Complete Lesson Transcript – Lesson 104 [English]
Kirin: Chinese Learn Online lesson 104 .
Adam: Hello, I’m Adam, and you’re listening to our progressive course teaching
Mandarin Chinese. Today’s lesson progresses you further by utilizing some of the
teaching phrases we learned in our last lesson. So I hope you’re keeping up. With me
today are our native Chinese speakers Raphael and Kirin who will help us out with
today’s lesson.
Raphael: Let’s first listen to today’s dialogue at normal speed .
Cindy: Do you have any plans today ?
Yann: Yes . I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Cindy: Didn’t you go there recently ?
Yann: Yes, we’ve been there once before . But they really like to see the animals , so
we’ll go again .
Raphael: Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a slow speed . Please repeat after the
teacher .
Kirin: Do you have any plans today ?
Yes . I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Didn’t you go there recently ?
Yes, we’ve been there once before . But they really like to see the animals , so we’ll go
again .
Raphael: Let’s translate today’s dialogue . The first line is …
Kirin: Do you have any plans today ?
Raphael: Do you remember what “jìhuà” means ?
Adam: We saw that in lesson 93. It means “to plan.” Many verbs in Chinese also function
as nouns, however. So the literal translation here is “You today have what plans?”
Kirin: Do you have any plans today ?
Adam: as in “Do you have any plans today?”
Kirin: Do you have any plans today ?
©2009 www.chineselearnonline.com
Lesson 104 Complete [English]
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Raphael: The man then replies .
Kirin: Yes .
Raphael: What does “shìde” mean ?
Adam: That we’ve seen a few times in recent lessons, and is a common way to say
“Yes.”
Kirin: Yes .
Raphael: He then says .
Kirin: I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Raphael: What does “dài” mean ?
Adam: That’s the verb “to bring.” So that gives us “I want to bring”, followed by our first
new word of the lesson.
Raphael: Child . Second tone and fifth tone .
Adam: That means “child.” By adding the plural suffix plural suffix at the end that
specifies that we are talking about children here and not just one child, in the same way
that I becomes we and you becomes you (plural) to indicate plural form. So where does
he want to bring the children?
Kirin: I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Adam: So there’s a new place to add to our vocabulary. It’s made up of two parts.
Raphael: Animals . Two fourth tones . As well as the yuán in “gōngyuán” (park) .
Adam: The first part means “animal”, while the second part on its own refers to “garden.”
We previously saw it used in the word for “park.” So can you guess what place “an
animal garden” is? It’s of course, a “zoo.”
Kirin: I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Adam: So he’s saying “I would like to take the children to the zoo.”
Raphael: The woman then asks .
©2009 www.chineselearnonline.com
Lesson 104 Complete [English]
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Kirin: Didn’t you go there recently ?
Raphael: Do you remember what “zuìjìn” means ?
Adam: That means “recently.” So this question literally translates into “You recently
didn’t go there?”
Kirin: Didn’t you go there recently ?
Adam: As in “Didn’t you go there recently?”
Kirin: Didn’t you go there recently ?
Raphael: The man then replies .
Kirin: Yes, we’ve been there once before .
Adam: So here we have the present perfect particle - present perfect particle that we
taught you sometime back. So he’s saying “Have gone one time.”
Kirin: Yes, we’ve been there once before .
Adam: As in “Yes, we have been there once before.”
Raphael: He then says .
Kirin: But they really like to see the animals , so we’ll go again .
Raphael: “Fēicháng xǐhuān” (Extremely like) means to like very much . Now what does
“suǒyǐ” mean ?
Adam: That means “so.” So that gives us “But they really like to see animals so we.”
That’s followed by another term.
Kirin: Go again .
Adam: The still / additionally can be added to many verbs to mean “to additionally
perform” the action. The to want / will / have to also can vary in meaning. Depending on
context, it can mean “to want,” “will do” or “have to.” So in this case, the sentence
translates into “But they really like to see the animals, so we will go again.”
Kirin: But they really like to see the animals , so we’ll go again .
©2009 www.chineselearnonline.com
Lesson 104 Complete [English]
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Raphael: Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a slow speed . Please repeat after the
teacher .
Kirin: Do you have any plans today ?
Yes . I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Didn’t you go there recently ?
Yes, we’ve been there once before . But they really like to see the animals , so we’ll go
again .
Raphael: Let’s listen again to today’s dialogue at a normal speed .
Cindy: Do you have any plans today ?
Yann: Yes . I would like to take the children to the zoo .
Cindy: Didn’t you go there recently ?
Yann: Yes, we’ve been there once before . But they really like to see the animals , so
we’ll go again .
Adam: Great. Now it’s very important to see more examples of sentence structures and
how these words get used in the Chinese language. So that’s why we have podcast
reviews for many lessons that review and give you more examples of many of these
structures. Premium subscribers can take advantage of this and other resources on our
website ChineseLearnOnline.com.
Kirin: Keep at it !
©2009 www.chineselearnonline.com
Lesson 104 Complete [English]
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