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I Am Hungry
S: Wo shi Stuart. Repeat everything. Women mashang, immediately, mashang kaishi, start.
Women bu yao langfei shijian.
M: 为什么,wei shenme?
M: 哦, 你饿了,ni e le!
S: 是的,非常饿, feichang e.
S: Hao zhuyi.
M: Women mashang kaishi. Women kaishi, we know means ‘we start’. Mashang MA SHANG
mashang. Hear the tones? Dui le, mashang, 3rd, 4th. Mashang means ‘immediately’, ‘at
once’.
S: It literally means, ‘horse’, ma, the type you ride, and ‘on’, shang. If you jump on a nervous
horse, it immediately gallops off, maybe that’s the origin of ma shang. Ok, now try to say,
‘we start immediately’.
S: Did any of you say, ‘我们马上走, women mashang zou’? Both are ok.
M: But zou and qu, remember, have slightly different meanings. If you say, Wo zou, it means
you might or might not have a specific place or purpose in mind. But if you say, wo qu, then
you do have a specific place or purpose in mind.
M: But if someone asks, ‘who’ll go to rescue Mother from those dangerous criminals?’ you
could say,
S: Ni, ni qu.
M: yinwei ta e le. Poor Stuart. e E e, means ‘hungry’. The sound comes right from the back
of the mouth. Try it. E e e.
S: Now, sound hungry, and complain that, 我饿了, wo e le. We usually add the little le at the
end.
M: Hao, women chi fan qu. 吃 CHI chi, 1st tone, to eat, chi. 饭 FAN fan, 4th tone, means ‘rice’
or ‘food’, like in fandian, restaurant. Chi fan, to eat, chi fan.
S: Chi fan qu, qu, we know, is to go. Women chi fan qu. We’re going to eat.
S: Hao zhuyi.
S: Good. We’ll finish by asking you some questions. You answer first, then we’ll do it for you.
Pretend you’re hungry, then really hungry..
M: 你饿吗? Ni e ma? ……
M: Cos the next one is a fuxi ke, revision lesson. Zai jian.