In Lesson 5 of Integrated Chinese, we find ourselves “Visiting Friends.”
The very first line of the dialogue has someone answering the door and asking who is there with a 谁呀? (shéi ya?). Pop quiz: what does 呀 mean exactly??
I can sense your anxiety from way over here. I’m here to tell you not to worry about it. Your textbook tells you that it is “an interjectory particle used to soften a question.” That seems to raise more questions that it answers. What is a particle? What is an interjectory particle? Why do I soften a question, and when should I??
You really don’t need to worry about that stuff. At this point it’s enough to know that it’s just a word that affects the tone of a sentence. The best way to learn about this kind of word is to be exposed to many of them. This is just your first example of many. When you hear it enough times, the context will clue you in, and you’ll start to get a sense for who it’s used and a feel for how it affects a sentence. This “feel” is exactly what this kind of word is all about.
Because words like 呀 (ya) are about a feel and not concrete meaning, we don’t even include them in the vocabulary lists. Do you really need to memorize “an interjectory particle used to soften a question”?? No, you don’t. You also don’t need that definition to pop up when you’re using the Fix for audio review.
Just remember that it’s all about a feeling. You’ll find that feeling, and others, in time. Take it easy and enjoy the ride.
Here’s your new Lesson 5 vocabulary list PDF:
IC Level 1, Lesson 5 VocabularyQuestions and comments = good.
-John Pasden
Thank you so much, these are really helpful! We’re going through lesson five in class this week and this vocab list comes at just the right time!
Hi John,
Hooray, hooray, my course book came today. Now I can really zoom to the head of the class. The book looks very nice too. Much better than the one I used in my university extension classes here. It was from BLCU and it was in Spanish and Chinese but the Spanish translation of the Chinese had a lot to be desired. Anyway, now I can begin my quest in earnest to put more structure in my studies and eventually break out of these Elementary level blues. Lead on…!
People in Shanghai seem to tag the end of practically every sentence with 呀, but you don’t hear it very much in the north. Am surprised that Integrated Chinese would be teaching it this early on.
Hi John,
Just wanted to repeat what everyone else is saying–this stuff is great! You are really making Chinese enjoyable. My class is only on Chapter 3 right now, so I can’t make timely specific comments, but I do have a general request, is there a way to download the fix to my Ipod? That would be fantastic!
John, wanted to post a question from Lesson 3…not sure if I should do it here or back at lesson 3 post. Please clarify. Anyhow, I am assuming that both ‘Xianzai ji dian?’ and ‘Xianzai ji dianzhong?’ are correct, just curious why in CPod we omit the ‘zhong’? Thanks.
AY
The IC Text suggests ‘Renshi ni hen gaoxing’ as a manner to say, “Pleased to meet you.” Not that I don’t like that phrase, but rather, there are scenarios, business, dating, meetings elders, where I might use a different phrase in Spanish / English. I am wondering if there are other alternatives in Chinese as well that convey subtle differences depending on the situation.
Also, I understand that we do not normally use ’shi’ as we would in English with adjectives used as predicates to say, “He is happy. Ta gaoxing.”, but are there any cases when we would. Just to clarify.
I’ll let someone else tackle the whole concept of ‘le’.
Thanks. AY
Niko,
Glad to help!
Bob,
Good to hear! Let me know how it goes…
Betty,
That’s great to hear!
It’s possible to put the Fix on your iPod, but you have to download it manually and then add it to iTunes. Hopefully that’s not too much trouble.
Ana Yelena,
现在几点钟 (xiànzài jǐ diǎnzhōng) and 现在几点 (xiànzài jǐ diǎn) are both commonly used. The former is perhaps slightly less ambiguous, but I think the latter is even more common. We use the latter on ChinesePod because it seemed like the natural choice for the dialogues it appears in, but 现在几点钟 (xiànzài jǐ diǎnzhōng) is certainly not wrong!
For “pleased to meet you” you can use both 认识你很高兴 (rénshi nǐ hěn gāoxìng) and 很高兴认识你 (hěn gāoxìng rénshi nǐ). As IC explains, both sound rather “Western,” but you do hear them. You might also hear 幸会 (xìnghuì) in more formal situations, which means the same thing and is “more Chinese.”
There are some cases when you use 是 in front of an adjective acting as the predicate. One is the 是…的 pattern (covered later in IC Part 1 Lesson 15, and Part 2 Lesson 1). Another is to make a strong affirmation (e.g. “But He IS happy!”). Don’t worry about these now, though. Focus on making sentences with good “N 很 Adj” structure.