Intermediate - Teeth Cleaning

Right-Wingnut

John: Hi everybody, my name is John. You're listening to an Intermediate lesson on ChineePod.

Dilu: 你好，我是 Dilu。欢迎收听中文播客，中级课程。

John: And today we have a serious lesson about going to the dentist.

Dilu: 没错。我们今天要说：看牙和洗牙。

John: 看牙 - literally 'look at teeth'. But you're talking about going to have the dentist look at your teeth.

Dilu: 对。当然看了牙之后，还需要去洗牙。

John: 洗牙 - literally 'wash teeth', that means to get your teeth cleaned.

Right-Wingnut

0:33

Dilu: 对。

John: The tones are ...

Dilu: 看牙 - 第四声和第二声。洗牙是第三声和第二声。

John: Got it. We're going to hear a dialog about that now.

0:43 - Dialog

Right-Wingnut

Dialog

Right-Wingnut

1:50

John: The dialog kicks off with a pretty typical question that a dentist asks.

Dilu: 他说：多久没看牙了？多久没看牙了？

Right-Wingnut

John: How long has it been since you've had a checkup?

Dilu: 这个句子非常常用。多久没...什么什么...了？

John: How long has it been since you've done something.

Dilu: 对。

John: Notice the order. you start off with ...

Dilu: 多久。

John: And then you have the 没，then some kind of action, and the 了。

Dilu: 对。你会把时间放在最前面。多久没看牙了？

John: What if I wanted to say 没看牙多久了？ Can I say that?

Right-Wingnut

Dilu: 我们不会这么说。多久没看牙了？

John: Can we have one other example of this 'how long has it been since you've done something' pattern.

Dilu: John，你多久没回家了？

John: How long has it been since you've gone home?

Dilu: 对。

John: OK. And if you want to use the full answer, like 'it has been a year since my last checkup', how do you say that?

Dilu: 你可以说：我一年没看牙了。一年没看牙了。

John: And the answer that he gives in the dialog is ...

Right-Wingnut

3:01

Dilu: 差不多一年了。差不多一年了。

John: 'More or less a year'. He just doesn't use the full pattern. And then the doctor says ...

Dilu: 我帮你检查一下。我帮你检查一下。

John: So 帮你 isn't really 'help you', its just 'do it for you'.

Dilu: 对。这里还有一个词：检查。第三声和第二声。

John: 3rd tone, 2nd tone. That means 'to check', 'to inspect'.

Dilu: 是的。

John: In this case look at your teeth.

Right-Wingnut

3:28

Dilu: 帮你检查一下。还有就是：嘴巴张大。嘴巴张大。

John: 'Mouth' and then 张大。1st tone, 4th tone. That means 'open wide'.

Dilu: 对。这个＇张＇就是＇张开＇。＇大＇就是这个形状要大一点。

John: 'Open big'. In English you often hear the dentist say 'open wide'. in Chinese its ...

Dilu: 张大。嘴巴张大。当然你的眼睛也可以张大。你的鼻孔也可以张大。

John: What? Really? Open your nostrils wide?

Right-Wingnut

4:01

Dilu: 你可以try hard。

John: That's bizarre. Anyway, after 检查ing a little bit, what's the result?

Dilu: 牙医说：牙龈有点发炎。牙龈有点儿发炎。

John: This word 牙龈, two 2nd tones, this means 'gums'.

Dilu: 是的。两个第二声。牙龈。牙龈。

John: You'll notice this Chinese character 龈 is just for expressing 'gums'. So 牙龈 means 'gums'.

Right-Wingnut

4:31

Dilu: 对。牙龈有点发炎。有点发炎。

John: 发炎 - 1st tone, 2nd tone - what does that look like?

Dilu: 牙龈发炎的时候，会有些红，还会肿，可能还会很痛。

John: So it'll be red, a little bit swollen, and maybe a little bit painful. So we're talking about 'inflamed'. So the guys gums are a little bit inflamed. I'm guessing its not too bad because he didn't really know about it, he wasn't complaining about it.