Lesson 5 Dialogue 1

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Lesson 5 Dialogue 1

• Grammar

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?? (yí xià) (?)?? (yì dianr) Moderating the
Tone of Voice
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Following a verb, both ?? (yí xià, lit. once)
and (?)?? (yì dianr a bit) can soften the
tone in a question or an imperative sentence,
therefore making it more polite.
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• ?? (yí xià)

• (?)?? (yì dianr)

• modifies the verb
• ????,???????Ni kàn yí xià, zhè shì shéi de
  zhàopiàn? (Take a look. Whose photo is this?)
• ??????Ni jìn lai yí xià. (Come in for a minute.)

• modifies the object
• ???????? Ni xiang chi dianr shénme? (What would
  you like to eat?)
• ????????Ni he yìdianr chá ba. (Have a little tea.)

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Adjectives as Predicates
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In Chinese, when an adjective functions as a
predicate, it is not preceded by the verb ? (shì,
to be). It is usually modified by ? (hen, very)
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Im happy today.

• ???????
• Wo jintian hen gaoxìng.

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His younger sister is pretty.

• ???????
• Ta mèimei hen piàoliang.

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That movie is good.

• ???????
• Nà ge diànying hen hao.

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However, ? (hen) is not as strong as very in
English. When forming a question with an
adjective as the predicate, ? is not used.
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• A ??????Ni dìdi gao ma? (Is your younger brother
  tall?)
• B ????Ta hen gao. (He is tall.)

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• A ?????Ni jia dà ma? (Is your house big?)
• B ????,???Wo jia bú dà, hen xiao. (My house is
  not big, its small.)

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Chinese adjectives without ? (hen) or any sort of
modifier before them can often imply comparison
or contrast.
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• A ???????????Jiejie piàoliang háishi mèimei
  piàoliang? (Whos prettier, the older sister or
  the younger sister?)
• B ?????Mèimei piàoliang. (The younger sister is
  prettier).

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My younger sisters Chinese is good. My Chinese
is not good.

• ??????,???????
• Mèimei de Zhongwén hao, wo de Zhongwén bù hao.

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The Preposition ? (zài, at in on)
Combined with a noun, the preposition ? (zài)
indicates location. When the phrase is placed
before a verb, it indicates the location of the
action.
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• A ???????
• Wo de shu zài nar?
• Where is my book?

• B ????
• Zài nàr.
• Its over there.

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• A ???????
• N i zài nar gongzuò ?
• Where do you work?

• B???????
• Wo zài zhèr gongzuò.
• I work here.

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I study Chinese at this university.

• ??????????
• Wo zài zhè ge dàxué xué Zhongwén.

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I dont like to watch movies at home.

• ??????????
• Wo bù xihuan zài jia kàn diànying.

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The Particle ? (ba)
? (ba) is a sentence-fi nal suggestion
particle, often used at the end of an imperative
sentence to soften the tone.
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Why dont you have some coffee?

• ??????
• Ni he kafei ba.

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Come in, please.

• ?????
• Qing jìn lai ba.

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Lets dance.

• ??????
• Women tiào wu ba.

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?? (Shì ma?) is not a question
Although it takes a question mark, ?? (Shì ma?)
is not a question here but a mild expression of
surprise on hearing something unexpected. Here
it indicates ones modesty on receiving a
compliment. It could be translated as Is that
so? You don't say! or Really?
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• ?????,?????
• Nimen jia hen dà, ye hen piàoliang.

• ???
• Shì ma?

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?? narwhere a question word Do not confuse it
with

• ??
• Nàr
• there

• ??
• Zhèr
• here

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??

• ??