Intermediate Spoken Chinese

Niu agrees to go to the movie with Li. The two young men go to the box office to purchase tickets, watch the movie, and discuss it as they come out of the movie theater (continued from the previous conversation).

Basic Conversation 20-4

1. AMERICAN	Ò, tài hăole! Wŏ hái cónglái méi kànguo zhèilèide diànyĭngr ne. Zài shémme dìfang? Jĭdiăn kāiyăn?
	Oh, great! I’ve never before seen this kind of movie. Where is it? What time does it start?
2. CHINESE	Bĕijīng Túshūguăn, sāndiăn bàn. Sāndiăn wŏ lái zhăo nĭ, zĕmmeyàng?
	At the Beijing Library at 3:30. I’ll come looking for you at 3:00, O.K.?
3. AMERICAN	Hăo a.
	O.K.
4. CHINESE	Hăo, zàijiàn.
	All right, bye.
5. AMERICAN	Zàijiàn.
	Bye.
	(that afternoon, after his Chinese friend has purchased the tickets)
	Jĭpáide?
	Which row?
6. CHINESE	Wèizi bú cuò. Lóuxià shíwŭpái, shíliù, shíbāhàor. Wŏmen jìnqu ba.
	The seats are pretty good. Downstairs, row 15, numbers 16 and 18. Let’s go in.
	(when they come out of the theater)
	Nĭ juéde zhèige diànyĭngr zĕmmeyàng?
	What do you think of this movie?
7. AMERICAN	Tài bàngle! Hĕn găn rén.
	It was fantastic! Very touching.
8. CHINESE	Tāmen shuōde huà, nĭ dōu néng tīngdŏng ma?
	Could you understand everything they said?
9. AMERICAN	Dà bùfen dōu dŏng. Yŏude dìfang shuōde tài kuài, tīngbutàimíngbai. Búguò diànyĭngde zhŭyào nèiróng wŏ dōu néng lĭjiĕ.
	I understood most of it. In some places they spoke too fast and I couldn’t understand very well. But I was able to understand the gist of the film.

Build Up

1. American
cónglái	all along, always [A]
cónglái méi...-guo	have never ever...before [PT]
cónglái méi kànguo	have never before seen
lèi	kind, type, category [M]
zhèilèi	this kind of
zhèilèide diànyĭngr	this kind of movie
kāiyăn	begin to be shown (of a film) [V]
Ò, tài hăole! Wŏ hái cónglái méi kànguo zhèilèide diànyĭngr ne. Zài shémme dìfang? Jĭdiăn kāiyăn?	Oh, great! I’ve never before seen this kind of movie. Where is it? What time does it start?
2. Chinese
Bĕijīng Túshūguăn	Beijing Library [PW]
Bĕijīng Túshūguăn, sāndiăn bàn.	At the Beijing Library at 3:30.
Sāndiăn wŏ lái zhăo nĭ, zĕmmeyàng?	I’ll come looking for you at 3:00, O.K.?
3. American
Hăo a.	O.K.
4. Chinese
Hăo, zàijiàn.	All right, bye.
5. American
Zàijiàn.	Bye.

pái	row [M]
jĭpái	which row
Jĭpáide?	Which row?
6. Chinese
lóuxià	downstairs [PW]
lóuxià shíwŭpái	downstairs row 15
Wèizi bú cuò. Lóuxià shíwŭpái, shíliù, shíbāhàor. Wŏmen jìnqu ba.	The seats are pretty good. Downstairs, row 15, numbers 16 and 18. Let’s go in.
Nĭ juéde zhèige diànyĭngr zĕmmeyàng?	What do you think of this movie?
7. American
găn	touch, move (emotionally) [V]
hĕn găn rén	be very touching for people
Tài bàngle! Hĕn găn rén.	It was fantastic! Very touching.
8. Chinese
Tāmen shuōde huà, nĭ dōu néng tīngdŏng ma?	Could you understand everything they said?
9. American
bùfen	part, portion [M]
dà bùfen	greater part, majority, most [PH]
yŏude dìfang	some places, some parts
míngbai	understand [V]
-míngbai	understand [RE]
tīngbutàimíngbai	can’t understand very well [RC]
zhŭyào	essential, main [AT]
nèiróng	content [N]
diànyĭngde zhŭyào nèiróng	the main content of the movie
lĭjiĕ	understand [V]
wŏ dōu néng lĭjiĕ	I can understand all
Dà bùfen dōu dŏng. Yŏude dìfang shuōde tài kuài, tīngbutàimíngbai. Búguò diànyĭngde zhŭyào nèiróng wŏ dōu néng lĭjiĕ.	I understood most of it. In some places they spoke too fast and I couldn’t understand very well. But I was able to understand the gist of the film.

1A. CÓNGLÁI MÉI(YOU)...-GUO. This pattern means “have never ever...before.” The cónglái méi(you) precedes the verb and the -guo is suffixed to the verb. While it’s of course possible to use only méi(you)...-guo, the addition of the cónglái strengthens the meaning, much like English “never ever...before.” The pattern is:

The adverb cónglái literally means “always.” Cónglái is usually followed by a negative, either méi(you) or, less commonly, bù. Cónglái bù does not take a following -guo and the meaning is somewhat different. While cónglái méi(you)...-guo indicates only that the speaker has never ever done something in the past (but leaves open the possibility that he or she may do so in the future), cónglái bù indicates that the speaker has a policy against ever doing something, whether in the past or in the future. Examples with cónglái bù:

1B. Notice that in this line the speaker happens to say zhèilèide diànyĭngr “this kind of movie.” After measures like lèi, you can often optionally add a -de. However, zhèilèi diànyĭngr is even more common.

2. Adjacent to Bĕijīng Túshūguăn “Beijing Library” there is a large movie theater which is referred to by the same name.

5. Jĭpáide? literally means “Ones in which row?” This is an abbreviation of the fuller form of this question: Jĭpáide wèizi? “Seats in which row?”

7. Instead of hĕn găn rén “be very touching,” some speakers prefer hĕn găndòng rén, which has the same meaning.

9A. Dà bùfen “the majority” or “most of” is a useful and common term. It’s made up of dà “big” or “great” plus bùfen “part” or “portion.” Dà bùfen can be used by itself, as in the first example below, or followed by -de and a noun, as in the second example. Examples:

9B. Yŏude dìfang shuōde tài kuài “(In) some places they spoke too fast.” Yŏude dìfang here means “some places” or “certain parts” of the movie the two young men saw. Such abstract use of dìfang is quite common. Another example:

Nĭ jiăngde huà, yŏude dìfang wŏ tóngyì, yŏude dìfang wŏ bù tóngyì.

“I agree with some aspects (lit. “some places”) of what you said, and I disagree with other aspects.”

9C. Tīngbutàimíngbai is a negative potential resultative compound which literally means “listen and not be able to understand too well,” that is, “can’t understand very well.” Adverbs like tài are sometimes inserted into the middle of potential resultative constructions. More examples:

9D. Míngbai is a common verb to indicate “understand.” A very common question is: Nĭ míngbai wŏde yìsi ma? “Do you understand what I mean?” (lit. “You understand my meaning?”) Typical answers to that question would be Míngbai “I understand” and Duìbuqi, wŏ hái shi bú tài míngbai “Sorry, I still don’t quite understand.”

9E. The verbs dŏng, míngbai, and lĭjiĕ, all three of which occur in this lesson, mean “understand” and are often interchangeable. In 18-2, you were also introduced to liăojiĕ, which means about the same as lĭjiĕ. One difference among these verbs is that when referring to “understanding a language,” only dŏng can be used: Nĭ dŏng Zhōngwén ma? “Do you understand Chinese?” To say “I don’t understand you,” don’t say *Wŏ bù dŏng nĭ. Instead, say either Wŏ bù dŏng nĭde yìsi (in the sense that you can’t understand what the other person is saying) or Wŏ bù liăojiĕ nĭ (in the sense that you find it impossible to figure out what makes the other person tick).

AV1–7. FILMS. The names of these types of films are arranged in alphabetical order of the English equivalents. Note carefully that although the word for “film” by itself is piānzi (with Tone One on the first syllable), the compound forms for different types of films, such as kŏngbùpiàn “horror film,” end in -piàn (with Tone Four on the final syllable).

AV9–10. Nánzhŭjué “male leading role” and nǚzhŭjué “female leading role” are also commonly pronounced as nánzhŭjiăo and nǚzhŭjiăo, especially in Taiwan.

1. lóushàng	upstairs [PW]
2. yănyuán	actor [N]
3. dăoyăn	director [N]
4. diànyĭng míngxīng	movie star [PH]

1. dòngzuòpiàn	action film [N]
2. xĭjùpiàn	comedy film [N]
3. zhēntànpiàn	detective film [N]
4. kŏngbùpiàn	horror film [N]
5. àiqíngpiàn	romantic film [N]
6. kēhuànpiàn	science fiction film [N]
7. zhànzhēngpiàn	war film [N]
8. zìmù	subtitle [N]
9. nánzhŭjué	male leading role [N]
10. nǚzhŭjué	female leading role [N]

Wŏ cónglái bù hē jiŭ.	“I don’t drink alcohol.” (i.e., it’s something the speaker just doesn’t do)
Wŏ cónglái bù chī zăofàn.	“I never eat breakfast.”
Tā cónglái bù chōuyān.	“She never smokes.”

Dà bùfen wŏ dōu tīngguole.	“I’ve listened to most of them.” (e.g., a stack of CDs)
Dà bùfende xuésheng xuéde bú cuò.	“The majority of students are learning well.”

Tā jiăngde huà, wŏ tīngbutàidŏng.	“I couldn’t understand very well what he said.”
Zhèibĕn shū wŏ kànbutàidŏng.	“I don’t understand this book very well.”
Wŏ shuìbutàizháo.	“I can’t fall asleep very well.”

CÓNGLÁI	MÉI(YOU)	VERB	-GUO
cónglái	méi	qù	guo
“have never ever gone”