To plan and organize something in Chinese - Lesson 25

Contents of this lesson

1. Vocabulary

2. Grammar

3. Dialogues

4. Exercise

1. Vocabulary

Words of the dialogues

Additional words

2. Grammar

A. 快...了 ‹ kuài...le › and 要...了 ‹ yào...le ›to express an event about to happen

快...了 ‹ kuài...le ›, 要...了 ‹ yào...le › or even 快要...了 ‹ kuài yào...le › are used in Chinese to indicate that an action is about to happen. Most of the time, it can be translated into English  as "will soon" or "almost".

• 他 快 到 了。 ‹ Tā kuài dào le. ›
  He almost reached.
  
• 商店 要 关门 了。 ‹ Shāngdiàn yào guān mén le. ›
  The shop will soon close its doors.
• 这个学期 快要 完 了。 ‹ Zhè ge xuéqí kuài yào wán le. ›
  This school semester is about to end.

B. The negative form of past actions with 没(有) ‹ méi(yǒu) ›

没有 ‹ méiyǒu › and its shortened form 没 ‹ méi › can be used in a Chinese sentence to say that something has not been done or did not happened.

• 我 没 回 家。 ‹ Wǒ méi huí jiā. ›
  I did not get back home.
• 周末 我 没有 安排。 ‹ Zhōumò wǒ méiyǒu ānpái. ›
  I didn't organize anything for this weekend.

C. Referring to the past with 过 ‹ guò ›

过 ‹ guò ›is used in Chinese to indicate that an action has already been performed in the past. Most of the time, in this kind of sentence, 过 ‹ guò › can be translated like "having already ..." or "be already ...".

• 我 去 过 中国。 ‹ Wǒ qù guò Zhōngguó. ›
  I have already been to China.
• 他 吃 过 中国饺子。 ‹ Tā chī guò zhōngguó jiǎozi. ›
  He has already eaten dumplings.

In the negative form of this kind of sentence 没 ‹ méi › precedes the verb. 过 ‹ guò › can generally translate as "having never ..." or "never be ...".

• 我 没 去 过 法国。 ‹ Wǒ méi qù guò Fàguó. ›
  I have never been to France.
• 他 没 听 过 她的歌。 ‹ Tā méi tīng guò tā de gē. ›
  He has never heard his song.

By preceding 没 ‹ méi › by 还 ‹ hái ›, we can express that something has not been achieved YET:

• 我 还没 看 过 这本书。 ‹ Wǒ hái méi kàn guò zhè běn shū. ›
  I have not read this book yet.
• 我 还没 看 过 的电影 ‹ Wǒ hái méi kàn guò de diànyǐng ›
  A movie I have not seen yet

3. Dialogues

Dialogue N° 1

- 你去哪儿？ ‹ Nǐ qù nǎr? ›
- 我去买火车票。我父母要来了，我们打算去旅行。 ‹ Wǒ qù mǎi huǒchē piào. Wǒ fùmǔ yào lái le, wǒmen dǎsuàn qù lǚxíng. ›
- 他们以前没来过中国吗？ ‹ Tāmen yǐqián méi lái guò Zhōngguó ma? ›
- 没来过。 ‹ Méi láiguò. ›

Translation :

- Where are you going?
- I am going to buy train tickets. My parents are about to arrive and we plan to travel.
- They have never been to China before?
- No.

Dialogue N° 2

- 这个学期快完了，暑假打算怎么过？ ‹ Zhège xuéqí kuài wán le, shǔjià dǎsuàn zěnme guò? ›
- 我打算回国。去年我没有回家，现在我太想家了！ ‹ Wǒ dǎsuàn huí guó. Qùnián wǒ méi yǒu huí jiā, xiànzài wǒ tài xiǎng jiā le! ›
- 你父母住在法国吧？ ‹ Nǐ fùmǔ zhù zài Fàguó ba? ›
- 对。 ‹ Duì. ›
- 我还没去过法国；好想去。 ‹ Wǒ hái méi qù guò Fàguó; hǎo xiǎng qù. ›
- 我建议你跟我寒假去法国旅行。 ‹ Wǒ jiànyì nǐ gēn wǒ hánjià qù Fàguó lǚxíng. ›
- 太好了！ ‹ Tài hǎo le! ›

Translation :

- This semester is almost over, how do you plan to spend your summer vacation?
- I am planning to return home. I did not go home last year; I miss home so much!
- Your parents live in France, is that it?
- Exact
- I've never been to France. I would love to go there very much.
- I suggest you to come with me to travel to France during the winter holidays.
- Great!

Dialogue N° 3

- 大卫，快到周末了，打算怎么过？ ‹ Dàwèi, kuài dào zhōumò le , dǎsuàn zěnme guò? ›
- 我想去一个离这儿不太远的地方。 ‹ Wǒ xiǎng qù yī gè lí zhèr bù tài yuǎn de dìfāng. ›
- 你一个人去吗？ ‹ Nǐ yī gè rén qù ma? ›
- 周末你还没有安排的话，咱们可以一起去。 ‹ Zhōumò nǐ hái méi yǒu ānpái dehuà, zánmen kěyǐ yīqǐ qù. ›
- 我还没有安排， 我想跟你一起旅行。 ‹ Wǒ hái méi yǒu ānpái, wǒ xiǎng gēn nǐ yīqǐ lǚxíng. ›
- 行。你想去哪儿？ ‹ Xíng. Nǐ xiǎng qù nǎr? ›
- 一个有山有水的好地方。 ‹ Yī gè yǒu shān yǒu shuǐ de hǎo dìfāng. ›
- ······糟糕！ ‹ ... Zāogāo! ›
- 怎么了？ ‹ Zěnmele? ›
- 我的相机没电了。我要买一节新电池。 ‹ Wǒde xiàngjī méi diànle. Wǒ yāo mǎi yī jié xīn diànchí. ›
- 商店八点关门。现在七点半了，要关门了。 ‹ Shāngdiàn bā diǎn guānmén. Xiànzài qī diǎn bàn le, yào guānmén le. ›
- 咱们快走吧。 ‹ Zánmen kuài zǒu ba. ›

Translation :

- David, weekend is coming, how do you plan to spend it?
- I am planing to go to a place not very far from here.
- Are you going alone?
- If you haven't planned anything yet, we can go together.
- I haven't organized anything, I'd like to travel with you.
- Okay. Where would you like to go?
- A place where there are mountains and water.
- ... Damn!
- What happened?
- My camera has no more battery. I have to buy a new one.
- Shops close at eight o'clock. It is half past seven, they are about to close.
- Let's go quickly.

4. Exercise

Translate into Chinese the following sentences:

1. The week is almost over.
2. I have never bought a red hat yet
3. Last week I did not go to the class.
4. I have already been to the hospital.
5. It's about to rain
6. The train is about to arrive.
7. My parents have already been to Beijing.
8. For the winter holidays, I plan to return to France to visit my parents.