98 Integrated Chinese • Level 1 Part 1 • Textbook

Dialogue I: Talking about Hobbies

白英爱，你周末
LANGUAGE NOTE

The series comma “、” is very useful in

喜欢做什么1？ Chinese, as pointed out in Lesson 2, Dialogue 2,
Language Note 5. When nouns or pronouns occur
我喜欢打球、看 in a series, this punctuation mark is used to separate

电视 。你呢？ them, while the conjunction 和 (hé) connects the

last two items in the series, e.g., 我、你和
我喜欢唱歌、跳 她 (wǒ、nǐ hé tā, you, she and I); 中国、美
舞，还喜欢听音 国、英国和法国 (Zhōngguó、Měiguó、
乐。你也喜欢看 Yīngguó hé Fǎguó, China, United States, England

and France). The series comma can also be used

书，对不对？ between two or more verbs or adjectives, as for
我常常打球、跳舞、看
对，有的时候也
example in

电视 (Wǒ chángcháng dǎ qiú、 tiào wǔ、 kàn

喜欢看书。 diànshì: I often play ball, dance and watch TV).

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你喜欢不喜欢2看电影？
喜欢。我周末常常看电影。
那3我们今天晚上去看4一个外
国电影，怎么样？我请客。
为什么你请客？
因为昨天你请我吃饭，所以今
天我请你看电影。
那你也请王朋、李友，好吗5？
…好。
(Gao Wenzhong is talking to Bai Ying’ai.)

Bái Yīng’ài, nǐ zhōumò xǐhuan zuò shénme1?

Wǒ xǐhuan dǎqiú, kàn diànshì . Nǐ ne?

Wǒ xǐhuan chàng gē, tiào wǔ, hái xǐhuan tīng yīnyuè. Nǐ yě xǐhuan

kàn shū, duì bu duì?

Duì, yǒude shíhou yě xǐhuan kàn shū.

Nǐ xǐhuan bu xǐhuan2 kàn diànyǐng?

Xǐhuan. Wǒ zhōumò chángcháng kàn diànyǐng.

Nà3wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshang qù kàn4yí ge wàiguó diànyǐng,

zěnmeyàng? Wǒ qǐng kè.

Wèishénme nǐ qǐng kè?

Yīnwei zuótiān nǐ qǐng wǒ chī fàn, suǒyǐ jīntiān wǒ qǐng nǐ kàn

diànyǐng.

Nà nǐ yě qǐng Wáng Péng, Lǐ Yǒu, hǎo ma5?

… Hǎo.

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VOCABULARY

1. 周末 zhōumò n weekend

2. 打球 dǎ qiú vo to play ball

打 dǎ v to hit

球 qiú n ball

3. 看 kàn v to watch; to look; to read

4. 电视 diànshì n television

电 diàn n electricity

视 shì n vision

5. 唱歌（儿） chàng gē(r) vo to sing (a song)

唱 chàng v to sing

歌 gē n song

6. 跳舞 tiào wǔ vo to dance

跳 tiào v to jump

舞 wǔ n dance

7. 听 tīng v to listen

8. 音乐 yīnyuè n music

9. 书 shū n book

10. 对 duì adj right; correct

11. 有的 yǒude pr some

12. 时候 shíhou n (a point in) time; moment; (a duration of)

time

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VOCABULARY

13. 电影 diànyǐng n movie

影 yǐng n shadow

14. 常常 chángcháng adv often

15. 那 nà conj in that case; then

16. 去 qù v to go

17. 外国 wàiguó n foreign country

18. 请客 qǐng kè vo to invite someone (to dinner, coffee, etc.);

to play the host

19. 昨天 zuótiān t yesterday

20. 所以 suǒyǐ conj so

他们喜欢跳舞。 他们喜欢打球。
Tāmen xǐhuan tiào wǔ. Tāmen xǐhuan dǎ qiú.

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Grammar

1. Word Order in Chinese

The basic word order in a Chinese sentence is as follows:

Subject Adverbial Verb Object

(agent of the action) (time, place, manner, etc.) (receiver of the action)

Subj. Adverbial Verb Obj.

王朋 周末/常常 听 音乐
Wáng Péng zhōumò/chángcháng tīng yīnyuè

(Wang Peng often listens to music on weekends.)

李友 明天 吃 中国菜
Lǐ Yǒu míngtiān chī Zhōngguó cài

(Li You will have Chinese food tomorrow.)

高文中 昨天下午五点半 去看 外国电影

Gāo Wénzhōng zuótiān xiàwǔ wǔ diǎn bàn qù kàn wàiguó diànyǐng

(Gao Wenzhong went to see a foreign movie at 5:30 yesterday afternoon.)

While this is the most common word order in a Chinese sentence, varying discourse contexts may
affect the norm.

2. Affirmative + Negative (A-not-A) Questions (II)

In this type of question there can be no adverbials before the verb other than time words as in (1)

and (2). If there is an adverbial—such as 很 (hěn, very), 都 (dōu, all), or 常常 (chángcháng,

often)—before the verb, the 吗 type question must be used instead, as in (3), (4), and (5). If there
is more than one verb, the question form applies to the first verb, as seen in (6)
and (7).

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你明天去不去？
Nǐ míngtiān qù bu qù?

(Are you going tomorrow?)

她今天晚上看不看电视？
Tā jīntiān wǎnshang kàn bu kàn diànshì?

(Is she going to watch TV tonight?)

他们都是学生吗？
Tāmen dōu shì xuésheng ma?

(Are they all students?)

(3a) *他们都是不是学生？
*Tāmen dōu shì bu shì xuésheng?

你常常看电影吗？
Nǐ chángcháng kàn diànyǐng ma?

(Do you often go to the movies?)

(4a) *你常常看不看电影？
*Nǐ chángcháng kàn bu kàn diànyǐng?

王医生很忙吗？
Wáng yīshēng hěn máng ma?

(Is Dr. Wang very busy?)

(5a) *王医生很忙不忙？
*Wáng yīshēng hěn máng bu máng?

你想不想跳舞？
Nǐ xiǎng bu xiǎng tiào wǔ?

(Do you want to dance?)

(6a) *你想跳不跳舞？
*Nǐ xiǎng tiào bu tiào wǔ?

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你的同学去不去打球？
Nǐ de tóngxué qù bu qù dǎ qiú?

(7a) *你的同学去打不打球？
*Nǐ de tóngxué qù dǎ bu dǎ qiú?

3. The Conjunction 那(么) (nà {me}, then; in that case)

In a dialogue, immediately following a statement by speaker A, speaker B can often start with

那(么)(nà {me}), which links up the sentences by the two speakers.

A: 今天晚上没事儿。
Jīntiān wǎnshang méi shìr.

(We have nothing to do tonight.)

B: 那我们去看电影，怎么样？
Nàme wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng, zěnmeyàng?

(In that case, let’s go to see a movie. How’s that?)

A: 好，我请客。
Hǎo, wǒ qǐng kè.

(Okay, my treat!)

B: 是吗？太好了！
Shì ma? Tài hǎo le.

(Really? Great!)

A: 我今天很忙，不想去吃晚饭。
Wǒ jīntiān hěn máng, bù xiǎng qù chī wǎnfàn.

(I’m very busy today. I don’t want to go to dinner.)

B: 那明天呢？
Nà míngtiān ne?

(Then how about tomorrow?)

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A: 你喜欢不喜欢吃美国菜？
Nǐ xǐhuan bu xǐhuan chī Měiguó cài?

(Do you like to eat American food or not?)

B: 不喜欢。
Bù xǐhuan.

(No, I don’t.)

C: 那我们吃中国菜，怎么样？
Nà wǒmen chī Zhōngguó cài, zěnmeyàng?

(Then let’s eat Chinese food. How’s that?)

D: 我也不喜欢。
Wǒ yě bù xǐhuan.

(I don’t like that either.)

今天吃中国菜还是美国菜？
Jīntiān chī Zhōngguó cài háishi Měiguó cài?

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4. 去 (qù, to go) + Action

If the performance of an action involves a change of location, then this is the construction we use.

明天晚上我们去看电影。
Míngtiān wǎnshang wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng.

(We are going to see a movie tomorrow night.)

晚上我不去跳舞。
Wǎnshang wǒ bú qù tiào wǔ.

(I will not go dancing tonight.)

周末我去跳舞，你去不去？
Zhōumò wǒ qù tiào wǔ, nǐ qù bu qù?

(I’ll go dancing this weekend. Are you going?)

5. Questions with 好吗 (hǎo ma)

To solicit someone’s opinion, we can ask 好吗 (hǎo ma) after stating an idea or suggestion.

我们去看电影，好吗？
Wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng, hǎo ma?

(We’ll go see a movie, all right?)

我们今天晚上吃中国菜，好吗？
Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshang chī Zhōngguó cài, hǎo ma?
(We’ll eat Chinese food tonight, all right?)

You will also hear people say 好不好 (hǎo bu hǎo), instead of 好吗 (hǎo ma).

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