Lesson 042 What’s Your Nationality?

M: Pengyoumen, huanying dao Xianzai Xue Hanyu. Wo shi ML
S: Wo shi Stuart. Let’s not waste time, wo men bu yao langfei shijian.
M: yi er san, kaishi!
S: And we kaishi with the your homework, nimen de gongke.
M: Yes, you should have been speaking loudly to yourself in Chinese for at least 15 minutes.
S: Now, we’ll ask you, 他, or 他们，是哪国人? Ta, or tamen, shi nei guo ren?
M: And you answer, ‘American’. 准备，get ready, zhunbai. Kaishi.
S: Ta shi ne guo ren?
M: Dui le! Ta shi meiguo ren. Ta shi meiguo ren.
S: Now answer, New Zealanders. Tamen shi nei guo ren?
M: Hen hao! Tamen shi Xinxilan ren. Tamen shi Xinxilan ren.
S: Now, British. Ta shi nei guo ren?
M: Dui le! Ta shi Yingguo ren. Ta shi Yingguo ren.
S: Now, Aussies. Tamen shi nei guo ren?
M: Tamen shi Aodaliya ren. Tamen shi Aodaliya ren.
S: Too easy, 太容易, tai rong yi. So try this. Three are Irish, two are Canadians. Tamen shi neiguo ren?
M: Dui le, tai hao le! 三个是爱尔兰人，两个是加拿大人. San ge shi Aierlan ren. Liang ge shi Jianada ren.
S: Refreshed after that long break, here we go again. If you want to use a classifier for people that is a bit formal, you can use 位，wei WEI wei, instead of ge. Let’s try it, again, three Irish, two Canadians. Tamen shi nei guo ren?
M: 三位是爱尔兰人，两位是加拿大人. San wei shi Aierlan ren. Liang wei shi Jianada ren.
S: Pretty good! Try using wei again, but this time it’s ‘two New Zealanders, four Americans’. Tamen shi nei guo ren?
M: 两位是新西兰人，四位是美国人. Liang wei shi Xinxilan ren, si wei shi Meiguo ren.
S: 再来一次，once again, zai lai yi ci. This time all on your own, then ML will say it with you. Tamen shi nei guo ren?
M: ….两位是新西兰人，四位是美国人. Liang wei shi Xinxilan ren, si wei shi Meiguo ren.
S: Tai hao le! You’re all so clever. 你们都这么聪明, nimen dou zheme congming! Agree ML? 你同意吗?

M: Wo tongyi.
S: One more thing before we go. 美国人, meiguo ren, we know means ‘American person’, an American.
M: But how do we say ‘American’ as an adjective? Like in ‘it’s American’. We say, 美国的, Meiguo de. Add the little ‘de’. Meiguo de.
S: A bit of grammar now. The de is a possessive particle. We’ve learnt it in mine, wo de, yours, ni de etc. So meiguo de literally means ‘of America’, that is, American. Or it could mean, ‘belongs to America’. It depends on the context.
M: Now, for your gongke, homework, look at different things around you, imagine something is American, or comes from America, and say 那是美国的, That’s American, na shi meiguode. Then do the same with the other countries we’ve learnt.
S: Including Zhonguo. Study hard! Hao hao xuexi.
M: zai jian.