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How to express health problems
At the beginning of this video, the instructor Lydia doesn't look very well and then, her partner, Amy, asks her a question.
[PIANO MUSIC]
Li Hui: Amy, I want to go back now.
Li yameng: Lydia, nǐ zěnmele?
Li Hui: Wǒ tóuténg.
Li yameng:Nǐ bìng le ma?
Li Hui: Méiyǒu.Wǒ tài lèi le.
Li yameng: Are you familiar with this context in your life? If someone doesn’t feel very well, you can ask him or her “Nǐ zěnmele”. “Zěnmele” means “what’s the matter”. It’s used to inquire about the condition of someone. Try to answer these questions using the following words. kùn,è, bìng, lèi. Tā zěnmele?
Li Hui:Tā kùn le. Tā è le. Tā bìng le. Tā lèi le.
Amy, I want to go back first.
Li yameng: Nǐ zěnmele?
Li Hui: Wǒ yǒudiǎnr fāshāo.
Li yameng: Nà nǐ xīu xixīuxi ba.
Li Hui: Hǎode.
Li yameng: I will introduce the words about illness. Please try to memorise these three words. Tā zěnmele? Tóuténg, fāshāo, lādùzi.
Li Hui: Amy, nǐ jīntiān wǎnshàng zuò shénme?
Li yameng: Wǒ jīntiān wǎnshàng yào zài jiā xīuxi. Nǐ ne?
Li Hui: Wǒ tóu hěn téng. Wǒ xiǎng qù yīyuàn kànbìng.
Li yameng: Wǒ péi nǐ ba.
I will go with you.
Li Hui: Oh, you are so kind. Let’s take a look at this sentence. Wǒ jīntiān wǎnshàng yào zài jiā xīuxi.
I want to rest at home tonight. “Zài” means at or in. Such as “zài Zhōngguó”, “zài Shànghǎi”, “zài xuéxiào”, “zài jiā”.
Chinese is different from the sentence structure in English because we always put the time or location before the verb. For example, “zài Shànghǎi xúe Zhōngwén”, “zài jiiā xīuxi”.
If the time and the location words both occur in a sentence, the time word is put before the location word. Please put the following words in the correct order.
Wǒ wǎnshàng zài FutureLearn xué Zhōngwén. Wǒ hé bàba māma xīngqītiān wǎnshàng zài jiā chīhuǒguō.
“Yào” can also refer to the future tense, meaning “will do something”. For example, wǒ xiàwǔ yào xúe Zhōngwén. Wo xiàwǔ yào zài xúexiào xué Zhōngwén.
Li yameng: We have learned two useful phrases. The first one is “Nǐ zěnmele”. Do you remember in what kind of situation we would use this question?
Li Hui: The second one is “Wǒ jīntiān wǎnshàng yào zài jiā xīuxi”.
Don’t forget to put the time and location words before the verb, and make sure to practise more.
At the beginning of this video, the instructor Lydia doesn’t look very well and then, her partner, Amy, asks her a question. audio
- 你怎么了？ (nǐ zěnmele?) What’s the matter with you?
- 困(kùn) sleepy
- 饿(è) hungry
- 病(bìng) sick
- 累(lèi) tired
In order to answer the question, you can put the word between “我(wǒ)” and “了(le)”.
Here are some other words about illness.
- 头疼(tóuténg) headache
- 发烧(fāshāo) have a fever
- 拉肚子(lādùzi) have diarrhea
In Chinese, the sentence pattern for general actions is as follows.
Subject + Time + 在 Location + Verb
我晚上在家学中文。 (Wǒ wǎnshang zài jiā xué Zhōngwén.)
I study Chinese at home tonight.
我晚上在家学中文。 (Wǒ wǎnshang zài jiā xué Zhōngwén.)
I study Chinese at home tonight.
“在(zài)” means “at” or “in”,
such as
such as
- “在中国(zài Zhōngguó)”
- ”在上海(zài Shànghǎi)”
- “在学校(zài xuéxiào)”
- “在家(zài jiā)”
Chinese is different from the sentence structure in English, because we always put the time or location before the verb.
For example,
If the time and the location words both occur in a sentence, the time word is put before the location word.
- “在上海学中文(zài Shànghǎ xué Zhōngwén)”
- ”在家休息(zài jiā xiūxi)”
This article is from the online course:
Introduction to Chinese: Conversation
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