. Another word, gūniang, is sometimes used for young women in poetic language or popular songs. Here are the first two lines of a popular folk song, originally from Taiwan, but now well known throughout the Chinese speaking world: Ālǐ Shān de gūniang měi rú shuǐ ya, Ali Mountain s girls are beautiful like water Ālǐ Shān de shàonián zhuàng rú shān. Ali Mntn s boys are strong as mountains. ài guójì-huà love, but on the Mainland, overlaps with xǐhuān like. internationalization (international-ize) ; quánqiú-huà globalization (complete-world-ize). In modern Chinese, huà change has come to have a word forming function, as a suffix added to SVs and nouns to form verbs in ize or abstract nouns in ation; cf. xiàndàihuà modern-ize and sì ge xiàndài-huà the four modernizations. Exercise 3. Rearrange the jumbled phrases below into presentable sentences. 1. huì / xiě / bù yídìng / Pǔtōnghuà / de rén / shuō / néng / Hànzì 2. hěn duō / lèi / kǎoshì / tā / jīntiān / suǒyǐ / yǒu diǎnr / yīnwéi / yǒu 3. niúnǎi / yǒurén / yǐqián / hē / hěn shǎo / xiànzài / bù hē / yǒurén / Zhōngguórén / hē / kěshì 4. bù yídìng / Fǎguóhuà / tīngdedǒng / Yìdàlìhuà / huì / de rén / jiǎng 5. Yīngwén de / bù duō / huì shuō / hěn shǎo / yě / Yīngguó / Yīngguóren / dànshì / bù yuǎn / huì shuō / lí / Fǎguó / Fǎguórén / Fǎguóhuà de 6. Zhōngguórén / dànshì / fùmǔ / tā / bú shì / yíyàng / Zhōngguórén zhēn hǎo, / Zhōngwén / tā de /xiàng 202
7 kāfēi / chá, / kěshì / hē / yǒurén / xǐhuān / yǐqián / zhǐ / xiànzài / Zhōngguórén / bù xǐhuān / hē / hē /yě xǐhuān / kāfēi 7.7 Miscellany (that relates to shi de) 7.7.1 Together with versus alone a) Gēn yíkuàir ~ yìqǐ In 5.10, it was noted that coordination (typically expressed by and in English) was often left implicit in the Chinese (chá kāfēi dōu xíng), but that with nouns or nounphrases, coordination could be expressed explicitly with gēn (or, more formally, with hé): Wǒ gēn tā shi tóngxué. Xīnjiāpō gēn Yìnní, shéi yíng le? She and I are classmates. Singapore and Indonesia who won? Gēn (or hé) also commonly occurs with the phrases yíkuàir (literally one-lump ) or yìqǐ together; as a group, where it serves a prepositional function, with a meaning that corresponds more to English with. Thus, with the verb qù go : gēn tā yìqĭ qù gēn tā yíkuàir qù Examples Yìqĭ qù, xíng ma? Wǒmen yíkuàir qù cāntīng chīfàn, hǎo bu hǎo? Gēn wǒmen yíkuàir qù, hǎo bu hǎo? Chīguo fàn le ma? Lái gēn wŏmen yìqĭ chī ba. to go [together] with him/her Would be okay to go together? Why don t we go together and have a meal at the cafeteria? How about going with us? Hái méi ne. Hăo, xièxie. b) Yí ge rén Alone in the question did you go alone is often expressed in Chinese as yí ge rén: Nĭ yí ge rén qù ma? Shì, yí ge rén qù. Nĭ yí ge rén qù hĕn bù róngyì ba. Méi guānxi, wŏ xíguàn le. Are you going alone? Yes, alone. It s not easy going alone is it? It s okay, I m used to it. 203
Tā mĕitiān dōu yí ge rén zài Everyday he eats lunch all by himcāntīng chī zhōngfàn. self in the cafeteria. Wŏ yĕ mĕitiān dōu yí ge rén I eat on my own in the cafeteria everyday zài cāntīng chīfàn. too. Nà, nĭ wèishénme bù gēn tā Well, why don t you eat with her? yìqĭ chī ne? Yīnwèi wǒmen chīfàn de shíjiān Because we eat at different times. bù yíyàng. 7.7.2 Le or guo > shi de. As noted in Unit 6, the shi de construction is often set up by a question about a previous event, containing guo, or le. Here are some typical examples: A B Chī le ma? Chī le, zài jiā lǐ chī de. Zìjǐ zuò de ma? Bù, shi mǎi de. Hǎochī ma? Mǎmahūhū. Chī le ma? Chī le, zài sùshè chī de. Sùshè yǒu cāntīng ma? Méiyou; shi wǒ zìjǐ zuò de. O, zìjǐ zuò de, yídìng hen hǎochī. Hái kěyǐ. Chī le méi? Gēn shéi yìqǐ qù de? Hǎochī ma? Rènshi tā ma? Shì ma? Xiǎoxué a? Nĭ qù guo Zhōngguó méiyou? Nĕi nián qù de? Yí ge rén qù de ma? Chī le, zài xiǎochīdiàn chī de. Yī ge rén qù de. Hěn hǎochī. Dāngrán, rènshi tā hěn jiǔ le. Shì, wǒmen shì zài xiǎoxué rènshi de. Shì, wǒmen shì zài Tiānjīn yìqǐ shàng de xuéxiào. Qù guo. Qù nián qù de. Bù, gēn péngyou yìqĭ qù de. Notes zìjǐ hěn jiǔ xuéxiào Pronoun [one]self ; zìjǐ zuò de [cài]; zìjǐ mǎi de very long+time ; cf. hěn jiǔ bú jiàn long time no see (learn-building) school ; cf. xiǎoxué elementary school ; zhōngxué middle school ; chuzhong junior high ; gāozhōng high school ; dàxué college. 7.7.3 Ways of traveling Combinations of a verb and vehicle form phrases that can be used adverbially in Chinese to describe the means of transportation. 204
zǒulù kāichē dǎ dí qí zìxíngchē walk-road drive-car take taxi straddle self-move-che walk drive take a taxi ride bicycle zuò fēijī zuò huǒchē zuò chuán zuò gōnggòng-qìchē take fly-machine take fire-vehicle take boat take public-car fly take a train go by boat take a bus A note on word formation As the examples ending in chē vehicle show, Chinese often forms compounds by taking a generic base noun and adding specifying nouns to it: qìchē gas-vehicle > automobile ; huǒchē fire-vehicle > train. Similarly, types of shoes are formed by adding nouns to the generic xié: bīngxié (ice-shoes) skates ; gāogēnrxié (high-heel-shoes) ; qiúxié (ballshoes) tennis shoes ; huǒjiàn-píxié (fire-arrow=leather-shoes; rocket shoes) sharp looking shoes with pointed toes -- banned in China in the Mao era. Notes zǒu leave; go, but in combination with lù road it means walk dǎ dí Formerly a Cantonese term, with dí derived ultimately from English taxi, but now the colloquial expression for take a taxi in Mandarin. qí straddle; ride ; so qí mǎ ride a horse zìxíngchē. Two other words for bicycle are also heard: jiǎotàchē foot-press-che (more in Taiwan) and dānchē unit-che. zuò literally sit ; cf. qǐngzuò have a seat please Examples: Nĭ shì zĕnme qù Zhōngguó de? Dāngrán shì zuò fēijī qù de. Nĭ shì zuò chuán qù de háishi zuò huŏchē qù de? Zuò huŏchē qù de. Chuán tài màn. Nĭ píngcháng zĕnme lái shàng kè? Wŏ píngcháng zǒulù lái, búguò jīntiān yīnwèi xiàyŭ suŏyĭ wŏ shì kāichē lái de. How did you go to China? Naturally, I flew. Did you go by ship or by train? By train. The boat s too slow. How do you usually get to class? Usually, I walk, but today, because it s raining, I drove. 7.7.4 Time words In earlier units, you we have encountered a number of time words, so here we enlarge the repertoire and present them in a synoptic table. Recall that, unlike in English, time words precede their associated verbs. Notice that the time words at the extremes nián and tiān form compounds, while those between form phrases with shàng or xià + gè. 205
before past now future after qiánnián qùnián jīnnián míngnián hòunián shàng ge lĭbài zhèi ge lĭbài xià ge lĭbài shàng ge xīngqī zhèi ge xīngqī xià ge xīngqī shàng ge yuè zhèi ge yuè xià ge yuè qiántiān zuótiān jīntiān míngtiān hòutiān 7.7.5 Huílái return [back here] ; huíqù return [back there] ; huíjiā go home Returning is expressed by the verb huí, often in combination with lai or qu. However, returning home is expressed as huíjiā. Nǐ shì shénme shíhou qù de? Bāyuèfen qù de. Shénme shíhou huílái de? Shíyīyuè. Wǒmen lǐbàiyī dǎsuàn qù Sūzhōu, lǐbài èr huílái. When did you go [there]? When did [you] come back? We re planning to go to Suzhou on Monday, [and we ll] be back on Tuesday. Tāmen shì 1991 nián lái de, They came in 1991 and went back in 1995 nián huíqù de. 1995. Nǐ huíqù guo ma? Have you [ever] been back [there]? Tā shíbā suì lái de Mĕiguó. She came to the US at 18. Cóng méi huíqù guo. She s never been back. 7.7.6 Cái ADV then and only then; not until Cái is a common adverb, but its usage is sometimes confused by the fact that it often corresponds to a negative in English: not until : Tāmen shi shénme shíhou qù de? Qùnián bāyuèfen qù de. Shénme shíhou huílái de? Zuótiān cái huílái de. When did they go? Last August. When did they get back? [They] didn t get back until yesterday! Notice the order of sentence elements: the conditions (often a time) first, then cái, then the result. If cái is associated with the English logical operator then and only then rather than not until, it will be easier to position correctly in the Chinese sentence: 206
Tā [sān diǎn zhōng] cái zǒu. She [3:00] then-and-only-then leave. She s not leaving until 3:00. Examples: Qǐngwèn, nǐ jǐ diǎn xià kè? What time do you get out of class? Jīntiān yǒu kǎoshì, sān diǎn bàn There s an exam today, [so] we won t get cái xià kè. out till 3:30. Nǐ píngcháng jǐ diǎn shuìjiào? What time do you usually go to bed? Píngcháng wǎnshang liǎng sān diǎn [We] don t usually go to bed until 3 in cái shuìjiào. the morning. Tā jiǔ diǎn bàn cái lái de, tài wǎn le! She didn t get here till 9:30, too late! Tāmen hái zài, míngtian cái zǒu. They re still here, [they] re not going til tomorrow. Exercise 4 1. Explain that she has a test today so she s not going home till 5:00. 2. Tell them that he doesn t go to bed till he finishes his homework. (zuòwán do-finish ) 3. Explain that you won t be going home till tomorrow. 4. Explain that you didn t know she understood Chinese until now. 7.8 A note on the animal signs While it is fine to ask about the age of others using expressions such as duō dà, in faceto-face interaction, Chinese prefer to infer age by asking for your birth sign. Birth signs, called shēngxiào ( born-resemble ) or shǔxiàng (belong-appearance) are the 12 animals associated with the Chinese zodiac, begining with the rat and ending with the pig. For reference, two recent cyles of years are noted below. shǔ > niú > hǔ > tù > lóng > shé > mǎ > yáng > hóu > jī > gǒu > zhū. rat > ox > tiger > hare > dragon > snake >horse >goat > monkey >chicken >dog > pig 1984 > 85 > 86 > 87 > 88 > 89 > 90 > 91 > 92 > 93 > 94 > 95 1972 > 73 > 74 > 75 > 76 > 77 > 78 > 79 > 80 > 81 > 82 > 83 Comments about birth signs generally make use of the verb shǔ belong to : Wǒ shǔ mǎ, tā shǔ tù! I m the horse [year], she s the hare. So to discover a person s age, you can ask: 207
Qǐngwèn, nǐ <shì> shǔ shénme de? What s your animal sign, please? Wǒ <shì> shǔ lóng de. I m the year of the dragon. In 2005, a person born in the year of the dragon is either 17, 29, 41, etc. In most cases, the correct choice will be obvious. Note that questions about animal signs tend to be in nominalized form, ie you are one belonging to what [year], parallel to nǐ shi xué shénme de, shi něi ge xì de (to be distinguished from the shi de pattern, which involves time, place or other circumstances). In the past the animal signs have been correlated with times of day and directions as well as years. Though traditionally, they have played a relatively small role in the casting of horoscopes and predicting the future, in recent years, particularly in more cosmopolitan places such as Hong Kong, the zodiac signs have come to play a more important role in the matching of couples for marriage, as well as for other social activities. 7.9 Duration In earlier lessons there have been many examples of time when : jīntiān xiàwǔ; sān diǎn zhōng; shàngkè de shíhou. But though there have been some examples of phrases that involve duration (sān tiān, liǎng nián), there have been no examples of duration in sentences. This section will introduce some sentence patterns that involve duration. 7.9.1 Units of time As noted earlier, some duration units are measures and some are nouns: thus we have liǎng nián but liăng ge yuè. Hour is expressed as either zhōngtou (originally bell; chime ) or xiǎoshí small-time. The first is consistently counted with gè, but the latter is variable, sometimes counted with gè, sometimes not. nián: yuè: lĭbài: xīngqī: tiān: zhōngtou xiǎoshí yì nián, liǎng nián, sān nián, sì nián yí ge yuè, liăng ge yuè, sān ge yuè, sì ge yuè yí ge lĭbài, liăng ge lĭbài, sān ge lĭbài, sì ge lĭbài yí ge xīngqī, liăng ge xīngqī, sān ge xīngqī, sì ge xīngqī yì tiān, liǎng tiān, sān tiān, sì tiān yí ge zhōngtou, liăng ge zhōngtou yí <ge> xiǎoshí, liǎng <ge> xiǎoshí It is important not to confuse zhōng o clock with zhōngtou (and xiǎoshí) hours. Contrast the following: Time-when Duration liǎng diǎn zhōng 2 o clock liǎng ge zhōngtou 2 hours liǎng <ge> xiǎoshí liùyuè sān hào June 3rd sān tiān 3 days 208
qīyuè July qí ge yuè 7 months yījiǔjiǔsì nián 1994 jiŭ nián 9 years sān diǎn shíwǔ fēn 3:15 shíwǔ fēn <zhōng> 15 minutes 7.9.2 Duration in context While time-when phrases are placed prior to their associated verbs (liù diǎn chī wănfàn; shí diǎn shàngkè), duration phrases are placed directly after them: qù yì nián to go for a year ; kàn yí ge zhōngtou watch for an hour ; xué yì nián study for a year. Objects cannot intrude between the verb and the duration and must either be mentioned earlier (as with the verb+de construction), or must be placed after the duration: kàn yì xiǎoshí <de> diànshì watch an hour s TV. In fact, objects often do not need to be mentioned, and so for the sake of presentation, they will be avoided in this lesson. a) Examples dialogues Nĭ zhù zai nǎr? Zài Lúwān. Zĕnme lái shàngbān? Zuò qìchē. Yào jǐ fēn zhōng? Dàgài sānshí fēn. Where do you live? In Luwan [a district of Shanghai]. How do you get [here] to work? By car. How many minutes does it take? About 30 minutes [I reckon]. Míngtiān qù Lìjiāng ma? [You] re going to Lijiang tomorrow? Shì, míngtiān zăoshàng. Yes, tomorrow morning. Zĕnme qu? How are you going? Zuò fēijī qu. [We] re going by plane. Yào jǐ ge xiăoshí? How many hours does it take? Chàbuduō yí ge bàn xiăoshí. About an hour and a half. Qù jǐ tiān? How many days are you going for? Sān tiān, lǐbàisì huílái. 3 days, [we] ll be back on Thursday. Exercise 5 Compose a conversation along the following lines: Tomorrow s your meeting, right? [kāihuì] That s right, from 9 to 6 9 hours. How are you getting [there]? I m driving. How long will that take? About 40 minutes. I ll leave at 8. When will you be back? About 8 in the evening. So 12 hours in all. 209
7.10 More le patterns The subject of duration leads quite naturally to some additional patterns involving the ubiquitous particle, le. Recall that earlier you saw that le was interpreted differently according to whether it was associated with a state or an action. The clearest cases involved SVs on the one hand (bú è le no longer hungry ) and V act on the other (chīfàn le have eaten ). It was also noted (more for future reference than for current needs) that under certain circumstances, le could also appear directly after a verb and before an object (most commonly, with a quantified object one containing a number expression): qù le yí tàng Cháng Chéng. These facts remain relevant for the new patterns that relate to duration. Some vocabulary relevant to duration hĕn jiŭ bù jiŭ duō jiŭ duō cháng shíjiān [for] a long time not long how long how long a time bìyè VO jiéhūn VO jiāoshū VO děng complete-enterprise tie-marriage teach-books wait to graduate to get married teach Note Jéhūn and jiāoshū are combinations of verb and objects (VO), which means that unlike, say, xǐzǎo or rènshi, elements can intervene between the syllables. Bìyè, in turns out, is interpreted by some speakers as a two-syllable verb, by others as a verb + object. 7.10.1 Continuing action When people ask you how long you have been studying Chinese, they are asking about continuing action. The assumption (supported by the English verb with ing) is that you began studying at some time in the past, and your study since, if not continuous, has followed stage by stage right up to the present. The situation can be envisioned as a start followed by a wavy line connecting with the current time typically the present: V act le ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ le <continuing action, eg: studying, walking> The onset is signaled by le after the verb; and the connection with current time is signaled by the final le. The order is V-le duration le: Nĭ xué le jǐ nián le? Liăng nián <le>. Nĭ yĭjing zŏu le jǐ ge xiăoshí le? Sān ge xiăoshí <le>. Nĭ dĕng le duō jiŭ le? Bàn ge xiăoshí <le>. How many years have you been studying? Two years <so far>. How long have you been walking so far? Three hours <so far>. How long have you been waiting? A half hour <so far>. 210