Sports and leisure in Chinese - Lesson 18
1. Vocabulary
Verbs
| Word | Pinyin | Translation | ||
| 1 | 觉得 | juéde | to think | |
| 2 | 累 | lèi | to be tired; tiring; to strain | |
| 3 | 打 | dǎ | to play (a hand game); to beat; to hit | |
| 4 | 踢 | tī | to play (a feet game); to kick | |
| 5 | 听 | tīng | to listen; to hear | |
| 6 | 游泳 | yóuyǒng | to swim; to practice swimming | |
| 7 | 跑步 | pǎobù | to run; to practice jogging | |
| 8 | 散步 | sànbù | to walk; to go for a walk | |
| 9 | 跳舞 | tiàowǔ | to danse |
Others
| Word | Pinyin | Translation | ||
| 1 | 爱好 | àihào | hobby; pastime | |
| 2 | 最 | zuì | the most | |
| 3 | 特别 | tèbié | particularly | |
| 4 | 常常 | chángchang | often, frequently | |
| 5 | 差不多 | chàbuduō | almost | |
| 6 | 周 | zhōu | week | |
| 7 | 运动 | yùndòng | sport | |
| 8 | 篮球 | lánqiú | basketball | |
| 9 | 音乐 | yīnyuè | music | |
| 10 | 足球 | zúqiú | football; soccer | |
| 11 | 比赛 | bǐsài | match; competition | |
| 12 | 有的 | yǒude | some | |
| 13 | 迷 | mí | fan | |
| 14 | 也不是 | yěbùshì | not necessarily |
2. Grammar
A. "Being a fan of " with 迷 ‹ mí ›
In Chinese, 迷 ‹ mí › is placed just after the noun. This suffix is equivalent to "-phile" in English.
- 我 是 篮球迷。 ‹ Wǒ shì lánqiú mí. ›
I'm a basketball fan. - 我 是 电影迷。 ‹ Wǒ shì diànyǐng mí. ›
I am a cinephile.
B. "To be doing (something)" with 呢 ‹ ne ›
In a previous lesson, we saw that 在 ‹ zài › can be used in a Chinese sentence to indicate an ongoing action.
呢 ‹ ne ›, which is placed at the end of a sentence unlike 在 ‹ zài ›, can have the same use . The words 在 ‹ zài › and 呢 ‹ ne › can be used individually or together in the same sentence.
- 他 在 踢足球 呢。 ‹ Tā zài tī zúqiú ne. ›
He is playing football. - 大卫 在 爬山。 ‹ Dàwèi zài páshān. ›
David is hiking. - 王丽 游泳 呢。 ‹ Wáng Lì yóuyǒng ne. ›
Wang Li is swimming.
The negative form of this kind of sentence uses没 ‹ méi › and leave out 呢 ‹ ne › systematically.
- 大卫 没在 看书， 他 看电影 呢。 ‹ Dàwèi méi zài kànshū, tā kàn diànyǐng ne. ›
David is not reading, he is watching a movie. - 她 没 游泳。 ‹ Tā méi yóuyǒng. ›
She is not swimming.
To give a negative answer to a question implying an ongoing action we can simply answer with "没有 ‹ méi yǒu ›".
- Q: 她 在游泳吗？ ‹ Tā zài yóuyǒng ma? ›
Q: Is she swimming? A: 没有。她 在 爬山 呢。 ‹ Méi yǒu. Tā zài páshān ne. ›
A: No. She is hiking.
Lastly, the phrases indicating an action "in progress" with 在 ‹ zài › et 呢 ‹ ne › can take place in the present but also in the past and the future when the moment is precisely indicated.
- 他 昨天下午三点 在 看电影。 ‹ Tā zuótiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn zài kàn diànyǐng. ›
Yesterday at three in the afternoon, he was watching a movie. - 我 明天中午十一点半 吃饭 呢。 ‹ Wǒ míngtiān zhōngwǔ shíyī diǎn bàn chīfàn ne. ›
Tomorrow at half past eleven, I'll be eating.
C. The structure "每...都 ‹ měi...dōu ›" to express "all"
When using the pronoun 每 ‹ měi › in a Chinese sentence, we almost always use the adverb 都 ‹ dōu ›.
- 我 每 天 都 上课。 ‹ Wǒ měitiān dōu shàngkè. ›
Everyday I go to class. - 他们 每 个 周 都 爬山。 ‹ Tāmen měi gè zhōu dōu páshān. ›
Every week, they hike.
D. The superlative 最 ‹ zuì › "the most"
Chinese superlatives like 最 ‹ zuì › are placed before an adjective or sometimes a verb.
- 我 最 喜欢 听 音乐。 ‹ Wǒ zuì xǐhuan tīng yīnyuè. ›
What I like the most is listening to music. - 我的朋友 最 好。 ‹ Wǒde péngyǒu zuì hǎo. ›
My friends are the best.
E. Adverb 特别 ‹ tèbié › "particularly"
Used as an adverbe, 特别 ‹ tèbié › is placed before the verb in a Chinese sentence. It can also be placed before an adjective.
- 我 特别 喜欢 看电影。 ‹ Wǒ tèbié xǐhuan kàn diànyǐng. ›
I particularly like watching movies. - 特别 好。 ‹ Tèbié hǎo. ›
Particularly well.
3. Dialogues
Dialogue N° 1
- 大卫，你的爱好是什么？ ‹ Dàwèi, nǐde àihào shì shénme? ›
- 我喜欢上网，喜欢看电影。特别喜欢爬山。 ‹ Wǒ xǐhuan shàngwǎng, xǐhuan kàn diànyǐng. Tèbié xǐhuan páshān. ›
- 你常常爬山吗？ ‹ Nǐ chángcháng páshān ma? ›
- 差不多每个周末都爬山。 你呢？你的爱好是什么？ ‹ Chàbùduō měi gè zhōumò dōu páshān. Nǐ ne? Nǐde àihào shì shénme? ›
- 我觉得爬山太累。我不喜欢运动。我特别喜欢看书。 ‹ Wǒ juédé páshān tài lèi. Wǒ bù xǐhuan yùndòng. Wǒ tèbié xǐhuan kànshū. ›
Translation :
- David, what are your hobbies?
- I like to surf the Internet and watch movies. I especially like mountain hiking.
- Do you often hike (in the mountains)?
- Just about every week. And you, what are your hobbies?
- I think hiking is too tiring. I do not like sports. I mostly like to read.
Dialogue N° 2
- 你最喜欢做什么？ ‹ Nǐ zuì xǐhuan zuò shénme? ›
- 我是篮球迷。我喜欢打篮球。 你呢？ 你的爱好是什么？ ‹ Wǒ shì lánqiú mí. Wǒ xǐhuan dǎ lánqiú. Nǐ ne? Nǐde àihào shì shénme? ›
- 我最喜欢听音乐和游泳。 ‹ Wǒ zuì xǐhuan tīng yīnyuè hé yóuyǒng. ›
- 你的朋友都喜欢游泳吧？ ‹ Nǐde péngyǒu dōu xǐhuan yóuyǒng ba? ›
- 也不是。有的喜欢跑步，有的喜欢散步， 有的喜欢跳舞。 ‹ Yěbùshì. Yǒude xǐhuan pǎobù, yǒude xǐhuan sànbù, yǒude xǐhuan tiàowǔ. ›
- 你喜欢篮球比赛吗？ ‹ Nǐ xǐhuan lánqiú bǐsài ma? ›
- 不喜欢。看，大卫在踢足球呢。 他跟朋友比赛呢。 ‹ Bù xǐhuan. Kàn, Dàwèi zài tī zúqiú ne. Tā gēn péngyǒu bǐsài ne. ›
Translation :
- What do you like to do most?
- I'm a basketball fan; I like to play basketball. And you? What are your hobbies?
- I especially like listening to music and swim.
- All your friends like swimming, right?
- Not necessarily. Some like to run, others like walking and others dancing.
- Do you like to watch basketball games?
- No ... Look, David is playing football; he is having a game with friends!
4. Exercise
Answer in Chinese the following questions as precisely as possible:
1. 你每个星期天八点在做什么？ ‹ Nǐ měi gè xīngqítiān bā diǎn zài zuò shénme? ›
2. 你喜欢看足球比赛吗？ ‹ Nǐ xǐhuan kàn zúqiú bǐsài ma? ›
3. 你的爱好是什么？ ‹ Nǐde àihào shì shénme? ›