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edX Basic Mandarin Level 2- Lesson4


Shelley

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This week we learnt to make appointments and meet at arranged places. The arranged meeting is by the subway entrance, and then on to the night market where we can buy lots of things "food, clothes, shoes, toys, even adult products" !!

The vocabulary covered the things you would need to arrange a meeting and then go shopping, How to say hello on the phone - wéi 喂. I have been told this comes from the days when telephones were not very good and an awful lot of wéi wéi ing would happen to ensure the connection had been made. It is also used to catch someone's attention for example walking down the road and you see a friend on the other side of the road, you call wéi wéi to them and then you can stop and chat :)

Estella was concerned Ben had misheard on the phone and had gone to the wrong number station but all was well, he went to the right one.

Ben tries on some t-shirts and discovers the difference in sizes for Asian people and western sized people. So we learn how to express too big, too small. too tight etc. We find out Ben's favourite colour - light green.

Grammar points were:

1) 约 yuē make an appointment/schedule a time. - 约 yuē is usually followed by the time or place of the appointment.

2) ...V + 到 dào / ...V + 不到 bú dào - attached to the end of the verb, to express that a certain state or result can be reached.

3) 连。。。都/也。。。 lián....dōu/yě - means even but it is not used in quite the same way as in English, it is a pattern used to emphasize something unexpected or surprising or to confirm one's opinion about something.

4) 因为。。。。所以 yīnwèi......suǒyǐ ....because..../....so.... - used to link up clauses to indicate cause and consequence. In Chinese the cause almost always comes before the consequences.

So armed with all this we should be able to buy what ever we need from the night market even "adult products" whatever they might be :)

I got 100% on the quiz and 3 points for the Prollster question which was - what do you know about china? I replied that I knew it was a big country with wonderful scenery and lots of people.

Lesson 5's summary coming soon, till then study well.

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