Intermediate Spoken Chinese

Rosy Huang, a Chinese-American woman living with her family in Taipei for a year, goes shopping for pants for her six-year-old son at a children’s clothing store in Taipei.

Basic Conversation 13-4

1. HUANG	Xiáojie, nĭmen yŏu méiyou xiăo nánshēng chuānde chángkù?
	Miss, do you have long pants that little boys wear?
2. CLERK	Yŏu, qĭng guòlai kànkan. Xiăoháir jĭsuì le?
	Yes, please come over and take a look. How old is the child?
3. HUANG	Liùsuì duō, kuài qísuì le.
	He’s six, almost seven.
4. CLERK	Chuān jiŭhào yīnggāi méiyou wèntí. Kànkan zhèitiáo.
	Size nine should be no problem. Take a look at this pair.
5. HUANG	Yánsè hái bú cuò, dànshi bù zhīdào huì bu huì tài dà huò tài xiăo?
	The color is fine, but I wonder if it’s going to be too big or too small?
6. CLERK	Méi guānxi. Jiărú bù héshìde huà, qītiān yĭnèi kéyi nálai huàn.
	That’s O.K. If it doesn’t fit, you can bring it here within seven days for exchange.
7. HUANG	Duōshăo qián?
	How much is it?
8. CLERK	Zhèizhŏng kùzi bĕnlái shi wŭbăi sì yìtiáo, zhèige lĭbài gānghăo dă duìzhé, zhĭ yào liăngbăi qī.
	These pants originally were 540 NT per pair, this week they just happen to be 50% off, only 270 NT.
9. HUANG	Hăo, wŏ măi yìtiáo. Kéyi shuākă ma?
	All right, I’ll buy a pair. Can I use a credit card?
10. CLERK	Duìbuqĭ, wŏmen bù shōu xìnyòngkă.
	I’m sorry, we don’t accept credit cards.
11. HUANG	Hăo ba, nà wŏ gĕi nĭ xiànjīn. Zhè shi sānbăikuài.
	O.K., then I’ll give you cash. This is 300 NT.
	(clerk leaves brie¿y, then returns)
12. CLERK	Zhăo nín sānshí. Fāpiào zài lĭmiàn. Xièxie! Huānyíng zài lái.
	Here’s 30 NT in change. The receipt is inside. Thank you! Please come again.

Build Up

1. Huang
xiăo nánshēng	young male student, little boy [PH]
chángkù	long pants [N] (M: tiáo)
xiăo nánshēng chuānde chángkù	long pants worn by little boys
Xiáojie, nĭmen yŏu méiyou xiăo nánshēng chuānde chángkù?	Miss, do you have long pants that little boys wear?
2. Clerk
guòlai	come over [RC]
guòlai kànkan	come over and take a look
Yŏu, qĭng guòlai kànkan. Xiăoháir jĭsuì le?	Yes, please come over and take a look. How old is the child?
3. Huang
Liùsuì duō, kuài qísuì le.	He’s six, almost seven.
4. Clerk
chuān jiŭhào	wear size nine
yīnggāi méiyou wèntí	there should be no problem
Chuān jiŭhào yīnggāi méiyou wèntí.	Size nine should be no problem.
Kànkan zhèitiáo.	Take a look at this pair.
5. Huang
hái bú cuò	not too bad
huì bu huì	is or isn’t likely to be
tài dà huò tài xiăo	too big or too small
Yánsè hái bú cuò, dànshi bù zhīdào huì bu huì tài dà huò tài xiăo?	The color is fine, but I wonder if it’s going to be too big or too small?
6. Clerk
jiărú	if [MA]
jiărú...-de huà	if... [PT]
héshì	be the right size, fit [SV]
jiărú bù héshìde huà	if it doesn’t fit
...yĭnèi	within... [PT]
qītiān yĭnèi	within seven days
nálai	bring here [RC]
kéyi nálai huàn	may bring it here and exchange it
Méi guānxi. Jiărú bù héshìde huà, qītiān yĭnèi kéyi nálai huàn.	That’s O.K. If it doesn’t fit, you can bring it here within seven days for exchange.
7. Huang
Duōshăo qián?	How much is it?
8. Clerk
kùzi	pants [N] (M: tiáo)
zhèizhŏng kùzi	this kind of pants
bĕnlái	originally [MA]
wŭbăi sì yìtiáo	540 NT per pair
gānghăo	just, as it happens [MA]
dăzhé	give a discount [VO]
duìzhé	50% discount [N]
dă duìzhé	give a 50% discount [PH]
gānghăo dă duìzhé	just happen to be 50% off
zhĭ yào liăngbăi qī	they cost only 270 NT
Zhèizhŏng kùzi bĕnlái shi wŭbăi sì yìtiáo, zhèige lĭbài gānghăo dă duìzhé, zhĭ yào liăngbăi qī.	These pants originally were 540 NT per pair, this week they just happen to be 50% off, only 270 NT.
9. Huang
shuākă	imprint a credit card [VO]
Hăo, wŏ măi yìtiáo. Kéyi shuākă ma?	All right, I’ll buy a pair. Can I use a credit card?
10. Clerk
shōu	accept [V]
xìnyòngkă	credit card [N] (M: zhāng)
Duìbuqĭ, wŏmen bù shōu xìnyòngkă.	I’m sorry, we don’t accept credit cards.
11. Huang
xiànjīn	cash [N]
Hăo ba, nà wŏ gĕi nĭ xiànjīn. Zhè shi sānbăikuài.	O.K., then I’ll give you cash. This is 300 NT.
12. Clerk
qĭng shāo hòu	“please wait briefly” [IE]
Hăode, qĭng shāo hòu.	O.K., just a minute, please.

fāpiào	itemized bill; receipt [N] (M: zhāng)
Zhăo nín sānshí. Fāpiào zài lĭmiàn.	Here’s 30 NT in change. The receipt is inside.
Xièxie! Huānyíng zài lái.	Thank you! Please come again.

2. Guòlai “come over (here)” is a resultative compound verb composed of guò “pass over” and the resultative ending -lai “come.” You can also say guòqu “go over (there).” Compare:

3. Kuài qīsuì le is an example of le to indicate anticipated change in a situation, i.e., “he will soon be seven years old” (cf. 3-2: 6D).

4. Chuān jiŭhào yīnggāi méiyou wèntí literally means “(If he) wears size nine, there should be no problem.” Instead of Chuān jiŭhào, some speakers would say Chuān jiŭhàode “(If he) wears size nine ones” (i.e., pants). Also, the yīnggāi here indicates not the “should” of obligation but the “should” of probability, i.e., the speaker thinks that probably there should be no problem, though she isn’t indicating absolute certainty.

6A. JIĂRÚ...-DE HUÀ. The pattern jiărú...-de huà “if” works the same way and has the same meaning as the patterns yàoshi...-de huà and rúguŏ...-de huà. These patterns all indicate that if a certain condition is met, a certain result will occur. Yàoshi is very colloquial and is used mostly in northern China, while jiărú and rúguŏ can be used everywhere Chinese is spoken. The clause with jiărú (or yàoshi or rúguŏ) precedes the condition while -de huà, which literally means “the words that,” follows it. (In English, the “if” clause can precede or follow the condition.) The -de huà is common but can be omitted. The pattern is:

6B. In 10-2 you learned the stative verb héshì in the sense of “be appropriate,” as in qiūtiān zuì héshì “fall is the most appropriate” (season for visiting a place). Now you learn héshì in its more basic meaning of “be the right size, fit.” Examples:

6C. TIME EXPRESSION + YĬNÈI. The pattern TIME EXPRESSION + yĭnèi means “within a certain period of time.” Note that, unlike English, in Chinese the time expression always comes first. The pattern is:

Zhīnèi, introduced in the Supplementary Vocabulary of this lesson, has the same meaning and is used in the same way as yĭnèi. Example:

6D. Nálai is another example of a resultative compound. It’s composed of ná “take” and the resultative ending -lái “come.” The verb nálai as a whole means “bring here.” Compare náqu “take there.”

8A. The moveable adverb bĕnlái “originally” is a near synonym of yuánlái “originally” that you learned in 7-1. Some more examples:

Bĕnlái wŏ bù măi, kĕshi jiàqián piányi, dōngxi yòu hăo, suóyi jiù măile.

“Originally I wasn’t going to buy it, but the price was cheap and the item was good, so I bought it.”

8B. DĂZHÉ TO EXPRESS “GIVE A DISCOUNT.” To indicate that a discount is being given off an original price, the verb-object compound dăzhé is used. A number indicating for how many tenths of the original price the item will be sold is inserted between the dă and the zhé. The pattern is:

Be careful not to confuse the number of tenths of the original price (the Chinese point of view) with the percentage amount of the discount (the American point of view). For example, dă liùzhé means “sell at a 40% discount” NOT “sell at a 60% discount.” Instead of dă wŭzhé “sell at a 50% discount,” you can also say dă duìzhé “sell at half price.” Finally, dăzhé can also be used alone, as in the following example:

9–10. Distinguish carefully between the verb-object compound shuākă “to swipe or imprint a credit card” and the noun xìnyòngkă “credit card.” Even though credit cards are now more widely used in mainland China and Taiwan than before, these economies are still largely cash economies, so you’ll need to bring cash to buy things most of the time. Exceptions are shopping malls, major hotels and restaurants, large foreign stores, and establishments that cater to foreigners. But be aware that those places that accept credit cards generally tend to have higher prices than those that don’t.

10. The verb shōu “accept” would also be used for saying that an applicant was or wasn’t accepted by a university to which he or she had applied. Example:

12. Department stores in Taiwan always provide receipts, but smaller stores sometimes are reluctant to do so, as they frequently don’t report full revenues to the government so as to lower their value-added tax (VAT) and income tax obligations. To serve as incentive for customers to request a fāpiào “itemized bill, receipt,” each fāpiào has a number printed on it and is automatically entered in a bimonthly lottery with substantial cash prizes.

SV1. Duăn means “be short” in the sense of “not long,” e.g., of clothes or arms. To indicate “be short” in the sense of “not be tall,” you’d use ăi, which was introduced in 1-3.

SV7. CHINESE EQUIVALENTS OF ENGLISH “WEAR.” There are two Chinese verbs that translate as “put on” or “wear”: dài, in this lesson, and chuān, which was introduced in 13-3. The distinction between the two is that chuān (which literally means “pierce” or “pass through”) is used for “wearing” things that have an opening in them, e.g., shirts, pants, shoes, and socks (since a part of the body must “pass through” an opening when you wear them). On the other hand, dài is used for “wearing” things that don’t have an opening in them, which aren’t part of one’s basic apparel, e.g., hats, gloves, watches, jewelry, earrings, glasses, and false teeth. Grammatically, both dài and chuān are action verbs more like English “put on” than like “wear.” Therefore, to say “I’m wearing...” say Wŏ dàile... or Wŏ chuānle... with a completed action -le; to say “I’m not wearing...” say Wŏ méi dài... or Wŏ méi chuān... with méi to indicate past negative of an action verb. So to say “She’s not wearing gloves” you have to say Tā méi dài shŏutào; and to say “He’s not wearing socks” you have to say Tā méi chuān wàzi. If instead you said Tā bú dài shŏutào, that would actually mean “She doesn’t (usually) wear gloves;” and if you said Tā bù chuān wàzi, that would mean “He doesn’t (usually) wear socks.”

AV1–40. CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES. The names of these types of clothing, accessories, and related terms are arranged in alphabetical order of the English equivalents.

AV4. Zhōngshānzhuāng is a Chinese-style loose-fitting jacket named after Sun Yat-sen (Sūn Zhōngshān), the father of modern China, who frequently wore them and made them popular.

AV6. A qípáo is a close-fitting woman’s dress with high collar and slit on the side. Even though now considered Chinese, it originated with the Manchus during the Qing Dynasty.

AV36. Don’t give a yŭsăn “umbrella” as a gift, because yŭsăn (which can also be abbreviated to săn) sounds somewhat like sàn “to part, disperse,” which is obviously a bad thing for friends to do.

1. duăn	be short (not long) [SV]
2. duănkù	short pants [N] (M: tiáo)
3. yīfu	clothes [N] (M: jiàn)
4. chènshān	shirt [N] (M: jiàn)
5. qúnzi	skirt [N] (M: tiáo)
6. xiăo nǚshēng	little girl [PH]
7. dài	put on, wear (watch, hat, jewelry) [V]
biăo	watch (for telling time) [N] (M: zhī)
shŏubiăo	wristwatch [N] (M: zhī)
Nĭ dàile shŏubiăo le ma?	Did you wear your wristwatch?
8. guòqu	go over, pass by [RC]
9. náqu	take away [RC]
10. -guòlai	(indicates movement from there to here) [RE]
bānguolai	move over [RC]
Tā yĕ bānguolaile.	She moved over here, too.
11. -guòqu	(indicates movement from here to there) [RE]
náguoqu	take over [RC]
Tā náguoqule.	He took it over there.
12. ...zhīnèi	within... [PT]
Sāntiān zhīnèi kéyi huàn.	It can be exchanged within 3 days.

1. huàzhuāng	apply makeup [VO]
2. pídài	belt [N] (M: tiáo)
3. màozi	cap, hat [N] (M: dĭng)
4. Zhōngshānzhuāng	Chinese-style loose-fitting jacket [N] (M: tào)
5. mián’ăo	Chinese-style padded jacket [N] (M: jiàn)
6. qípáo	Chinese-style woman’s dress [N] (M: jiàn)
7. yīshang (B)	clothes [N] (M: jiàn)
8. fúzhuāng diàn	clothing store [PH] (M: jiā)
9. dàyī	coat [N] (M: jiàn)
10. shūzi	comb [N] (M: bă)
11. huàzhuāngpĭn	cosmetics [N]
12. băihuò gōngsī	department store [PH] (M: jiā)
13. yángzhuāng	dress (Western-style) [N] (M: jiàn)
14. gānxĭ	dry clean [V]
15. ĕrhuán	earring [N] (M: fù “pair”)
16. shŏupà	handkerchief [N] (M: tiáo)
17. yănjìng	(eye) glasses [N] (M: fù)
18. shŏutào(r)	glove [N] (M: shuāng “pair”)
19. tàng	iron [V]
20. jiákè	jacket [N] (M: jiàn)
21. niúzăikù	jeans [N] (M: tiáo)
22. shŏushì	jewelry [N] (M: jiàn)
23. shuĭxĭ	launder with water [V]
24. xĭyīdiàn	laundry (the store) [PW] (M: jiā)
25. zuò yīfu	make clothes [PH]
26. liàozi	material, fabric [N] (M: kuài)
27. bŭ	mend [V]
28. xiàngliàn	necklace [N] (M: tiáo)
29. shuìyī	pajama [N] (M: jiàn)
30. yŭyī	raincoat [N] (M: jiàn)
31. jièzhi	ring [N] (M: méi)
32. yùndòngzhuāng	sportswear [N] (M: tào)
33. xīzhuāng	suit (Western-style) [N] (M: tào)
34. tàiyáng yănjìng	sunglasses [PH] (M: fù)
35. máoyī	sweater [N] (M: jiàn)
36. yŭsăn	umbrella [N] (M: bă)
37. nèikù	underpants [N] (M: tiáo)
38. nèiyī	underwear [N] (M: jiàn)
39. bèixīn	vest [N] (M: jiàn)
40. dă lĭngdài	wear a tie [PH]

Qĭng nĭ guòlai.	“Please come over here.”
Nĭ zĕmme bú guòqu gēn tāmen jiănghuà ne?	“How come you don’t go over and talk with them?”

JIĂRÚ	CONDITION	(-DE HUÀ),	RESULT
Jiărú	míngtiān tiānqi hăo	de huà,	wŏ yídìng qù.
“If the weather tomorrow is good, I’ll de finitely go.”

sāntiān yĭnèi	“within three days”
yíge yuè yĭnèi	“within a month”
wŭnián yĭnèi	“within five years”

DĂ	NUMBER OF TENTHS	ZHÉ
dă	jiŭ	zhé
“sell at 9/10 of the original price” (i.e., give a 10% discount)

dă bāzhé	“sell at 8/10 of the original price” (=20% discount)
dă qīzhé	“sell at 7/10 of the original price” (=30% discount)
dă liùzhé	“sell at 6/10 of the original price” (=40% discount)
dă bāwŭzhé	“sell at 85% of the original price” (=15% discount)

TIME EXPRESSION	YĬNÈI
yìnián	yĭnèi
“within one year”