On occasion, our shameless sense of self-promotion here at Popup Chinese rubs up against unforgiving reality. This is a podcast about one of these occasions. More importantly, it is also a lesson on how to talk about clothing. The words we'll cover are critical to know whether you're buying clothes, selling clothes, or telling the naked kid running around outside to go and put some on for a change.
 said on
June 3, 2009
补充例句 Supplementary sentences for this lesson:

Measure words for clothing

衬衫。[zhè jiàn chènshān] this shirt

夹克。 [zhè jiàn jiákè] this jacket

衣服。[zhè jiàn yīfu] this clothing

裤子。 [yì tiáo kùzi] a pair of pants (lit. a "strip" of pants)

袜子。 [yì shuāng wàzi] a pair of socks

鞋子。 [yì shuāng xiézi] a pair of shoes

帽子。 [yì dǐng màozi] a hat

名牌(儿)famous brand; name brand (the 儿 is optional)

这是一顶名牌儿的帽子。[zhè shì yì dǐng míngpár de màozi] This is a name brand hat.

这是一双名牌儿的鞋。[zhè shì yì shuāng míngpár de xié] This is a pair of name brand shoes.

V + 过 to express experiential aspect (the past perfect tense in English). 过 is often unstressed (neutral tone) in this usage.

我听说过。[wǒ tīngshuō guo]

我见过。[wǒ jiàn guo]

我吃过。[wǒ chī guo]

You must use 没 to negate actions in the past.

没听说过。[méi tīngshuō guo]

我没读过。[wǒ méi dú guo]

我没吃过。[wǒ méi chī guo]

我买过一条名牌儿的裤子。[wǒ mǎi guo yī tiáo míngpáir de kùzi]I have bought a pair of name brand pants.

我没吃过四川菜。[wǒ chī guo sìchuān cài] I have not eaten Sichuanese food.

我没读过那本书。[wǒ méi dú guo nàběn shū] I have not read that book.

 said on
June 3, 2009
It was a bit of an adjustment to start, but I'm really starting to dig this color coding on the tones in these kinds of sentences.

 said on
June 3, 2009
One way that I remember 双 is the measure word for shoes is by associating it with the homegrown Chinese shoe company 双星。 Quality and comfort in every 双 of Double Star shoes. I guarantee it....(Guarantee void in China)
 said on
June 4, 2009
@paglin09,

但是好像现在找不到那个牌子的鞋了,在北京很难看到。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 4, 2009
@toneandcolor,

not being to familiar using online dictionary and adsotrans tool yet i hope you realize the useful help you are giving

duo xie

@Brandon/Echo,

a good mixture of new words, measure words and a new structure for my list.

>i have a 'penchant' for popupchinese with my dilemma (CC101 or POPUP)
 said on
June 4, 2009
good podcast.
 said on
June 4, 2009
How would you use the experiential aspect when talking about using objects or nouns such as

" Have you used that travel company?"

or "Have you used Popupchinese before?"

我没用过?
 said on
June 4, 2009
@paar72,

:) 加油!!

Feel free to ask if you have questions. 欢迎提问 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 4, 2009
gaford, 我也很喜欢这个podcast!
 said on
June 4, 2009
@paglin09,

Put 过 after the verb --

你用过这家旅行社吗?" Have you used that travel company?"

你用过泡泡中文吗?"Have you used Popupchinese before?"

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 7, 2009
Hello popupchinese,

This is a suggestion for a future lesson: how to find my way around the different ways of saying "almost". In different contexts I have come across "jiang jin", "ji hu", "kuai yao". What is the difference?

Thanks
 said on
June 7, 2009
Welcome to the site haton. Thats a good suggestion for a lesson. Ill add it to our TODO list. :)
 said on
June 7, 2009
@haton,

Welcome to the site !

"jiangjin" should be followed by a noun or noun phrase. Ex: 将近两点的时候,他从外边回来了。/ 这个国家有将近两百年的历史。

"jihu" should be followed by a verb or verb phrase. Ex: 我几乎忘了。/这里几乎有五百人。

"kuaiyao" is usually used in the spoken language and always in the future tense. It should be followed by a verb or verb phrase too. Ex: 我快要迟到了。/我快要忘了你住在哪里。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 7, 2009
Excellent! Thanks a lot
 said on
June 13, 2009
Good podcast. You should sell the t-shirts separately too. I'm not good enough to have much hope of winning Film Friday, but I'd pick one up. :)
 said on
June 13, 2009
@bonita,

加油!I would really love to send you one as the prize. Besides that, we will also send one Popup t-shirt for free if any user sign up for a one year or half year subscription.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 13, 2009
@Echo,

to second haton suggestion. are these many words for 'almost' need to be learn for specific context. those chabuduo and chadianr also fall into that meaning? is there one common one?

problably not significant but a few examples come to mind:

i waited almost 2hrs

it's almost dark

i've lived in .. for almost 6yrs

 said on
June 14, 2009
@paar72,

About haton's comment, 将近 and 快要 are both always used in the future tense. Moreover, 将近 and 几乎 are usually used in the written language. 快要 is the most common one among them.

The most common words for almost I think are 快 and 差不多.

快 means "almost, but not yet". (快要 is 快 +要 and means almost plus going to be)

i waited almost 2hrs 我等了快两个小时了。

it's almost dark 天快黑了。

i've lived in .. for almost 6yrs 我住在 ***快六年了。

Totally same to 差不多.

差点儿 is usually followed by verbs or verb phrases.

我出门的时候,差点儿忘带钥匙。 I almost forgot to take my keys with me when I was out.

我今天差点儿迟到。 I was almost late today.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

 said on
June 19, 2009
I love coloured tones (Erm, 颜色的音声调?) - started using them in the Windows Mobile app Pleco - but the actual colours chosen seemed random. So I went with a different set.

第一声 - 绿色 for growing

第二声 - 蓝色 for still water

第三声 - erm, 紫色 ... because it's bruised from being sat on. This is how I visualise remembering characters :-)

第四声 - 红色, abrupt!

Course if you're going to use them as well I should switch I guess...

Bah!
 said on
June 19, 2009
@Mat,

Haha, very interesting! 非常有意思!I like your explanation of each color. 酷毙了!Cool!

And, welcome to the site(I think this is your first post or first post under this name, right?)! 欢迎欢迎 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 19, 2009
初次对了,谢谢 :)

请问,什么是“酷毙”? 没有任何词典有这生词。

It looks like a transliteration so maybe I'm just being 简单的老外 :)

Mat.
 said on
June 19, 2009
@mat - it means "really cool", although I think you usually hear it as 酷毙了 with that 了 on the end. The second character is sort of offensive used alone - like 牛鼻.

Pretty common saying. Surprised it isn't elsewhere. Have added it to the dictionary so at least we've got it here now.
 said on
June 20, 2009
thanks orbital. I've also only heard it with the 了 fwiw.
 said on
June 20, 2009
@mat & orbital,

Like orbital said, 酷毙了 means really cool.It is very 口语. It is also our user Ian's favorite phrase, heehee.

It is 牛逼, not 牛鼻. People usually use "牛B" instead since "牛逼" comes from a dirty word.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 20, 2009
Okay!

Took the opportunity to add the firefox plugin, I was using pera-kun before. Nifty I can add this entry myself.

I went to the dictionary, which I take from what Orbital said, is a communally editable thing. I found an entry for 酷毙了 that says "really cool" but no pinyin. So I thought I'd edit in the pinyin but it didn't go in.

Then I notice the review button and see I've basically queued up 4 pending edits (doing the same thing). So it appears it's (sensibly) moderated. Okay, I know now so I wont do it 4 times in future, sorry :)

Might be an idea to add a message saying it's been added for pending etc?

 said on
June 20, 2009
interesting! I didn't know one could edit the dictionary. sensible to keep everything moderated - i would also prefer a message of some sort noting that edits are pending moderation - fumbled around a bit before figuring it out.
 said on
June 21, 2009
We're regenerating the plugin dictionary this weekend, so we should have an update shortly. In the meantime I've upped the version number to 3.5 so the plugin should install on newer versions of Firefox without a problem.

@mat - we've actually been providing the backend data for perakun for several years now. The dictionary in this plugin is larger and more up-to-date, but the major differences are more minor: switch between simplified and traditional Chinese by hitting "D", click-to-edit any popup, or highlight Chinese words on any page to add them to your plugin (i.e. read/write rather than just read). Highlight longer passages and hit "G" for an automatic Google translation. And if you ever wanted to send a word to your online vocabulary lists, just hit "A" when the popup is visible.

Cheers,

--david

 said on
May 19, 2010
http://popupchinese.com/lessons/pdf/elementary/unsuccessful-branding

wo jue de "pdf" is huai le (PDF is broken)
 said on
May 19, 2010
@fromm123 - should be fixed now. thanks for the heads up.

 said on
March 8, 2014
@echo

I have just signed up for the one year deal, absolutely love the site, keep up the good work!

Do I get a free t-shirt, or has that deal passed :-/ hehe