Lesson 167 He goes to university

M: Peng2you3men. Ni3men hao3! Huan1ying2 shou1ting1 Xian4zai4 Xue2 Han4yu3. Wo3 shi4 ML.

S: Da4 jia1 hao3. Wo3 shi4 Stuart. Well, we've learnt the some relations: son – er2zi, daughter – nv3er2, big brother – ge1ge, little brother – di4di, big sister – jie3jie, little sister – mei4mei, husband – zhang4fu, wife – qi1zi, and sweetheart – ai4ren2.

M: As we said, there's a special term for almost every relation in Chinese. Best to use your dictionary and learn them as required.

S: Too many of them! I usually get around the problem by saying something like, my elder sister's son, or my mum's younger brother, or whatever.

M: That's what we'll do now, and learn things like junior school, high school, and some academic subjects.

S: Not maths, I hope!

S: Today, ML is Mrs. Ma, Ma3 nv3shi4. She has some photos to show me.

M: Look! 看，这是我姐姐的儿子.　他八岁 zhe3 shi4 wo3 jie3jie de er2zi. Ta1 ba1 sui4. He goes to primary school, grade 3　他上小学三年级 ta1 shang4 xiao3xue2 san1 nian2ji2.

S: Who is this? 这是谁 zhe4 shi4 shei2?

M: 她是我哥哥的女儿 ta1 shi4 wo3 ge1ge de nv3er2.

S: Does she go to middle school? 她上中学了吗？ta1 shang4 zhong1xue2 ma?

M: Shi4 de. Grade two 二年级 er2 nian2ji2.

S: She's very pretty 她很漂亮 ta1 hen3 piao4liang4. Ah, who's this? 这是谁 zhe4 shi4 shei2?

M: 我丈夫的弟弟 wo3 zhang4fu de di4di. He goes to university 他上大学了。Ta1 shang4 da4 xue2le.

S: What does he study? 他学什么? ta1 xue2 shen2me?

M: Zoology 他学动物学 ta1 xue2 dong4wu4 xue2.

S: Is he very clever 他很聪明吗 ta1 hen3 cong1ming ma?

M: Much cleverer than you 比你聪明得多 bi3 ni3 cong1ming de duo1!

S: Now for the new stuff. ML said –

M: 他上小学三年级。 小学 literally，little learn, and it's the same xue2 as in school, xue2xiao4. xiao3xue2 is, of course, primary school, xiao3xue2. And for the ‘go' in ‘go to school',
we use shang4.

S: 三年级, 年级 NIAN JI nian2ji2, ‘grade' or ‘form'. xiao3xue2 san1 nian2ji2, primary school, grade 3. So everybody say, he goes to primary school, grade four. Hen3 hao3. 他上小学四年级 ta1 shang4 xiao3xue2 si4 nian2ji2.

M: xiao3xue, easy. And so are middle school and university. 中学 zhong1xue2, and ‘big xue2' 大学 da4xue2.

S: So everybody say, My son goes to middle school, my daughter is at university.

M: Fei1chang2 hao3. 我儿子上中学，我女儿上大学 wo3 er2zi shang4 zhong1xue2, wo3 nv3er2 shang4 da4xue2.

M: And before we finish. What is a dong4wu? Dui3le. Animal.

S: And 动物学 is ‘animal study', zoology. Just put a xue2 on the end, and we have the academic subject.

M: Now, if 数 means ‘number', what is 数学shu4xue2?

S: Answer next lesson. Zai4 jian4.

M: zai4jian4!