| 1. | A: | Zhèli yǒu Yīngwén bào ma? | 这里有英文报吗？ | Are there any English-language newspapers here? |
| B: | Yǒu. Jiù zài nàli. | 有。就在那里 | Yes. They're right over there. | |
| 2. | A: | Zhèli yǒu Yīngwén bào meiyou? | 这里有英文报没有？ | Are there any English-language newspapers here? |
| B: | Yǒu. Jiù zài nàli. | 有。就在那里。 | Yes. They're right there. | |
| 3. | A: | Wǒ xiǎng mǎi Yīngwén bào. | 我想买英文报。 | I would like to buy English-language newspaper. |
| B: | Hǎo. Jiù zài zhèli. | 好。就在那里。 | Fine. They're right here. | |
| 4. | A: | Zhège duōshao qián? | 这个多少钱？ | How much is this one? |
| B: | Wǔkuài qián. | 五块钱。 | Five dollars. | |
| 5. | A: | Zhège Zhōngwén bào duōshao qián? | 这个中文报多少钱？ | How much is the Chinese-language newspaper? |
| B: | Sānkuài qián yífèn. | 三块钱一份。 | Three dollars a copy. | |
| 6. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli mài Měiguó zázhì bu mài? | 你们这里卖美国书不卖？ | Do you sell American magazines here? |
| B: | Mài. Wǒmen zhèli mài. | 卖。我们这里卖。 | Yes, we sell them here. | |
| 7. | A: | Zhège duōshao qián? | 这个多少钱？ | How much is this one? |
| B: | Sānshikuài qián yìběn. | 三十块钱一本。 | Thirty dollars a copy. | |
| A: | Hǎo, wǒ mǎi yìběn. | 好。我买一本。 | Fine, I'll buy one. | |
| 8. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli yǒu Měiguó shū meiyou? | 你们这里有美国书没有？ | Do you have American books here? |
| B: | Duìbuqǐ, Měiguó shū wǒmen bú mài. | 对不起， 美国书我们不卖。 | I'm sorry, we don't sell American books here. | |
| 9. | A: | Bào, zázhì, yígòng duōshao qián? | 报杂志一共多少钱？ | How much are the newspaper, the magazine altogether? |
| B: | Bào wǔkuài, zázhì sānshikuài. | 报无怪；杂志三十块。 | The newspaper is five dollars; the magazine is thirty dollars. | |
| B: | Yígòng sānshiwǔkuài qián. | 一共三十五块钱。 | Altogether, it's thirty-five dollars. | |
| 10. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli mài dìtú bu mài? | 你们这里卖地图不卖？ | Do you sell maps here? |
| B: | Mài. Zài nàli. | 卖。在那里。 | We do. They are other here. | |
| 11. | A: | Nín xiǎng mǎi shénme dìtú? | 您想买什么地图？ | What kind of map would you like to buy? |
| B: | Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yìzhāng Táiběi dìtú. | 我想买一张台北地图。 | I would like to buy a map of Taipei. | |
| 12. | A: | Zhèzhāng Táiběi dìtú duōshao qián? | 这张台北地图多少钱？ | How much is this map of Taipei? |
| B: | Shíèrkuài qián. | 十二块钱。 | Twelve dollars. |
| yífèn (r) bàozhǐ | —份(儿)报纸 | one newspaper |
| yìzhǐ bǐ | 一支笔 | one pen |
| yìzhāng zhǐ | 一张纸 | one piece of paper |
| yìběn zìdiǎn | 一本字典 | one dictionary |
| Hàn-Yīng zìdiǎn | 汉－英字典 | Chinese-English dictionary |
| Yīng-Hàn zìdiǎn | 英－汉字典 | English-Chinese dictionary |
| huàxué | 化学 | chemistry |
| shùxué | 数学 | mathematics |
| bào (yífèn) | 报（一份） | newspaper |
| bàozhǐ (yífèn) | 报纸（一份） | newspaper |
| -běn | －本 | volume |
| bǐ (yìzhī) | 笔（一支） | pen |
| dìtú (yìzhāng) | 地图(一张) | map |
| duìbuqǐ | 对不起 | I'm sorry |
| duōshao | 多少 | how much, how many |
| -fèn (r) | －份(儿) | copy |
| jiù | 就 | right, exactly (with reference to space) |
| -kuài | －块 | dollar (in context) |
| mǎi | 买 | to buy |
| mài | 卖 | to sell |
| qián | 钱 | money |
| shū (yìběn) | 书（一本） | book |
| xiǎng | 想 | to want to |
| xiǎngyixiǎng | 想一想 | to think it over |
| yīgòng | 一共 | altogether |
| zázhì (yìběn) | 杂志(一本） | magazine |
| -zhāng | －张 | (counter for flat things, tables, paper, pictures, etc ...) |
| zhǐ (yìzhāng) | 纸(一张) | paper |
| -zhǐ | －支 | (counter for straight, stick-like objects) |
| zìdiǎn (yìběn) | 字典(一本) | dictionary |
| 1. | A: | Zhèli yǒu Yīngwén bào ma? | 这里有英文报吗？ | Are there any English-language newspapers here? |
| B: | Yǒu. Jiù zài nàli. | 有。就在那里 | Yes. They're right over there. |
Zhèli yǒu: The Chinese verb yǒu sometimes means "to have" and sometimes means "to be" in the sense of "to exist". In exchange 1, yǒu has the latter meaning. With this meaning, it often translates into English as "there is/are."
Topic-comment sentences: The subject of a Chinese sentence need not be the person who performs an action or experiences a state. Often, the relation ship between the subject and the rest of the sentence Is looser and can be analyzed as topic-comment.
A topic is a word or phrase at the beginning of a sentence which sets the scene for the rest of the sentence. The topic is a starting point for understanding a sentence, giving background Information and establishing the perspective for listeners. For this reason, time and place phrases are often used as topics.
| Xhèli | yǒu | Yíngwén báo. |
| Here | there are | English-language newspapers. |
A comment is the rest of the sentence which follows the topic. Here are some examples:
| He has a pen; he doesn't have paper. (literally, "Pen he has; paper he doesn't) | ||
|---|---|---|
| A: | Where are you calling from? | |
| B: | Taiwan University | |
| As for this map, they sell it for ten dollars. |
Clearly, the last two examples are meaningful only when the relationship between the initial nouns/pronouns and verbs is understood to be one of topic-comment, not the usual subject-predicate relation of actor-action.
While there is no single rule that tells you when to use topic-comment sentences in Chinese, some helpful generalizations can be made. These generalizations will be discussed as example-sentences appear in the Reference lists.
Jiù zài nàli, "They are right over here": You have learned jiù as "only," a synonym of zhǐ. In exchange 1, you see another use of jiù: "right," "exactly," "precisely." This word is often used to describe "right" where something is, and is followed by zài, "in/on."
| 2. | A: | Zhèli yǒu Yīngwén bào meiyou? | 这里有英文报没有？ | Are there any English-language newspapers here? |
| B: | Yǒu. Jiù zài nàli. | 有。就在那里。 | Yes. They're right there. |
Yǒu...méiyǒu: The first sentence in exchange 2 is a yes/no-choice question. This type of question is formed "by explicitly offering the listener a choice between an affirmative and a negative answer. The negative alternative is tacked onto the end of the sentence. Similar questions exist in English. But the English question would be an impatient one, while the Chinese question is an ordinary on:
Zhèli yǒu Yīngwén bào méiyou?
Are there say English-language newspaper here, or aren't there?
Neutral tones: Whether or not a syllable is pronounced in the Neutral tone often depends on the speed of speech and the mood the speaker is trying to convey, In informal conversation between native speakers, there are many more Neutral tones than in the more careful, deliberate speech of a language teacher speaking to foreign student . (Bear this point in mind when you find a discrepancy between the textbook marking of a word and the pronunciation of that word on tape.)
Most syllables in any stretch of spoken Chinese are neither completely ”Neutral” (i. e., with no audible change in pitch for the duration of the syllable) nor completely "full" in length and amplitude, These syllables will usually be somewhere in between the two extremes.
Zhèli yǒu Yīngwen bào meiyou? Are there any English-language newspapers here?
Zhěli yǒu Yīngwén bào méiyou"?
Often a syllable will not Bound like a full tone. But if you ask "Then is this syllable in the Neutral tone?" the answer will be "No, not exactly." There is no distinct dividing line between a syllable with a tone and a syllable in the Neutral tone. Very often, the most helpful answer to the question "Should this be pronounced in the Neutral tone?" is "Pronounce it the way you hear it." The language is taught in terms of four tones, but your ears hear more.
| 3. | A: | Wǒ xiǎng mǎi Yīngwén bào. | 我想买英文报。 | I would like to buy English-language newspaper. |
| B: | Hǎo. Jiù zài zhèli. | 好。就在那里。 | Fine. They're right here. |
The auxiliary verb xiǎng is sometimes translated as "would like to" or "to want to." Here are some examples of translations you have learned for xiǎng;
| Wǒ xiǎng mǎi Yīngwén bào. |
I'm thinking of buying an English-language newspaper. OR I would like to buy an English-language newspaper. OR I want to buy an English-language newspaper. |
| Wǒ xiǎng tā xiǎng míngtiān zǒu. | I think he is planning to leave tomorrow. |
| Wǒ hěn xiǎng niàn shú. | I very much want to study. |
| Wǒ bú tài xiǎng qù. | I don't want to go very much. ("tài" meaning "too," "excessively," appears in Unit 3) |
| 4. | A: | Zhège duōshao qián? | 这个多少钱？ | How much is this one? |
| B: | Wǔkuài qián. | 五块钱。 | Five dollars. |
Zhège duōshao qián? In Chinese sentences that ask for and give prices, the word shì is usually omitted.
shì reappears, however, in negative and contrastive sentences: Zhège bú shì sìkuài qián, shì wǔkuài qián. "This (item) isn't four dollars; it's five dollars."
Wǔkuài qián literally means "five dollars money." The counter -kuài, "dollars," indicates the units of the general class "money" that are being counted (i.e., dollars as opposed to cents.)
| 5. | A: | Zhège Zhōngwén bào duōshao qián? | 这个中文报多少钱？ | How much is the Chinese-language newspaper? |
| B: | Sānkuài qián yífèn. | 三块钱一份。 | Three dollars a copy. |
Notice in the sentence Zhège Zhōngwén bào duōshao qián? that the general counter -ge is used rather than the specific counter -fèn, "copy." The counter -ge is often used in talking about the KIND of thing. In this case the question is about the price of ea newspaper as a publication, not about the price of a copy. The specific counter would be used to talk about a particular concrete object, as in a sentence like: "This copy of the China Post is torn."
Yífèn: In Chinese, when you talk about the unit price of an item, the unit is a counter. Notice that yífèn comes at the end of the sentence, just as "copy" does in English.
| 6. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli mài Měiguó zázhì bu mài? | 你们这里卖美国书不卖？ | Do you sell American magazines here? |
| B: | Mài. Wǒmen zhèli mài. | 卖。我们这里卖。 | Yes, we sell them here. |
Mài, "to sell," differs from the word mǎi, "to buy," only in its tone.
Nǐmen zhèli, "your place here," literally, "you here": Use Nǐmen zhèli when talking to someone who represents a stores a bank, or other institutions. By putting zhèli (zhèr), "here," or nàli (nàr), "there," after a person's name or a pronoun, you make a phrase referring to a place associated with the person. For example, nì nàli means "over there where you are now," and wǒ zhèli means "here where I am now," Use these phrases when you want to express the idea of an item being close to a person (not necessarily ownership).
Nǐ nàli yǒu bǐ méiou? Do you have a pen over there? (i.e., Is there a pen over there where you are?")
This kind of phrase is also used to mean a person's home: nǐ nàli, "your place" (used when the speaker is not at "your house"); wǒ zhèli: "my place" (used when the speaker is at home.)
A: Chén xǎojiě zài náli? Where is Miss Chén?
B: Tā zài Liú tàitài nàli She is at Mrs. Liú house.
Nǐmen zhèli mài Měiguó zázhì bu mài? In this sentence, Nǐmen zhèli is used as a topic. Literally, the sentence means: "As for your place here, are American magazines sold?"
| 7. | A: | Zhège duōshao qián? | 这个多少钱？ | How much is this one? |
| B: | Sānshikuài qián yìběn. | 三十块钱一本。 | Thirty dollars a copy. | |
| A: | Hǎo, wǒ mǎi yìběn. | 好。我买一本。 | Fine, I'll buy one. |
The counter běn, "volume", "copy," is used for both books and magazines.
| 8. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli yǒu Měiguó shū meiyou? | 你们这里有美国书没有？ | Do you have American books here? |
| B: | Duìbuqǐ, Měiguó shū wǒmen bú mài. | 对不起， 美国书我们不卖。 | I'm sorry, we don't sell American books here. |
Duìbuqǐ, literally means "unable to face (you)." This word is used to say "I'm sorry" when you bump into a person, arrive late, and so on. It is not the word for "I'm sorry" when you sympathize with someone else's misfortune (e.g., when a relative dies.)
Měiguó shū wǒmen bú mài.: In this sentence, Měiguó shū, the object of the verb mài, occurs at the beginning, in topic position. Here the order of the sentence element is : topic - subject - verb. Some speakers of English use the same word order. Compare:
| Měiguó shū | wǒmen | bú mài. |
| American books | we | don't sell. |
Notice that bú mài is not the ending of a yes/no-choice question. The phrase keeps its tones in this sentence.
| 9. | A: | Bào, zázhì, yígòng duōshao qián? | 报杂志一共多少钱？ | How much are the newspaper, the magazine altogether? |
| B: | Bào wǔkuài, zázhì sānshikuài. | 报无怪；杂志三十块。 | The newspaper is five dollars; the magazine is thirty dollars. | |
| B: | Yígòng sānshiwǔkuài qián. | 一共三十五块钱。 | Altogether, it's thirty-five dollars. |
Yígòng, "altogether,": In totaling something up, the items being totaled begin the sentence, in topic position, and are followed by the adverb Yígòng.
| 10. | A: | Nǐmen zhèli mài dìtú bu mài? | 你们这里卖地图不卖？ | Do you sell maps here? |
| B: | Mài. Zài nàli. | 卖。在那里。 | We do. They are other here. | |
| 11. | A: | Nín xiǎng mǎi shénme dìtú? | 您想买什么地图？ | What kind of map would you like to buy? |
| B: | Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yìzhāng Táiběi dìtú. | 我想买一张台北地图。 | I would like to buy a map of Taipei. |
shénme dìtú literally means "what map?." In exchange 11, this phrase is used to mean "what kind of map."
yìzhāng: the counter -zhāng is used for flat objects. Literally, yìzhāng Táiběi dìtú means "one sheet Taipei map." In exchange 11, the phrase is translated as "a map of Taipei."
| 12. | A: | Zhèzhāng Táiběi dìtú duōshao qián? | 这张台北地图多少钱？ | How much is this map of Taipei? |
| B: | Shíèrkuài qián. | 十二块钱。 | Twelve dollars. |
Zhèzhāng dìtú: compare the two phrases which follow.
| zhè | -zhāng | dìtú | this map | |
| zhè | liǎng | -zhāng | dìtú | these two maps |
In the first phrase, the counter -zhāng does not have a number in front of it. In effect, the number 1 was dropped after the specifier zhè. Notice that when a specifier and a number occur together in Chinese, the word order is just like English: Zhè liǎngzhāng dìtú, "these two maps."
| 13. | yífèn (r) bàozhǐ | one newspaper |
| 14. | yìzhī bǐ | one pen |
| 15. | yìzhāng zhǐ | one piece of paper |
| 16. | yìběn zìdiǎn | one dictionary |
| 17. | Hàn-Yīng zìdiǎn | Chinese-English dictionary |
| 18. | Yīng-Hàn zìdiǎn | English-Chinese dictionary |
| 19. | huàxué | chemistry |
| 20. | shùxué | mathematics |
Notes on additional required vocabulary:
bàozhǐ and bào, two words for "newspaper," are interchangeable.
Yìzhī bǐ: The counter for pens, -zhī, is the counter for straight, stick-like objects.
Hàn-Yīng zìdiǎn, Yīng-Hàn zìdiǎn: The word for "Chinese" in these expressions comes from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 219.) Hàn is often used in titles to refer to the Chinese people and their language.
| Wǒ xiǎng mǎi diǎnr diǎnxin. | I'm going to buy some pastries. | |
| Zheìge xiǎo diǎnxin duōshao qián yìjīn? | How much are these small pastries per catty? | |
| Bāmáo qián yìjīn. | Eighty cents a catty. | |
| Gěi wǒ liǎngjīn. | Giüe me two catties. | |
| Qǐng nǐ gěi wǒ liǎngjīn. | Please giüe me two catties. | |
| Nín hái yào diǎnr shénme? | What else do you want? | |
| Wǒ hái yào qìshuǐ. | I want some soda. | |
| Duōshao qián yìpíng? | How much is it per bottle? | |
| Liǎngmáo wǔfēn qián. | It's twenty-five cents. | |
| Zhèi shi sānkuài qián. | Here's three dollars. | |
| Zhǎo nǐ liùmáo wǔfēn qián. | Here's sixty-five cents (in) change. | |
| Xièxie. Zàijiàn. | Thank yoi. Good-bye | |
| Zàijiàn. | Good-bye | |
| Dà píngguǒ duōshao qián yìjīn? | How much are the large apples per catty? | |
| Dàde sìmáo wǔfēn qián yìjīn. | The large ones are forty-five cents a catty. | |
| Xiǎode duōshao qián yìjinq? | How much per catty are the small ones? | |
| Sānmáo wǔ. | Thirty-five cents. | |
| Qǐng gěi wǒ sānjīn nèige xiǎode. | Please give me three catties of the small ones. | |
| Hǎo. Sānjīn yíkuài líng wǔ. | Certainly. Three catties are $1.05. | |
| Nín hái yào shénme? | What else do you want? | |
| Wǒ búyào shénme le. | I don't want anything else. |
| júzi | oranges, tangerines | |
| píjiǔ | beer | |
| yíkuài féizào | one bar of soap | |
| zuò mǎimai | to do business | |
| dàrén | adult | |
| xiǎoháizi | child | |
| dà | to be large | |
| -de | marker of modification | |
| diǎnr | a little, some | |
| diǎnxin (yíkuài, yìjīn) | pastry, snack | |
| -fēn | cent | |
| gěi | to give | |
| hái | also, additionally | |
| -jīn | catty (1.1 pound) | |
| -kuài | piece (counter) | |
| líng | zero | |
| mǎimai | business | |
| -máo | dime | |
| -píng | bottle | |
| píngguǒ | apple | |
| qǐng | please | |
| qìshuǐ | soda, carbonated soft drink | |
| xiǎo | to be small | |
| xiǎohaízi | child | |
| yào | to want | |
| zàijiàn | good-bye | |
| zhǎo | to give change | |
| zuò mǎimai | to do business | |
| gōngxiāo hézuòshè | supply and marketing cooperative |