Chinese For Dummies (17 page)

And if you want to turn the sentence into a question, just add
méiyǒu
没有
(mayo) at the end. It automatically negates the action completed by
le:

Nǐ mǎi le hěn duō shū méiyǒu?
你买了很多书没有
? (
你買了很多書没有
? (nee my luh hun dwaw shoo mayo?) (
Have you bought many books?/Did you buy many books?
)

Tā dài le tāde yǔsǎn méiyǒu?
他带了他的雨伞没有
? (
他帶了他的雨傘没有
?) (tah dye luh tah-duh yew-sahn mayo?) (
Did he bring his umbrella?
)

Another aspect marker is
guò
过
(
過
) (gwaw). It basically means that something has been done at one point or another even though it's not happening right now:

Tā qù guò Měiguó.
他去过美国
. (
他去過美國
.) (ta chyew gwaw may-gwaw.)
(
He has been to America.
)

Wǒmen chī guò Fǎguó cài.
我们吃过法国菜
. (
我們吃過法國菜
.) (waw-mun chir gwaw fah-gwaw tsye.) (
We have eaten French food before.
)

If an action is happening just as you speak, you use the aspect marker
zài
在
(dzye):

Nǐ māma zài zuòfàn.
你妈妈在做饭
. (
你媽媽在做飯
.) (nee mah-mah dzye dzwaw-fahn.) (
Your mother is cooking.
)

Wǒmen zài chīfàn.
我们在吃饭
. (
我們在吃飯
.)
(waw-mun dzye chir-fahn.) (
We are eating.
)

When using the aspect marker
zài,
you can also add the word
zhèng
æ­£
(juhng) in front of it to add emphasis. It can be translated as
to be right in the middle of [doing something].

If something is or was happening continually and resulted from something else you did, just add the syllable
zhe
着
(juh) to the end of the verb to say things like the following:

Nǐ chuān zhe yí jiàn piàoliàng de chènshān.
你穿着一件漂亮的衬衫
. (
你穿著一件漂亮的襯衫
.) (nee chwan juh ee jyan pyaow-lyahng duh chuhn-shahn.) (
You're wearing a pretty shirt.
)

Tā dài zhe yíge huáng màozi.
他戴着一个黄帽子
. (
他戴著一個黃帽子
.) (tah dye juh ee-guh hwahng maow-dzuh.) (
He's wearing a yellow hat.
)

Another way you can use
zhe
is when you want to indicate two actions occurring at the same time:

Tā zuò zhe chīfàn.
她坐着吃饭
. (
她坐著吃飯
.) (tah dzwaw juh chir-fahn.) (
She is/was sitting there eating.
)

Talkin' the Talk

Carol and Joe have fun people-watching on the streets of Shanghai.

Carol:

Nǐ kàn! Nàge xiǎo háizi dài zhe yíge hěn qíguài de màozi, shì bú shì?

nee kahn! nah-guh shyaow hi-dzuh dye juh ee-guh hun chee-gwye duh maow-dzuh, shir boo shir?

Look! That little kid is wearing a really strange hat, isn't she?

Joe:

Duì le. Tā hái yìbiān zǒu, yìbiān chàng gē.

dway luh. tah hi ee-byan dzoe, ee-byan chahng guh.

Yeah. She's also singing while she walks.

Carol:

Wǒ méiyǒu kàn guò nàmme kě'ài de xiǎo háizi.

waw mayo kahn gwaw nummuh kuh-eye duh shyaow hi-dzuh.

I've never seen such a cute child.

Joe:

Zài Zhōngguó nǐ yǐjīng kàn le tài duō kě'ài de xiǎo háizi.

dzye joong-gwaw nee ee-jeeng kahn luh tye dwaw kuh-eye duh shyaow hi-dzuh.

You've already seen too many adorable little kids in China.

The special verb: Yǒu (to have)

Do you
yǒu
有
(yo) a computer? No?! Too bad. Everyone else seems to have one these days. How about a sports car? Do you
yǒu
one of those? If not, welcome to the club. People who have lots of things use the word
yǒu
pretty often, translated as
to have
like in the following examples:

Wǒ yǒu sānge fángzi: yíge zài Ōuzhōu, yíge zài Yàzhōu, yíge zài Měiguó.
我有三个房子
:
一个在欧洲
,
一个在亚洲
,
一个在美国
. (
我有三個房子
:
一個在歐洲
,
一個在亞洲
,
一個在美國
.) (waw yo sahn-guh fahng-dzuh: ee-guh dzye oh-joe, ee-guh dzye yah-joe, ee-guh dzye may-gwaw.) (
I have three homes: one in Europe, one in Asia, and one in America.
)

Wǒ yǒu yí wàn kuài qián.
我有一万块钱
. (
我有一萬塊錢
.) (waw yo ee wahn kwye chyan.) (
I have $10,000.
)

Another way
yǒu
can be translated is as
there is
or
there are:

Yǒu hěn duō háizi.
有很多孩子
. (yo hun dwaw hi-dzuh.) (
There are many children.
), as opposed to
Wǒ yǒu hěn duō háizi.
我有很多孩子
. (waw yo hun dwaw hi-dzuh.) (
I have many children.
)

Shūzhuōshàng yǒu wǔ zhāng zhǐ.
书桌上有五张纸
. (
書桌上有五張紙
.) (shoo-jwaw-shahng yo woo jahng jir.) (
There are five pieces of paper on the desk.
)

To negate the verb
yǒu,
you can't use the usual negative prefix
bù.
Instead, you must use another term indicating negation,
méi
没
(may):

Méiyǒu hěn duō háizi.
沒有很多孩子
. (mayo hun dwaw hi-dzuh.) (
There aren't many children.
)

Shūzhuōshàng méiyǒu wǔ zhāng zhǐ.
书桌上沒有五张纸
. (
書桌上沒有五張紙
.) (shoe-jwaw-shahng mayo woo jahng jir.) (
There aren't five pieces of paper on the desk.
)

You can read more about negation prefixes in “
Bù and méiyǒu: Total negation
” later in the chapter.

Asking for what you want: The verb yào

After Yao Ming, the 7-foot-6-inch basketball superstar from China, came on the scene, the verb
yào
要
(yaow) (
to want
) got some great publicity in the United States. The character for his name isn't written quite the same as the verb
yào,
but at least everyone knows how to pronounce it already: yow!

Yào
is one of the coolest verbs in Chinese. When you say it, you usually get what you want. In fact, the mere mention of the word
yào
means you want something:

Wǒ yào gēn nǐ yìqǐ qù kàn diànyǐng.
我要跟你一起去看电影
. (
我要跟你一起去看電影
.) (waw yaow gun nee ee-chee chyew kahn dyan-yeeng.) (
I want to go to the movies with you.
)

Wǒ yào yì bēi kāfēi.
我要一杯咖啡
. (waw yaow ee bay kah-fay.) (
I want a cup of coffee.
)

You can also give someone an order with the verb
yào,
but only if it's used with a second-person pronoun:

Nǐ yào xiǎoxīn!
你要小心
!
(nee yaow shyaow-sheen!) (
You should be ­careful!
)

Nǐ yào xǐ shǒu.
你要洗手
.
(nee yaow she show.) (
You need to wash your hands.
)

Adverbs

Adverbs
serve to modify verbs or adjectives and always appear in front of them in Chinese. The most common adverbs you find in Chinese are
hěn
很
(hun) (
very
) and
yě
也
(yeah) (
also
).

If you want to say that something isn't just
hǎo
好
(how) (
good
) but rather that it's very good, you say it's
hěn hǎo
很好
(hun how) (
very good
). If your friend wants to put his two cents in and say that something else is also really good, he says
Zhèige yě hěn hǎo.
这个也很好
(
這個也很好
) (jay guh yeah hun how.) (
This is also very good.
) because
yě
always comes before
hěn
(as well as before the negative prefix
bù;
refer to the following section.)