Intermediate Spoken Chinese

Ellen Anderson, an American student who is studying Chinese in Beijing, shops for pears at a local fruit stand.

Basic Conversation 12-4

1. ANDERSON	Qĭng gĕi wŏ yāo èrjīn Yālír. Gĕi tiāo xīnxiān yidianrde.
	Please weigh me out two catties of Ya pears. Pick out fresher ones.
2. FRUIT VENDOR	Yào yíkuài yìjīnde háishi yào yíkuài wŭ yìjīnde?
	Do you want the one yuan per catty ones or the 1.50 per catty ones?
3. ANDERSON	Wŏ yào yíkuài wŭde.
	I want the 1.50 ones.
4. FRUIT VENDOR	Yíkuài wŭde bĭ yíkuàide dàde duō.
	The 1.50 ones are much bigger than the one yuan ones.
	(after he has weighed out the pears)
	Hái yào biéde ma? Măi diănr xiāngjiāo zĕmmeyàng?
	Do you want anything else? How about buying some bananas?
5. ANDERSON	Xiāngjiāo duōshăo qián yìjīn?
	How much are bananas per catty?
6. FRUIT VENDOR	Liăngkuài èr yìjīn.
	They’re 2.20 per catty.
7. ANDERSON	Nín gĕi wŏ lái liăngjīn ba.
	Why don’t you give me two catties.
	(after the fruit vendor has put all the fruit in a bag)
	Yígòng duōshăo qián?
	How much in all?
8. FRUIT VENDOR	Zŏnggòng shi qīkuài sì.
	In all it’s 7.40.
9. ANDERSON	Gĕi nín shíkuài.
	This is ten yuan.
10. FRUIT VENDOR	Zhăo nín liăngkuài liù. Qĭng nín diăn yíxiàr.
	Here’s 2.60 in change. Please count your change.
11. ANDERSON	Xièxie. Zàijiàn!
	Thank you. Goodbye!
12. FRUIT VENDOR	Zàijiàn!
	Goodbye!

Build Up

1. Anderson
yāo (B)	weigh out [V]
qĭng gĕi wŏ yāo	please weigh out for me
Yālí(r)	Ya pear [N]
èrjīn Yālír	two catties of Ya pears
tiāo	pick out, select [V]
gĕi tiāo	pick out for (me)
xīnxiān yidianrde	fresher ones
Qĭng gĕi wŏ yāo èrjīn Yālír. Gĕi tiāo xīnxiān yidianrde.	Please weigh me out two catties of Ya pears. Pick out fresher ones.
2. Fruit vendor
yíkuài yìjīnde	the one yuan per catty ones
yíkuài wŭ yìjīnde	the 1.50 per catty ones
Yào yíkuài yìjīnde háishi yào yíkuài wŭ yìjīnde?	Do you want the one yuan per catty ones or the 1.50 per catty ones?
3. Anderson
Wŏ yào yíkuài wŭde.	I want the 1.50 ones.
4. Fruit vendor
dàde duō	be much bigger
Yíkuài wŭde bĭ yíkuàide dàde duō.	The 1.50 ones are much bigger than the one yuan ones.

biéde	other things, others
hái yào biéde ma	do you want anything else
xiāngjiāo	banana [N] (M: gēn)
măi diănr xiāngjiāo	buy some bananas
Hái yào biéde ma? Măi diănr xiāngjiāo zĕmmeyàng?	Do you want anything else? How about buying some bananas?
5. Anderson
Xiāngjiāo duōshăo qián yìjīn?	How much are bananas per catty?
6. Fruit vendor
Liăngkuài èr yìjīn.	They’re 2.20 per catty.
7. Anderson
lái	bring, give [V]
lái liăngjīn	bring two catties
gĕi wŏ lái liăngjīn	bring two catties for me
Nín gĕi wŏ lái liăngjīn ba.	Why don’t you give me two catties.
Yígòng duōshăo qián?	How much in all?
8. Fruit vendor
zŏnggòng	in all [A]
Zŏnggòng shi qīkuài sì.	In all it’s 7.40.
9. Anderson
Gĕi nín shíkuài.	This is ten yuan.
10. Fruit vendor
diăn	count, check [V]
qĭng nín diăn yíxiàr	please count
Zhăo nín liăngkuài liù. Qĭng nín diăn yíxiàr.	Here’s 2.60 in change. Please count your change.
11. Anderson
Xièxie. Zàijiàn!	Thank you. Goodbye!
12. Fruit vendor
Zàijiàn!	Goodbye!

1A. The verb yāo “weigh out” is common in Beijing. Another verb for “weigh out” that can be used wherever Chinese is spoken is chēng “weigh out” (cf. 13-1). Yet another option is to use lái in the sense of “bring,” as in line 7 of this conversation.

1B. Either liăng or èr can be used with the measure jīn “catty.” So both liăngjīn Yālír and èrjīn Yālír would be correct in the sense of “two catties of Ya pears.”

1C. Yālí(r) is a kind of pear grown in north China, especially Hebei Province. In English they’re often called “Asian pear.”

1E. Never split a pear with someone else, especially someone you care for, as the expression fēn lí “divide a pear” sounds exactly the same as fēnlí “separate (of people).”

2. In the video, the speaker says Yào yíkuài qián yìjīnde háishi yào yíkuài wŭ yìjīnde? “Do you want the one yuan per catty ones or the 1.50 per catty ones?” In the audio recording, the speaker leaves out the word qián. Either way of saying this is correct.

4A. BĬ FOLLOWED BY STATIVE VERB + -DE DUL. You already learned in 10-4: 8B that the coverb bĭ is used to express unequal comparison, as in:

Now we’ll learn how to form sentences such as “This one is much bigger than that one.” This is said by beginning with a basic bĭ sentence and then adding -de duō after the stative verb at the end of the sentence. The pattern is:

If the stative verb of the sentence is itself duō, then it’s quite possible to have the combination duōde duō. For example:

We encourage you to use the pattern with -de duō, but you should be able to understand two related patterns that are used by some speakers. One uses the pattern STATIVE VERB + duōle, while the other uses the pattern STATIVE VERB + hĕn duō or STATIVE VERB + hăo duō. Compare the following four sentences, all of which mean “This kind is much more expensive than that kind”:

7. Notice in this utterance how lái (lit. “come”) is used as a kind of “dummy verb” that substitutes for a more specific verb. Here lái means “have something come” or “bring.” The sentence Nín gĕi wŏ lái liăngjīn ba literally means something like “Why don’t you have two catties come for me?” or, in better English, “Bring me two catties” or “Give me two catties.” Lái can substitute for many different verbs; depending on the context, it can be translated as “bring,” “give,” “have,” “do,” etc. Lái can be used this way when purchasing items in stores, ordering dishes or beverages in restaurants, making musical selections, etc. Some more examples of this use of lái:

10. It’s customary to check one’s change carefully immediately upon receiving it.

SV2. Contrast the pronunciations of píngguŏ “apple” and bīnggùn(r) “ice pop”!

SV3. Júzi technically means “tangerine,” but in everyday conversation it’s the equivalent of English “orange.” Watch the pronunciation of this word and distinguish it carefully from zhúzi “bamboo”!

SV8–10. In lesson 11-3, you had already learned kàndào “see.” So now you have learned these four very common resultative compounds:

The meanings of the verbs ending in the resultative ending -dào are the same as those ending in the resultative ending -jiàn, but the ones with -dào are slightly more common in Taiwan and southern mainland China while the ones with -jiàn are slightly more common in northern China.

Also, note the difference between kàn and kànjian/kàndào, on the one hand; and between tīng and tīngjian/ tīngdào, on the other. Kàn “look” and tīng “listen” refer only to the simple actions of “looking” and “listening”; but when -jiàn or -dào are added as resultative complements, they indicate that something has been “seen” or “heard.” So you could say, for example:

AV1–12. FRUITS. The names of these fruits are arranged in alphabetical order of the English equivalents.

A. Fruits
1. shuĭguŏ	fruit [N]
2. píngguŏ	apple [N]
3. júzi	orange [N]
4. táozi	peach [N]
5. pútao	grape [N]
B. General
6. bāo	wrap [V]
-qĭlái	(general resultative ending) [RE]
bāoqilai	wrap up [RC]
Qĭng nín gĕi wŏ bāoqilai.	Please wrap it up for me.
7. qióng	be poor [SV]
yŏuqián	be rich [SV]
yŏuqián rén	rich people
Wŏmen bù qióng, kĕshi yĕ bú shi yŏuqián rén.	We’re not poor, but neither are we rich people.
8. tīngdào	hear [RC]
Wŏ yào nĭ chūqu! Nĭ tīngdàole ma?	I want you to go out! Did you hear?
9. -jiàn	see, perceive [RE]
kànjian	see [RC]
kànbujiàn	can’t see
Tài yuănle, wŏ kànbujiàn.	It’s too far, I can’t see it.
10. tīngjian	hear [RC]
Nĭ tīngjian dăléi le ma?	Did you hear it thunder?

1. yángtáo	carambola, star fruit [N]
2. pútáoyòu	grapefruit [N]
3. bālè	guava [N]
4. Hāmìguā	Hami melon [N]
5. níngméng	lemon [N]
6. lìzhī	litchi [N]
7. liánwù	Malaysian wax apple [N]
8. mángguŏ	mango [N]
9. mùguā	papaya [N]
10. wéndàn	pomelo [N]
11. căoméi	strawberry [N]
12. xīguā	watermelon [N]

TOPIC	BĬ	OBJECT	STATIVE VERB	-DE DUŌ
Zhèige	bĭ	nèige	hăo	de duō.
“This one is much better than that one.”

With -de duō:	Zhèizhŏng bĭ nèizhŏng guìde duō.
With duōle:	Zhèizhŏng bĭ nèizhŏng guì duōle.
With hĕn duō:	Zhèizhŏng bĭ nèizhŏng guì hĕn duō.
With hăo duō:	Zhèizhŏng bĭ nèizhŏng guì hăo duō.

Xiān lái yidianr chá.	“Bring some tea first.”
Xiàmian lái ge “tango,” zĕmmeyàng?	“Next let’s have a tango, how about it?”
Wŏ bú huì, nĭ lái ba!	“I can’t, you do it!”

tīngdào	“hear”
kàndào	“see”
tīngjian	“hear”
kànjian	“see”