Lesson 141 It’s Getting Colder and Colder.

M: Hello everyone, good to meet you again in ‘Learn Chinese Now’, 我是 ML.

S: 大家好！我是Stuart. Achoo! Excuse me, I must have caught a cold.

M: How come, Stuart? You were alright last time I saw you.

S: Yeah, but I walked back home when it began to rain, xiàyǔ, to rain.

M: Poor Stuart!

S: Achoo! These few days it’s been non-stop rain! Zhèjǐtiān yìzhízài xiàyǔ. 这几天一直在下雨。

M: Yes, and the weather’s getting colder and colder. 天气变得越来越冷了。

S: I hope tomorrow will be a sunny day so I can get some sunshine, 我希望明天是个大晴天，这样我就可以晒太阳了.

M: 可是天气预报说明天要下雪，而且还可能刮大风。But the weather report said tomorrow it will snow, and perhaps be quite windy! 可是天气预报说明天要下雪，而且还可能刮大风。

S: Oh, no!

S: Ok, let’s look at the new words. I caught a cold. 我感冒了 Wǒ gǎnmào le. Because it began to xiàyǔ, to rain, xiàyǔ.

M: And 天气变得越来越冷了。The weather is becoming colder and colder. 天气，weather. Lěng, LENG, third tone, lěng means cold. Yuèláiyuè, to become more and more sth. sth., yuèláiyuè. This is a fixed pattern in Chinese. So how do we say ‘becoming hotter and hotter’ in Chinese?

S: Duìle! Yuèláiyuè rè, yuèláiyuè rè.

M: And how to say ‘faster and faster’?

S: Méicuò. Yuèláiyuè kuài, yuèláiyuè kuài.

M: And one more. How do we say ‘more and more slowly’ in Chinese?

S: Fēichánghǎo! Yuèláiyuè màn, yuèláiyuè màn.

S: Oh, wǒ xīwàng míngtiān shìgè dàqíngtiān, zhèyàng wǒjìu kěyǐ shàishài tàiyángle.

M: xīwàng, XI WANG, first tone fourth tone, xīwàng, means to hope or wish.

S: Dà qíngtiān, qíng, QING, qíng here means sunny. Tiān here means ‘weather’. And usually people put a ‘dà’ in front of the word when it is a VERY sunny day without a cloud in the sky.

M: And shàitàiyáng. Tàiyáng, TAI YANG, tàiyáng, means the sun. And to ‘shài’ means to expose something to sunshine. So shàitàiyáng together mean to get some sun. Shàitàiyáng.

S: But the weather report said, tiānqìyùbào shuō, tomorrow it will snow! Míngtiān yào xiàxuě. Míngtiān yào xiàxuě.

M: Tiānqì, the weather, tiānqì. Yùbào, forecast, yùbào. Tiānqìyùbào, the weather report, or the weather forecast. Tiānqìyùbào.

S: Xiàxuě, XIA XUE, fourth tone third tone, xiàxuě, means ‘to snow’. Xià xuě. Tomorrow it will snow. Míngtiān yào xiàxuě. Míngtiān yào xiàxuě.

M: And it might be quiet windy as well. 而且还可能刮大风。而且还可能刮大风。Guā GUA ‘to blow’. fēng, ‘wind’, guāfēng ‘to be windy’, guāfēng. Remember the ‘dà’ in dàqíngtiān, which stresses that the sun is really bright? Here in ‘guādàfēng’ we meet the same ‘dà’, referring to a really strong wind. By the way, the ‘érqiě’ at the beginning of this sentence means ‘what’s more’, ‘in addition’.

S: Oh, dear! How do I get rid of my ‘gǎnmào’, my cold?

M: 朋友们，let’s xiàkè now and give Stuart time to have a good rest. Hope you’ll be ok tomorrow, Stuart!

S: Xièxiè, ML, and see you all tomorrow, guys!

M: Zaijian!