Learn the vocabulary necessary to talk about days, weeks, and months in Chinese with this short, easy to follow video.
大家好,
While I was hoping to bring you an exciting new video today, computer problems have made that impossible. Apparently, I have overworked my Mac Book over the last two years, and as such it is currently being repaired. Unfortunately, that leaves me without my beloved Final Cut Pro for the time being, which means I’m not able to get videos up. Have patience (耐心 – nài xīn), though, as I do have some great videos in the works. For now, I’m going to discuss two very important (重要的 – zhòng yào de), very useful (有用 – yǒu yòng) characters when learning Chinese – 上 (shàng) and 下 (xià).
In Chinese, you will encounter these two characters very, very often, as they both have many meanings. Let’s take a look at some of the many uses of these characters:
LOCATION -
To begin with, you can use 上 and 下 to describe the location of something. Here are two examples:
书在桌子上 (shū zài zhuō zi shàng) – This translates to, “The book is on top of the table.” In this case, 上 is used to show that something is on top of something else. It can also be used to describe something that is above something else.
书在桌子下 (shū zài zhuō zi xià) – More often than not, these two characters serve as opposites, so in this case we have, “The book is under the table.” As I’m sure you can guess, 下 is used to show that something is below, or under something.
Unless you live under a rock, you probably know about a little city called 上海 (Shàng hǎi). The business center of China, the name of this modern metropolis actually translates to “on the sea.” As Shanghai is split by the Huang Pu River (黄浦江 – Huáng pǔ jiāng), it is clear why this city has the name that it does.
上海 - On the Sea
TIME -
You can also use the characters 上 and 下 to describe the time (past or future). These characters are used when talking about weeks and months:
上个星期 (shàng gè xīng qí) means “last week” and 下个星期 (xià gè xīng qí) means “next week.”
As you may have guessed by now, 上个月 (shàng gè yuè) means “last month” and 下个月 (xià gè yuè) means “next month.”
You also see these characters when talking about the time of day:
早上 (zǎo shàng) – early morning (literally “early on”)
上午 (shàng wǔ) – late morning (before noon)
下午 (xià wǔ) – afternoon
晚上 (wǎn shàng) – evening (literally “late on”)
RESPONSIBILITIES -
We all have to either go to class or work at some point in the day, and we can use 上 and 下 to talk about both class and work:
上班 (shàng bān) – go to work/begin work
下班 (xià bān) – finish work
上课 (shàng kè) – have class/begin class
下课 (xià kè) – finish class
OTHER USES -
While both 上 and 下 are very common characters in Chinese, you will probably hear and use 下 on a more regular basis.
One very common example is, “…. 一下,” which means to do something for a short time. Here are a few phrases you might hear or say a lot in Chinese:
休息一下 (xiū xí yī xià) – rest for a short while
等一下 (děng yī xià) – wait for a short while
看一下 (kàn yī xià) – have a quick look
Basically, you can use the formula (Verb + 一下) to show that you will do something casually, or for a short time.
Now that you understand a bit more about these two very useful characters, keep an eye (and an ear) out for them when studying Chinese; you will surely find that you see them on a daily basis.
Having already posted six videos to the blog, I think it’s best that I take some time to go over the vocabulary and sentence structures that were introduced in said videos. When studying a foreign language, it’s a good idea to go over your classes (复习功课 – fù xí gōng kè) every so often to make sure you fully understand what you have learned. That being said, let’s start from the beginning. For this post, I’ll review my first three videos.
VIDEO POST #1 – “A Rainy Day in Beijing” (北京的雨天)
For the first video post, I took a tour of the Beijing Planning and Exhibition Hall. Although I prefer the great outdoors, the weather kept me inside on that particular day. Speaking of weather, the first phrase I introduced was today is a rainy day (今天是雨天 -jīn tiān shì yǔ tiān). Let’s break that down to understand it more…
今天 – jīn tiān – today
是 – shì – to be/is
雨天 – yǔ tiān – rain day
As I mentioned before, Chinese is a language without articles, so there is no word for “a”. Also, to describe the weather, you simply say rain/wind/snow/cloud + day. In English, you have to use a different word (rainy, windy, snowy, cloudy), but this is not necessary in Chinese.
The next phrase was “it’s the weekend, so I don’t want to stay at home” (这是周末， 所以我不想呆在家里- zhè shì zhōu mò, suǒ yǐ wǒ bù xiǎng dāi zài jiā lǐ).
这是 – zhè shì – this is
周末 – zhōu mò – weekend
所以 – suǒ yǐ – so
我不想 – wǒ bù xiǎng- I don’t want (lit. I no want)
呆 – dāi – stay
在家里 – zài jiā lǐ – at home inside
That’s a big sentence, so it’s best to break it down piece by piece. This sentence actually translates pretty well from English to Chinese, so it shouldn’t be too hard to understand. The phrase “在家里 – zài jiā lǐ” is very useful, as it is a good example of how to describe location. The word 在 means “at” or “again”, 家 means “home” or “family”, and 里 means “inside.” Given the context, the three characters combined mean “at home inside.” Since it was the weekend, I wasn’t too keen on staying inside, and that’s why I used this phrase!
Since it was a rainy day, I said “I have my umbrella and my rain coat” (我有我的雨伞和我的雨衣 – wǒ yǒu wǒ de yǔ sǎn hé wǒ de yǔyī). Again, this sentence translates pretty directly, so it’s not too difficult to break down.
我有 – wǒ yǒu – I have
我的 – wǒ de – my/mine
雨伞 – yǔ sǎn – umbrella
和 – hé – and
雨衣 – yǔ yī – rain coat
Prepared to head out into the rain, I said “Let’s go!” (我们走吧 – wǒ men zǒu ba). 我们 can mean “we” or “us”, 走 can mean “walk” or “move”, and 吧 is used to make a suggestion. 吧 is a very useful character to know, as you’ll hear it very often in China. When you combine these words, you are saying “let’s go”, and you can use this to motivate your lazy friends who don’t want to get off the couch…
Another very useful phrase used in this post was Qianmen subway station (前门地铁站 – qián mén dì tiě zhàn). When telling a taxi driver which subway stop you want to go to, it’s quite simple. First, say the name of the stop. In this case, it would be 前门. Then, say the Chinese for “subway” – 地铁. Finally, say the word for “station” – 站. This last character is also useful when you are looking for a gas station (加油站 – jiā yóu zhàn).
Before we move on to the second video, let’s review one more phrase. Inside the Exhibition Hall, you definitely realize that Beijing is a very big city (北京是非常大的城市 – Běi jīng shì fēi cháng dà de chéng shì).
北京是 – Běi jīng shì – Beijing is
非常 – fēi cháng – very/extremeley
大的 – dà de – big
城市 – chéng shì – city
In this sentence, I used 非常 to represent “very” or “extremely”. This word is basically a step up from 很 (hěn). Think of it this way… In English, you could say something is “very big”, and you could also say something is “huge.” By using 非常 here, I am pretty much saying that Beijing is huge. Speaking of big, one of the easiest Chinese characters to learn is 大. In this sentence, I added the particle 的, which is used because I said “Beijing is a very big city.” If I just wanted to say “Beijing is very big”, I could just say 北京很大 (Běijīng hěn dà). Together, 大的 is used to show that it is a big city.
VIDEO POST #2 – “Summer Has Already Arrived (夏天已经来了)”
For the second video, I got outside to show some of the many fun summer activities in Beijing. To start, I said “In Beijing, summer has already arrived” (在北京夏天已经来了 – zài běi jīng xià tiān yǐ jīng lái le).
在北京 – zài běi jīng – in/at Beijing
夏天 – xià tiān – summer
已经 – yǐ jīng – already
来 – lái – come
了 – le – used after an action that has taken place
Most of those translations are self-explanatory, so let’s focus on the combination of 来 and 了. Used by itself, the word 来 means “come” or “happen.” When we attach 了, we show the past tense form of the verb, so the two together can translate to “came” or “arrived.” For example, every time I get to the home of my private students, the kids will yell” 老师来了! (lǎo shī lái le)”, which means “Teacher has arrived!”
Due to the scorching hot temperature, I said “The weather is getting hotter and hotter” (天气越来越热 – tiān qì yuè lái yuè rè).
天气 – tiān qì – weather
越来越 – yuè lái yuè – more and more
热 – rè – hot
I introduced this vocabulary mainly because the phrase 越来越 is quite useful. My hope is that my videos will help your Chinese get better and better (你的中文越来越好 – nǐ de zhōng wén yuè lái yuè hǎo).
As you probably noticed in this video, I used the word 玩 (wán) quite a bit. This is a great word to know, as it literally translates to “play.”
牌戏 – wán pái xì – play cards
玩跳棋 – wán tiào qí – play checkers
玩毽子 -wán jiàn zi – play Chinese hackey-sack
If you like to have fun like I do, 玩 is a great word to know. Very often, my neighbors will ask me, “Where are you going?” (你去哪 – Nǐ qù nǎ), to which I will simply respond, “To play” (去玩 – qù wán). It should be noted that, since I live in Beijing, I attach an “r” to the end of lots of words, so wán is actually pronounced wánr.
In the first video, I talked about how Beijing is really big. Well, since we already learned the word for “big”, we might as well learn the word for “small.”
小狗 – xiǎo gǒu – small dog
This one is super easy – 小 means small, and 狗 means dog.
Finally, I showed one of the most popular activities in Beijing – singing and dancing (歌舞 – gē wǔ). In Chinese, the word “sing” is 唱歌 (chàng gē) and “dance” is 跳舞 (tiào wǔ). As we all know, singing and dancing go hand in hand, so when you talk about doing both, you simply shorten the phrase and say 歌舞.
VIDEO POST #3 – The Summer Palace (颐和园)
For the third post, I took a trip to the beautiful Summer Palace (颐和园 – yí hé yuán), which is probably my favorite place in Beijing. As you’ve probably realized by now, Beijing has many tourist attractions. For example, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven (北京有很多名胜. 比如故宫、和天坛等. – Běijīng yǒu hěn duō míng shèng. Bǐ rú gù gōng, hé tiān tán děng).
北京有 – Běijīng yǒu – Beijing has
很多 – hěn duō – very many
名胜 – míng shèng – tourist attractions/famous places
比如 – bǐ rú – for example
故宫 – gù gōng – Forbidden City
天坛等 – tiān tán děng – Temple of Heaven
Again, there is a lot of useful vocabulary contained in this sentence. The word 多 (duō) means “many” or “more.” The opposite is 少 (shǎo), which means “few” or “less.” When you combine these words, you get one of the most useful phrases in Chinese, 多少钱？(duō shǎo qián) which means “How much?”, as in “How much does it cost?” It is sort of a funny translation, as it means “more less money”, but sometimes languages just don’t translate directly…
At one point in the video, I found a guy enjoying an afternoon nap (午睡 – wǔ shuì). If you are planning on visiting or living in China, you should get yourself ready by participating in the custom of taking a rest after lunch. Time permitting, people in China love to take a short nap in the afternoon. Maybe it’s because they wake up at 5 a.m., or maybe it’s because of all the MSG in the food. Either way, who doesn’t love a good nap?
Before we call it quits for today, let’s review one more phrase - Chinese traditional instruments (中国传统的乐器 – zhōng guó chuán tǒng de yuè qì).
中国 – zhōng guó – China
传统 – chuán tǒng – tradition
乐器 – yuè qì – instrument
Obviously, it is pretty important to know the name of the country in the local language. 中国 literally means “middle country,” and it seems to be a pretty fitting name these days, as not a day goes by where China is not in the headlines. In a country that has thousands of years of history, there are obviously tons of traditions. Whether it be eating dumplings (饺子 – jiǎo zi) or drinking tea (茶 – chá), there are plenty of things that China has been doing for a long, long time, and will continue to do long into the future.
As is required by my year long, multiple entry, 90 days at a time visa (签证 – qiān zhèng) for China (I know, it seems complicated, doesn’t it?), I have to vacate the premises every three months and head out of the country. This time around, I managed to find a great deal on flights to Seoul (首尔 – shǒu ěr), so I opted for the quick two-hour flight to South Korea (韩国 – hán guó) in favor of the 24 hour train ride to Hong Kong (香港 – xiāng gǎng). Seeing as how my students are all Koreans (我的学生都是韩国人 – wǒ de xué shēng dōu shì hán guó rén), it only seemed fitting that I finally take a trip to the ROK (Republic of Korea).
Despite the fact that I can’t speak any Korean (韩语- hán yǔ), it’s been quite easy to get by here. In contrast to Beijing, most people can speak English here. Plus, there are taxis that are actually designated as “foreigner only” with English speaking drivers, and free interpretation services are available in other cabs. That being said, in my week here, I have had my fair share of language barrier moments. Traveling in Korea as a complete newbie brings me back to my first few weeks in China – the hand gestures, the frustrations, and the “excuse me, do you speak English?” moments.
Due to the fact that I am very sleepy (我很困 – wǒ hěn kùn) and I have a flight (航班 – háng bān) to catch in a matter of hours, I’m going to keep this post short and sweet and offer up a few useful travel phrases for you if you happen to find yourself traveling in China. In my experiences traveling this great country, I find these phrases to be the most useful:
MONEY
How much (does it cost)? – 多少钱 – duō shǎo qián : When traveling in China, and anywhere else for that matter, this is incredibly useful.
Can it be cheaper? – 便宜点吧 － pián yi diǎn ba : When shopping in China, bargaining is a must. Use this phrase to your advantage so you don’t get ripped off.
IN A TAXI
Please take me to ____ – 请带我去 ____ – qǐng dài wǒ qù _____ : When you get in a taxi, say this and fill in the blank with your preferred destination. If you don’t have confidence in your ability to pronounce the name correctly, print out the address and say “请带我到这个地址 – qǐng dài wǒ dào zhè ge dì zhǐ”, which means “Please take me to this address.” When cab drivers hear you speak Chinese, they are less likely to rip you off.
Speaking of cab drivers, if you are traveling outside of Beijing, Shanghai, or other big tourist friendly cities, be prepared with this phrase…
Please turn the meter on – 请打表 – qǐng dǎ biǎo : This phrase has proven to be useful on many occassions here for me, as drivers in smaller cities tend to try to take advantage of oblivious 老外.
ASKING DIRECTIONS
Where is ____? – ____ 在哪里 – ____ zài nǎ lǐ : In Chinese, you put the name of the place first, and then ask “at where?”.
How do I get to ____? – _____ 怎么去 – ____ zěn me qù : This goes along with asking for directions, and can be helpful in determining whether to walk, run, bike, swim, or taxi it to your desired destination.
IN A RESTAURANT
What do you recommend? – 你推荐什么菜 – nǐ tuī jiàn shén me cài : If you can’t read the menu, use this as your go-to phrase. Sometimes you’ll end up with something you love, and sometimes you’ll end up with something really funky. If you’re in China and you can’t really speak Chinese, you are just going to have to deal with this. Don’t be a lame foreigner and eat Mc Donald’s every day…
What specialties do you have? – 你们有什么特色菜 – nǐ men yǒu shén me tè sè cài : If you are OK with eating just about everything (like I am), just utter this phrase and take what you are given. In my experience, the specialty dishes in local restaurants are usually amazing. Of course, if you are a pickier eater, you may need to equip yourself with a few more phrases, such as…
I don’t eat meat – 我不吃肉 – wǒ bù chī ròu : I hang out with a lot of vegetarian hippies at home, so I think this one is useful as well. If you tell this to your waiter, they will understand and will bring you only veggie dishes.
I like/don’t like spicy food – 我喜欢吃辣/我不喜欢吃辣 : wǒ xǐ huan chī là/wǒ bù xǐh uan chī là – As a lot of Chinese food is really spicy, this is pretty important. If you can’t take the heat, well, you don’t need to get out of the kitchen… Just say this and they will cool it down a bit for you.
After one week in Korea, these are the phrases I wish I knew how to say in Korean. Memorize them in Chinese, and you won’t have the same problem when you pay a visit to the Middle Country.
