Attendees: 7

 

Q&A:

 

Get divorced:

我离婚了 

我们离婚了

 

Get married:

我结婚了

我们结婚了

 

Get a haircut:

我要去一次理个发

 

Sign a contract:

我签了工作合同

我签了一张工作合同

 

张 is the measure word for flat things:

一张桌子

一张纸

一张扑克牌

 

Exception: You cannot use 张 with plates! You have to say 一个盘子.

 

I like to spend time with friends

我喜欢和朋友一起玩

 

How do you address people on the street?

 

Somewhat close to your age: 美女, 帅哥

Older than you by 20+ years: 阿姨, 叔叔

Much older than you: 大爷

 

Different examples of using 了:

 

我吃过了。

你吃了吗？

我吃了。

我还没吃。

你考完试了吗？

我喝咖啡了。

我喝了咖啡。

 

Note that the 了 is a character with multiple pronunciations and meanings. See 了解 (understand), 了结 (finish), and 知了(cicada).

 

Here is a list grammar patterns using 了, from Chinese Grammar Wiki: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/了

 

Anna asked a question about how people remember characters. Wenlin is an excellent academic desktop application  for learning about etymology and character breakdowns (phonetic and signific), but is very expensive and not recommended for the average learner. A more affordable and more convenient tool is the Outlier Chinese character dictionary add-on for Pleco.

 

To chat:

闲聊

聊天

 

Kid's song: 儿歌

 

快乐的小王子 (The Happy Little Prince)

 

蚊子蚊子嗡嗡叫

Mosquitoes, mosquitoes, buzzing buzzing
咬得小朋友都是包

Biting children so they're covered with bumps
我愿变成一只癞蛤蟆

I wish to become a toad
把他们都吃掉

To eat them all up

我的衣服很粗糙

My clothes are rough
也没有青蛙名声好

My reputation is not as good as a frog's
小朋友们都不爱我

The children all don't like me
我不难过，也不烦恼

I'm not sad, nor am I vexed

 

This song can be thought of as a satirical reaction to this famous kid's song: 虫儿飞 (Bugs flying), although the bugs are clearly lightning bugs, even if not explicitly stated

 

Sentences with similar grammar patterns:

 

小狗汪汪叫

知了吱吱叫

 

树叶掉得满地都是

打得人都是伤

 

我愿读这本书

我愿唱一首歌

 

愿 is short for 愿意, expressing "I wish", as opposed to "I want" (我想)

 

It's more natural to say 我愿意为你(do something) over 我想为你(do something)

 

这些东西，他们都不想买

大家都爱美食

 

我不要咖啡，也不要茶

我不要吃饭，也不要睡觉

 

把活都干完

把衣服都洗好

 

我的妹妹很漂亮

你的皮肤很光滑

 

我的菜没有他的好吃

 

Two ways to express comparison:

她比我快

我没有她快

 

You can find Chinese kid's songs on iTunes Podcasts, and especially on the Chinese podcast app 喜马拉雅.

 

Picks:

 

Feihong: Interview with US diplomat Chas Freeman on Sinica podcast (part 1 of 3)

Anna: Jay Chou's movie 不能说的秘密

Ethan: ADVChina Youtube channel. Is it Stupid to Move to China in 2018? might be a good episode to start with.

Richard: Theme song from Jackie Chan movie The Myth, Endless Love

Tom: The book AI Superpowers by Kai-fu Lee

Yunyi: 蓝精灵, Chinese version of the Smurf theme song

拇指姑娘 快乐的小王子.mp3