CLO_105: Monkeys, Lions and Elephants
Dialogue: Numbers
B: Ni3 hui2 lai2 de tai4 wan3 le.
A: Shi4 de. Wo3men zai4 dong4wu4yuan2 dai1 le yi1tian1. Hai2zimen wan2 de hen3 gao1xing4. Ta1men dou1 bu4xiang3 hui2 lai2 le.
B: Ta1men zui4 xi3huan1 shen2me dong4wu4?
A: Ta1men xi3huan1 ke3ài de hou2zi, ke3pa4 de shi1zi, hai2you3 da4xiang4.
Dialogue: Tones
B: Nǐ huí lái de tài wǎn le.
A: Shì de. Wǒmen zài dòngwùyuán dāi le yītiān. Háizimen wán de hěn gāoxìng. Tāmen dōu bùxiǎng huí lái le.
B: Tāmen zuì xǐhuān shénme dòngwù?
A: Tāmen xǐhuān kěài de hóuzi, kěpà de shīzi, háiyǒu dàxiàng.
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PDF Notes: 
May 26th, 2007 at 3:59 am
hello adam, I dont understand the “de” at the end of verbs like “huilaide” and “wanrde”…can you explain?
thank you!
marion
May 26th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Hi Marion,
The “de” connects the “huilai” to the “Tai wan le.” So it’s something like “Your coming back is too late.” Similarly the “de’ connects the “wanrde” to the “hen gaoxing” So that’s saying their “play” was “very happy.” In many cases it is optional, but is usually used to give a specific relationship between the action and the observation.
Does that help?
May 28th, 2007 at 12:50 am
yes, thank you!
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
In the Vocabulary section, I believe the first sentence builder is incorrect. The english translation doesn’t have monkey in it, yet one of the words is “hou2zi”.
I could only get it to say correct when I have “Wo didi juede houzi hen shizi keshi wo juede daxiang hen kepa.” I don’t think this makes sense.
December 6th, 2007 at 12:05 am
Thanks Anthony, I’ve fixed it now.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
adam, a good lesson to learn the use of ‘de’ . i’m beginning to understand and starting to structure sentences with it.
at this time, could i have explanation of ‘qilai’ (when and how to use it)
i lose the sense of the sentence when i hear it. thanks.
March 5th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
hi adam, to continue above question. i keep hearing the following sentence and can understand it’s structure nor it’s meaning using ‘qilai’ thanks
March 5th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
sorry about typing mistake. the meaning and use of qilai in this sentence - ‘wo xiang bu qilai le’
March 6th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Hi Licha,
Qilai has two meanings. One refers to the feeling created by a verb. I did a search in the word bank and these are some of its usages within our course:
Nǐ kànqǐlái zěnme nàme lèi? - Why do you look so tired? (Lesson 151)
Tīng qǐlái hái bú cuò - Sounds pretty good (Lesson 178)
Yīnwèi tāmen wén qǐlái hěn xiāng - Because they smell great (Lesson 180)
Another usage refers to the start of an action. I found one example within our course:
Ná yī bùfèn de qián cún qǐlái - Take a portion of the money and start saving it. (Lesson 167)
Your “xiang bu qilai” refers to not being able to think of. So if someone asks you a question that you have to think about, but you can’t come up with the answer, you would say “wo xiang bu qilai” meaning I can’t think of (an answer). This is more in line with the second exampe of qilai above where it refers to the starting of an action, so here the speaker can’t begin to think (of an answer).
Hope that helps!
March 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
thank you Adam, although i’m still at level2- lesson 108 i have an understanding of 1st usage. your example for 2nd usage(start of an action) is a bit more difficult for me.
because i’m enjoying your approach to learning mandarin i have been moving along a bit fast and perhaps i need to scale back, review and hear more.