你有什么嗜好？ Nǐ yǒu shénme shìhào

 

Happy New Year everyone. We hope your new year’s resolution is to master the Chinese language. We will do our best to help you fulfill this resolution.

 

For the second lesson of 2012, we will talk about hobbies. Do you have any hobbies? Some people like to collect things such as stamps, watches, posters, while others like playing sports. What is yours?

 

In today’s dialogue, Zhang Yun was at a shop selling old stamps and met Wang Li there. They started talking and found out that they have the same hobby.

 

张云:               喂，王丽。你在这儿做什么？

王丽:               你好，张云。我在找旧邮票。

张云:               旧邮票？你搜集旧邮票吗？

王丽:               是的。我的嗜好是集邮。

张云:               真巧。我的嗜好也是集邮。

王丽:               你集邮有多久了？

张云:               大概五年了。你呢？

王丽:               我比你稍微久一点儿。

张云:               你常常来这儿买邮票吗？

王丽:               对，常来。他们有很多罕见及漂亮的邮票。

张云:               我不常来这儿。我常去另外一间店。

王丽:               你可以带我去那间店吗？

张云:               当然。我现在就带你去好吗？

王丽:               好的。我们走吧！

 

Zhāng yún:      Wèi, wáng lì. Nǐ zài zhè’r zuò shén me?

Wáng lì:           Nǐ hǎo, Zhāng Yún. Wǒ zài zhǎo jiù yóu piào

Zhāng yún:      Jiù yóupiào? Nǐ sōu jíjiù yóupiào ma?

Wáng lì:           Shì de. Wǒ de shì hào shì jíyóu.

Zhāng yún:      Zhēn qiǎo. Wǒ de shìhào yěshì jíyóu.

Wáng lì:           Nǐ jíyóu yǒu duō jiǔ le?

Zhāng yún:      dàgài wǔ nián le. Nǐ ne?

Wáng lì:           Wǒ bǐ nǐ shāowéi jiǔ yīdiǎn er.

Zhāng yún:      Nǐ chángcháng lái zhèr mǎi yóupiào ma?

Wáng lì:           Duì. Tāmen yǒu hěnduō hǎnjiàn jí piàoliang de yóupiào.

Zhāng yún:      Wǒ bù cháng lái zhè’r. Wǒ cháng qù lìngwài yī jiàn diàn.

Wáng lì:           Nǐ kěyǐ dài wǒ qù nà jiān diàn ma?

Zhāng yún:      Dāngrán. Wǒ xiànzài jiù dài nǐ qù hǎo ma?

Wáng lì:           Hǎo de. Wǒmen zǒu ba!

 

Zhang Li:        Hey, Wang Li, what are you doing here?

Wang Li:         Hi Zhang Yun. I am looking for old stamps.

Zhang Yun:     Old stamps? Are you collecting them?

Wang Li:         Yes. My hobby is collecting stamps.

Zhang Yun:     What a coincidence. My hobby is collecting stamps as well.

Wang Li:         How long have you been collecting stamps?

Zhang Yun:     About 5 years. What about you?

Wang Li:         Slightly longer than you.

Zhang Yun:     Do you come here often to buy stamps?

Wang Li:         Yes, often. They have many stamps that are rare and beautiful.

Zhang Yun:     I don’t come here often. I often go to the other shop.

Wang Li:         Can you bring me to that shop?

Zhang Yun:     Sure. Shall I bring you there now?

Wang Yun:      Ok. Lets go!

 

In this lesson, you will find many familiar phrases you have learned in our previous lessons. Are you able to understand them without referring to the translations? I hope this time round, the phrases are no longer difficult for you to understand.

 

The first phrase we would like to emphasize is 我在找….. (Wǒ zài zhǎo….). I am looking for ________ is the English translation. As Chinese does not have tenses like past tense, present tense etc, the Chinese word 在 zài is used here to describe the situation. 在 zài is a prepositional phrase and must be placed before the verb. Wang Li is looking for old stamps, so she said 我在找旧邮票 (Wǒ zài zhǎo jiù yóu piào). Other ways of using this phrase are: 我在找我的课本Wǒ zài zhǎo wǒ de kèběn (I am looking for my textbook), 他在找他的裤子Tā zài zhǎo tā de kùzi (He is looking for his pants). Basically, you place a noun(the thing you are looking for) after the Chinese word 找 (find) to complete the sentence.

 

The Chinese word 嗜好 means hobby. Another way of saying hobby in Chinese is 爱好Àihào. The word 爱 Ài, as you may already know, means love. So, it means something you love doing. Hence, instead of saying 我的嗜好是…., you can also say 我的爱好是…..

 

…..比… is used when you are comparing something with another thing or comparing someone with another. For example, if you want to say this book is cheaper than that book, you can say 这本书比那本书便宜 (Zhè běn shū bǐ nà běn shū piányi), he is taller than I他比我高 (Tā bǐ wǒ gāo). It is an easy sentence structure to remember. You need to place a noun before and after the Chinese word 比. After that, you can use an adjective or an adverb to describe what you want to describe.

 

Last but not least is the phrase 常常来 (cháng cháng lái). 常常 means often and 来 means come. If you want to say often go, you can replace the word 来 lái with 去 Qù.

Basically, you just eat to replace the verb to the verb that you want to convey. For example, 我常常吃面 Wǒ chángcháng chī miàn (I often eat noodles); 我常常看戏 Wǒ chángcháng kàn xì (I often watch a movie). Instead of saying 常常来, you can also say 常来 as they have the same meaning. If it is not often, you just need to add 不 in front of 常.

 

We hope this lesson for the year 2012 is not too difficult for you. Please continue to come back for more interesting and useful lessons.