Question

Mandarin Tutorial: More Conversational Expressions

Answer 1

\({\bf{Vocabulary:}}\) I don't really have a good order for these so I'll just go with the order my professor gave me

或者 (huò zhě) or
** important note: for questions use 还是 instead **
中国菜或者美国才我都可以吃 = I can eat Chinese food or American food

再来 (zài lái) again/repeat an action again
我们再来一次 = Let's try it again

件 (jiàn) counting word for clothes, events, things. here, used in conjunction with
事情 (shì qing) = thing, matter, affair
我今天一件事情没有 = I don't have anything going on today

词 (cí) word
ex: 英文有很多次 = English has a lot of words

比如 (bǐ rú) for example
you use this when you want to give an example of something mentioned before it
for example: 我喜欢水果，比如苹果 = I like fruit, for example, apples.

Answer 2

汉字 (hàn zì) Chinese characters
ex: 我喜欢写汉字 = I like writing Chinese characters

快 (kuài) = quickly/fast
我跑步跑得很快 = I run quickly

唱歌 (chàng gē) = sing a song
where 唱 is the verb sing and 歌 is the noun song
ex: Stromae 唱歌唱得很好听 = Stromae sings well (or literally, Stromae sings easy to listen to)
go look him up on youtube, he's great

更 (gèng) even more
to use this you need to say that one thing has a certain quality, and then the next thing has even more of that same quality
ex: 中文很难，日文更难 = Chinese is hard but Japanese is even harder
apparently my professor says that Japanese is easier than Chinese but I don't believe that tbh, learning three alphabets + honorifics seems like a massive pain

游泳 (yóu yǒng) swim
ex: Michael Phelps 游泳游得很快 = Michael Phelps swims fast

累 (lèi) tired
ex: 因为我昨天睡觉睡得很晚，我今天很累 = Because I slept late last night, I'm tired today

死 (sǐ) death/die
ex: 我很累，要死了 = I'm so tired I want to die (not literal, just a way to say you're very tired)

帕瓦罗蒂 (pà wǎ luó dì) = phonetic translation of Pavarotti
don't worry about this too much, I'm just putting it here because I need to memorize this >_>

Answer 3

\({\bf{Grammar:}}\)
咱们 - informal way to say "us" especially when the speaker wants to emphasize that he/she is included in this grouping
you'd use it in the same place as 我们

不能 - way to say that something shouldn't happen/someone shouldn't do something
ex: 你不能在这游泳 = you shouldn't swim here

得 - must
ex: 你得学习中文 = you must study Chinese

我说个做一件事情的词
this phrase is part of the dialogue I'm studying, I'll try to break it down
我说个 (I say, or in this context, I'll say. the 个 indicates that the speaker is saying an object)
做 (to do, but in this case, an action)
一件 (counting word for 事情)
事情 (thing)
的 (particle modifying 词)
词 (word)

so with everything put together --> "I'll say a verb ("action word")"

Answer 4

Source: This isn't out of a textbook but this is from my professor's lecture notes and sample dialogue. I can't paste the whole dialogue because of copyright but I've included some of the important words and grammatical phrases.