## Unit 8

### Introduction

#### Topics covered in this unit

1. More on duration phrases.

2. The marker le for new situations in negative sentences.

3. Military titles and 'branches of service,

4. The marker ne.

5. Process verbs.

#### Material you will need

1. The C-l and P-l tapes, the Reference List and Reference Notes.

2. The C-2 and P-2 tapes, the Workbook.

3. The 8D-1 tape.

### References

#### Reference List

1. | A: | Nǐ jīntiān hái yǒu kè ma? | 你今天还有课吗？ | Do you have any more classes today?
| B: | Měiyou kè le. | 没有课了。 | I don't have any more classes.
2. | A: | Nǐ cóngqián niàn Yīngwén niànle duó jiǔ? | 你从前念英文念了多久？ | How long did you study English?
| B: | Wǒ niàn Yīngwén niànle liǔnián. | 我念英文念了六年。 | I studied English for six years.
3. | A: | Nǐ xiànzài niàn shénme ne? | 你现在念什么呢？ | What are you studying now?
| B: | Wǒ niàn Fàwén ne. | 我念法文 | I'm studying French.
4. | A: | Nǐ niàn Fàwén niànle duó jiǔ le? | 你念法文念了多久了？ | How long have you studying French?
| B: | Wǒ niànle yìnián le. | 我念了一年了。 | I've have been studying it for one year.
5. | A: | Nǐ huì xiě Zhōngguo zì ma? | 你会写中国字吗？ | Can you write Chinese characters?
| B: | Huì yìdiǎn. | 会一点。 | I can a little.
6. | A: | Qǜnián wǒ hái bú huì xiě. | 去年我还不会写。 | Last year, I couldn't write them.
| B: | Xiànzài wǒ huì xiě yìdiǎn le. | 现在我会写一点了。 | Now, I can write a little.
7. | A: | Nǐ fùqin shi jǖnrén ma? | 你父亲是军人吗？ | Is your father a military man?
| B: | Shì, tā shi hǎijǖn jǖnguān. | 是，他是海军陆军。 | Yes, he is a naval officer.
8. | A: | Wǒ jīntiān bù lái le. | 我今天不来了。 | I'm not coming today.
| B: | Wǒ bìng le. | 我病了。 | I'm sick.
9. | A: | Jīntiān hǎo le méiyou? | 今天好了没有？ | Are you better today? (Are you recovered?)
| B: | Jīntiān hǎo le. | 今天好了。 | Today I'm better.

#### Vocabulary

kōngjǖn | 空军 | Air Force
lùjǖn | 陆军 | army
shìbīng | 事兵 | enlisted man
zuò shì | 做事 | to work
Déwén | 德文 | German language
bìng | 病 | to become ill
Déwén | 德文 | German language
Fàwén | 法文 | French language
hǎijǖn | 海军 | navy
jǖnguān | 陆军 | military officer
jǖnrén | 军人 | military person
kè | 课 | class
xiě | 写 | to write
zì | 字 | character

#### Reference Notes

##### Notes on №1

1. | A: | Nǐ jīntiān hái yǒu kè ma? | 你今天还有课吗？ | Do you have any more classes today?
| B: | Měiyou kè le. | 没有课了。 | I don't have any more classes.

Hái, "additionally," "also": You have already learned the word hái used as an adverb meaning "still." In this exchange you learn a second way to use hái.

Nǐ hái xiǎng zǒu ma? | Do you still want to leave?
Nǐ hái yào xüé shénme? | What else do you want to study?

Méiyou...le: You will remember that in the negative of a completed action, méi or méiyou replaces the completion marker le is never used together with it.

Tā |  | lái | le. | He came.
Tā | méi(you) | lái. |  | He did not come.

In the sentence Méiyou kè le, le is a new-situation marker, and méiyou is simply the negative of the full verb yǒu. (Remember that the verb yǒu is always made negative with méi, never with bù.)

Tā |  | yǒu kè | le. | Now he has class. [Due to a change in the schedule, he now has class at this time.]
Tā | méi- | yǒu kè | le. | He doesn't have any more classes.

Bù...le/méiyou...le: When the marker le for new situations is used with a negative verb, there are two possible meanings:

1. one is that something that was supposed to happen is now not going to happen.

2. the other is that something that was happening is not happening anymore.

Thus the following sentence is ambiguous:

Tā bù lái le. | He is not coining now. [Either he was expected to come but changed his mind, or he used to come at this time but now has stopped.]

In the context of a conversation, the meaning of the sentence would become clear.

Here are more-examples with the "anymore" meaning:

Tā bú niàn shū le. | He is not going to study anymore.[He will no longer attend college.]
Tā bú shi wǒde péngyou le. | He is not my friend anymore.
Méiyou le. | There is no more.

##### Notes on №2

2. | A: | Nǐ cóngqián niàn Yīngwén niànle duó jiǔ? | 你从前念英文念了多久？ | How long did you study English?
| B: | Wǒ niàn Yīngwén niànle liǔnián. | 我念英文念了六年。 | I studied English for six years.

More on duration: In Unit 6 of this module, you learned to express duration in a sentence with no object (Wǒ zài Xiāngǎng zhùle liùge yüè le. ). In this unit, you learn one way to express the duration of an activity which involves using both a verb and an object (e.g. , "studying economics"). In such cases, the verb appears twice in the sentence: first when the object is stated, and again when the duration is stated.

Tā niàn jīngjixüé, niánle yìnián. | He studied economics for one year.
Tā xüé Zhōngguo huà, xüéle sānge yüè le. | He has been studying Chinese for three months.

Notice that aspect markers do not occur after the first verb in each sentence, but only after the second verb and at the end of the second sentence.

##### Notes on №3

3. | A: | Nǐ xiànzài niàn shénme ne? | 你现在念什么呢？ | What are you studying now?
| B: | Wǒ niàn Fàwén ne. | 我念法文 | I'm studying French.

Ne is an aspect marker used to emphasize the fact that something is in progress. With action verbs, ne indicates that the action is going on.

With state verbs, ne shows that the state exists. With some process verbs, ne indicates that the process is going on. Ne may not be used with certain process verbs. (See also notes on No. 8, about verbs.)

##### Notes on №4-5

4. | A: | Nǐ niàn Fàwén niànle duó jiǔ le? | 你念法文念了多久了？ | How long have you studying French?
| B: | Wǒ niànle yìnián le. | 我念了一年了。 | I've have been studying it for one year.
5. | A: | Nǐ huì xiě Zhōngguo zì ma? | 你会写中国字吗？ | Can you write Chinese characters?
| B: | Huì yìdiǎn. | 会一点。 | I can a little.

Xiě Zhōngguo zì: The verb xiě, "to write" can occur with specific objects, such as Zhōngguo zì, as well as with the general object zì. The combination xiě zìcan mean either "to write characters" or simply "to write."

Tā xiǎng xüé Zhōngguo zì. | He wants to learn to write Chinese characters.
Xiǎo dìdi sìsuì le, yǐjīng huì xiě zì le. | Little younger brother is four years old and already can write.

In the reply huì yìdiǎn, huì is used as a main verb --not as an auxiliary verb, as in the question.

As a main verb, huì means "to have the skill of," "to have the knowledge of," "to know."

Wǒ huì Yīngwén. | I know English.

##### Notes on №6

6. | A: | Qǜnián wǒ hái bú huì xiě. | 去年我还不会写。 | Last year, I couldn't write them.
| B: | Xiànzài wǒ huì xiě yìdiǎn le. | 现在我会写一点了。 | Now, I can write a little.

Qùnián wǒ hái bú huì xiě.: Notice that here it is the auxiliary verb huì, not the verb xiě, that is made negative. Auxiliary verbs such as huì and xiǎng are STATE verbs and so are made negative with the prefix bù, regardless of whether the context is past, present, or future.

Xiànzài wǒ huì xiě yìdiǎn le.: The marker used is le for new situations. It is always placed at the end of a sentence.

The time word xiànzài comes at the beginning of the sentence here. Most time words of more than one syllable may come either before or after the subject, but in either case before the verb.

##### Notes on №7-8

7. | A: | Nǐ fùqin shi jǖnrén ma? | 你父亲是军人吗？ | Is your father a military man?
| B: | Shì, tā shi hǎijǖn jǖnguān. | 是，他是海军陆军。 | Yes, he is a naval officer.
8. | A: | Wǒ jīntiān bù lái le. | 我今天不来了。 | I'm not coming today.
| B: | Wǒ bìng le. | 我病了。 | I'm sick.

The verb bìng, "to get sick," "to become ill," is a process verb; that is the activity described includes some changes in the situation. Process verbs tell of an action which has caused a change from one state to another, as from whole to broken ("to break") and from frozen to melted ("to melt"). Bìng is typical of process verbs: not only is an action described (coming down with an illness) but also a resulting state (being ill). Because of this typical combination, process verbs are sometimes thought of as combining the semantic characteristics of action and state verbs.

One of the main purposes of talking about verbs in terms of action, state, and process is to draw attention to the fact that the Chinese way of expressing something may not correspond to the English.

For instance,

"I am sick" in Chinese is Wǒ bìng le. ("I have gotten sick"). For "I am not sick," you say Wǒ méi bìng. ("I didn't get sick").

Process verbs are always made negative with m|i9 regardless of whether you are referring to past, present, or future.

Nǐ bìng le méiyou? | Are you sick?
Méiyou. Wǒ méi bing. | No. I'm not sick.

(State verbs are always made negative with bù.)

Another reason for putting verbs into categories according to the type of meaning is to discover how verbs behave in sentences. Knowing whether a verb is in the action, state, or process category, you will know what aspect markers and negatives may be used with that verb. In the following charts, a check mark means that this combination of verb and aspect occurs in the language.

| Aspect Markers
Completion le | Combined le | New-situation
Verbs | Action | X | X | X
State |  |  | X
Process | X | X | X

Examples: [6]

Action | Tā zuótiān gōngzuò le. | He worked yesterday. (completion Le)
Tā yǐjīng lái le. | He has already come. (combined le)
Gēge xiànzài niàn dàxüé le. | Older brother goes to college now. (new-situation le)[a]
State | Tā xiànzài huì xiě zì le. | He can write now. (new-situation le)
Process | Tā zuótiān bìng le. | He got sick yesterday. (completion le)
Tā xiànzài bìng le. | He is sick.(combined le)
Tā bìngle yíge yüé le. | He has been sick for one month now. (new-situation le and completion le)
[a] In affirmative sentences containing action verbs, the marker le for new situations is used to describe a change in a general habit.

| Verbs
Action | State | Process
Negation | bù | X | X |
—negation of completion le | X |  | X
—negation of combined le | X |  | X

Examples:

Action | Tā bú niàn shū. | He doesn’t (isn't going to) study
Tā méi niàn shū. | He didn't study.
Tā hái méi niàn shū. | He hasn’t studied yet,
State | Tā qǜnián bù xiǎng niàn shū. | Last year, she didn't want to study.
Process | Tā jīntiān méi bìng. | He is not sick today.
Tā hái méi hǎo. | He hasn't yet recovered.

Notice that only action verbs use the whole range of negatives to mark the negative of future or present action, completed action, or new situations. State verbs use the negative prefix bù even when referring to past states. Process verbs use the negative prefix méi even when referring to something in the present.

If you find a verb occurring with a negative or an aspect marker you had not expected, you might discuss with your teacher how the verb behaves in terms of these charts. You might discover that what you thought was a state verb is actually a process verb, or vice versa.

##### Notes on №9

9. | A: | Jīntiān hǎo le méiyou? | 今天好了没有？ | Are you better today? (Are you recovered?)
| B: | Jīntiān hǎo le. | 今天好了。 | Today I'm better.

Jīntiān hǎo le.: Hǎo is one of many state verbs which can become process verbs. When such a verb becomes a process verb, it takes on a different meaning. While the state verb hǎo means "to be good" or "to be well," the process verb hǎo means "to get better," "to recover." Compare these sentences:

Tā hǎo. | He's in good health.
Tā zuótiān bìng le. Tā jīntiān yǐjīng hǎo le. | Yesterday he became sick. Today he is already recovered.

The difference between the state verb hǎo and the process verb hǎo is even more evident in negative sentences. State verbs, as you remember, are made negative only with bù. Process verbs are made negative only with méi or hái méi.

Tā bù hǎo. | He's not good. [He’s not a good person.]
Tā hái méi hǎo. | He hasn't yet recovered. [He is still sick.]

It can be difficult to remember that bìng and hǎo, sometimes translated as "to be sick" and "to be better," are actually process verbs in Chinese, not state verbs.

The English sentence "I am better (recovered)" translates as Wǒ hǎo le. ("I have become veil") and would be incorrect without the le.

Jīntiān hǎo le méiyou? Questions may be formed from statements containing completion le or combined le by adding méiyou at the end of the statements.

You will learn more about forming questions in the first unit of the next module.

Tā láile méiyou? | Did he come?
Nǐ hǎole méiyou? | Are you recovered (from your illness)?

### Drills

### Criterion test

### Appendices

#### Appendix

[6] Most of the time you can figure out from a verb's meaning the semantic category in which that verb belongs. However, process verbs may not be so predictable.