1. As mentioned in the dialogue, 场 is used as a measure word for events. You could also use it to describe 一场雨, 两场棒球赛, 三场宴会 etc.

2. 把我吓死了 could be thought of as a more extreme version of 我被他吓到了.

3. 出 is used to describe “having” an accident as in 如果出车祸的时候有人受伤了.

4. 闯红灯 is equivalent to “running a red light” in English as seen in 他看到一台摩托车闯红灯.

5. 停下来 can be thought of as meaning “to come to a stop” as seen in 所以应该是他来不及停下来才撞到别人的车子吧 and 没办法马上把车停下来.

1. Notice the construction of this sentence: 因为每个国家对交通的规定都不太一样.

Literally, that’s “Since every country towards traffic rules all not too same.”

2. 骑车 literally means “riding a vehicle” so can be extended to scooters and other motorized vehicles.

3. Notice how a 红绿灯 is considered to be a 标志. As well, notice how we can refer to “the light of a traffic light” in 如果现在红绿灯的灯是红色的，是什么意思？ or just the traffic light being red in 在有些国家，红绿灯是红色的时候，不能右转.

4. Note that you “carry” a helmet, as opposed to “wear” a helmet in 骑车要戴安全帽.

5. While we wouldn’t normally say “to accidentally have an accident” in English, we see that literal usage in 因为要是有一天不小心发生车祸.

6. 叫 is the verb used to call for an ambulance in 可以打电话叫救护车.

1. Note a slightly different usage of the following words:

另外: 因为不但会听到一个对话来复习上一课教过的单字，还会在解释的部分另外教大家一些生字.

除了: 除了那些感冒的人才不会闻到他衣服的味道.

2. The dialogue in this lesson highlights the use of repeated adjectives to emphasize them.

a. 因为你的衣服髒髒的，闻起来还臭臭的.
b. 所以你现在穿的衣服跟裤子都湿湿的吗？
c. 如果有人穿着脏衣服，而且还有臭臭的味道，可能是衣服没洗.
d. 不但可以让乱乱的衣服变得好看一点，还可以让湿湿的衣服变干.

Similarly, verbs are also repeated to emphasize the action. Note how 一 is used to separate the double verb.

a. 我回家就马上用熨斗把那些衣服烫一烫.
b. 那么你可能需要把那些衣服洗一洗.

3. The man uses the 是 的 construction when he asks 咦，你是怎么知道的？

As has been explained previously, this construction is used when we are adding information to what is already known. The pieces of knowledge that are known and unknown are explained in the lesson:

这个女人应该知道她的朋友的家里有一个洗衣机. 可是这个男人不知道为什么这个女人会知道他家的洗衣机坏了.

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1. In this lesson we learned about 自助洗衣店. Other types of 自助 places include 自助加油站, 自助旅行 and 自助餐.

2. Notice the uses of the following particles:

再:

a. (先，再 construction): 你必须先选一台没人在用的洗衣机，在把衣服跟肥皂放进去.

b. 那你可以到附近的商店逛逛再回来拿你的衣服.

c. 所以我都会等到衣服洗好的时候再回家.

d. 嗯，衣服烫好了以后，最好挂在柜子里面, 要出去的时候再穿.

a. 再把衣服跟肥皂放进去

b. 我怕他们会把我的衣服拿去丢.

c. 你可以把衣服拿去外面.

d. 很多人会把洗好的衣服挂在外面. 让太阳跟风把衣服变得干一点.

e. 因为我都把她烫好的衣服穿着睡觉.

起来:

a. 早上起来，衣服看起来都乱乱的.

b. 那衣服除了挂起来，也可以…(折起来).

c. 有的衣服跟外套可以挂起来, 其他的可以折起来.

3. Notice how a sunny day is described as “the sun outside is very big” in 比如现在外面太阳很大.

1. The expression 气死我了 is used where an external situation is making you very angry. Some context would be required to define what that situation is. In the dialogue in this lesson, the speaker started off the conversation with this expression, so the natural response from the other speaker would be inquire what it was that was making the speaker so angry.

2. The verb “to ask” in English is used to ask a question as well as to ask someone to do something for you. In Chinese, however, these two situations use different verbs. 问 is used for questions while 请 is used to ask someone to do something, as seen in 所以她给我一张购物清单，请我去超市买一些日用品.

3. 才 is used in a couple of different ways in this lesson. In 我到超市的时候，才发现她写的内容太乱了, it is used to emphasize that the result (realizing that his mother had written too messily) occurred later than desired. However, in 这样才不会少买了一些东西, it is used to emphasize that this way is the only way we can guarantee that we don’t miss buying all the items we need.

4. Note the liberal usage of 把 in:

a. 她把我骂了一顿 (literally “she took hold of me and gave me a scolding”).
b. 我把自己照顾好就行了 (literally “holding myself and taking care is good enough”).
c. 我们通常会先写一张购物清单，把要买的东西先记下来 (literally “we normally will first write a shopping list to grab on to the things we want to buy and first put them into memory”).
d. 所以这个男人把买错的东西带回家 (literally “So this man took the wrong things he bought and carried them home”).

5. Note that the character 得 is a character that has been taught before, but has a new meaning and pronunciation here. In English, we might call that a “heterophonic homonym” – a word with the same spelling but different pronunciation and meaning, such as address (a location, or to pay attention to).

6. Recall that one way to say “give someone a helping hand” is to literally say “help someone’s busy” as seen in 所以这个男人想帮他妈妈的忙, which literally means “So this man wants to help his mother’s busy”. This construction comes from breaking up the word 帮忙, which is used in 因为是这个男人自己跟他妈妈说要帮忙的.

7. Here are some more examples of the sentence pattern and words taught in this lesson:

a. 把 A 看成 B
他因为要去面试很紧张，不小心把十点二十分看成四点五十分.
妹妹还小，常常把猫看成狗.
那个男人的头发留得很长，很多人都把他看成是女的.

b. 害
家里的闹钟坏了，害我早上睡过头了.
他不能来为什么不先跟我说，害我在咖啡馆等他等了两个多小时.
老闆今天突然叫我加班，害我不能回去吃完饭了.

c. 得
妹妹这次自己一个人出国旅遊，得到了不少有趣的经验.
她工作不但努力又认真，得到了很多人的称赞.
不知道这次数学考试能得几分.

1. As we saw in our last lesson, Chinese has its own form of abbreviations which involve taking the main characters from longer names and creating shorter versions. In this lesson we see two such examples in 超级市场 becoming 超市 and 蔬菜 跟 水果 becoming 蔬果.

2. We first saw 区 in lesson 113 in 吸烟区.

1. Note how the bank employee addresses her client with 您 rather than 你 to show respect in 请问您需要什么服务？

The client however doesn’t need to accord this same respect back to the employee so he simply says 你好，我要开户.

2. 双 is used in a similar way as “pair” is used in English.

一双翅膀
两双筷子
三双鞋子
四双袜子

3. Just like 健保 is the short form for 健康保险, there are many other examples where words with several words are cut down to two.

笔电 ＝ 笔记型电脑
奥运会 ＝ 奥林匹克运动会
国标舞 ＝ 国际标准舞
交警 ＝ 交通警察
超市 = 超级市场

1. Note the sentence pattern of 由于，所以 seen in 由于银行跟 钱 有很大的关系，所以今天的课，也会复习之前一百六十九课里面的一些单字. This is similar to how 因为 and 所以 are also used together.

2. Note how 来 has a much broader meaning than just “come”. We see another usage in 你可以用你的帐户来存款.

3. 这样 has been taught before as meaning “in this manner”. However, it can also mean “in this situation” as seen in 啊，所以你要买房子，或是车子的时候，可是你帐户里的钱还不够，这样你可以选择跟银行借更多的钱.

4. You can see that 信用卡 is made up of the same two words in Chinese as it is in English. Therefore, we also see the word 信用 used in the sentence 如果你想要从银行借钱的话，他们会先看看你之前借钱的经验，查查你的信用好不好.

5. A new expression 没多久 is used in 如果你借了钱，而且过没多久就把钱还了，那么他们应该会比较相信你，不难把钱借给你.

1. The 着 in 我戴着帽子是因为我刚刚去剪头发 extends the action of the verb 戴. So adding it changes “wear” to “wearing”.

2. Compare the following two sentences:

a. 我戴着帽子因为我刚刚去剪头发

b. 我戴着帽子是因为我刚刚去剪头发

The second sentence adds a 是 because the speaker wants to emphasize that he is wearing the hat solely because of his new haircut. In English, inflections in tone might be used to express such emphasis.

3. Notice how 好 can be used to mean “very” in place of 很 in 看起来好酷 and 可是我觉得这个发型好丑.

4. In 我才发现, the 才 emphasizes that the speaker found out later than he would have liked to.

5. Notice the construction of the sentence 那帮你剪头发的那个人他犯了什么错误? In Chinese it’s common to see the subject described first, followed by the action. So the literal meaning here is “So the person who cut your hair, what mistake did he make?”

You can see a similar construction in:

后面的，可以剪短一点没关系.

听这个女人说话的口气，这个男人应该不常戴帽子.

1. Note the usage of 才 in the question 那什么时候才用得到签证呢? This can be thought of meaning “What situation would have to exist before we needed to use a visa? The 才 therefore emphasizes that using a visa is based on the situational condition first being met.

2. Notice that while 剪头发 literally means “cut hair” it usually refers to “getting a haircut” as seen in the question 那如果你要剪头发，要去哪里剪?

However in the following example: 那你去这些地方的时候，除了剪头发，他们还可以帮你做什么? note how 帮你剪头发 is used to describe cutting your hair.

Other actions such as 洗头发, 吹头发 and 刮胡子 are usually actions that are performed by yourself, so if the context isn’t clear, you may have to specify who is performing the action on whom as seen in the question 为什么有些人要付钱让别人帮他们洗头发，吹头发，刮胡子等等.

3. 弄 is a verb used to describe actions that are vague (or unimportant). We see this in
可是他们帮你弄，跟你自己弄有什么不一样? Here the actions involve washing hair, blow drying hair and shaving, so 弄 is used to describe them.

4. 长短 which literally means “long short” refers to length. There are many examples of this in Chinese such as 大小 (literally: big small), 高低 (literally: tall low) etc.

5. In the example 像我通常会先给他们看我喜欢的歌手的照片. 这样他们就知道我想要的发型大概是怎样了, the 就 emphasizes that the result (knowing what hairstyle he wants) is directly related to the person showing them the picture.

1. Depending on the country, a 旅游签证 may be one of many types of 访问签证.

2. In the sentence 所以出国之前，你要先找到那一个国家的大使馆，然后申请对的签证，最后才可以成功地出国 the 才 emphasizes the condition of having to first obtain the correct visa before being able to travel.

只要你想的出来，就可以买得到 is a good sentence to remember, as this pattern can be used in many situations.

1. 听你这么说 is a new transition to use in conversations.

2. In addition to “having” friends, you can also “know” friends, as seen in 有可能他们认识了一些会说中文的朋友

都 and 就 are common in sentence patterns that don’t have direct English equivalents. The best way to understand their usage is to study more examples, which we hope to provide you in this course.

1. The word 活动 in Chinese has a more broad meaning than its English equivalent. Sales are considered to be a type of 活动, as seen in 这附近的一家百货公司从今天开始有一个特价的活动 and 通常一家商店有特价活动的时候，他们会希望很多客人去跟他们买东西.

2. 才 is used to contradict the other speaker in 才不是这样.

3. Jokes in Chinese that aren’t funny are considered to be “cold” as in 你说的话很冷.

1. 模特儿 is a transliteration of the English word for “model”.

2. 赶快 is made up of the characters “to be in a hurry” and “fast”.

3. The literal translation of the sentence 那广告里面，内容都在说些什么？ is “That advertisement inside content all at say some what?”

4. Note how 到 is used in the following examples to indicate complete and incomplete verb actions:
a. 让人很容易就注意到他们.
b. 可能就会买不到.
c. 要是他们送我的是我用不到的东西.

5. Take a look at the following videos for samples of some commercials in Taiwan and China:

1. In the last lesson we talked about the use of synonyms to improve your fluency by not always using the same words in the same situations. Another way to add variety is to note which words and particles have optional usage. We see a couple of them in today’s lesson:

a. 在 is not used in 今天的课，我们会听到一个对话. However, you could also add it by saying 在今天的课，我们会听到一个对话.

b. 说 is not used in 比如有些人生气的时候, 脸会变成红色的. However, you could also add it by saying 比如说有些人生气的时候, 脸会变成红色的.

c. 这个 is not used in 在句子里. You could add it though by saying 在这个句子里.

2. The 是 的 construction is used in the sentence 今天本来是要跟朋友去看一部电影的. In this case, the item between the 是 的 pattern is being emphasized, namely that the speaker was planning to “go with a friend to watch a movie”.

3. The literal meaning of the sentence 我快被她气死了 is very different from its English translation; however, this usage is quite common in Chinese. Literally it’s “I quickly by her angry death.” The speaker obviously wants to emphasize how angry she was by the other person’s actions.

4. We can see the usage of the verb 约 in the sentence 当时她约我看电影的时候，我们两个都开心的不得了 and 要是你跟别人有约，可是会晚一点到，你应该先跟那个人说一下.

5. The 才 in 因为这个女人的脸色看起来跟平常的不一样，所以这个男人才会问这个问题 is the conditional form emphasizing that the second action (the man asking the question) is occurring only because of the first one (the woman’s facial expression being different from normal).

We see a similar usage of 才 in 要是你跟别人有约，可是会晚一点到，你应该先跟那个人说一下，这样比较有礼貌. 而且才不会让那个人花时间等你. Here, the 才 emphasizes that the result of not making the person spend time waiting for you is dependent on the condition of you first telling the person that you are going to be late.

6. Note the construction of the following sentence: 我在电影院等她等了两个多小时. The action (waiting) is first described, then repeated with more details (waited for more than two hours).

7. Note how a movie being released is described in 很多电影公司每年都会推出一些好看的电影. The movies are literally “pushed out.”

1. We have learned the words 一样 and 不一样 before. In this lesson we see frequent use of 同 and 不同.

a. 我相信你们一定能在很多不同的情况下用到这些生字.
b. 我们希望可以慢慢教你们一些意思一样可是说法不同的单字.
c. 这样你们就可以用很多不同的单字来形容同一种情况.
d. 对，如果你们说中文的时候，总是用同一个单字，比如说，如果，那么你说的话就容易让人觉得无聊，因为听起来都是一样的.

2. Note the usage of 一个人 to mean “alone” in 我昨晚一个人在家的时候，听到一个奇怪的声音，让我觉得好害怕.

3. 非常 is different from 不得了 in that the latter is used at the end of statements whereas the former is used towards the front.

Compare 他的功课好的不得了 and 他的功课非常好.

4. Note how “if” is optional in the sentence 好，想要了解这些单字的用法跟句型，就是看更多的例子.

1. Notice how 看 is being used to say “depends” in 只是看你自己发现了没而已.

2. Many verbs in Chinese require an object after them, when they are being described on their own, such as 画画. Note how they can be separated in usage, as seen in 可是我觉得我画的画不好看.

3. We have learned 会 before. Here we see the usage of 很会 in:

a. 像很多人很会唱歌.
b. 也有些人很会玩乐器.
c. 我很会唱歌.
d. 像迈克尔杰克逊不但会唱歌，而且非常会跳舞.
e. 如果我看到一个女人很会跳舞，我会觉得她很棒.
f. 像有些人很会煮饭，修理东西等等.

4. 走开 is an expression that can be used to say “get lost.” We see it used in 而且我唱歌的时候，听到的人都会马上就走开.

1. Note how the word 感觉 can be used to expressing something “seeming to” as in 嗯，我觉得第五级的单字感觉比较难.

2. This lesson features a few modifications of words that we have seen before:

a. 烦 comes from 麻烦 as in 让一个西方人觉得很烦.
b. 招呼 comes from 打招呼 in 像我们最基本的招呼语是 “你好.”
c. 姓名 comes from 姓 and 名 in 对，另外像我们问别人的姓名.

3. Note how 还好 can mean “just ok” or “a good thing” as in the sentence 嗯，还好你先说了.

4. 贵 has been translated in the past as meaning “expensive.” Here we see that it also means “honorable” as in 您贵姓？ and 您贵公司.

1. Kirin uses 记住 in the sentence 可是我们的学生要怎么把那些生字都记住呢?

住 is added to verbs to signify the stabilization or fixation of the action being described. Compare 记 with 记住.

Similarly, later we hear 在我们的网站上，有更多的例子帮助他们把我们教过的生字记下来. Here, 记下来 is another way to describe the process of memorizing.

2. Compare 在我们的网站上 with 在上一课的文章里. Like in English, the first uses “on” while the second uses “in.”

3. Note the use of the suffix 着 indicating performing an action for an extended period in 像长时间看着电视对眼睛真的很不好 and 我们的身体也必须跟着做一些动作.

4. In the sentence 有一家聪明的公司，推出了最新款式的电视游戏机, you can think of the 推出 as metaphorically pushing out the product.

1. Like its English equivalent, 本来 is usually used when a change occurs that differs from the original expectation.

2. 消失 refers to a gradual fading away as opposed to an immediate disappearance.

3. 不过 can be used in place of 可是 or 但是.

4. The sentence 或许有一天他们也会选择住在中国也说不定 features a bit of redundancy since both 或许 and 说不定 mean the same thing.

1. As mentioned in the lesson, 成 is a post verb that can be appended to many verbs to form new meanings. Many of the examples in the lesson use a sentence pattern of 把 and 成 together.

2. Notice how the Chinese in these examples is a lot more specific than the English meaning:

a. 你可以帮我把错的答案改成对的吗？

b. 他们两个长得太像了. 我常常把哥哥看成弟弟.

c. 妹妹每次都把五块看成十块.

d. 因为他很喜欢唱歌，所以他常常把自己想成是歌星.

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1. 课程 can refer to a course in general or a specific lesson (as determined by context). We see Raphael use it in the line 在今天的课程中，我们要讨论教中文的方法.

2. We have introduced the word 弄 before in lesson 213, however it is used in a different manner in 可以帮助你们把中文最难的部分弄得更清楚. Here it is used in a “do / make” context.

3. Note the sentence pattern being used in: 这样你们可以一边听，一边看. It literally means “This way you can one side listen, one side look.”

4. Note the expanded usage of 对…来说 in:

a. 所以对很多母语是英文的人来说，学中文真的很难.
b. 我觉得对练习看中文字来说，这是一个很棒的方法.

5. Note the use of 来 in the following sentences:

a. 你们可以先用这个功能把自己的声音录下来. Here the 下来 suggests “recording the voice down”.
b. 把你们自己的想法跟意思说出来. Here, the 出来 suggests expressing the thoughts in an outward manner.

6. Note the ways to change express change using 变:

a. 你们听力的部分应该可以变得比较好.
b. 如果我们的网站变得很无聊
c. 让我们网站里的一些学习系统变得更好.

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As mentioned in the lesson, counting numbers up to 10 000 is easy in Chinese since you just have to know the word for hundred and thousand. However from 10 000 upwards it becomes confusing because 10 000 has its own word. So 100 000 becomes ten ten thousands, and 1 000 000 becomes one hundred ten thousands and so on. The same problem occurs with hundred million, which has its own word. Higher numbers then become multiples of that.

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1. 老师 are well respected in Chinese, so this 称谓 is used when addressing them. Unlike English, the title comes after a person’s last name.

2. As explained in the lesson, everything in Chinese needs Chinese character representation. So when importing foreign names, the closest Chinese sound equivalent is used. In this lesson, a few examples of famous people are given. Take a look at the vocabulary page for more examples.

3. The pronunciation of 亚当 in mainland China differs from Taiwan. While the speakers pronounce the 亚 with a third tone, mainland Chinese speakers pronounce it with a fourth tone.

4. Most Chinese names consist of three characters. Foreigners wanting to reside in Chinese communities are usually required to have an official Chinese name for ID purposes. The first character is usually an approximate sound from the person’s last name, while the last two characters can either be the Chinese equivalent of their English first name, or they can choose a more local sounding name here.

5. When translating Western names (especially famous people) into Chinese, there are usually multiple possibilities for the closest phonetic character. As a result, some names may have slightly different translations in Taiwan than in mainland China. The translations given in this lesson and on the vocabulary page are the mainland Chinese versions.

1. The sentence 我发现我变胖了，胖到七十几公斤 literally means “I found I have become fat, fat to seventy how many kilograms.”

2. 像是 and 像 are different ways of saying the same thing.

3. The speaker uses 少 and 多 to emphasize doing an action less often and more often respectively in 少用楼梯等等, 少吃一点零食 and 然后多吃蔬菜沙拉跟水果.

4. The speaker uses the “a little all no” sentence pattern to say 你说的一点都没错.

1. 受不了 is used differently in Chinese than in English, as seen in the sentence 天天看到外面堵车 真的很让我受不了.

2. The 才 in 最近几天才开始的 emphasizes that the time being described (a few days ago) is less than might be expected. We can see it used in the same way in the sentence 我上个礼拜才从新闻上听到这个消息.

3. Note the construction of the following sentence: 一开始，我用电子邮件把我的履历表寄给他们. The literal meaning is “In the beginning, I used email to take my resume, mail give to them.”

4. The 就 in the following sentences both emphasize the direct relation between the results (less cars and motorcycles on the street, and less chance of traffic) and the original condition (if more people work from home).

这样外面路上的车子跟摩托车就会变得越来越少，所以堵车的机会也就变小了.

5. As has been explained before, 并 is used to emphasize a statement that is opposite from what might be expected. We see it used in 所以这个工作对我来说并不难, where the speaker is stressing that the job is less difficult than might be expected.

1. In the sentence 你们应该知道我们第四级的课程快要结束了, the 快 is used to show an action that is about to take place (in this case, level 4 is about to finish).

Similarly, you might hear someone say 我们快到了.

2. Note the use of 越来越 in 最近，世界上有很多城市的经济发展越来越快, 也越来越好. In English, the word “expanding” already has the meaning of “more and more” built into it. However here, the “more and more” emphasis is placed on the “quickly” and “well” words.

3. Note how in addition to simply using 如果, we can also use 的话.

a. 如果你的公寓变得很乱的话…
b. 有这样的问题的话…

1. The 来 in 今天的题目我想让你来决定 is used figuratively to describe the person “coming” to a decision. This form is used often to soften the action being described. You can also see it used in 所以我们可以用今天的课来复习上一课教过的单字.

2. 好 can be added to the end of certain verbs to indicate that the action has been completed, as seen in 那你想好你未来的目标是什么了吗？ Here the speaker is asking if the thinking has been completed.

3. Be aware that 最近 can refer to the recent past or the near future, as seen in 所以我希望在最近几年，可以试着做一些不同的工作.

4. The 才 is used to indicate a condition in 因为他们对如何做出好喝的咖啡已经有很多的经验了, 所以他们的品牌才会变得那么有名. Their quality is famous because they have a lot of experience making good coffee.

5. The sentence 我希望有一天，可以跟一个有帅又有钱的人结婚 uses the 又, 又 pattern to indicate two positive qualities together.

6. Note the 先，再 sentence pattern in 可是要先看我的家人跟工作，还有环境怎么样，再做决定.