Intermediate Spoken Chinese

In the men’s dormitory at Capital Normal University in Beijing, Li Xiaodong asks his American friend John Niu if he would like to watch a movie with him later that afternoon.

Basic Conversation 20-3

1. AMERICAN	Jìnlái.
	Come in.
2. CHINESE	Hài!
	Hi!
3. AMERICAN	Èi, Xiăodōng!
	Hey, Xiaodong!
4. CHINESE	Gàn shémme ne?
	What are you up to?
5. AMERICAN	Xuéxí ne.
	Studying.
6. CHINESE	Shì ma? E, xiàwŭ nĭ yŏukòng ma? Xiăng bu xiăng qù kàn chăng diànyĭngr?
	Really? Uh, are you free this afternoon? Would you like to go see a movie?
7. AMERICAN	Kéyi a. Yŏu shémme hăo piānzi ma?
	Sure. Are there any good films?
8. CHINESE	Zuìjìn yŏu yíbù xīn piānzi, gāng shàngyăn, míng jiào “Yuède Zhŭrén.” Tīngshuō bú cuò. Jiăngde shi sānshí niándài Zhōngguo yíge zhùmíng yīnyuèjiāde gùshi.
	Recently there’s a new film that just began playing titled “Moon Master.” I’ve heard it’s pretty good. It’s the story of a famous musician in China in the 1930s.

Build Up

1. American
Jìnlái.	Come in.
2. Chinese
Hài!	Hi!
3. American
Xiăodōng	Xiaodong (given name)
Èi, Xiăodōng!	Hey, Xiaodong!
4. Chinese
gàn	do [V]
Gàn shémme ne?	What are you up to?
5. American
Xuéxí ne.	Studying.
6. Chinese
xiăng bu xiăng qù kàn	would you like to go to see
chăng	(for a showing of a movie) [M]
diànyĭng(r)	movie [N]
kàn diànyĭng(r)	see a movie
kàn chăng diànyĭngr	see a showing of a movie
Shì ma? E, xiàwŭ nĭ yŏukòng ma?	Really? Uh, are you free this afternoon?
Xiăng bu xiăng qù kàn chăng diànyĭngr?	Would you like to go see a movie?
7. American
piānzi	film, movie [N] (M: bù)
Kéyi a. Yŏu shémme hăo piānzi ma?	Sure. Are there any good films?
8. Chinese
bù	(measure for films) [M]
yíbù xīn piānzi	a new film
shàngyăn	begin to play (of a film at a theater) [V]
míng jiào	be named [PH]
yuè	moon [N]
“Yuède Zhŭrén”	“Moon Master” (film title)
jiăng	tell the story of, be about [V]
jiăngde shi	what it’s about is
gùshi	story [N]
jiăng gùshi	tell a story [PH]
niándài	decade [N]
sānshí niándài	the decade of the 1930s
zhùmíng	be famous, well-known [SV]
yīnyuèjiā	musician [N]
yíge zhùmíng yīnyuèjiā	a famous musician
Zuìjìn yŏu yíbù xīn piānzi, gāng shàngyăn, míng jiào “Yuède Zhŭrén.” Tīngshuō bú cuò. Jiăngde shi sānshí niándài Zhōngguo yíge zhùmíng yīnyuèjiāde gùshi.	Recently there’s a new film that just began playing titled “Moon Master.” I’ve heard it’s pretty good. It’s the story of a famous musician in China in the 1930s.

4A. The verb gàn is an all-purpose general verb meaning “do” or “make,” much like găo (2-4), nòng (18-2), or zuò (6-2). Be aware that gàn is very colloquial and informal, so it would not be used in polite conversation with superiors; for example, you’d NEVER say to your teacher *Lăoshī, nín gàn shémme ne? “Teacher, what are you doing?” However, with peers or within the family, gàn is common.

4B. A fuller form of Gàn shémme ne? “What are you doing?” would be Nĭ zài gàn shémme ne? or Nĭ zhèng zài gàn shémme ne?

4–5. Notice the sentence final particle ne at the end of the Chinese student’s question in line 4: Gàn shémme ne? “What are you up to?” The same final particle ne then reoccurs at the end of the American’s response in line 5: Xuéxí ne “Studying.” As we’ve seen before, sentence final particle ne can indicate present progressive, in other words, that something is currently in progress, which we often indicate in English with the “-ing” form of verbs.

5. A fuller form of Xuéxí ne would be Wŏ zài xuéxí ne or Wŏ zhèng zài xuéxí ne.

6A. Xiăng bu xiăng qù kàn chăng diànyĭngr? “Would you like to go see a movie?” The measure chăng here is short for yìchăng “one showing of (a movie).” In rapid, colloquial conversation, the number yī before a measure is often omitted when it’s unstressed and means “a” (but yī isn’t omitted when it’s stressed and means “one”).

7A. The reply Kéyi a “O.K.” or “Sure” indicates agreement—but a low-key, restrained, understated sort of agreement.

7B. The nouns diànyĭng(r) and piānzi, both of which mean “film” or “movie,” are often interchangeable. However, the term diànyĭng(r) is more general and more common, especially in the phrase kàn diànyĭng(r) “see a movie.”

7C. Regarding the pronunciation of diànyĭngr, note that if a syllable ending in -n is followed immediately by a syllable beginning with y-, w-, h-, or a vowel, 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 diànyĭngr is pronounced a little like diaàyĭngr (with a nasalized a). Other examples of this phenomenon we have encountered previously are piányi “cheap” (3-3) and yuànyi “would like” (15-4).

8A. Míng jiào is a somewhat more formal variant of the more colloquial míngzi jiào “the name is called” or “be named.”

8B. Jiăng here means “tell the story of” or “be about.” It may refer to a movie, television show, or book. Learn the phrase jiăng gùshi “tell a story.” This can also be said as shuō gùshi “tell a story,” cf. SV2.

8C. Jiăngde shi...-de gùshi literally means “What (the new film) tells is the story of....” Everything after the shi and before the...-de gùshi describes what the story is about.

8D. Note the noun niándài “decade” in sānshí niándài “the decade of the 1930s.” Some more examples:

Some speakers prefer to use líng “zero” instead of shí, so you’ll also sometimes hear sānlíng niándài “the 1930s,” wŭlíng niándài “the 50s,” and so forth.

8E. -JIĀ AS A SUFFIX INDICATING PROFESSIONS. Note the suffix -jiā in the noun yīnyuèjiā “musician.” The suffix -jiā is attached to nouns (and less frequently to verbs) to form a noun relating to a certain profession. It often corresponds to the English suffixes “-ist” or “-er.” Examples:

The term zhuānjiā “expert, specialist,” which was introduced in 8-2, also contains this suffix. Names of professions ending in -jiā are normally not used to refer to oneself, as that would be considered immodest. For example, to say “I’m a painter,” you might say Wŏ xĭhuan huàhuàr “I like to paint.” To say “I’m a linguist,” you might say Wŏ shi găo yŭyánxuéde “I do linguistics” or Wŏ găo yŭyánxué gōngzuò “I do linguistics work.” To say “we novelists,” you might say Wŏmen xiĕ ăxioshuōde ren “we people who write novels.”

AV1–11. CAREERS AND PROFESSIONS. The names of these careers and professions have been arranged in alphabetical order of the English equivalents.

AV2. An alternate pronunciation of jiànzhùshī “architect” that you’ll hear in Taiwan and occasionally elsewhere is jiànzhúshī.

A. GENERAL
1. diànyĭngyuàn	movie theater [PW] (M: jiā)
2. shuō gùshi	tell a story [PH]
B. FUTURE CAREERS AND PROFESSIONS
3. jiānglái	in the future [TW]
jìhua	plan [N/AV]
Nĭ jiānglái yŏu shémme jìhua?	What are your plans for the future?
4. dāng	serve as, work as, act as [V]
yīshēng	medical doctor [N]
Wŏ jiānglái xiăng dāng yīshēng.	In the future I want to serve as a doctor.
5. huàjiā	painter (artist) [N]
6. gāngqínjiā	pianist [N]
7. xiăoshuōjiā	novelist [N]
8. yínhángjiā	banker [N]

1. kuàijìshī	accountant [N]
2. jiànzhùshī (B)	architect [N]
3. yáyī	dentist [N]
4. wàijiāoguān	diplomat [N]
5. gōngchéngshī	engineer [N]
6. jiātíng zhŭfù	housewife [PH]
7. lǜshī	lawyer [N]
8. hùshì	nurse [N]
9. xīnlĭxuéjiā	psychologist [N]
10. kēxuéjiā	scientist [N]
11. jūnrén	soldier [N]

12. shēngyì	business [N]
zuò shēngyì	engage in business [PH]
Zuò shēngyì kéyi zhuàn hĕn duō qián.	You can earn a lot of money in business.
13. zhèngfŭ	government [N]
wèi zhèngfŭ gōngzuò	work for the government
Wŏ jiānglái yào wèi zhèngfŭ gōngzuò.	In the future I want to work for the government.

liùshí niándài	“the sixties (i.e., the 1960s)”
qīshí niándài	“the seventies”
bāshí niándài	“the eighties”

yīnyuè “music”	+	jiā	→	yīnyuèjiā “musician”
gāngqín “piano”	+	jiā	→	gāngqínjiā “pianist” (cf. SV6)
xiăoshuō “novel”	+	jiā	→	xiăoshuōjiā “novelist” (cf. SV7)
yínháng “bank”	+	jiā	→	yínhángjiā “banker” (cf. SV8)
yŭyánxué “linguistics”	+	jiā	→	yŭyánxuéjiā “linguist”
huà “painting”	+	jiā	→	huàjiā “painter” (cf. SV5)