Intermediate Spoken Chinese

Jenny Tai, a Chinese-American woman studying in Beijing, learns how to make boiled dumplings at a Chinese friend’s home.

Basic Conversation 15-4

1. CHINESE	Zhēnní, nĭ yuànyi zhèige zhōumò qù wŏ nàr chī jiăozi ma?
	Jenny, would you like to go to my place this weekend to eat dumplings?
2. TAI	Dāngrán yuànyi la!
	Of course I’d like to!
	(at her friend’s home that weekend)
	Zhè jiù shi nĭ shuōde jiăozi ma? Hăo piàoliang! Zhè shi shémme ya?
	These are the dumplings you talked about? They’re beautiful! What’s this?
3. CHINESE	Zhè shi jiăozi xiànr.
	This is the dumpling filling.
4. TAI	Dōu yŏu shémme?
	What all is in it?
5. CHINESE	Zhŭyào shi ròu hé báicài. Chúle zhèixiē zhīwài, hái yŏu xiē tiáoliào: cōng, jiāng, jiàngyóu, yán hé xiāngyóu.
	It’s mainly meat and cabbage. Besides these, there are also some condiments: scallions, ginger, soy sauce, salt and sesame oil.
6. TAI	Zhēn xiāng a! Wénde wŏ dōu èle. Néng bu néng xiān zhŭ jĭge ràng wŏ chángchang?
	Smells real good! Smells so good, I’m hungry. Could you boil a few first and let me taste them?
7. CHINESE	Dāngrán kéyi la. Xiànzài wŏ jiù qù zhŭ.
	Of course I can. I’ll go boil them right now.
	(returns from the kitchen with a plate of dumplings) Qĭng chī ba, bié kèqi.
	Please eat some, don’t be polite.
8. TAI	Wà, hăochījíle!
	Wow, they’re incredibly delicious!
9. CHINESE	Hăochī jiù duō chī yidianr!
	If they’re good, have some more!

Build Up

1. Chinese
Zhēnní	(Chinese for “Jenny”)
yuànyi	be willing to, like to [AV]
zhōumò	weekend [N]
zhèige zhōumò	this weekend
qù wŏ nàr	go over there where I am
jiăozi	dumpling [N]
Zhēnní, nĭ yuànyi zhèige zhōumò qù wŏ nàr chī jiăozi ma?	Jenny, would you like to go to my place this weekend to eat dumplings?
2. Tai
Dāngrán yuànyi la!	Of course I’d like to!
Zhè jiù shi nĭ shuōde jiăozi ma? Hăo piàoliang! Zhè shi shémme ya?	These are the dumplings you talked about? They’re beautiful! What’s this?
3. Chinese
xiàn(r)	filling [N]
jiăozi xiànr	dumpling filling
Zhè shi jiăozi xiànr.	This is the dumpling filling.
4. Tai
Dōu yŏu shémme?	What all is in it?
5. Chinese
zhŭyào	mainly [A]
zhŭyào shi ròu hé báicài	it’s mainly meat and cabbage
chúle...zhīwài	besides...; except for... [PT]
chúle zhèixiē zhīwài	besides these
tiáoliào	condiment, seasoning [N]
hái yŏu xiē tiáoliào	there are also some condiments
jiāng	ginger [N]
jiàngyóu	soy sauce [N]
yán	salt [N]
xiāngyóu	sesame oil [N]
Zhŭyào shi ròu hé báicài. Chúle zhèixiē zhīwài, hái yŏu xiē tiáoliào: cōng, jiāng, jiàngyóu, yán hé xiāngyóu.	It’s mainly meat and cabbage. Besides these, there are also some condiments: scallions, ginger, soy sauce, salt and sesame oil.
6. Tai
wén	smell something [V]
è	be hungry [SV]
wénde wŏ dōu èle	I’ve smelled it to the extent that I’ve even become hungry
zhŭ	boil [V]
xiān zhŭ jĭge	boil several first
ràng wŏ chángchang	let me taste
Zhēn xiāng a! Wénde wŏ dōu èle. Néng bu néng xiān zhŭ jĭge ràng wŏ chángchang?	Smells real good! Smells so good, I’m hungry. Could you boil a few first and let me taste them?
7. Chinese
Dāngrán kéyi la. Xiànzài wŏ jiù qù zhŭ.	Of course I can. I’ll go boil them right now.

kèqi	be polite [SV]
bié kèqi	“don’t be polite” [IE]
Qĭng chī ba, bié kèqi.	Please eat some, don’t be polite.
8. Tai
wà	“wow” [I]
Wà, hăochījíle!	Wow, they’re incredibly delicious!
9. Chinese
Hăochī jiù duō chī yidianr!	If they’re good, have some more!

1A. The pronunciation of yuànyi “like to, be willing to” deserves special comment, as the final -n of the first syllable isn’t pronounced as -n. If a syllable ending in -n is followed immediately by a syllable beginning with y-, w-, h-, or a vowel, then the -n of the first syllable is often not fully pronounced. In this case, the tongue doesn’t quite reach the roof of the mouth, and the vowel in the first syllable is nasalized, so yuànyi is pronounced almost as if it were *yuàyi, except that the a is nasalized. Examples of this phenomenon we’ve had earlier include piányi “cheap” (3-3) and zhēn hăochī “really delicious” (6-1). Another example, using the word è “be hungry” that you learn in this lesson, is hĕn è “very hungry.”

1B. The word zhōumò “weekend” is a fairly recent creation in Chinese, having been modeled after the Western concept and word “weekend.” Zhōu is a bound form meaning “week” while mò is a bound form meaning “end.” It’s fine for you to use this word, though you’ll notice that Chinese people tend to use it less than Americans do.

1C. Qù wŏ nàr “go to me there” or “go over to my place.” When a person (pronoun, noun, or personal name) is the object of a verb of movement such as dào “arrive/to,” lái “come,” or qù “go,” the person must be followed by the place words zhèr/zhèli “here” or nàr/nàli “there” and cannot stand alone. Whereas in English it’s possible to have a verb like “come” or “go” followed directly by “to” and a pronoun (e.g., “come to me,” “go to her”), in Chinese the place words zhèr/zhèli (for action in the direction of the speaker) or nàr/nàli (for action away from the speaker) must appear after the pronoun. More examples:

You could NEVER say *Nĭ dào wŏ or *Qĭng nĭ dào tā qù or *Qĭng nĭ qù Lăo Bái.

1D. Nĭ yuànyi zhèige zhōumò qù wŏ nàr chī jiăozi ma? “Would you like to go to my place this weekend to eat dumplings?” Instead of qù wŏ nàr “go over to my place,” in English we would probably say “come over to my place.” However, Chinese speakers are in general more conscious of their actual position when speaking than are English speakers. Since at the time she is speaking the speaker of this line isn’t at her home, she uses qù rather than lái. Were she at her home when speaking, e.g., on the telephone, she would no doubt say lái wŏ zhèr.

1E. Jiăozi are dumplings which are of a crescent shape. The outside is made of white dough while the inside is stuffed with a mixture of meat and/or vegetables. Jiăozi can be boiled (in which case they’re also called shuĭjiăo, AV1), steamed (zhēngjiăo, AV2), or fried (guōtiē, AV4). To say “make dumplings,” you say bāo jiăozi (lit. “wrap dumplings,” cf. bāo “wrap” in 12-4).

4. The dōu in Dōu yŏu shémme? “What all is in it?” is the “forward-looking” kind of dōu that was discussed in 7-1: 3. It anticipates the answer in line 5 (ròu hé báicài “meat and cabbage”). But note that in the answer, there is no dōu.

Tā zuìjìn shēntĭ bú tài hăo, zhŭyào shì yīnwei gōngzuò tài mángle.

“Recently she hasn’t been in very good health; it’s mainly because she’s too busy with her work.”

Tāmen xiànzài bù xiăng yào háizi, zhŭyào shi yīnwei tāmen dōu hái zài niànshū.

“They don’t want children now; it’s mostly because they’re both still in school.”

Dìyícì shàngkè, lăoshī zhŭyào jièshaole yixia zhè xuéqī wŏmen yào xué xiē shémme.

“At the first class session, the teacher mostly introduced what we’re going to learn this semester.”

5B. CHÚLE...ZHĪWÀI AND CHÚLE...YĬWÀI. The patterns chúle...zhīwài and chúle...yĭwài literally mean “removing...apart”; a common English translation is “besides” or “in addition to.” What comes between the two parts of the pattern can be a noun, pronoun, or verb phrase. The main clause that follows often contains the adverbs hái, yĕ, or yòu. To sum up, the basic pattern is:

If a sense of exclusion is indicated by the main clause of the sentence through the use of a negative verb and words like “all,” “every,” “any” or “other,” then chúle...zhīwài and chúle...yĭwài are often best translated into English as “except (for).” Examples:

Shàngge yuè wŏmen zhèr chúle shísānhào, shísìhào zhèiliăngtiān méi xiàyŭ yĭwài, mĕitiān dōu xiàyŭle.

“Last month we had rain here every day, except for the thirteenth and the fourteenth, when it didn’t rain.”

Some speakers sometimes drop the zhīwài or yĭwài and use only chúle. However, we urge you to use the full forms of these patterns. Also, note that in English the dependent clause with “besides,” “in addition to” or “except” can come before or after the main clause; in other words, you can say “Besides him, I have many other friends” or “I have many other friends besides him.” In Chinese, however, the clause with chúle...zhīwài or chúle...yĭwài must come first.

6A. -DE TO INDICATE EXTENT. Another function of the particle -de when it appears after a verb and before a result expression is to indicate the extent of the action of the verb. The example in this line is Wénde wŏ dōu èle “(I) have smelled them to the extent that I’ve even become hungry.” The pattern is:

In the pattern with -de to indicate extent, adverbs like hĕn “very” or nèmme cannot be used before the verb, so you could NEVER say *Wŏ hĕn mángde méi shíjiān chīfàn.

6B. The dōu in Wénde wŏ dōu èle means “already.” Another example of this dōu: Tā dōu bāsuì le “She’s already
8 years old.”

6C. Look at Néng bu néng xiān zhŭ jĭge ràng wŏ chángchang? “Could you boil a few first and let me taste them?” As in English, the néng bu néng “can (you) or can’t you” here doesn’t involve a question about physical ability but rather creates a polite request that the other person boil some dumplings and let the speaker try them. Compare the English question “Can you turn off the light?” If someone asks you this, the normal response isn’t “Yes, I can” or “No, I can’t,” but rather the performance of the request to turn off the light.

7A. The jiù in Xiànzài wŏ jiù qù zhŭ “I’ll go boil them right now” means “right away” and the qù expresses purpose. A literal translation of this sentence would be “Now I’ll right away go in order to boil (them).”

7B. Bié kèqi “don’t be polite” is a common polite expression. The implication is that the guest should go ahead and eat the dumplings rather than hesitating to do so out of politeness. Búyào kèqi is a synonym of bié kèqi.

1. kĕ	be thirsty [SV]
hēde	things to drink
Wŏ hăo kĕ. Yŏu méiyou shémme hēde?	I’m very thirsty. Is there anything to drink?
2. chúle...yĭwài	besides...; except for... [PT]
chúle nĭ yĭwài	besides you
Chúle nĭ yĭwài, hái yŏu shéi qù?	Besides you, who else is going?

1. shuĭjiăo	boiled dumpling [N]
2. zhēngjiăo	steamed dumpling [N]
3. sùjiăo	vegetarian dumpling [N]
4. guōtiē	potsticker [N]
5. cù	vinegar [N]
6. làjiāojiàng	hot pepper sauce [N]

Nĭ dào wŏ zhèr lái.	“Come to me.” (lit. “Come to me here.”)
Qĭng nĭ dào tā nàr qù.	“Please go to him.” (lit. “Please go to him over there.”)
Qĭng nĭ qù Lăo Bái nàli.	“Please go to Old Bai.” (lit. “Please go to Old Bai over there.”)

CHÚLE	NOUN / PRONOUN / VERB	ZHĪWÀI / YĬWÀI	MAIN CLAUSE
Chúle	zhèixiē	zhīwài,	hái yŏu xiē tiáoliào.
“Besides these, there are also some seasonings.”

SUBJECT	VERB	-DE	EXTENT / RESULT
Wŏ	mángde		méi shíjiān shuìjiào.
“I’m so busy that I don’t even have time to sleep.”

Tā qìde shuōbuchū huà lái.	“She was so angry that she couldn’t speak.”
Tā gāoxìngde dōu tiàoqilaile.	“He was so happy that he jumped up.”