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Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 1 · Chapter 21

我喝水果茶 I'll have fruit tea

Wǒ hē shuǐguǒ chá

Ordering drinks, the 杯 measure, 给 / 还要 / 不要.

一杯水果茶 — A cup of fruit tea

  1. 白月 qǐngláibēishuǐguǒchá. A cup of fruit tea, please.
  2. 大友 hǎo! háiyàoshénme? Sure! Anything else?
  3. 白月 háiyàobēiniúnǎi. Also a milk.
  4. 大友 bēishuǐguǒchá, bēiniúnǎi. dōuyàoma? One fruit tea, one milk. Both?
  5. 白月 dōuyào. xièxiè! Both. Thanks!

不要肉 — No meat

  1. 大友 wénshān, yàoròuma? Wen Shan, want meat?
  2. 文山 yàoròu. yàoshuǐguǒ. No meat. I want fruit.
  3. 大友 hǎo. háiyàoshénme? OK. Anything else?
  4. 文山 háiyàobēishuǐ. xièxiè! Also one water. Thanks!
shuǐguǒchá

noun fruit tea

bēi

measure word cup (measure)

bēi

expression one cup

háiyào

expression also want

yào

expression don't want

qǐng

please; invite (recall Bk1)

请假 qǐng jià — request leave

bēi cup Writing

8 strokes left-right radical 木

chá tea (revisit) Recognition

9 strokes top-bottom radical 艹

hái also (revisit) Recognition

7 strokes enclosure radical 辶

yào want (revisit) Recognition

9 strokes top-bottom

Polite ordering — 请 / 还要 / 不要

Explanation

Ordering: 我要 X / 我想 X / 请来一杯 X. Adding more: 还要 X. Refusing: 不要 X.

Examples

  • qǐngláibēishuǐguǒchá. A cup of fruit tea, please.
  • háiyàobēiniúnǎi. And one milk.
  • 不要肉. No meat.
  • xiǎngshuǐ. I'd like water.

轻声和 不/一 变调 The Neutral Tone and 不/一 Sandhi

轻声 — The Neutral Tone

The neutral tone has no fixed pitch — it borrows its level from the preceding syllable. Neutral-tone syllables are short and light, with no tone mark in pinyin.

  • 谢谢 xièxie — Second 谢 is neutral.
  • 妈妈 māma — Second 妈 is neutral — as in the family words you know.
  • 什么 shénme — Second character 么 is neutral (known from ch3).
  • 你们 nǐmen — The 们 suffix is always neutral.

"不"的变调 — The 不 (bù) Sandhi

不 is normally a 4th-tone syllable (bù). But when followed by another 4th-tone syllable, it changes to 2nd tone (bú).

  • 不是 — Followed by 4th tone — sandhi applies.
  • 不对 — Followed by 4th tone — sandhi applies.
  • 不好 — Followed by 3rd tone — NO sandhi.

"一"的变调 — The 一 (yī) Sandhi

一 is normally 1st tone (yī). It STAYS 1st tone when counting or in dates. It becomes 2nd tone (yí) before a 4th-tone syllable. It becomes 4th tone (yì) before 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tone syllables.

  • 一天
  • 一年
  • 一本
  • 一次

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