Welcome to Lesson 3
Press "play" to begin.
Listen carefully
to the Chinese audio.
Repeat all of the
Chinese words that
you see on the screen.
Listen to this conversation:
In the next few minutes you are going to learn how to talk about your plans, the things you like, and how to make arrangements to meet someone.
Our conversation opens with Li Ming asking about Annie’s plans for the following morning.
Here is the Mandarin Chinese word for “tomorrow” :
And here is how to say “tomorrow morning”.
The Chinese speaker is going to repeat this word part by part starting from the end. You are to repeat each part after them. Try to make your pronunciation sound exactly like theirs and be sure to repeat aloud.
How do you say, “tomorrow morning” in Mandarin?
Now can you remember how to say the Mandarin word for “what” ?
Great. Here is how to say “do” in Mandarin.
Unlike English, Chinese does not require you to change the verbs into different tenses. So instead of saying “What are you going to do?”, we can simply say “do what?”
Do you remember how to say “you” in Mandarin?
And, how do you say “tomorrow morning” ?
Now we can ask "What are you going to do tomorrow morning?" Please repeat after the speaker and try to make your pronunciation sound like theirs.
Say again, “What are you going to do tomorrow morning?”
Here is another way to say “no” in Mandarin. Listen and repeat.
Unlike the other negative word you’ve learned...
…this word is used express that you do not have something, that something does not exist, or that something has never been done. Once again, say “no” in Mandarin:
Here is the Mandarin word for “thing” or “matter” . Listen and repeat.
Now you can use the words you have just learned to say “nothing” . Listen and repeat.
So, Annie has nothing to do tomorrow morning, and Liming wants to invite her to his home to have Chinese food. Here is how to say “want” in Mandarin.
It is important to note that this word means that you “want to do something”. This is not the same word you would use if you want “want to have something” like a job, or a car. Once again, how do you say “want to do” in Mandarin?
And here is how to say “invite”. Listen and repeat.
How do you think you could say “I want to invite you” ?
How do you say, “I want to invite you” ?
Excellent, but what are you being invited to do? Remember, Li Ming wants to invite Annie to come to his house. Here is how to say “come” . Listen and repeat.
And here is how to say “my home”. Listen and repeat
You’ll notice that this phrase doesn’t use the possessive word we learned earlier...
….but that’s okay. Say again, “my home”.
Here is how to say “eat” or “have a meal” :
And here is how to say “Come to my home and eat.”
This statement is a little bit awkward in Chinese, but it gets us to the next phrase.
Do you remember how to say “I want to invite you” ?
Now, let’s put it all together. Here is how to say “I want to invite you to come to my home to eat”. Listen and repeat.
Which part of that means “want”?
And what part of that means “invite”?
Which part means “come”?
How do you say “my home”?
And how can you say “eat a meal”?
How do you say, “I want to invite you to come to my home to eat a meal” in Mandarin?
Do you remember how to say “tomorrow morning”?
Hmm...what time shall we meet? How about 9 o’clock. Here is how to say 9 o’clock. Listen and repeat.
In Mandarin,...
…means o’clock in English. So you can just put numbers in front of...
...to express the time.
What if you want to propose something to do? Here is how to say “how about?” in Mandarin.
Unlike in English, we put...
...at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning.
For example, here is how to say “how about 9 o’clock tomorrow morning?” Listen and repeat.
Here is how to say “great” when others give you a suggestion. Listen and repeat.
How do you say great in Mandarin?
Do you still remember how to say the word for “China”?
Here is how to say “cuisine” in Mandarin. Listen and repeat.
Now, can you guess how to say “Chinese food”?
Great. So, do you like Chinese food? Here is how to say “like” in Mandarin Chinese. Listen and repeat.
Do you remember how to say “Chinese food”?
Now tell me that you like Chinese food. Don’t worry, the words are in exactly the same order as in English. Give it a try.
Say, “I like Chinese food.”
But, maybe that’s not good enough. Some people really like Chinese food. Here is the Mandarin word for “really” or “very much”.
And here is how to say that you “really like” something, or that you “like something very much”. Listen and repeat.
Now say “I really like Chinese food.”
| 中国菜 |
| zhōngguócài |
| -- |
| 中国菜 |
| zhōngguócài |
| -- |
| 喜欢 | 中国菜 |
| xǐhuan | zhōngguócài |
| -- | -- |
| 喜欢 | 中国菜 |
| xǐhuan | zhōngguócài |
| -- | -- |
What part of that means “Chinese food”?
What part of that means “like”?
And what part means “really” or “very much”?
Say again, “I like Chinese food very much”.
Excellent. Now let’s take a moment to talk about politeness. Here is how to say “thank you” in Mandarin. Listen and repeat.
And, here is how to say “you’re welcome.” Listen and repeat.
Once again, how do you say “thank you”?
And how do you say “you’re welcome”?
Good. Do you remember the Mandarin word for “tomorrow”?
Here is how to say “see you tomorrow”. Listen and repeat.
Say “See you tomorrow.”
Now let’s go over the conversation once again.
First Li Ming runs into Annie on the street and says “Hi.”
Next, he asks her what she’s doing tomorrow.
And she says, “I’m not doing anything.”
Now Li Ming says, “I want to invite you to my house to eat.”
And he says, “How about tomorrow morning at 9?”
Annie says, “That sounds great!”
And she says, “I really like Chinese food.”
Then she says “thank you” (thanks for inviting me).
To which Li Ming says, “Don’t mention it. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
And Annie says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Alright. This is the end of lesson three. If you feel comfortable with what you’ve learned today, feel free to go on to lesson four next. Don’t worry if you can’t remember everything. We’ll be reviewing everything in the coming lessons.
