CM - Module Review

 

Module Review

In this Module, we will learn the expressions of some majors. For example, economics, tourism, linguistics, arts(经济，旅游，语言，艺术) etc. We also will learn how to ask and tell others about the difficulty of these courses by saying "-你觉不觉得很难？-我觉得还可以。" For Chinese grammar, we will learn 由 sb. 来 do sth., the modal verb "得（děi）" and the structure "v. +得(de) + adj./adv." 

Class lesson

①们 mén 同学means “student, classmate” while 们 is plural marker for pronouns and a few animate nouns. In China, 同学们好 is often used when the teachers start a class.

②由(yóu)+Sb.+来(lái)+do sth. This structure means “do something by somebody”, while 由 is a preposition meaning “by”.

③几篇古文 jǐ piān gǔ wén 篇is the measure word for “articles” and 几 means “several, a few, some”. 几篇古文 means “some articles written in ancient Chinese”.

④觉不觉得 jué bù jué de 觉得can be translated as “to think”, the same as 想, but 觉得contains the meaning of “to feel”, “to have the opinion” or “to give a comment”. 觉不觉得 is the abbreviated form of 觉得不觉得, which is an affirmative +negative (A-not-A) question.

⑤对 duì To answer the rhetorical question, the Chinese way is different from English. In English, we answer the rhetorical question based on the fact, while in Chinese the answer should be based on the question itself. Here, 对 means “yes”, which actually means “I am considering dropping the class”.

Another example, 你不想睡觉吧？对，我不想睡觉。Don’t you want to sleep? No, I do not want to sleep.

⑥得 děi the modal verb 得 means “need to” or “must”. And the negative form of 得 is 不用(bú yòng), or 不必(bú bì). For example, “you need to work.” =你得工作(nǐ děi gōng zuò)。 “You do not need to work.” =你不用工作(nǐ bú yòng gōng zuò)。

Major lesson

①得 de The structure “v. +得 + adj./adv.” is a common structure used in Chinese. The adjective/adverb after 得is to describe the subject or the verb in the sentence. Here, 学得真好 means “learned so well”.

②怪不得 guài bù dé 怪不得means “no wonder”.

③要yào One of the meanings of 要 is “to desire to do something”. Both modal verbs 想 (xiǎng) and 要can express a desire or an intention, but 要 carries a stronger tone.

④个 gè 个is the measure word for “people”. 一个人 means “a person”. 是个 is the oral form of 是一个, thus the complete sentence here should be 他真的是一个很好的旅伴。 

If you are not so familiar with these sayings and words/sentences, you can repeat them several times from the content area until you feel very comfortable and confident. Remember, you need to understand both pinyin (pronunciations) and appropriate Chinese expressions in Chinese characters. Thank you for your hard work in this course.