Ever wanted to be that guy? You know the one we're talking about. The world is his oyster. And when he goes to the bar he gets served in seconds. No waiting around while the wait staff check the ice levels again. Just exceptional service. And the tips? "Not for you, sir," they say with a nod of the head. "We're just happy to be of service."

Join us in this lesson and we'll teach you the magic word that will jump you to the head of the queue while the rest of your foreign brethren stare glumly at the bar. And for extra good measure, we'll also teach you three important grammar points you'll need to know to pass for native. The most important is the difference between 刚, 刚刚, and 刚才. Only one can be used in a standalone sentence, but which one and why?
 said on
July 30, 2009
It's been a while since we've had an Elementary lesson, so this one is a bit overdue. I like it and the dialogue a lot and hope you guys do too though.

And our magic word? It's the word for bartender (酒保). It's amazing what better service you get when you call someone by their actual title instead of just "hey you". Really a useful word to know, and very colloquial too. I wish I'd learned it a lot earlier.
 said on
July 30, 2009
Shoot ... I buy all my beer from the mobile beer bicycle man. Apparently if you buy a crate of beer and fill it up with empty bottles you can get new beer for only 2 kuai instead of the 2.5 kuai. But the crate is a 30 kuai deposit. I have to drink 60 beers to recoup my losses.
 said on
July 31, 2009
Sweet heavens that's extortion! Back in the days I remember a bottle of Yanjing costing one and a half kuai without the deposit, although that was a couple of years ago and it was mostly formaldehyde.

Remember the tins of lemon beer also being pretty good. More expensive but less alcohol and still pretty good.
 said on
August 1, 2009
hi echo,

jiu keyi mai de dao.. you can buy..

does 'jiu' always emphasizes the verb it proceeds?

in this case the 'keyi' not the 'mai' correct

and when & what does adding 'dao' after a verb do again ?

with the if.. then contruction

why was not 'ruguo' included in 'xiang qu jiu qu'

thank you

 said on
August 1, 2009
@paar72,

Jiu doesn't always emphasize, and it should depend on the situation. It has many usages and it can be used as an adverb, a preposition, a verb, a conjunction and so on.

In the sentence "jiu keyi maidedao" , jiu here indicates something will happen or some result will be got under certain conditions, and means in that case or then.

Keyi means can, so keyi mai means you can buy.

Using dao after a verb is to tell people the movement has gained its result.

In a lot of situations, ruguo can be always omitted if everybody already knows it is an assumption, esp. in the very short sentences. Xiang qu jiu qu means "you wanna go, then go".

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
October 20, 2012
ai , zhè jiù duì le !

Is the jiu in here, the same as saying 就是 ? Or can we not use 就是 in this way ?

Thanks.
 said on
October 21, 2012
@czechone,

Usually we don't see 就是 as one word. We see it as a phrase meaning "exactly it is". In the sentence 这就对了, 就 means "exactly" too.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com