The word guóbǐn actually refers to any official state guest, not just an ambassador. (The word for "ambassador" is dàshǐ) The translation "Ambassador Hotel" has been used for years by that hotel and, although inaccurate, has been retained in this text.

Dàfàndiàn means "great hotel" or "grand hotel." It is commonly used in the names of Taiwan and Hong Kong hotels.

Náli, nàli, and zhèli are common variants of nǎr, nàr, and zhèr in non-Peking dialects of Standard Chinese. The forms with r are Peking dialect forms.

Compare:

Notice the difference in tone "between nǎr and náli. This is because -li has a basic Low tone, and the first of two adjoining Low-tone syllables changes to a Rising tone: nǎ + -lǐ = náli.

The possessive relationships in péngyou jiā, "friend's house," nǐ péngyou jiā, "your friend’s house," and tā jiā, "his house," are unmarked, while the English must include -'s or the possessive form of the pronoun ("your," "his".) In Chinese, possessive relationships may be expressed by simply putting the possessor in front of the possessed when the relationship between the two is particularly close, like the relationship between a person and his home, family, or friends.

Péngyoude dìzhǐ: "The marker -de in this phrase is Just like the English possessive ending -'s. With the exception of close relationships, this is the usual way to form the possessive in Chinese.

Unlike the English -'s ending, -de is also added to pronouns.

You are learning possessive phrases in which the marker -de is used (tāde dìzhǐ) and some possessive phrases which do not contain -de (nǐ péngyou jiā). There are certain reasons for the inclusion or omission of -de. If a close relationship exists between the possessor and the possessed, the marker -de might not be used. If a phrase is long and complex, as Lǐ Xiānsheng péngyoude tàitai , the marker -de is used to separate the possessor from the possessed.

But these are not hard and fast rules. The use or omission of -de is not determined solely by the number of syllables in a phrase or by the closeness between the possessor and the possessed, although both of these considerations do play a Mg part in the decision.

While some common nouns are usually used without -de "before them, most nouns are more likely to be preceded by -de, and many even require it. Dìzhǐ, "address," is the only noun you have learned which REQUIRES the possessive marker -de added to the possessor. But other nouns such as jiā are not always preceded by -de. This is also the case with nouns indicating personal relationships, like fùmǔ, "father," and tàitai "wife." Péngyou, "friend,"xuésheng," student and lǎoshī "student are commonly used without -de, but may also be used with the marker.

You might expect the question Nǐ péngyoude dìzhǐ...? to "be completed with a word such as shénme?, what. However, the incomplete form given in this exchange, with the voice trailing off, inviting completion, is also commonly used.

Addresses: The order in which addresses are given in Chinese is the reverse of that used in English. In Chinese, the order is from the general to the specific: country, province or state, city, street name, street number.

-hào: A street number is always given with the bound word -hào, "number," after it. ^[2]

Ba is a marker for a question which expresses the speaker's supposition as to what the answer will be. It is the type of question which asks for a confirmation from the listener.

There are three ways to translate the two questions in exchanges 6 and 7 into English:

Each translation reflects a different degree of certainty on the part of the speaker. (While the differences in certainty are expressed in English by variation in wording, they can be expressed in Chinese by intonation.) You will probably find that the "isn’t it", "aren't you" translation fits most situations.

The short answer shìde is an expanded form of the short answer shì, with the same meaning: "Yes, that's so." Shìde is also the word used for the "yes" in the military "Yes, sir."

Nà(nèi): In the subject position, nà (nèi), "that," and zhè (zhèi), "this," may be used either as free words or as bound words, with -ge following.

Compare:

However, the question form nǎ- (něi-) is a bound word.

Wǔguānchù, "defense attache’s office," literally means "military attache's office."

Zài gōngzuò: Compare these two sentences:

The sentence Tā zài Táinán gōngzuò seems to have two verbs: zài, "to be in/at/on," and gōngzuò," to work." But there is only one verb in the translation: "He works in Tainan." The translation reflects the fact that zài loses its full verb status in this sentence and plays a role like that of the English preposition "in" The zài phrase in Chinese, like the "in" phrase in English, gives more information about the main verb gōngzuò; that is, it tells where the action takes place. "He works," and the work takes place "in Tainan." In sentences like this, the word zài is a prepositional verb. Most relationships expressed by prepositions in English are expressed by prepositional verbs in Chinese.

You have also seen zài used as a prepositional verb in the sentence nǐ zhù zài náli? "Where do you live?" --literally, "You live at where?" Notice that in this sentence the prepositional verb phrase zài náli comes after the main verb zhù. In the sentence Nǐ zài náli gōngzuò? the prepositional verb phrase zài náli conies before the main verb gōngzuò. Many things, such as stress, contrast, and other objects in the sentence, can influence the order of the prepositional verb phrase and the main verb.

In some cases, either order may be used, as in Nǐ zài náli zhù? or Nǐ zhù zài náli?. In other cases, the word order is fixed, as in Nǐ zài náli gōngzuò? For text examples, it will be pointed out whether or not the word order may be changed, and the reasons will be given.

Tā bú zài Táiběi gōngzuò, "He doesn't work in Taipei": In this sentence, the negative adverb bù comes before the prepositional verb zài (which starts the complete predicate zài Táiběi gōngzuò, not before the main verb gōngzuò. This makes sense, for you are not saying "He does NOT WORK," but you are saying "He does NOT work IN TAIPEI."