17 Unit 8

17.1 References

17.1.1 Reference List

1. B: Hǎo jiǔ méi jiàn, nín chū mén le ba?
好久不見,您出門了吧?
I haven’t seen you for a long time, You have been away, I suppose?
A: Shì a, wǒ yòu dào Guǎngzhōu qu le.
是啊,我又到廣州去了。
Yes, I went to Guǎngzhōu again.
2. B: Nín wèishénme gāng huílai, yòu qù le ne?
您爲什麽剛回來,又去了呢?
Why did you go again when you had just come back from there?
A: Wǒ zhèicì dào Guǎngzhōu qù shi yīnwei wǒ yǒu yige hěn hǎode péngyou cóng Xiānggǎng lái.
我這次到廣州去是因爲我有一個很好的朋友從香港來。
This time I went to Guǎngzhōu because I had a very good friend coming there from Hong Kong.
3. A: Wǒmen yǒu yìnián méi jiàn le.
我們有一年沒見了。
We had not seen each other for a year.
A: Tā qǐng wo péi ta yìqǐ qù lǚxíng.
她請我陪她一起去旅行。
She asked me to accompany her (in her) travels.
4. A: Sānge yuè yǐqián wǒ zài Guǎngzhōu, nèige shíhou tā hái bù zhīdào néng bu néng lái.
三個月以前我在廣州,那個時候她還不知道能不能來。
Three months ago, when I was in Guǎngzhōu, she didn’t know yet whether she would be able to come or not.
5. B: Nǐmen dōu qùguo shénme dìfang?
你們都去過什麽地方?
What places did you go to?
A: Nánjīng, Shànghǎi, Hángzhōu, Sūzhōu, dōu qù le. Hángzhōu zhēn shi piàoliang.
南京,上海,杭州,蘇州,都去了。杭州真是漂亮。
We went to Nánjīng, Shànghǎi, Hángzhōu, and Sūzhōu. Hángzhōu is really beautiful.
6. A: Yǒu jīhui wǒ yào zài qù yícì.
有機會我要再去幾次。
If I have the chance, I would like to go again.
7. A: Zhèixiě dìfang nǐ dōu qùguo le ba?
這些地方你都去過了吧。
You have gone to all those places, I suppose?
B: Méi dōu qùguo. Wǒ hái méi qùguo Sūzhōu.
沒都去過。我還沒去過蘇州。
I haven’t been to all of them. I still haven’t been to Sūzhōu.
8. huí guó
回國
to return to one’s native country
9. huí jiā
回家
to come/go home
10. huíqu
回去
to go back
11.
rènao
熱鬧
12. yǒu yìsi
有意思
to be interesting
13. méi(yǒu) yìsi
沒(有)意思
to be uninteresting
14. suǒyǐ (suóyi)
所以
therefore, so

17.1.2 Vocabulary

chū mén (chū ménr) 出門 (出門兒) to go out, to go away from home, to go out of town
gāng only a short while ago, just
Hángzhōu 杭州 (a city in Zhèjiang Province in the PRC, formerly spelled Hangchow)
hǎo jiǔ 好久 a long time
huí to return to, to go back to
huí guó 回國 to return to one’s native country
huí jiā 回家 to return home
huílai 回來 to come back
huíqu 回去 to return to one’s native country, to go back
jiàn to meet, to see
jīhui 機會 opportunity, chance
méi(yǒu) yìsi 沒(有)意思 to be uninteresting
néng can; to be able to
péi to accompany
piàoliang 漂亮 to be beautiful
qǐng to request, to invite
rènao 熱鬧 to be lively/bustling/noisy
suǒyǐ (suóyi) 所以 (所以) therefore, so
Sūzhōu 蘇州 (a city in Jiāngsū Province in the PRC, formerly spelled Soochow)
wèishénme 爲什麽 why
yīnwei 因爲 because
yìqǐ 一起 together, along with
yòu again
yǒu yìsi 有意思 (with completed actions) to be interesting
zài again (with uncompleted actions)
huār kāile 花兒開了 the flowers have bloomed (literally, “opened”)
jiānglái 將來 in the future
shōudao 收到 to receive
yǒumíngde dìfang 有名的地方 famous place
zuìjìn 最近 recently

17.1.3 Reference Notes

17.1.3.1 Notes on №1
1. B: Hǎo jiǔ méi jiàn, nín chū mén le ba?
好久不見,您出門了吧?
I haven’t seen you for a long time, You have been away, I suppose?
A: Shì a, wǒ yòu dào Guǎngzhōu qu le.
是啊,我又到廣州去了。
Yes, I went to Guǎngzhōu again.

Hǎo jiǔ, “very long”: In this phrase, the word hǎo means “very.” Some additional examples of this use of hǎo are

hǎo dà

好大

very large

hǎo duō rén

好多人

a good many people

hǎo jitiān

好幾天

quite a few days

Persons from Taiwan frequently use hǎo, “very,” before another hǎo, as in Hǎo hǎowan! “What fun.”’ and Hǎo hǎochī! “Delicious!” Speakers from Běijīng think that this repetition of hǎo sounds bad.

The verb jiàn means “to see someone” in the sense of “to visit/talk with someone.” The verb kànjian is used for “to see” in the sense of “to perceive an object.”

Chū mén means “to go out,” “to go away from home,” “to go out of town”; literally, “to go out the door.”

Yòu is the word for “again” which is used with completed actions. (See notes on No. 6 for “again” with actions that have not been completed.)

Òu, nǐ yòu lái le!

哦,你又來了!

Oh, yǒu have come again!

Qìshuǐ yòu méiyou le.

汽水又沒有了。

We are out of soda again.

Tā zuótiān méi shàng kè. Jīntiān yòu méi shàng kè.

他昨天沒上課。今天又沒上課。

Yesterday he didn’t attend class. Today, again, he didn’t attend class.

17.1.3.2 Notes on №2
2. B: Nín wèishénme gāng huílai, yòu qù le ne?
您爲什麽剛回來,又去了呢?
Why did you go again when you had just come back from there?
A: Wǒ zhèicì dào Guǎngzhōu qù shi yīnwei wǒ yǒu yige hěn hǎode péngyou cóng Xiānggǎng lái.
我這次到廣州去是因爲我有一個很好的朋友從香港來。
This time I went to Guǎngzhōu because I had a very good friend coming there from Hong Kong.

Wèishénme, “why,” follows the subject in the first sentence of exchange 2. This question word usually occurs in that position. (In English, “why” always precedes the subject.)

Nǐ wèishénme yòu qù le ne?

你 爲什麽 又去了嗎?

(Why did you go again?)

Sometimes wèishénme precedes the subject of a sentence:

Wèishénme tā méi qù?

爲什麽 他 沒去?

Tā wèishénme méi qù?

他 爲什麽 沒去?

“Why didn’t he go?”

Gāng, “only a short while ago,” “just”: The first sentence in the exchange could also be translated as “Why, having just come back from there, did you go again?”

The adverb gāng is used in sentences describing something that has just been done, in other words, completed action. But notice that the marker le for completion is not used here. The marker le is added when the focus is on whether or not the action has been performed, not on when or how it was performed. Gāng is often used in sentences emphasizing the recentness of an action, not the fact that it was done; therefore le is not used.

Nǐ shi shénme shíhou láide?

你是什麽時候來的?

When did you come here?

Gāng lái.

剛來,

I Just got here.

Nǐ mèimei zài bu zài?

你妹妹在不在?

Is your little sister here?

Tā gāng zǒu.

她剛走。

She just left.

Huí, “to return,” “to go back”: Like chū, “to go out,” and jìn, “to enter,” huí must be followed by either a place word or a directional ending.

huí Běijīng

回北京

to return to Běijīng

huíguó

回國

to return to one’s native country

huíjiā

回家

to return home

huílai

回來

to come back

huíqu

回去

to go back

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The meaning of huílai is not as broad as that of the English translation “to come back,” which has two meanings: 1) to come from someplace else to the original place (“He leaves for work at eight and doesn’t come back till six.”) and 2) to come another time (“Mr. Wang isn’t in today; come back tomorrow.”) Huílai means “to return to a particular place.” To say “to come another time” in Chinese, you would use an adverb meaning “again” and the verb lái. For example,

Wáng Xiānsheng jīntiān bú zài, qǐng ni míngtiān zài lái.

王先生今天不在,請你明天來。

Mr. Wang isn’t in today; please come back tomorrow.

Nèige rén zuótiān yòu lái zhǎo ni, nǐ bú zài.

那個人昨天又來找你,你不在。

That guy came back looking for you yesterday, but you were out.

Ne: Because of the question word wèishénme, “why,” the first sentence in exchange 2 is clearly a question. The marker ne is not needed to indicate a question, but does give an added ring of inquisitiveness to the sentence. Questions ending in ne often seem to be asking for definite answers.

Yīnwei, “because”: Here are some simpler sentences containing yīnwei:

Nǐ wèishénme méi lái?

你爲什麽沒來?

Why didn’t you come?

Yīnwei wǒ hěn máng.

因爲我很忙。

Because I was very busy.

Nǐ wèishénme láiwǎn le?

你爲什麽來晚了?

Why did you come late?

Yīnwei wǒ zǒucuò le.

因爲我走錯了。

Because I made a wrong turn.

Nǐ wèishénme yòu qù le?

你爲什麽又去了?

Why did you go again?

Yīnwei wǒde péngyou cóng Xiānggǎng lái.

因爲我的朋友從香港來。

Because my friend was coming from Hong Kong.

The word order in the second sentence of exchange 2 may be described in terms of a pattern:

SENTENCE shi yīnwei SENTENCE

因爲

Wǒ zhèicì dào Guǎngzhōu qù

我這次到廣州去

wǒ yǒu yige hěn hǎode péngyou cóng Xiānggǎng lái.

我有一個很好的朋友從香港來。

The phrase hěn hǎode péngyou contains the marker of modification -de. The modifying phrase ADVERB + ADJECTIVAL VERB (e.g., zuì xiǎo, tài gāo) is followed by -de. Therefore hǎo péngyou does not need -de, but hen hǎode péngyou does.

The verb yǒu is translated in the past tense in the second sentence of this exchange: “I HAD a . . . friend coming.” Notice that there is no completed-action marker in the sentence. Yǒu cannot be used with a completed-action marker because it is a STATE verb, not an action verb. (See notes on Nos. 7-8 in BIO, Unit 8, and on No. 4 in this unit.)

17.1.3.3 Notes on №3
3. A: Wǒmen yǒu yìnián méi jiàn le.
我們有一年沒見了。
We had not seen each other for a year.
A: Tā qǐng wo péi ta yìqǐ qù lǚxíng.
她請我陪她一起去旅行。
She asked me to accompany her (in her) travels.

Yǒu yìnián méi: To state the period of time within which something has not happened, place the amount of time in front of the negative and the verb. The verb yǒu may be placed in front of the amount of time.

Wǒmen (yǒu) sānnián méi jiàn le.

我們 有 三年 沒見了。

(as for us there have been 3 years haven’t met)

“We haven’t seen each other for three years.”

In this example, new-situation le might be translated as “as of now.”

When you are talking about a period of time within which something will not happen, the same pattern is used, but yǒu may NOT be added:

Wǒ liǎngtiān bù chīfan.

我 兩天 不吃飯。

“I’m not going to eat for two days.”

The verb qǐng, which you have already learned as “please,” means “to request [that a person do something]” or “to invite.” Normally, when you qǐng someone to take a trip or to go out, you are saying that you will pay all expenses.

17.1.3.4 Notes on №4
4. A: Sānge yuè yǐqián wǒ zài Guǎngzhōu, nèige shíhou tā hái bù zhīdào néng bu néng lái.
三個月以前我在廣州,那個時候她還不知道能不能來。
Three months ago, when I was in Guǎngzhōu, she didn’t know yet whether she would be able to come or not.

Yǐqián, “ago”: You have already seen yǐqián used after a phrase to mean “before.”

Wǒ shàng bān yǐqián, wo mǎi diǎnr chīde.

我上班以前,我買點兒吃的。

Before I start work, I will buy something to eat.

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In No. 4, yǐqián is used after an amount of time to mean “ago.”

Liǎngnián yǐqián, wǒ méiyou qìchē.

兩年以前,我沒有汽車。

Two years ago, I didn’t have a car.

Néng, “can,” “to be able to,” “to be capable of”: The most general word in Chinese for “to be able to” is néng. The meanings of néng and kéyi “to be permitted by someone” or “permissible according to some rules or conventions,” overlap.

Nèige shíhou tā hái bù zhīdào: The negative is bù, even though the sentence refers to the past. The negative méi cannot be used here because it is the negative of completed action. The verb zhīdao, like the verb you and adjectival verbs such as hǎo, is a state verb and cannot be thought of as completed.

Since the negative of a state verb is the same in the present and past tenses, the intended time must be discovered from the context. One reason for using nèige shíhou in No. 4 is to make the time reference very clear.

STATE VERBS include all adjectival verbs, auxiliary verbs, and a few other verbs. Here are some examples:

STATE VERBS

Adjectival Verbs

xiǎo

guì

piányi

便宜

kuài

màn

duō

shǎo

gāoxìng

高興

Auxiliaries

huì

kéyi

可以

néng

děi

bú bì

不必

yào

xiǎng

Others

shì

zài

yǒu

xìng

jiào

zhīdao

知道

xǐhuan

喜歡

Yījiǔsānyīnián dōngxi dōu bú guì.

一九三一年東西都不貴。

In 1931, everything was inexpensive.

Wǒ zài Déguode shíhou bú huì shuō Déguo huà.

我在德國時候不會説德國話。

When I was in Germany, I couldn’t speak German.

Wǒ yǐqián bù xǐhuan niàn shū.

我以前不喜歡念書。

Before, I didn’t like to study.

Bù zhīdào néng bu néng lái, “didn’t know if she would be able to come”: The object of the verb zhīdao is a choice-type question, néng bu néng lái. Here are more examples of this usage:

Wǒ bù zhīdào hái yǒu méiyou.

我不知道還有沒有。

I don’t know if there are any left.

Nǐ wènwen tā mǎile méiyou.

你問問他買了沒有。

Ask him if he bought it.

Wǒ xiǎng zhīdao tāmen lái bu lái.

我想知道他們來不來。

I would like to know if they are coming or not.

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English-speaking students of Chinese are often tempted to translate “if” as rúguǒ or yàoshi; to do so, however, is wrong. The following rule may help you remember to use a choice-type question: Whenever the “if” in an English sentence means “whether,” use a choice-type question in Chinese. For example, “I would like to know if they are coming” means “I would like to know whether they are coming”; therefore, in Chinese, you would use a choice-type question as the object of the verb zhīdao.

17.1.3.5 Notes on №5
5. B: Nǐmen dōu qùguo shénme dìfang?
你們都去過什麽地方?
What places did you go to?
A: Nánjīng, Shànghǎi, Hángzhōu, Sūzhōu, dōu qù le. Hángzhōu zhēn shi piàoliang.
南京,上海,杭州,蘇州,都去了。杭州真是漂亮。
We went to Nánjīng, Shànghǎi, Hángzhōu, and Sūzhōu. Hángzhōu is really beautiful.

Nǐmen dōu qùguo shénme dìfang? is ambiguous. It could mean either “What places did all of you go to?” or “What are all the places that you went to?”

You already know that dōu may refer to an object when that object precedes the verb, in topic position. (See the second sentence in exchange 5.)

In this first sentence of the exchange, dōu is referring to an object which occurs after the verb. When an object includes a question word, it is not placed before dōu in the sentence.

Tā dōu qùguo shénme dìfang?

他都去過什麽地方?

What are all the places that he went to?

Tā dōu niànguo shénme shū?

他都念過什麽書?

What are all the books that she has read?

Tā dōu mǎiguo shénme dōngxi?

他都買過什麽東西?

What are all the things that he bought ?

The shi in Hángzhōu zhēn shi piàoliang has been added for emphasis. Shi is not required before adjectival verbs.

17.1.3.6 Notes on №6
6. A: Yǒu jīhui wǒ yào zài qù yícì.
有機會我要再去幾次。
If I have the chance, I would like to go again.

The adverb zài means “again” in talking about actions that have not been completed. (This adverb was translated previously in your text as “then” in commands.)

Míngtiān zài lái ba!

明天再來吧!

Come again tomorrow.

Qǐng ni zài shuō yícì.

請你再説一次。

Please say it again.

Yícì means “one occurrence of going,” or “one trip,” in this sentence. (The English translation does not include an equivalent of yícì.)

17.1.3.7 Notes on №7
7. A: Zhèixiě dìfang nǐ dōu qùguo le ba?
這些地方你都去過了吧。
You have gone to all those places, I suppose?
B: Méi dōu qùguo. Wǒ hái méi qùguo Sūzhōu.
沒都去過。我還沒去過蘇州。
I haven’t been to all of them. I still haven’t been to Sūzhōu.

Méi dōu, “not all”: In the second sentence of exchange 7, the negative méi precedes the adverb dōu. Placing a negative before dōu instead of after it changes the meaning of the phrase. Compare the sentences below:

Tāmen dōu bù lai.

他們都不來。

They are all not coming. (All of them are not coming.)

Tāmen bù dōu lai.

他們不都來。

Not all of them are coming.

Wǒ dōu méi qùguo.

我都沒去過。

I haven’t been to any of them.

Wǒ méi dōu qùguo.

我沒都去過。

I haven’t been to all of them.

17.1.3.8 Notes on Additional Vocabulary
8. huí guó
回國
to return to one’s native country
9. huí jiā
回家
to come/go home
10. huíqu
回去
to go back
11.
rènao
熱鬧
12. yǒu yìsi
有意思
to be interesting
13. méi(yǒu) yìsi
沒(有)意思
to be uninteresting
14. suǒyǐ (suóyi)
所以
therefore, so

Suǒyī (also pronounced suóyi) is the word “therefore,” “so.”

Wǒ hěn máng, suóyi méi qù.

我很忙,所以沒去。

I was very busy, so I didn’t go.

In Chinese sentences expressing cause and result, the pattern yīnwei... suóyi... is preferred. English speakers often find difficulty in using this pattern because it sounds unnatural in English to say “Because I was very busy, so I didn’t go.” In English, either “because” or “so” would be omitted; but, in Chinese, both yīnwei and suóyi are often retained.

Yīnwei wǒ hěn máng, suóyi méi qù.

因爲我很忙,所以沒去。

I was very busy, so I didn’t go. (OR “Because I was very busy, I didn’t go.”)

Yīnwei tā shi hǎo xuésheng, suóyi lǎoshī dōu xǐhuan ta.

因爲他是好學生,所以老師都喜歡他。

Because he is a good student, all the teachers like him.

Yīnwei wǒ méiyou hùzhào, suóyi xiànzài wǒ hái bù néng líkāi.

因爲我沒有護照,所以現在我還不能離開。

I don’t have a passport, so I can’t leave yet. (OR “Because I don’t have a passport, I can’t leave yet.”)

Yīnwei wǒ yào dào Zhōngguo qù, suóyi wǒ yào xué Zhōngwén.

因爲我要到中國去,所以我要學中文。

I have to learn Chinese because I’m going to go to China.

Yīnwei wǒ méiyou chē, suóyi wǒ bù néng zhùde lí xuéxiào tài yuǎn.

因爲我沒有車,所以我不能住的離學校太遠。

I don’t have a car, so I can’t live too far away from school. (OR “Because I don’t have a car, I can’t live too far away from school.”)

Notice that suóyi always precedes the subject of the sentence.

Suóyi may also mean “that’s why...”: “That’s why you came here by plane.” Suóyi ni shi zuò fēijī láide. When used this way, the word suóyi is stressed.

17.2 Drills