Lesson 3 of Integrated Chinese takes us into the critical realm of dates and time (no, not those dates… IC is not Making Out in Chinese).

One thing you’ll learn immediately is that the Chinese words for months, days, and days of the week are ridiculously logical. It’s just a bunch of numbers! Monday is “Week-1,” Tuesday is “Week-2,” etc. January is “Month-1,” February is “Month-2,” etc. The first of the month is “1-Number,” the second is “2-Number,” etc. You’ll notice that none of those English names are regular, but in Chinese they all are. Whoo-hoo! Learn those numbers well, people, because you’re gonna get some serious mileage out of them.

Now I’d like to talk about the expression 多大 (duō dà), which literally means “how big.” You can actually use 多大 to ask someone how big their hard drive is, how big their home is, or how big their… anything is. But there’s a major exception when it comes to people. No matter how much you may want to talk about how BIG a person is, when it comes to people, “big” always means “old.” It may seem kind of funny and childish at first, but it’s just the way it is. So if, for example, you try to say “I am bigger than you,” you’re actually saying “I am older than you.” Now, there are ways around this, but that’s not the point. The point is that 多大, when talking about a person, always refers to their age.

Finally, I’d also like to touch on the verb 认识 (rènshi). It means “to know” in the sense of “to be familiar with,” or possibly “to recognize,” but not “to know” as in “to know a fact.” There are two ways you’re likely to use 认识 often. One is in saying that you “know” a person (i.e. you are familiar/acquainted with them). The other is in saying that you “know” (i.e. recognize) a Chinese character. If you’re not trying to express either of those thoughts, then you may want to use the verb 知道 (zhīdao).

Here’s your Lesson 3 PDF vocabulary list:

• IC Level 1, Lesson 3 Vocabulary

OK now, bring on the Lesson 3 vocabulary questions!

-John Pasden