fenshou elementary lesson

Do you believe it when a girl said "Let's break up because I love you"?

Check out how the man will act in this Chinese dialogue.

iChinesePodcast Elementary Lesson -  分手 Breaking Up

Dialogue:

zhānɡwěi… wǒmen fēnshǒu bɑ.

A: 张伟 …     我们   分手 吧。

Zhang Wei… Let’s break up.



wèishénme？nándào nǐ  búzài   ài   wǒ le mɑ？

B: 为什么？    难道   你 不再 爱 我 了 吗？

Why? Don’t you love me anymore?



wǒ shì  yīnwèi ài nǐ,     suǒyǐ cái  ɡēn nǐ  fēnshǒu de.

A: 我 是 因为 爱 你，所以 才 跟 你   分手 的。

I love you. That’s why I break up with you.



shénme yìsi？

B: 什么 意思？

What does that mean?



nǐ yīnɡɡāi zhǎo  yíɡè bǐwǒ ɡènɡhǎo de nǚháir.

A: 你 应该   找  一个 比我 更好   的 女孩儿。

You should find a better girl than me.



Learn grammar in this lesson:

1. 不再 bú zài

不再... not…anymore, no more



2. 难道…吗？

“难道...吗？”is used to make rhetorical questions.



See examples to the grammar in the original Podcast Lesson - Breaking Up

Eating in China

In China, there is a saying 无规矩不成方圆 (wú ɡuīju bù chénɡ fānɡyuán) - Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. This is correct both in learning Chinese grammar and eating at a Chinese table. 

China is famous for its tasty food, which is a big attraction to people traveling in China. But learning the tradition and culture of eating in China is as much fun as the food itself. There are few "norms and standards" when it comes to a family dinner. A big difference of Chinese eating from the West is that there would be many cuisines served on the table and each in a plate. You can pick your foods from different plates. That is different from in western countries where everyone has the same plate including different foods.

Having said that, when eating in China, one should also notice that if there are elder people present, they should be invited to sit in the north of the table and we can’t eat until the elder have started to eat. If you violate these taboos in a Chinese table, you might be considered impolite.

Eating in China

Now, let’s learn how to talk about meals pick up useful words and phrases used in daily life!

吃早饭（餐）chīzǎofàn（cān）to have breakfast

吃午饭（餐）chīwǔfàn（cān）to have lunch

吃晚饭（餐）chīwǎnfàn（cān）to have dinner

In those phrases, “吃chī” is a verb which means “eat”, and the word “饭fàn” can be replaced by “餐cān”, both of which means “meal”. It is common in China that we ask if others have had the meal as greeting between friends or neighbors.

E.g.

zǎoshɑnɡ hǎo, nǐ chīle mɑ？

早上 好，你 吃了 吗？

Good morning, have you had breakfast?

chī ɡuò le, nǐne？

吃 过 了，你呢？

Yes, what about you?

Now we will learn more useful expressions related to eating in China.

jīntiān zhōnɡwǔ chī shénme ne？

今天 中午 吃 什么呢？

What do you want to eat for lunch?

tiānqì zhèmerè，chīdiǎn liánɡmiànbɑ.

天气 这么 热，吃点 凉面 吧。

It is so hot today, let’s have some cold noodles.

wǎnfàn nǐ xiǎnɡ qùnǎ chī？

晚饭 你 想 去哪  吃？

Where do you want to have dinner?

fùjìn yǒu yìjiā xīnkāide fànɡuǎn búcuò, zánmen qù chánɡchánɡbɑ.

附近 有  一家  新开的 饭馆 不错，咱们 去 尝尝吧。

There is a new restaurant nearby, let’s have a try there.

Have you tasted Chinese food? If you have tried any delicious food or have an exciting story about eating in China, share it with me in the comment!

Elementary Podcast Lesson - xiaoqi

Do you know how to say "somebody is stingy" in Chinese? In this episode of iChinesePodcast's online audio lessons, you will learn this word through a Chinese dialogue and learn how to use 一点儿也不 (Not At All) in mandarin Chinese.




Dialogue:

zhānɡ xiǎoměi, jīntiān shì nǐde shēnɡrì, zhù nǐ shēnɡrì kuàilè！

A: 张小美，      今天  是 你的 生日，祝 你 生日 快乐！

Zhang Xiaomei. Today is your birthday. Happy birthday!



xiè xiè！

B: 谢谢！

Thank you!



nǐ   jīntiān kànqǐlái hěn ɡāoxìnɡ！zhè shì shénme？

A: 你 今天 看起来 很   高兴！   这 是 什么？

You look very happy today! What’s this?



zhè shì wǒ nánpénɡyǒu jiékè sònɡ wǒ de shēnɡrì lǐwù,    jiānádà fēnɡyè.

B: 这 是  我    男朋友   杰克   送 我 的  生日 礼物，加拿大 枫叶。

This is my birthday gift, a maple leaf. My boyfriend Jack gave this to me.



nǐ   bù juédé tā xiǎoqì mɑ？

A: 你 不 觉得 他 小气 吗？

Isn’t he stingy?



wǒ juédé yìdiǎn’ér yěbù xiǎoqì. zài zhōnɡɡuó, fēnɡyè shì àiqínɡ de xiànɡzhēnɡ.

B: 我 觉得 一点儿也不 小气。在   中国， 枫叶  是 爱情  的    象征。

Not at all. In China, the maple leaf is the symbol of love.



Chinese Grammar

一点儿也不 “not …at all”

Structure one: 一点儿也不 + adjective

Structure two: 一点儿 也不 + verb



Check out examples at the original lesson page: 小气

Learn more Chinese grammar clips.

Describe Weathers in Chinese

What is the weather(天气tiān qì ) like in your city recently? Is it as hot as in Sichuan where the temperature went up to 38 centigrade? In such hot weather, it would be good to have a rain. But some people don’t like rain for in rainy days it is troublesome to go out. What weathers do you like？Let’s see how to say different weathers in Chinese

1.      Windy. (有风yǒu fēnɡ) If the wind is very strong, we say “大风dà fēnɡ”，and if it is small we say “微风wēi fēnɡ”.

2.      Cloudy. (多云duō yún )If the weather is good and there are white clouds in the sky we call them”白云bái yún”，if it’s going to rain and there are black clouds we call them”乌云wū yún”.

3.      Rainy. (有雨yǒu yǔ) According to the amount of rainfall, from small to heavy,  we describe the weather as “小雨xiáo yǔ，中雨zhōnɡ yǔ，大雨dà yǔ，暴雨bào yǔ”.

4.      Snowy. (有雪yǒu xuě) Just like how we divide the rainy days, we describe snowy days according to the amount of snowfall from small to heavy as “小雪xiǎo xuě,中雪zhōnɡ xuě, 大雪dà xuě, 暴雪bào xuě”.

5.      Sunny. (晴qínɡ) If it is sunny, we can say it’s a “大晴天dà qínɡ tiān”.

If you ask somebody how is the weather today, you can say”今天天气怎么样？” In this sentence, “今天”is the adverb of time; “天气”is the subject of the topic, and “怎么样”is a symbol of question sentence which is often used in the end of a question sentence, such as in sentence “你认为这件衣服怎么样？nǐ rènwéi zhèjiàn yīfu zěnmeyànɡ ？”(How do you like this clothe?).

Below are some sentences often used when talking about weather.

jīntiān tiānqì búcuò，dàqínɡtiān

今天 天气 不错，大晴天。

The weather is nice today, a sunny day.

tiānqìyùbào shuō mínɡtiān yǒuzhōnɡyǔ 。

天气预报 说 明天 有 中雨。

The weather forecast says it’s going to rain tomorrow.

zuótiān wǎnshɑnɡ ɡuādàfēnɡle 。

昨天 晚上 刮大风了。

There was strong wind yesterday night.

wūyúnmìbù yíhuì kěndìnɡ yàoxiàyǔle 。

乌云密布 一会 肯定 要 下雨了。

See those dark clouds, it’s going to rain.

wǒ xǐhuɑn xiàxuě，xiàwánxuě wǒmen kéyǐ duīxuěrén 。

我 喜欢 下雪，下完雪 我们 可以 堆雪人。

I like snowy days because we can make a snowman after snowing.