LESSON NOTES

Upper Beginner S1 #1
Chinese Traffic Chaos

CONTENTS
2 Simplified Chinese
2 Traditional Chinese
2 Pinyin
3 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Grammar
5 Cultural Insight

# 1
COPYRIGHT © 2018 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 SIMPLIFIED CHINESE

1. 往前走3个路口。

2. 左转还是右转？

3. 右转。

4. 到红绿灯吗？

5. 不不，到天桥。

TRADITIONAL CHINESE

1. 往前走3個路口。

2. 左轉還是右轉？

3. 右轉。

4. 到紅綠燈嗎？

5. 不不，到天橋。

PINYIN

1. Wǎng qián zǒu sān gè lùkǒu.

2. Zuǒzhuǎn háishì yòuzhuǎn?

3. Yòuzhuǎn.

CONT'D OVER

CHI NES ECLAS S 101.COM UPPER BEGI NNER S 1 #1 - CHI NES E T RAFFI C CHAOS 2
4. Dào hónglǜdēng ma?

5. Bù bù, dào tiānqiáo.

ENGLISH

1. A: Go straight for three intersections.

2. B: Turn left or turn right?

3. A: Turn right.

4. B: To the traffic light?

5. A: No, to the overpass.

VOCABULARY

S implifie d Tr aditional Pinyin English C lass

往后 往後 wǎnghòu backward adverb

左转 左轉 zuǒzhuǎn to turn left verb

往前 往前 wǎngqián forward adverb

右转 右轉 yòuzhuǎn to turn right verb

目的地 目的地 mùdìdì destination noun

路口 路口 lùkǒu intersection noun

红绿灯 紅綠燈 hónglǜdēng traffic light noun

天桥 天橋 tiānqiáo overpass noun

SAMPLE SENTENCES

CHI NES ECLAS S 101.COM UPPER BEGI NNER S 1 #1 - CHI NES E T RAFFI C CHAOS 3
往后走50米。 司机，路口左转。
Wǎnghòu zǒu wǔshí mǐ. Sījī, lùkǒu zuǒzhuǎn.

Walk 50 meters backward. Driver, turn left at the intersection.

往前走一个路口。 过了天桥右转。
Wǎngqián zǒu yí gè lùkǒu. Guòle tiānqiáo yòuzhuǎn.

Go one intersection forward. Turn right after the overpass.

目的地是公司。 前面路口人很多。
Mùdìdì shì gōngsī. Qiánmiàn lùkǒu rén hěn duō.

The destination is the company. The next intersection has a lot of people.

到红绿灯要小心。 在这儿过天桥。
Dào hónglǜdēng yào xiǎoxīn. Zài zhèr guò tiānqiáo.

Be careful when you arrive at a traffic light. Cross the bridge here.

GRAMMAR

The Focus of this Lesson is the preposition 往 "towards"

往前走 3个路口 。
"Go straight for three intersections."

Our grammar point in this lesson is about the preposition 往 wǎng, which means "towards."
The most common usage of this preposition is when giving someone directions and telling
them in which direction they should go. Simply use it by putting 往 in front of any direction
and then following this prepositional phrase (往 + direction) with a verb. For example, 往左
走 wǎng zuǒ zǒu ("towards the left to go") is the most native way to tell someone to "go left." In
our dialogue, we hear this pattern in action when our guide says 往前走3个路口
wǎngqiánzǒu sān gè lùkǒu ("go straight for three crossings"). Here are some other examples:

1. 往他那儿走。
Wǎng tā nàr zǒu.
"Go towards him."

CHI NES ECLAS S 101.COM UPPER BEGI NNER S 1 #1 - CHI NES E T RAFFI C CHAOS 4
2. 往天桥走。
Wǎng tiānqiáo zǒu.
"Go towards the overpass."

3. 往路口走。
Wǎng lùkǒu zǒu.
"Go towards the intersection."

This is a very easy pattern to master, but there are two smaller points you should be sure to
remember. The first is that there is a big difference between 往左 and 左. Remember that if
you include 往 in your sentence, you need to follow your prespositional phrase by a verb. In
contrast, if you are simply giving directions to a cab driver, there is nothing wrong with leaving
off both the preposition and the verb!

The second important point is that when you are giving instructions about how far or how long
to travel, that information should follow the verb. In our dialogue we saw this with the
sentence 往前走3个路口, where the distance was specified at the end of the sentence.
This placement also holds for periods of time, as with the sentence 往北走十分钟 Wǎng běi
zǒu shí fēn zhōng ("Go north for ten minutes").

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Pedestrians Beware!

Although in the Law of The People's Republic of China on Road Traffic Safety (中华人民共
和国道路交通安全法) there is a regulation stipulating that cars should give way for
pedestrians, in the nine years since the law has been passed nothing has changed about the
reality of road life in China: it is extremely rare for a car to stop or even make the slightest
concession for pedestrians. Instead, foot and vehicle traffic seem locked in a constant battle
for the slightest edge when pushing their way past intersections.

CHI NES ECLAS S 101.COM UPPER BEGI NNER S 1 #1 - CHI NES E T RAFFI C CHAOS 5