Chinese Studio 汉语对话 Lesson 053 Where Do You Live?

Cam: 大家好, 我是Cam. Welcome to Chinese Studio.
Yajie: 欢迎收听《欢乐汉语》, 我是YJ. Cam, I’ve heard you rent a bigger apartment. Is that true?
Cam: Yes. And I’ll hold a party in the new flat this weekend. Do you want to join us?
Yajie: Of course. Tell me 你住在哪儿？
Cam: What does that mean?
Yajie: The answer is just in Key Words of the Day. 

Key Words of the Day
Where do you live? 你住在哪儿？住, to live.号, number, 楼，building. 门, entrance, 房间, room. 学校, school， 饭店, hotel. Please stay tuned with Chinese Studio on China Radio International.

Yajie: 你住在哪儿？Where do you live? 住, to live. Fourth falling tone.住.
Cam: 在哪儿？(zài nǎr?) I remember we learned it before. 在哪儿？(zài nǎr?) , means ‘at where’. 你住在哪儿？(ni3 zhu4 zai4 nar3) Where do you live?
Yajie: So Cam, how to say “where does he live”?
Cam: 他住在哪儿？(ta1 zhu4 zai4 nar3)
Yajie: Not bad. Now more practice. Where does his father live?
Cam: 他爸爸住在哪儿？(ta1 ba4 ba zhu4 zai4 nar3)
Yajie: Where does the teacher live?
Cam:老师住在哪儿？(lao3 shi1 zhu4 zai4 nar3)
Yajie: Very good. So next time, when you want to find out where does someone live, you can say: Sb. +住在哪儿?

Conversation1:

Yajie:学校, school. We learned that before. 我住在学校. I live at school.
Cam: 我住在学校 (wo3 zhu4 zai4 xue2 xiao4). I live at school.
Yajie: 饭店, hotel. 北京饭店，a famous hotel in the capital city.
Cam: 北京饭店 (bei3 jing1 fan4 dian4)。

Conversation2:

Yajie: 2号楼, No. 2 building. 号, h-ao, the fourth tone, means number.  and楼, l-ou, the second tone, meaning building. 2号楼.
Cam: 2号楼,  (er hao lou) No. 2 building.
Yajie: Good. And 三门 (san1 men2), entrance 3. 门 (men2), door. Here it means entrance. But it’s usually attached with 儿（er）in spoken Chinese. So it’s: 三门儿(san1 men2 er), entrance 3.
Cam: 三门儿(san1 men2 er), entrance 3.
Yajie: 房间。Room. We also learned it before. Room 517 is 517房间 (fang2 jian1)
Cam: Interesting to know that. The figure comes first in Chinese.
Yajie: Right. In Chinese, we say the address like this: 2号楼三门儿517房间. 
Cam: That’s Room 517, entrance 3, Building No. 2. Pay attention to the sequence of the address. In Chinese, it is started from building to room, from the big object to the small.  

Conversation3:

Yajie: Now you remember how to answer the question 住在哪儿?  Right?
Cam: Right， Sb.+住在+ an address.

 Key Words Reminder
Where do you live? 你住在哪儿？住, to live.号, number, 楼，building. 门, entrance, 房间, room. 学校, school， 饭店, hotel 。