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Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 18
我睡不着 I can't sleep
Sleep vocab (睡 / 睡觉 / 起床) + time expressions (小时 / 分钟 / 半小时). Introduces time-duration complement: V + duration, e.g. 睡三个小时 ("sleep for three hours"). Sets up ch4 clinic visit.
Dialogue
我睡不着 — I can't sleep
- 马山 王月, 这么晚还不睡? 你怎么了? Wang Yue, you're still up this late? What's wrong?
- 王月 我睡不着. 一直在床上. I can't fall asleep. I've been in bed.
- 马山 已经多久了? How long has it been?
- 王月 两个小时. 头疼, 还很困. Two hours. My head aches, and I'm sleepy.
- 马山 那不行. 你应该看医生. That's not OK. You should see a doctor.
Dialogue
昨天晚上睡了三个小时 — I slept three hours last night
- 马山 早上好. 你昨天晚上睡了多久? Morning. How long did you sleep last night?
- 王月 只睡了三个小时. 半夜起来好几次. Only three hours. Got up several times in the middle of the night.
- 马山 你几点起床的? What time did you get up?
- 王月 六点半. 但是觉得很累. Six thirty. But I still feel really tired.
- 马山 睡三个小时太少了. 你要多休息. Three hours is too little. You need rest time.
Dialogue
我去看医生 — I'll go see the doctor
- 王月 你说得对. 我去看医生. You're right. I'll go see a doctor.
- 马山 我家旁边有一个小医院. 高医生很好. There's a little clinic next to my place. Dr Lin is great.
- 王月 好. 明天上午去吧. OK. Let's go tomorrow morning.
- 马山 九点半? 我等你. 9:30? I'll wait for you.
- 王月 太好了. 我一定去. Perfect. I'll be there for sure.
Vocabulary
- 睡
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verb sleep (transitive — takes duration)
- 睡觉
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verb sleep; go to sleep (separable verb)
- 起床
-
verb get up (out of bed) — separable verb
- 床
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noun bed
- 早上
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noun morning (Level 1 revisit)
- 晚上
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noun evening; night
- 半
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noun half (in 半小时, 半夜)
- 时间
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noun time
- 小时
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noun hour
- 分钟
-
noun minute
- 一直
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adverb continuously; all along (Bk1 ch1 revisit)
New characters
- 只
-
only (Level 2; in 只要)
只要 zhǐyào — as long as (二67) - 夜
-
(in 年夜饭 = New Year's Eve dinner)
年夜饭 niányèfàn — New Year's Eve dinner夜里 yè lǐ — at night; late night - 够
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Hanzi — writing & recognition
shuì sleep (chapter anchor verb) Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 目 (eye) + 垂 (chuí, "drooping" — phonetic-semantic). Original sense: "eyelids drooping = sleep". The 目 radical clusters 睡 with 眼 (ch2) and 看 (Level 1) — the sight / eye-related cluster.
chuáng bed Writing
Compound: 广 (roof / shelter — buildings radical) + 木 (wood). Original sense: "the wooden frame under a roof = bed". Modern: bed. The 广 radical heads building / shelter characters: 床 / 房 (ch11) / 店 / 应.
shí time; hour (in 时间, 小时) Writing
jiān interval; between; room (in 时间, 房间) Writing
Compound: 门 (door / gate) + 日 (sun) — sunlight through a doorway = "the space between / interval". Bk1 ch7 introduced it (中间). This chapter places it formally: 时间 (time-interval), 小时 (hour), and forwards to 房间 (ch11 — room).
qǐ rise; get up (in 起床) Recognition
zǎo early; morning (Level 1 revisit) Recognition
wǎn late; evening (Level 1 revisit) Recognition
bàn half Recognition
fēn minute; divide (in 分钟) Recognition
Grammar
时量补语 — time-duration after a verb (V + duration)
Explanation
In Mandarin, "how long an action lasted" is expressed as Subject + V + duration. The time-duration phrase comes AFTER the verb, not before. Pattern: 我睡了三个小时 ("I slept for 3 hours"). Wrong: *我三个小时睡. CRITICAL: (1) Duration follows V. (2) If there's an object: V + duration + 的 + O (e.g. 睡了三小时的觉) OR repeat the verb (V + O + V + duration). (3) Separable verbs like 睡觉 split: 睡了三个小时的觉. (4) Compare to time-WHEN expressions (我三点睡 "I sleep at 3"): time-WHEN comes before V, time-DURATION comes after V.
Examples
- 我昨天晚上睡了三个小时. I slept three hours last night.
- 半个小时不够. Half an hour is not enough.
- 我常常早上六点起床. I usually get up at 6 in the morning. (time-WHEN, before V)
- 马山一直走了三十分钟. Ma Shan walked continuously for 30 minutes. (duration after V)
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