CLO_107: He is taller and thinner than before

Dialogue: Numbers
A: Ni3 hai2ji4de wo3 er2zi ma? Zhe4 shi4 ta1de jin4zhao4.
B: Zhen1de ma? Wo3 bu4 gan3 xiang1xin4 zhe4 shi4 ta1.
He2 shang4ci4 wo3 kan4dao4 ta1 xiang1 bi3. Ta1 zhen1 shi4 zhang3 da4 le.
Ta1 xian4zai4 hen3 gao1. Ér2qie3, ta1 hao3 xiang4 shou4 le hen3duo1.
A: Shi4de. Ta1 xiao3 shi2hou4 bi3 xian4zai4 pang4 duo1 le.

Dialogue: Tones
A: Nǐ háijìde wǒ érzi ma? Zhè shì tāde jìnzhào.
B: Zhēnde ma? Wǒ bù gǎn xiāngxìn zhè shì tā.
Hé shàngcì wǒ kàndào tā xiāng bǐ. Tā zhēn shì zhǎng dà le.
Tā xiànzài hěn gāo. Érqiě, tā hǎo xiàng shòu le hěnduō.
A: Shìde. Tā xiǎo shíhòu bǐ xiànzài pàng duō le.

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6 Responses to “CLO_107: He is taller and thinner than before”

  1. Luobot Says:

    In the analysis of kàndào in lesson 74, we learned that “dào can be added to verbs to indicate an action that has just been completed.” Kàndào, therefore, meant “to have just seen.” In this lesson, kàndào is used in the sentence “Hé shàngcì wǒ kàndào tā xiāng bǐ, tā zhēn shì zhǎng dà le” to refer to a non-recent past action (i.e., presumably, when the speaker says “the last time I saw him,” it was in the more distant past). In light of this, how should the dào character be interpreted? Should we say that dào completes verbs, recent as well as historical, or does dào serve another purpose here?

  2. Adam Says:

    Great question. Kàn in general means to look in general, for an extended period of time. You can use it to say “to watch TV” or “to read a book.” Kàndào is used when you see something in particular. For example you are scanning the horizon and you spot something (that’s where the action just gets completed). So whether this spotting was done in the recent past or more distant past, kàndào is used. Hope that helps!

  3. Salvador Venegas Says:

    I’m pretty punctuation-oriented. Shouldn’t there be a comma between those two sentences, instead of a period? (He shanci…..xiang bi. Ta….etc.)

  4. Adam Says:

    Hi Salvador, This one took me a while to grasp too. Apparently in Chinese they are two distinct sentences whereas in English they aren’t. I’ll see if I can find out more info on it.

  5. Niels Naeser Says:

    it is “Erqie, liangge disan sheng” on the recording but in the text it is the 2. and 3. tone…

  6. Adam Says:

    Thanks Niels. The text is actually the correct one.

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