When we mentioned the topic of family in Lesson 3. It was said that Chinese people are very interested in asking questions about personal life, such as age, marriage even salary. This is a way to show concern and to get close to people.

Today’s dialogue will give an idea what kind of things Chinese people normally talk about. Let’s learn the basic expressions for today’s conversation.

Mrs. Wang and her daughter, Wang Ying have the same surname “Wang” when she is called tàitai Mrs. But, in fact, in mainland China, a married woman (unlike women outside PRC) does not change her surname nor add her husband’s surname before her own surname.

It is a combination of dà大big and xué学study. The combination of zhōng中 middle and xué学study means middle school. In the same way, you can work out the combination for primary school in Chinese.

nĭ shénme shíhou bìyè?

you what time finish studies

nĭ cóng năge dàxué bì yè?

you from which university finish studies

nĭ bìyè duōjiŭ le?

you finish studies how long LE

wŏ cóng dàxué bìyè wŭ nián le.

I from university finish studies 5 years LE

wŏ gāng xuéxí Hànyŭ.

我刚学习汉语。

I just study Chinese.

tā gāng qù guo yóujú.

he just go GUO post office

tā māma gāng dào Yīngguó.

her mother just arrive UK

Lĭ Fāng hé Wáng Yīng dōu hĕn piàoliang.

李方和王英都很漂亮。

Li Fang and Wang Ying both very beautiful.

Bĕijīng Dàxué gēn Niújīn Dàxué yíyàng piàoliang.

北京大学跟津大学一样 漂亮。

Beijing University WITH Oxford University same beautiful

Guìlín de fēngjĭng piàoliang bùpiàoliang?

Guilin DE scenery pretty not pretty

It is used as an adjective or stative verb.

zhè ge dàxué yŏu hĕn duō rén.

这个大学有很多人。

this GE university has very many people

zhè ge dàxué rén hĕn duō.

这个大学人很多。

this GE university people very many

他的书比我的(书)多。

his books BI my books many

nĭ bàba de qián duō bu duō ?

你爸爸的钱多不多 ？

Your father’s money much not much

We know that多can be used to form questions to ask how many and how much, such as

duō多how many + shăo少 few = duōshăo 多少 how many.

duō 多 how + cháng长 long = duōcháng 多长 how long.

duō多 how + jiŭ久long time = duōjiŭ 多久how long time.

duō 多how + dà大big (for size and age) = duōdà 多大how old or how big.

妹妹               小 ，    姐姐          大 。

younger sister younger, older sister older

Zhōngguódà, Yīngguó xiăo.

中国 大， 英国 小。

China big, UK small

èr二 also means two. Liăng 两 is used before a measure word. For example,

liăng ge rén 两个 人two people

liăng běn shū 两本书two books

It is used before qiān 千 thousan; wàn 万 ten thousand; yì 亿 hundred million.

It is used before following nouns or numbers:

a. liăng xīngqī 两星期 two weeks

b. liăng nián 两年 two years

c. liăng tiān 两天 two days

d. liăng bànr 两半儿 two halves

e. liăng bèi 两倍 two times

This phrase is in a V-O pattern.

This construction is used to express emphasis on subjects or objects of sentences. The emphasized part is placed after in lián 连 even. The lián 连 even clause precedes the dōu都 clause, as showed below.

a. tā lián míngzi dōu bù zhīdao.

他 连 名字 都 不 知道。

he EVEN name DOU not know

b. tā lián yí ge péngyou dōu méi you.

她 连 一个 朋友 都 没 有。

she Even 1 GE friend DOU not have

This construction was introduced in Lesson 11. In this lesson …shi 是…de 的is used to clarify a certain type of work in which one is engaged, the phrase which is placed between …shì 是and de 的 is often in a V-O pattern, as in

我是 学 中文 的。

I SHI study Chinese DE

I study Chinese.