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Unit 12 He is at the foreign languages institute.

Dialogue

Jiă: Qĭng wèn, zhè shì wàiyŭ xuéyuàn xuésheng sùshè ma?
甲 : 请问，这是外语学院学生宿舍吗？
A : Excuse me, is this the student dorm of the Foreign Languages Institute.

Yĭ: Shì.
乙: 是。
B : Yes.

Jiă: Xuésheng sùshè sì sān wŭ hào zài năr?

甲 : 学生宿舍四三五号在哪儿？
A : Where is student dorm No.435?

Yĭ: Zài nàr. Nĭ zhăo shuí/shéi?

乙: 在那儿。你找谁？
B : It is over there. Who are you looking for?

Jiă: Wŏ zhăo Dàwèi. Tā shuō tā zhù sì sān wŭ hào.

甲 : 我找大为。他说他住四三五号。
A : I’m looking for Dawei. He says he resides in student dorm No.435.

Yĭ: Dàwèi...nĭ shì...

乙: 大为....你是....
B : Dawei…You are….

Jiă: Wŏ shì Dàwèi de péngyou, wŏ jiào Shìhăi. Dàwèi zài ma?

甲 : 我是大为的朋友，叫世海。大为在吗？
A : I am a friend of his. My name is Shihai. Is Dawei in?

Yĭ: Tā bú zài. Tā zài Wàiyŭ xuéyuàn.

乙: 他不在。他在外语学院。
B : No. He is at the Foreign Languages Institute.

Jiă: Xièxie. Wŏ qù nàr zhăo tā. Zàijiàn.

甲 : 谢谢。我去那儿找他。再见。
A : Thank you. I’ll go and look for him there. Bye.

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Reading

世海的朋友 David 是美国人。他是外语学院的学生。

可是外语学院的老师和学生只知道他叫大为，不知道他叫 David。

大为住宿舍。他住四三五号。四三五号不大，可是很干净。大为很喜欢他的房间。

他常常请他的朋友去他那儿玩，喝中国茶，看中文电视，说中文。

今天，世海去学生宿舍找他。他不在。他的室友说他在外语学院。

现在，世海去那儿找他。

Shìhăi de péngyou David shì Mĕiguó rén. Tā shì Wàiyŭ xuéyuàn de xuésheng.

Kĕshì Wàiyŭ xuéyuàn de lăoshī hé xuésheng zhĭ zhīdao tā jiào Dàwèi, bù

zhīdao tā jiào David.

Dàwèi zhù sùshè. Tā zhù sì sān wŭ hào. Sì sān wŭ hào bú dà, kĕshì hĕn gānjìng.

Dàwèi hĕn xĭhuān tā de fángjiān. Tā chángcháng qĭng tā de péngyou qù tā nàr

wán, hē Zhōngguó chá, kàn Zhōngwén diànshì, shuō Zhōngwén.

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Jīntiān, Shìhăi qù xuésheng sùshè zhăo tā. Tā bú zài. Tā de shìyŏu

shuō tā zài Wàiyŭ xuéyuàn. Xiànzài, Shìhăi qù nàr zhăo tā.

Shihai’s friend David is American. He is a student at the Foreign

Languages Institute. But, the teachers and the students at the

Foreign Languages Institute know him only as Dawei, not as David.

Dawei lives in the dorm. He lives in Rm. 435. Rm. 435 is not big,

but very clean. Dawei likes his room very much. He often invites

his friend to his place to have fun. (They) drink Chinese tea,

watch Chinese TV, and speak Chinese. Today, Shihai went to the

student dorm to look for him. He was not in. His roommate said

he was at the Foreign Languages Institute. Now, Shihai is going

there to look for him.

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Grammar

1. The demonstrative place names "这儿", "那儿":

这儿( here ), 那儿(there) can be used as localizers that can combine with

pronouns, proper nouns, and nouns. For example:

我这儿 wŏ zhèr my place

王老师那儿 Wáng lăoshī nàr Teacher Wang’s place

外语学院那儿 wàiyŭ xuéyuàn nàr the Institute of Foreign Languages there

2. Time-word:

Time words such as 今天，现在 etc. can function as nouns, and can be used an

adjective to modify another noun. For example:

今天的老师 jīntiān de lăoshī today’s teacher

现在的学生 xiànzài de xuésheng nowadays students

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Times words may also function as adverbs. As adverbs they must precede the

verb, and they can come before or after the subject. For example:

今天她去外语学院。 Jīntiān tā qù wàiyŭ xuéyuàn.

Today she’ll go to the Foreign language Institute.

你现在看什么？ Nĭ xiànzài kàn shénme? What are you reading now?

Speech Pattern

Pronunciation notes:

Retroflex final “er”:

“er” is also considered as a simple final as “a, o, e, i, u”. To form

this sound, you should first get your mouth in the position for forming “e”,

but with the middle front rather than the middle back part of the tongue raised.

The other important difference is that the tip of the tongue must be raised and

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curl back over the tongue itself. This curling back is what is meant by “retroflex”.

This final some what like “er” in American English “her”.

The final “er” can stand by itself as a syllable. But it can also function as

a suffix. When it became a suffix, it is spelt as “r”. For example: 玩(to play),

can both be “wán” and “wánr”. Phonetically, what happens when “er” becomes

suffix is that it drops its “e” and simply becomes “r”, and this “r” is hooked

onto the syllable in question. When a syllable has a front nasal ending “n”,

the “n” is dropped; when a syllable has a back ending “ng”, the “ng” fuses with

“r” to form a nasalized vowel. Try the following syllables:

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a. èr shì'èr érzi értóng érhuà

b. huār shìr niăor yìr màor yér

c. wánr duănr diănr

d. diànyĭngr diàndēngr

This retroflex final is transcribed into character as 儿.

Speech Patterns:

1. Place names 这儿，那儿:

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1. 去我那儿吧。你那儿好吗？

2. 他去谢京那儿看电视。

3. 这儿的经济很好。北京那儿好吗？

4. 坐我这儿吧。 谢谢。

5. 你去哪儿找他？我去宿舍那儿找他。他也不在。

1. Qù wŏ nàr ba. Nĭ nàr hăo ma?

2. Tā qù Xiè Jīng nàr kàn diànshì.

3. Zhèr de jīngjì hĕn hăo. Bĕijīng nàr hăo ma?

4. Zuò wŏ zhèr ba. Xièxie.

5. Nĭ qù năr zhăo tā? Wŏ qù sùshè nàr zhăo tā. Tā yĕ bú zài.

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1. Let’s go to my place. Is your place nice?

2. He went Xie jing’s place to watch TV.

3. The economy here is good. How is (it) in Beijing?

4. Take my seat (or: Sit next to me). Thank you.

5. Where did you go to look for him? I went the dorm to look for him. He is not there, either.

2. 在 as a verb:

1. 你妈妈也在这儿吗？她不在这儿，在台湾。

2. 你知道外语学院在哪儿吗？不知道。我们看地图吧。

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3. 你的车在哪儿？不在这儿。在我哥哥那儿。

4. 你是哪国人？我是日本人。日本在亚洲吧？在。

5. 世海在吗？不在。他在宿舍。他的宿舍在哪儿？在经济学院。

1. Nĭ māma yĕ zài zhèr ma? Tā bú zài zhèr, zài Táiwān.

2. Nĭ zhīdao Wàiyŭ xuéyuàn zài năr ma? Bù zhīdao. Wŏmen kàn dìtú ba.

3. Nĭ de chē zài năr? Bú zài zhèr. Zài wŏ gēge nàr.

4. Nĭ shì năguó rén? Wŏ shì Rìbĕn rén. Rìbĕn zài Yàzhōu ba? Zài.

5. Shìhăi zài ma? Bú zài. Tā zài sùshè. Tā de sùshè zài năr? Zài Jīngjì xuéyuàn.

1. Is your mom also here? She is not here. (She) is in Taiwan.

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2. Do you know where is the Foreign Languages Institute? No. Let’s check the map.

3. Where is your car? Not here. (It) is in my older brother’s place.

4. What is your nationality? I’m Japanese. Is Japan in Asia? Yes.

5. Is Shihai in? No. He is in the dorm. Where is his dorm? In the College of Economics.

w?

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