15 Unit 5
15.1 Introduction
15.1.1 Topics covered in this unit
Date and Place of birth.
Days of the week.
Ages.
The marker
for new situations.
15.1.2 Material you will need
The C-1 and P-1 tapes, the Reference List and Reference Notes.
The C-2 and P-2 tapes.
The 5D-1 tape.
15.2 References
15.2.1 Reference List
1. | A: | 安德森夫人,你是在哪兒生的? | Mrs. Andersen, where were you born? | |
B: | 我是在得州生的。 | I was born in Texas. | ||
2. | A: | 你們是星期四到的嗎? | Did you arrive on Thursday? | |
B: | 不是,我們是星期五到的。 | No, we arrived on Friday. | ||
3. | A: | 你們星期幾走? | What day of the week are you leaving? | |
B: | 我們星期天走。 | We are leaving on Sunday. | ||
4. | A: | 你是哪年生的? | What year are you born? | |
B: | 我是一九三九年生的。 | I was born in 1939. | ||
5. | A: | 你是幾月生的? | What month were you born? | |
B: | 我是七月生的。 | I was born in July. | ||
6. | A: | 你是幾號生的? | What day of the month were you born? | |
B: | 我是四號生的。 | I was born on the fourth. | ||
7. | A: | 你多大了? | How old are you? | |
B: | 我二十四了。 | I’m 24. | ||
8. | A: | 你多大了? | How old are you? | |
B: | 我三十五了。 | I’m 35. | ||
9. | A: | 你們女孩子幾歲了? | How old is your girl? | |
B: | 她八歲了。 | She’s eight years old. | ||
10. | A: | 你們男孩子都幾歲了? | How old are your boys? | |
B: | 一個九歲了, 一個六歲了。 | One is nine, and one is six. |
15.2.2 Vocabulary
多大 | how old | |
後年 | the year after next | |
幾號 | what day of the month? | |
今年 | this year | |
幾歲 | how old | |
幾月 | what month | |
明年 | next year | |
哪年? | which year | |
年年 | every year | |
前年 | the year before last | |
去年 | last year | |
上個月 | last month | |
生 | to be born | |
歲 | year (of age) | |
下個月 | next month | |
星期二 | Tuesday | |
星期幾 | what day of the week | |
星期六 | Saturday | |
星期三 | Wednesday | |
星期四 | Thursday | |
星期天,星期日 | Sunday | |
星期五 | Friday | |
星期一 | Monday | |
這個月 | this month |
15.2.3 Reference Notes
15.2.3.1 Notes on №1
1. | A: | 安德森夫人,你是在哪兒生的? | Mrs. Andersen, where were you born? | |
B: | 我是在得州生的。 | I was born in Texas. |
The
construction is used to focus on place expressions as well as on time and manner expressions.I was born in America. WHERE | |||||
I arrived yesterday. WHEN | |||||
I came alone. HOW |
15.2.3.2 Notes on №2–3
2. | A: | 你們是星期四到的嗎? | Did you arrive on Thursday? | |
B: | 不是,我們是星期五到的。 | No, we arrived on Friday. | ||
3. | A: | 你們星期幾走? | What day of the week are you leaving? | |
B: | 我們星期天走。 | We are leaving on Sunday. |
Days of the week:
What day of the week? | |
Monday | |
Tuesday | |
Wednesday | |
Thursday | |
Friday | |
Saturday | |
Sunday |
Until now, you have always seen
, “how many,” at the beginning of a word ( ). In , is at the end of the word. In both places, occupies the position of a number and acts like a number: , “What number day of the week?”15.2.3.3 Notes on №4
4. | A: | 你是哪年生的? | What year are you born? | |
B: | 我是一九三九年生的。 | I was born in 1939. |
The word for “year,” -
is a bound word (like the word for “day,” ). The question word , “which year,” is formed with the bound word “which.”The year is given as a sequence of digits, so that 1972,
would literally be “one-nine-seven-two year.” In a sequence of digits, the word (not is used for 2, and the words for 1, 7, and 8 keep their basic high tones. (See notes on No. 10 for cases in which these tones change.)15.2.3.4 Notes on №5
5. | A: | 你是幾月生的? | What month were you born? | |
B: | 我是七月生的。 | I was born in July. |
Months:
What month? | |||
January | July | ||
February | August | ||
March | September | ||
April | October | ||
May | November | ||
June | December |
Since the names of the months are formed with numbers,
“how many,” is the appropriate question word to use for “what month.” is used in to ask for a number expected to be around 10 or 11.Notice the tones on the words for 1, 7 and 8, which most Peking speakers pronounce as Rising before Falling-tone words such as
. The syllable in the word for “November,” however, is usually pronounced with the High tone: (See the notes on No, 10 for a summary of tone changes.)15.2.3.5 Notes on №6
6. | A: | 你是幾號生的? | What day of the month were you born? | |
B: | 我是四號生的。 | I was born on the fourth. |
Days of the month are expressed by the number of the day followed by the bound word
. You will remember that is also used in giving addresses.In asking about days of the month, “how many,” is used, even though the question may be answered by a number as high as 31. The month and day of the month may be given together. For example:
What is your month and day of birth? | |
I was born on August 9. |
15.2.3.6 Notes on №7–8
7. | A: | 你多大了? | How old are you? | |
B: | 我二十四了。 | I’m 24. | ||
8. | A: | 你多大了? | How old are you? | |
B: | 我三十五了。 | I’m 35. |
“How old are you?” literally means “How big (in years of age) are you?” This is a common way to ask a person’s age. The question is appropriate for asking the age of a child or a young adult, but the expression is not considered polite enough for asking an older adult his age. (More formal ways to ask a person’s age will be introduced on the C-2, P-2, and drill tapes.)
The marker
which ends these sentences calls attention to the fact that something is true now that was not true before.Ages may also be asked and given without using the new-situation
.One way to reflect the new-situation
in the English translation is to add the word “now”: “I’m 35 now.” Essentially, however, “new situation” (sometimes called “change of state”) is a Chinese grammatical category with no simple English equivalent.The marker
for new situations is always found at the end of a sentence and is sometimes called “sentence .”Notice that neither answer contains a verb. The verb that has been left out is
“to have.” The verb may not be left out in the negative: “I’m not 35.”15.2.3.7 Notes on №9
9. | A: | 你們女孩子幾歲了? | How old is your girl? | |
B: | 她八歲了。 | She’s eight years old. |
: In the traditional Chinese system of giving ages, a person is one old at birth and becomes another old on the New Year’s following his birth. A baby born the day before New Year’s would thus be two old on the day after his birth. Most Chinese, however, have now switched to the Western style of computing age and use just as we use years old.
The word
like the word , is a bound word shoving what kind of thing a number is counting.In a date or address you are listing a number and use
for 2, while in giving an age you are counting an amount of something and use : , “two years old.”15.2.3.8 Notes on №10
10. | A: | 你們男孩子都幾歲了? | How old are your boys? | |
B: | 一個九歲了, 一個六歲了。 | One is nine, and one is six. |
The word
is used when “both” or “all” would probably not be used in English, namely, when expecting different information about each of the things (or persons) being discussed. “All” tends to be collective, asking or telling about something the members of a group have in common. can be distributive, asking or telling something about the members of a group as individuals.: In the spoken language of Peking, the basic High tones of , and usually change to Rising tones before Falling-tone words (such as , , and ). This change is most common when the complete number given has only one digit. When there are two or more digits, the and of numbers ending in 7 and 8 are more likely to have Rising tones than the of numbers ending in 1 (which is usually in the High tone).
Compare:
the 17th | |
November |
In all cases, the High tone is more likely to be kept in rapid speech. You may also encounter speakers who never make changes in the tones of
, and .Remember that, in the digit-by-digit form of giving the year, the numbers 1, 7, and 8 keep their basic High tones:
1986.15.2.3.9 Notes on additional required vocabulary
Days | |||||
Years |
In the Chinese system of expressing relative time in terms of days and years, only one pair of terms is not parallel:
“yesterday,” and “last year.”added by Eric Streit with the explanations given by a Chinese native about the drills I and the use of 歲數 and 年紀
歲數 and 年紀 usually and mostly refer to OLDER people that you ask for. 歲數 is very spoken though. And less polite.
For kids especially, you only need to do 多大了? or 幾歲了?
with 幾歲了? neither 歲數 nor 年紀 .
15.3 Drills
15.3.1 Response Drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
請問,他/她是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was he/she born? |
德州
Texas |
他/她是在德州生的。
He/she was born in Texas. |
||
2. |
請問,你愛人是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was your spouse born? |
加州
California |
他/她是在加州生的。
He/she was born in California. |
||
3. |
請問,他/她愛人是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was his/her spouse born? |
上海
|
他/她是在上海生的。
He/she was born in . |
||
4. |
請問,你孩子是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was your child born? |
四川
|
他/她是在四川生的。
He/she was born in |
||
5. |
請問,你們女孩子是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was your daughter born? |
北京
|
她是在北京生的。
She was born in . |
||
6. |
請問,你們男孩子是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was your son born? |
我住在馬薩諸塞州
Massachusetts |
他是在我住在馬薩諸塞州生的。
He was born in Massachusetts. |
||
7. |
請問,曾先生是在哪兒生的?
May I ask, where was Mr. born? |
紐約
New York |
他是在紐約生的。
He was born in New York. |
15.3.2 Substitution drill
Question | Answer | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
請問,你是什麼時候走?
May I ask, when are you leaving? |
哪天
what day |
請問,你哪天走?
May I ask, what day are you leaving? |
||
2. |
請問,你哪天走?
May I ask, what day are you leaving? |
幾月
what month |
請問,你幾月走?
May I ask, what month are you leaving? |
||
3. |
請問,你幾月走?
May I ask, what month are you leaving? |
幾號
what day of the month |
請問,你幾號走?
May I ask, what day of the month are you leaving? |
||
4. |
請問,你幾號走?
May I ask, what day of the month are you leaving? |
哪年
what year |
請問,你哪年走?
May I ask, what year are you leaving? |
||
5. |
請問,你哪年走?
May I ask, May I ask, what year are you leaving? |
幾月幾號
what month and what day of the month |
請問,你幾月幾號走?
May I ask, what month, what day of the month are you leaving? |
||
6. |
請問,你幾月幾號走?
May I ask, what month, what day of the month are you leaving? |
星期幾
what day of the week |
請問,你星期幾走?
May I ask, what day of the week are you leaving? |
15.3.3 Substitution drill
Statement | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
我們星期一走。
We are leaving on Monday. |
星期二
Tuesday |
我們星期二走。
We are leaving on Tuesday. |
||
2. |
我們星期二走。
We are leaving on Tuesday. |
星期三
Wednesday |
我們星期三走。
We are leaving on Wednesday. |
||
3. |
我們星期三走。
We are leaving on Wednesday. |
星期四
Thursday |
我們星期四走。
We are leaving on Thursday. |
||
4. |
我們星期四走。
We are leaving on Thursday. |
星期幾
what day of the week |
我們星期幾走?
What day of the week are we leaving? |
||
5. |
我們星期幾走?
What day of the week are we leaving? |
星期五
Friday |
我們星期五走。
We are leaving on Friday. |
||
6. |
我們星期五走。
We are leaving on Friday. |
星期天
Sunday |
我們星期天走。
We are leaving on Sunday. |
||
7. |
我們星期天走。
We are leaving on Sunday. |
星期六
Saturday |
我們星期六走。
We are leaving on Saturday. |
||
8. |
我們星期六走。
We are leaving on Saturday. |
星期一
Monday |
我們星期一走。
We are leaving on Monday. |
15.3.4 Response drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
你孩子是哪天生的?
What year was your child born? |
1971 |
他/她是一九七一年生的。
He/she was born in 1971. |
||
2. |
李先生是哪年生的?
What year was Mr. born? |
1944 |
他是一九四四年生的。
He was born in 1944. |
||
3. |
你弟弟是哪年生的?
What year was your younger brother born? |
1940 |
他是一九四零年生的。
He/she was born in 1940. |
||
4. |
那個孩子是哪年生的?
What year was that child born? |
1967 |
他/她是一九六七年生的。
He/she was born in 1967. |
||
5. |
這個男孩子是哪年生的?
What year was this boy born? |
1968 |
他是一九六八生的。
He was born in 1968. |
||
6. |
那個人是哪年生的?
What year was that person born? |
1927 |
他/她是一九二七年生的。
He/she was born in 1927. |
||
7. |
他/她是哪年生的?
What year was he/she born? |
1933 |
他/她是一九三三年生的。
He/she was born in 1933. |
15.3.5 Response drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
他/她是幾月生的?
What month was he/she born? |
二月
February |
他/她是二月生的。
He/she was born in February. |
||
2. |
他/她愛人是幾月生的?
What month was his/her spouse born? |
五月
May |
他/她是五月生的。
He/she was born in May. |
||
3. |
張同志是幾月生的?
What month was Comrade born? |
四月
April |
他/她是四月生的。
He was born in April. |
||
4. |
王同志是幾月生的?
What month was Comrade born? |
十一月
November |
他/她是十一月生的。
He/she was born in November. |
||
5. |
你愛人是幾月生的?
What month was your spouse born? |
八月
August |
他/她是八月生的。
He/she was born in August. |
||
6. |
你哥哥是幾月生的?
What month was your older brother born? |
十二月
December |
他是十二月生的。
He was born in December. |
||
7. |
他/她妹妹是幾月生的?
What month was your younger sister born? |
六月
June |
她是六月生的。
She was born in June. |
15.3.6 Expansion drill
Statement | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
一號
first |
他/她是一月一號生的。
He/she was born in January first. |
||
2. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
十一號
11th |
他/她是一月十一號生的。
He/she was born on the 11th of January. |
||
3. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
二十六號
26th |
他/她是一月二十六號生的。
He/she was born on the 26th of January. |
||
4. |
他/她是一月上的。
He/she was born in January. |
七號
7th |
他/她是一月七號生的。
He/she was born on the 7th of January. |
||
5. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
十四號
14th |
他/她是一月十四號生的。
He/she was born on the 14th of January. |
||
6. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
二十八號
28th |
他/她是一月二十八號生的。
He/she was born on the 28th of January. |
||
7. |
他/她是一月生的。
He/she was born in January. |
十號
10th |
他/她是一月十號生的。
He/she was born on the 10th of January. |
15.3.7 Response drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
你們女孩子幾歲了?
How old is your daughter? |
5 |
她五歲了。
She is five. |
||
2. |
他們男孩子幾歲了?
How old is their boy? |
11 |
他十一歲了。
He is 11. |
||
3. |
胡太太女孩子幾歲了?
How old is Mrs. daughter? |
13 |
她十三歲了。
She is 13. |
||
4. |
他/她妹妹幾歲了?
How old is his/her younger sister? |
7 |
她七歲了。
She is 7. |
||
5. |
你男孩子幾歲了?
How old is your boy? |
6 |
他六歲了。
He is 6. |
||
6. |
你女孩子幾歲了?
How old is your daughter? |
4 |
她四歲了。
She is 4. |
||
7. |
那個男孩子幾歲了?
How old is that boy? |
8 |
他八歲了。
He is 8. |
15.3.8 Response drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
他/她多大了?
How old is he/she? |
35 |
他/她三十五了。
He/she is 35. |
||
2. |
你哥哥多大了?
How old is your older brother? |
44 |
他四十四了。
He is 44. |
||
3. |
你弟弟多大了?
How old is your younger brother? |
30 |
他三十了。
He is 30. |
||
4. |
他/她姐姐多大了?
How old is his/her older sister? |
47 |
她四十七了。
She is 47. |
||
5. |
你妹妹多大了?
How old is your younger sister? |
32 |
她三十二了。
She is 32. |
||
6. |
他/她愛人多大了?
How old is his/her spouse? |
28 |
他/她二十八了。
He/she is 28. |
||
7. |
王同志多大了?
How old is Comrade ? |
41 |
他四十一了。
He/she is 41. |
15.3.9 Response drill
Question | Cue | Answer | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. |
您母親多大歲數了?
How old is your mother? |
65 |
她六十五歲了。
She is 65. |
||
2. |
您父親多大歲數了?
How old is your father? |
67 |
她六十七歲了。
He is 67. |
||
3. |
他/她姐姐多大歲數了?
How old is his/her older sister? |
46 |
她四十六歲了。
She is 46. |
||
4. |
他/她哥哥多大歲數了?
How old is his/her older brother? |
44 |
他四十四歲了。
He is 44. |
||
5. |
張先生多大 歲數了?
How old is is Mr. ? |
72 |
他七十二歲了。
He is 72. |
||
6. |
王太太多大歲數了?
How old is Mrs. ? |
59 |
她五十九歲了。
She is 59. |
||
7. |
王太太妹妹多大歲數了?
How old is Mrs. ’s younger sister? |
58 |
她五十八歲了。
She is 58. |
15.3.10 Substitution drill
Statement | Answer | ||
---|---|---|---|
1. |
他/她是五月來的。
He/she came in May. |
哦。他/她山個月來的。
Oh. He/she came last month. |
|
2. |
他/她七月來。
He/she is coming in July. |
哦。他/她下個月來。
Oh. He/she is coming next month. |
|
3. |
他/她六月來。
He/she is coming in June. |
哦。他/她這個月來。
Oh. He/she is coming this month. |
|
4. |
他/她是六月來的。
He/she is came in June. |
哦。他/她這個月來的。
Oh. He/she came in June. |
|
6. |
他/她是五月到的。
He/she arrived in May. |
哦。他/她是上個月到的。
Oh. He/she is arrived last month. |
|
7. |
他/她是六月走的。
He/she left on June. |
哦。他/她是這個月走的。
Oh. He/she left this month. |
15.3.11 Transformation drill
Statement | Question | ||
---|---|---|---|
1. |
他/她是一九三五年生的。
He/she was born in 1935. |
他/她是哪年生的?
What year was he/she born? |
|
2. |
他/她是四月來的。
He/she came in April. |
他/她是幾月來的?
What month did he/she come? |
|
3. |
他/她是星期五走的。
He/she left on Friday. |
他/她是星期幾走的?
What day of the week did he/she leave? |
|
4. |
他/她是七號到的。
He/she arrived on the seventh. |
他/她是幾號到的?
What day of the month did he/she arrive? |
|
5. |
他/她是一九七四年來的。
He/she came in 1974. |
他/她是哪年來的?
What year did he/she come? |
|
6. |
他/她是星期天走的。
He/she left on Sunday. |
他/她是星期幾走的?
What day did he/she leave. |
|
7. |
他/她是九月生的。
He/she was born in September. |
他/她是幾月生的?
What month was he/she born? |