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Unit 15 Do you know him?

Dialogue

Jiă: Nĭ kàn, nà shì bú shì Zhōngguó rén?

甲 ： 你看，那是不是中国人？

A : Look! Is that a Chinese person?

Yĭ: Bú shì. Tā shì Hánguó rén.

乙： 不是。他是韩国人。

B : No.He is Korean.

Jiă: Nĭ rènshi bú rènshi tā?

甲 ： 你认识不认识他？

A : Do you know him?

Yĭ: Rènshi. Wŏmen shì línjū. Tā zhù xuésheng sùshè sān lóu shíwŭ hào, wŏ zhù

sān lóu shíqī hào.

乙： 认识。我们是邻居。他住学生宿舍 3 楼 15 号，我住 3 楼 17 号。

B : Yes. We are neighbors. He lives in student dorm No.15 on the 3rd floor.

I live in No.17 on the 3rd floor.

Jiă: Tā jiào shénme míngzi?

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甲 ： 他叫什么名字？

A : What is his name?

Yĭ: Tā jiào Tony. Tā yĕ xuéxí Hànyŭ.

乙： 他叫 Tony。他也学习汉语。

B : His name is Tony. He also studies Chinese.

Jiă: Tā hĕn shuài. Jièshào wŏmen rènshi, hăo ma?

甲 ： 他很帅。介绍我们认识，好吗？

A : He is cool. Introduce us to each, will you?

Yĭ: Hăo de. Wèi, Tony, qĭng nĭ lái yíxià.

乙： 好的。喂，Tony，请你来一下。

B : Sure. Hi, Tony, Please come here.

Tony: Shénme shìr?

Tony：什么事儿？

Tony: What’s up?

Yĭ: Wŏ jièshào yíxià: Zhè shì Jean, wŏ de tóngxué, zhè shì Tony, wŏ de péngyou.

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乙： 我介绍一下：这是 Jean，我的同学，这是 Tony，我的朋友。

B : Let me introduce you: This is Jean, my classmate; This is Tony, my friend.

Jiă: Nĭ hăo.

甲 ： 你好。

A : Hi.

Tony: Rènshi nĭ hĕn gāoxìng.

Tony：认识你很高兴。

Tony: Nice to meet you.

Yĭ: Tony, nĭ qù năr?

乙： Tony，你去哪儿？

B : Tony, where are going?

Tony: Wŏ qù shūdiàn măi shū.

Tony：我去书店买书。

Tony: I’m going to the bookstore to buy books.

Jiă: Wŏmen yĕ qù shūdiàn măi zhĭ hé bĭ. Wŏmen yìqĭ qù ba. Kàn, nà shì bú shì

xiàochē?

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甲 ： 我们也去书店买纸和笔。我们一起去吧。看，那是不是校车？

A : We are also going the bookstore to buy pens and paper. Let’s go together.

Look, is that a campus bus?

Yĭ: Shì. Wŏmen zuò xiàochē qù ba.

乙： 是。我们坐校车去吧。

B : Yes. Let’s go by bus.

Reading

Tony 是江华的朋友，也是他的邻居。他们都住学生宿舍。今天，Tony 不 忙，

他去邮局买邮票，还去书店买书。江华和他的同学 Jean 也去书店。他们一起

坐校车去书店。

路上，Jean 问 Tony 很多问题。她问 Tony 学什么。Tony 说他学中文，还学

化学。Jean 问他为什么学中文。他说，因为他妈妈是中国上海人，所以他学中文。

Jean 问 Tony，他爸爸妈妈现在在不在美国。Tony 说，他爸爸妈妈都在韩国。Jean

告诉 Tony，她爸爸妈妈也是上海人。她请 Tony 去她家玩儿。Tony 说他一定去。

Tony shì Jiānghuá de péngyou, yě shì tāde línjū. Tāmen dōu zhù xuésheng

sùshè. Jīntiān Tony bù máng, tā qù yóujú măi yóupiào, hái qù shūdiàn măi

shū. Jiānghuá hé tā de tóngxué Jean yě qù shūdiàn. Támen yìqǐ zuò xiàochē

qù shūdiàn.

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Lù shàng, Jean wèn Tony hĕn duō wèntí. Tā wèn Tony xué shénme. Tony shuō tā

xué Zhōngwén, hái xué Huàxué. Jean wèn tā wèishénme xué Zhōngwén. Tā shuō，

yīnwèi tā māma shì Zhōngguó Shànghăi rén, suŏyǐ tā xué Zhōngwén.

Jean wèn Tony， tā bàba māma xiànzài zài bú zài Mĕiguó? Tony shuō， tā bàba

māma dōu zài Hánguó. Jean gàosu Tony，tā bàba māma yě shì Shànghăi rén. Tā

qĭng Tony qù tā jiā wánr. Tony shuō tā yídìng qù.

Tony is Hua Jiang’s friend, and also his neighbor. They both

live in the student dorm. Today, Tony is not busy. He is going

to the post-office to buy stamps, and to the bookstore to buy

books. Hua Jiang and his classmate Jean are also going to bookstore.

They take the campus bus together to go to the bookstore.

On their way, Jean asks Tony a lot of questions. She asks Tony what

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he studies. Tony says he studies Chinese and also studies Chemistry.

Jean asks him why he studies Chinese. He says his mom is from Shanghai,

China, so he studies Chinese.

Jean asks Tony whether his parents are now in The United States. Tony

says both his parents are in Korea. Jean told Tony her parents are

Shanghainese too. She invites Tony to visit her family. Tony says he

will certainly go (he is glad to go).

Grammar

Affirmative-negative questions:

We have learned that to form a simple question in Mandarin Chinese,

we can just adding the question particle 吗 to a statement, without

making any change in the word order. For example:

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你是中国人吗？

Another way of framing questions is by putting together the affirmative

and negative forms of the verb. For example:

你 是 不是 中国人？ Are(or aren’t) you Chinese?

Aff. Neg.

她 去 不去 台湾？ Will she (or won’t she) go to Taiwan?

If the verb consistes of two syllables such as 认识,, 学习,there are two

ways to make up the affirmative-negative:

1. 认识不认识 学习不学习 介绍不介绍

2. 认不认识 学不学习 介不介绍

If the verb, no matter whether it is monosyllabic or disyllabic, is modified

by an adverb such as 都,也,很, there is no way to form an affirmative-negative

question. One exception is with the adverb 常. When 常 modifies a verb, the

affirmative-negative form falls on 常 instead of the verb. For example:

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你常不常去看你妈妈？ Do you often (or not) go to visit your mom?

When there are verbal constructions in series in the sentence, the first

verb is always the one used to form an affirmative-negative question.

For instance:

她来不来这儿看电视？ Will (or won’t) she come here to watch TV？

你们坐不坐车去？ Do (or don’t) you go by bus?

To moderate the tone, 呢 or 啊 can be used at the end of an affirmative-negative

question. For example:

美国车好不好呢？ Is an American car good (or not good)?

你说不说啊？ Will you (or won’t you) speak?

Indirect questions:

It is relatively easy to form an indirect question in Chinese. You just insert

the clause carrying the question in the outer frame, as if it were being quoted.

For example:

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她问："谁是中国人？" 她问谁是中国人。 She asks who is Chinese.

老师问我："你喜欢什么？" 老师问我你喜欢什么。 The Teacher asked me what

you

like

There are no shifts and turns in word order. Simply take off the quotation mark,

and change the question mark into a period. Some more examples:

妈妈问："你为什么不喝咖啡？" 妈妈问你为什么不喝咖啡。

Mom asked why you don’t drink coffee.

哥哥问我："妈妈的朋友住哪儿？" 哥哥问我妈妈的朋友住哪儿。

Older brother asked me where mom’s friend lives.

But if you want to turn a direct simple question into an indirect simple question,

you must change a question having the particle 吗 into affirmative-negative format.

For example:

她问我："老师忙吗？" 她问我老师忙不忙。

She asked me whether the teacher is busy.

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江华问我 ："你认识她吗？" 江华问我(我)认识不认识她。

Hua Jiang asked me if I know her.

我问她："你哥哥吸烟吗？" 我问她哥哥吸不吸烟 。

I asked her whether her older brother smokes.

You can also see that that there is no equivalent in Chinese of “if” or “whether”.

3. The conjunctions 因为, 所以:

因为 (yīnwèi) is an equivalent of English “because”, which introduces a clause of

reason, cause, etc. For example:

她常常去纽约，因为她的爸爸妈妈在纽约。

Tā chángcháng qù Niŭyuē, yīnwèi tā de bàba māma zài Niŭyuē.

She goes to New York often, because her parents are in New York.

所以 (suŏyǐ is an equivalent of English “so”, which introduces a clause of result,

effect, etc. For example:

他常常说中文，所以他的中文很好。

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Tā chángcháng shuō Zhōngwén, suŏyǐ tā de Zhōngwén hĕn hăo.

He speaks Chinese all the time, that’s why his Chinese is good.

In Mandarin Chinese, the conjunctions 因为，所以 can appear as a pair in a sentence.

When they work together, 因为 always goes first to give a reason or cause, and 所以

always follows to present an outcome, or an effect. For example:

因为我很忙，所以今天不看电视。

Yīnwèi wǒ hĕn máng, suŏyǐ jīntiān bú kàn diànshì.

I’m busy, so I won’t watch TV today.

因为我是她哥哥，所以我知道她不喜欢玩电脑。

Yīnwèi wǒ shì tā gēge, suŏyǐ wǒ zhīdao tā bù xĭhuan wán diànnăo.

Because I’m her older brother, I know she doesn’t like to play computer.

Speech Pattern

affirmative-negative questions:

1. 今天你忙不忙？不忙，你呢？我也不忙。我们去纽约玩儿，好吗？

2. 这是不是你的车？不是。我的车是美国车。

3. 你弟弟也住宿舍吗？对了。他住六楼。我住四搂。

4. 你常不常去看你妈妈？不常。可是我妈妈常来这儿看我。

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5. 请问，王老师在不在？在。请进，请坐，请喝茶。

1. Jīntiān nǐ máng bù máng? Bù máng, nǐ ne? Wǒ yě bù máng. Wŏmen qù niŭyuē wánr,

hăo ma?

2. Zhè shì bú shì nĭ de chē? Bú shì. Wŏ de chē shì Mĕiguó chē.

3. Nǐ dìdi yě zhù sùshè ma? Duì le. Tā zhù liù lóu, wǒ zhù sì lóu.

4. Nǐ cháng bú cháng qù kàn nǐ māma? Bù cháng. Kĕshì wǒ māma cháng lái zhèr kàn wǒ.

5. Qĭngwèn, Wáng lăoshī zài bú zài? Zài. Qĭng jìn, qĭng zuò, Qĭng hē chá.

1. Are you busy today? No, and you? I’m not busy either. Let’s go to New York to have fun,
OK?

2. Is this your car? No. My car is American-made.

3. Does your younger brother also live in the dorm? Yes. He lives on the 6th floor, and I live
on the 4th.

4. Do you often go to see your mom? No. But she comes here to visit me all the time.

5. Excuse me, Is Teacher Wang in? Yes. Come in, please. Sit down, please. Have some tea,
please.

Indirect questions:

1. 大夫问我喜欢喝什么茶。我说我喜欢喝中国茶。她说喝茶好。

2. 她问你，你妈妈的电话是多少。请告诉她，我也不知道。

3. 王老师问我，为什么不学中文。我说我很忙。

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4. 她妈妈问我，你吸不吸烟。我说，现在的学生都不吸烟。她说："真的吗？"

5. 她哥哥问她，她的朋友是不是美国人。她说不是。她告诉她哥哥，她的朋友是韩国人。

1. Dàifu wèn wǒ xĭhuan hē shénme chá. Wǒ shuō wǒ xĭhuan hē Zhōngguó chá. Tā shuō hē
chá hăo.

2. Tā wèn nǐ, nǐ māma de diànhuà shì duōshăo. Qĭng gàosu tā, wǒ yě bù zhīdao.

3. Wáng lăoshī wèn wǒ, wèishénme bù xué Zhōngwén. Wǒ shuō wǒ hĕn máng.

4. Tā māma wèn wǒ, nǐ xī bù xī yān. Wǒ shuō, xiànzài de xuésheng dōu bù xī yān. Tā

shuō:“Zhēnde ma?”

5. Tā gēge wèn tā, tā de péngyou shì bú shì Mĕiguó rén. Tā shuō bú shì. Tā gàosu tā gēge,

tā de péngyou shì Hánguó rén.

1. The doctor asked me what tea I like to drink. I said I like Chinese tea. He said drinking
tea is good.

2. She asked you what your mom’s phone number is. Please tell her I don’t know either.

3. Teacher Wang asked me why I didn’t study Chinese. I said I am busy.

4. Her mom asked me whether you smoke. I said nowadays’ students would not smoke.
She said: “Really?”

5. Her older brother asked her whether her friend is American. She said no. She told her
brother

her friend is Korean.

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