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How to ask someone’s plans
This video focuses on how to ask about your friend's plans and different means of transportation.
[PIANO MUSIC]
Li Yameng: Lydia, National Day is coming.
Lydia: Yeah, I’m very happy. I can go travelling now. Do you have any plans? Nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme?
Li Yameng: Wǒ dǎsuàn qù Xī’ān kàn bīngmǎyǒng.
Li Hui: Very good. “Dǎsuàn” means plan to do something. So you should be able to get what “Nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme” means. You can answer like “Wǒ dǎsuàn qù Xī’ān kàn bīngmǎyǒng”.
“Qù Xī’ān” happens first, and then “kàn bīngmǎyǒng”. Here are some more examples. Qù Rìběn kànhuā. Qù shítáng chīfàn. Qù yīyuàn kànbìng. Nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme?
Li Hui: Wǒ dǎsuàn qù Chéngdū kàn wǒde lǎoshī.
I plan to go to Chengdu to visit my teacher.
Li Yameng: When do you plan to head out? Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhou qù?
Li Hui: Wǒ dǎsuàn 9yùe30hào qù.
I plan to go there on September 30th. “Shénme shíhou” means “when”. Please try to answer these questions by yourself. Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhou chī wǎnfàn? Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhou kāi “party”?
Li Yameng: Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhou qù Xī’ān?
Li Hui: Wo dǎsuàn 10yuè1hào qù Xī’ān.
Li Yameng: Nǐ dǎsuàn zěnme qù Xī’ān?
Li Hui: Wǒ dǎsuàn zuò huǒchē qù Xī’ān.
The phrase “zěnme” plus verb is used to ask how to do something, such as “Nǐ zěnme qù Xī’ān? “ “Zhègè Hànzì zěnme dú? “ “Zhègè Hànzì zěnme xiě?” “ ‘plan’ yòng Hànyǔ zěnme shuō?”
Li Yameng: Lydia, Nǐ dǎsuàn zěnme qù Chéngdū?
Li Hui: Wǒ dǎsuàn zuò fēijī qù Chéngdū.
I got a cheap ticket.
Li Yameng: Great. Now let’s take a look at some words about the means of transportation. “fēijī”, ‘huǒchē”, “gāotiě”, “dìtiě”, “gōnggòngqìchē”, “chūzūchē”, “chuán”
“Zuò” plus a means of transportation is used to express taking a certain kind of transportation in Chinese. Like “zuò fēijī”, “zuò huǒchē”, “zuò gāotiě”, “zuò gōnggòngqìchē”, “zuò chūzūchē”.
Please pay attention, this phrase is put before the word “qù”. For example, “zuò huǒchē qù Xī’ān”, “zuò fēijī qù Chéngdū”, “zuò fēijī qù Shànghǎi”.
You have already learned how to ask about others’ plans, so we would like to know about your plans.
Li Hui: Nǐ dǎsuàn qù Zhōngguó ma? Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhou qù Zhōngguó? Nǐ dǎsuàn zěnme qù Zhōngguó?
Li Yameng: Hope what you have learned with us can help you live in China.
Li Hui: Welcome to China. Zhōngguó huānyíng nǐ!
This video focuses on how to ask about your friend’s plans and different means of transportation.
The following expressions are what you can use to talk about the topic of travelling plans.
- 你打算做什么？ (Nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme?) What do you plan to do?
- 我打算去西安看兵马俑。 (Wǒ dǎsuàn qù Xī’ān kàn Bīngmǎyǒng.) I plan to go to Xi’an to visit Terracotta Army.
- 你打算什么时候去？ (Nǐ dǎsuàn shénme shíhòu qù?) When do you plan to go?
- 我打算9月30号去。 (Wǒ dǎsuàn 9 yuè 30 hào qù.) I plan to go there on September 30.
- 你打算怎么去西安？ (Nǐ dǎsuàn zěnme qù Xī’ān?) How do you plan to go to Xi’an?
- 我打算坐火车去西安。 (Wǒ dǎsuàn zuò huǒchē qù Xī’ān.) I plan to travel to Xi’an by train.
“坐(zuò) + a means of transportation”is used to express taking a certain kind of transportation in Chinese.
For instance,
- 坐飞机(zuò fēijī) to travel by air
- 坐火车(zuò huǒchē) to travel by train
- 坐高铁(zuò gāotiě) to travel by high speed train
- 坐公共汽车(zuò gōnggòngqìchē) to take a bus
- 坐出租车(zuò chūzūchē) (in speaking, you can also say “打车(dǎchē)”.) to take a taxi
- 坐船(zuòchuán) to take a boat
Please pay attention, this phrase is put before the verb “去(qù, go)”.
If there is anything you would like to learn more about this topic, please don’t hesitate to share with us.
This article is from the online course:
Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Conversation
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This article is from the free online
Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Conversation
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