Lesson 136 Lovely animals.

M: Dàjiā hǎo. Huānyíng 收听 – to listen in to – shōutīng Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML.

S: Wǒ shì Stuart. Lesson 136 today, and it’s a fùxí kè. Listen, tīng, and repeat, chóngfù.

M: We’ll start with something really difficult. Let’s recite all the 12 dòngwù on the Chinese lunar calendar.

S: Start with ‘one rat’, then two something, then three, etc.

M: Here goes, one rat 一只老鼠 yì zhī lǎoshǔ; two oxen 两头牛 liǎng tóu níu; three tigers三只老虎 sān zhī lǎohǔ; four rabbits 四只兔子 sì zhī tùzi; five dragons五条龙 wǔ tiáo lóng; six snakes; 六条蛇 lìu tiáo shé.

S: Seven horses　七匹马 qī pǐ mǎ; eight sheep 八只羊 bā zhī yáng; nine monkeys 九只猴子 jǐu zhī hóuzi; ten chickens 十只鸡 shí zhī jī; eleven dogs 十一只狗 shí yī zhī gǒu; and the last, 最后一个 zuì hòu yī gè, twelve pigs 十二只猪 shí èr zhī zhū.

M: Hey, that’s pretty good. Time for a break.

M: Let’s continue. Don’t forget, listen, tīng, and repeat, chóngfù.

S: Hey, ML, look, on the floor there’s a snake. 嘿，曼丽，你看地板上有一条蛇 hei, ML, nǐ kàn, dìbǎn shàng yǒu yī tiáo shé.

M: 我不在乎 wǒ bú zàihu. 我不怕蛇 wǒ bú pà shé.

S: 外边还有一匹马.

M: wàibiān yǒu yì pǐ mǎ? 那太好了！我很喜欢骑马 nà tài hǎo le! Wǒ hěn xǐhuān qí mǎ.

S: 我也喜欢骑马 wǒ yě xǐhuān qí mǎ.

M: And then we saw, 山上有十只羊　shān shàng yǒu shí zhī yáng.

S: So what is a hill? Duì le! 山 SHAN shān. It also means ‘mountain’. And remember the measure word?

M: 一座山 yí zuò shān.

S: Duì le! It’s 座 ZUO zuò. Now, back to our animals.

M: 那座山上有十只羊. nà zuò shān shàng yǒu shí zhī yáng. And remember the word for goat? It’s 山羊, ‘hill sheep’ or ‘mountain sheep’, shānyáng. So we can also say, 那座山上有五只山羊。nàzuò shānshàng yǒu wǔ zhī shānyáng.

S: 树上有八只猴子 eight monkeys. shù shàng yǒu bā zhī hóuzi.

M: Now we see a few chickens, a few dogs, and some pigs. 现在我们看到了一些鸡, 一些狗，还有一些猪 xiànzài wǒmen kàn dào le yìxiē jī, yìxiē gǒu, hái yǒu yìxiē zhū.

S: 一些, remember, is ‘a few’ ‘some’ ‘a little’. Yìxiē jī.

M: 一些狗 yìxiē gǒu.

S: 还有一些猪 hái yǒu yìxiē zhū.

S: And let’s finish by saying, Now we see a few rats, four snakes, and a dragon.

M: 现在我们看到了一些老鼠, 四条蛇，还有一条龙 xiànzài wǒmen kàn dào le yī xiē lǎoshǔ, sì tiáo shé, hái yǒu yì tiáo lóng.

S: Hěnhǎo, xiànzài wǒmen xià kè. Zàijiàn.