Assuming your mother doesn't speak mandarin, our podcast is not going to help you cope with the fallout of having forgotten to call her yesterday. But maybe you also forgot to say something nice to your mother-in-law and your significant other is busy doing damage control. So bear with us here. In this podcast we teach you the easiest way to tell someone you simply forgot. And since that's pretty easy, we also cover the basics of using Chinese prepositions.
nadasax
 said on
May 11, 2009
i think the quickest test of the argument is to ask how quickly echo will be going out and SPENDING her money to GIVE some jewelry as this sign of true love she so fervently believes it is...;)

or is it a wonderful sign of true love only when someone else is spending their money on it to give it to you???
trevelyan
 said on
May 11, 2009
@nadasax - excellent point. I've personally always believed that nothing says love like a small Caribbean island.
doubt616
 said on
May 11, 2009
I believe (perhaps 以为） that I can use the verb 买 to answer the first question with a yes =买了。 对不对？

Gail天堂的声音
 said on
May 11, 2009
@nadasax,

I agree.

"if we don't have the present, how can we figure out the love from you?

If you are not willing to give a little present, surely you are not willing to give us your love.

Believe me, if you give us the present, you will get more back."

This is the way women think.......
Gail天堂的声音
 said on
May 11, 2009
@doubt616,

yes, you are right. you can just say 买了 if you really bought the gift...

Have a good day!
Echo
 said on
May 11, 2009
@nadasax,

“or is it a wonderful sign of true love only when someone else is spending their money on it to give it to you???”

--Exactly ;)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
doubt616
 said on
May 11, 2009
@Gail - 谢谢你。
doubt616
 said on
May 11, 2009
The dialogue reads:

你给你妈买了礼物了吗。。。

可是，the speakers seem to not be using the first 了。

It sounds like:

你给你妈买礼物了吗。

Is it just me?
Echo
 said on
May 11, 2009
@doubt616,

Sorry, you are right. Fixing now.

Thanks :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
doubt616
 said on
May 11, 2009
没问题。Please don't be sorry. Perhaps my listening skills aren't so bad after all. :)
Echo
 said on
May 11, 2009
@doubt616,

:)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
toneandcolor
 said on
May 11, 2009
补充生词 Supplementary vocabulary for this lesson:

Using the coverb 给

你给你爸写信了吗？ [nǐ gěi nǐ bà xiěxìn le] Did you write your father a letter?

我给小猫到水。 [wǒ gěi xiǎomāo dào shuǐ.] I poured water for the kitten.

他给我做饭。［tā gěi wǒ zuòfàn］ He cooks for me.

珠宝 [zhūbǎo] jewelry
小白兔
 said on
May 11, 2009
你给妈买礼物了吗?我忘了! 为什么.
izus
 said on
May 13, 2009
dont even get me started about this topic its so funny to hear men talk about different excuses of why they should not buy their significant others jewelery.

my vote is with you Echo
Echo
 said on
May 13, 2009
@miami_meiguoren,

Exactly!!! 都是借口～ Thanks for the support :)

Welcome to the site btw :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
maybrown
 said on
May 13, 2009
As a poet, starting to be published it is interesting to hear someone who so enjoys a Milton sonnet to be so concerned with winning and losing at the expense of someones else's opinion which they have a right to express- not to mention to imply all Chinese women have been done a disservice by reform and opening in China because they are attracted to jewlery is sad, as it has attracted women and men of many cultures throughout the world for centuries, for the sheer beauty, artistry and craftsmanship that one finds, also, in well- written sonnets.

I enjoy very much hearing you speak in Mandarin as well your spontaneous, quick sense of humor. We all know you are intelligent

so please grow up.

maybrown
Echo
 said on
May 14, 2009
@maybrown,

感谢支持啊！

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
Brendan
 said on
May 14, 2009
@maybrown - Fair point, but I still think that a mass-produced commodity like rings is probably not the best way of representing something personal. If the ring were homemade, maybe...
orbital
 said on
May 14, 2009
@maybrown - the gift of a ring is only significant if it is expensive, and thus only meaningful when given by someone who cannot afford it. Any recipient worthy of such a gift should consider it inappropriate exactly to the degree it is beyond the means of his/her lover. I personally think it's also somewhat predatory for society to support customs associating marriage with the purchase of women, and I think the Chinese are right to prefer housing to jewelery. At least that is a commitment to the family rather than the individual.

That said, I also think Brendan is wrong to single out Chinese women for being commercial. I find them much LESS commercial and superficial than the women in much of the media to which they're exposed.
Brendan
 said on
May 14, 2009
@orbital -- Yeah, I was fairly full of it with that comment.
saunders
 said on
May 14, 2009
come on guys. if you love someone buying them a ring shouldn't be that much of a deal. if price is an issue, try buying a simple gold band. it will be well received if she's the right one.

Echo
 said on
May 15, 2009
@saunders,

你说的很有道理！其实女人需要的就是男人对她们的爱的表达和证明。Women always want men to tell them how much they love them, although they maybe have heard it thousands of time. They want men to prove their love. 女人就是这样一种看似不讲道理，没有什么逻辑，但是无比美丽的生物。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
nadasax
 said on
June 6, 2009
seems the button to hear the very first line on the text page isn't working? other three seem fine
paraodaniel
 said on
June 23, 2009
Hm. Let's no forget that in english, the word "dear" means also "expensive". Und, in german, the most-used tender word for your dear one is "schatzi", literally, "小宝"。 One more thing in common between East and West...

Still, I have had success with poetry and jewelry both, so I guess I can't complain of Brazilian women :)
palafx
 said on
December 12, 2010
Speaking of jewelry, there's a jeweler's commercial here (US) that features a line of 汉语, and I'm not sure I'm hearing it right.

What's the typical way of saying "Will you marry me?" in Chinese? He seems to say "你给XX我吗?" What is the XX? It doesn't sounds like any word for "marry" I know. It sounds like it begins with "zhai".

I'm actually pleased by this commercial, incidentally. It features a sequence of men presenting rings and proposing in various languages. The fact that Mandarin made the list right next to Italian as potential language for commercial romance is good. I think it reflects changing attitudes toward Chinese.
Xiao Hu
 said on
December 12, 2010
@Palafx,

Having not seen the commercial in question, do you think it might be 你愿意嫁给我吗? （Ni3 Yuan4 Yi4 Jia4 Gei3 Wo3 Ma?）
palafx
 said on
December 13, 2010
@Xiao Hu

Really couldn't say, but I don't think so. I'll have to wait for it to come on again.
palafx
 said on
December 22, 2010
I found the commercial; I suppose he does in fact say 你愿意嫁给我吗, but the "ni yuan yi" is so contracted it sounds like "nie".

http://www.kay.com/lwp/wcm/connect/Kay/Leo/
Echo
 said on
December 22, 2010
@Xiao Hu & palafx,

Yes, he does say "你愿意嫁给我吗", in a fast speed though. The woman's Chinese has a strong accent actually.

广告拍得其实不错，但我不知道为什么三个男演员都长得不太对得起观众。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
palafx
 said on
December 22, 2010
@Echo

Yeah, I think I picked up on her weird accent. I'm happy it wasn't all in my head.

These commercials are notorious over here for being just soooooo exploitive. There's another with a deaf woman receiving a necklace or something. It features sappy lines delivered in bad sign language.
huyilin
 said on
July 5, 2011
I know this is ages back but a small correction for the sentence 我给小猫到水。I think it should be 倒水， 对吗？
Echo
 said on
July 5, 2011
@huyilin,

Yes, exactly :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
etbaccata
 said on
October 28, 2012
我给小猫到水。

should not this be 倒水 ?
Echo
 said on
October 29, 2012
@etbaccata,

Yes, it should be. I believe it's a typo. However toneandcolor is one of our users, so we can't really change his comment.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
Dominic.Luck
 said on
October 20, 2018
If your wife has passed away she will accept any gift. If Milton's wife was alive she would probably say what a lovely poem and have you got me anything else especially as he was always writing poems so not exactly pulling out the stops on the gift front.