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M: Péngyǒumen, nǐmen hǎo! Huānyíng dào Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML
S: Wǒ shì Stuart.
M: Wǒmen yǐjīng xuéle, we have already learnt ‘early morning’. What is it, everybody?
S: Duìle! 早晨 zǎochén. And ‘morning’, which is?
M: méi cuò. 上午 shàngwǔ.
S: And ‘noon’, which is?
M: Right. 中午 zhōngwǔ.
S: And ‘afternoon’?
M: Méi cuò. 下午 xiàwǔ.
S: And evening?
M: Fēicháng hǎo. 晚上 wǎnshàng.
S: And also, Monday, Tuesday etc.
M: Xīngqī yī, xīngqī èr, xīngqī sān, xīngqī sì, xīngqī wǔ, xīngqī liù.
S: And what is Sunday?
M: Duìle. Xīngqī tiān, or xīngqī rì.
S: Hén hǎo!
S: And now, listen to this. Three different answers, all meaning exactly the same thing. Don’t forget, repeat everything. The question. ML, what day did you come to Beijing? 你哪天来的北京 ní nǎ tiān láide Bǎijīng?
M: First. 第一, dìyī: 我星期三来的北京wǒ xīngqī sān láide Bǎijīng.
Dì èr: 我周三来的北京 wǒ zhōu sān láide Běijīng.
Dì sān: 我礼拜三来的北京 wǒ lǐbài sān láide Běijīng.
S: Get it. Chinese has three ways to say ‘week’. Xīngqī, xīngqī, which we’ve learnt.
M: And 周 ZHOU st tone, zhōu .
S: And 礼拜LI BAI, 3rd tone, 4th tone, lǐbài. So, what are six ways of saying ‘I go Monday’?
M: Dì yī: 我星期一走 wǒ xīngqī yī zǒu.
S: Dì èr: 我周一走 wǒ zhōu yī zǒu.
M: Dì sān: 我礼拜一走 wǒ lǐbài yī zǒu.
S: That’s three. What about the other three? Duìle. We could use 去 qù, instead of 走zǒu.
M: And now, a trick question! With Stuart, think of how many ways you can say ‘Sunday’?
S: Let me think. Wǒ xiǎng yī xiǎng. Yī. 星期日xīngqī rì. èr. 星期天 xīngqī tiān. Sān. 礼拜日lǐbài rì. Sì. 礼拜天lǐbài tiān. Wǔ. 周日 zhōu rì. And, the sixth, dì liù ge. Zhōu t .. t… t…. Aha! You’re not catching me out that way, ML. We never say zhōu tiān. It’s always zhōu rì.
M: Stuart, you’re just too clever today! Nǐ jīntiān tài cōngmíng le!
S: As always.
M: I’ll catch Stuart out now! Ok, smart guy, use xīngqī, and say ‘five weeks’.
S: That’s too easy. Nà tài róngyì le. Five weeks: 五个星期 wǔ ge xīngqī.
M: Now use lǐbài, and say, ‘seven weeks’.
S: Nà tài róngyì le. 七个礼拜 qī ge lǐbài.
M: Now use zhōu, and say ‘eight weeks’.
S: Well, that’s 八周 instead of 八个周. Strange, but Chinese just always omit the ‘ge’ here.
M: Duì le! I’ve failed again.
S: Of course! 当然 dāngrán.
Now we can let everyone xiàkè. Zàijiàn.