Newbie - A Lot of Sisters

Excellent job, John!  Nice to see you're just as good a host at the lower level as you are at the upper levels.

So, does this numbering system work "down" as well? That is, can you have a 二妹 三妹 etc.?  Would it then be 小妹 for the youngest sister?

Thanks! It's always a bit awkward to adapt to a different level, but it's also a lot of fun.

哈哈 (hāhā)， I have a younger brother弟弟 (dìdi). He always call my name instead of 姐 (jiě). And I get used to call his name too. I am only one year older than him.

My father side has 7 children and my mother side has 5 children. So, i have many uncles and aunties.(叔叔 (shūshu) 姑姑 (gūgu) ——father side/舅舅 (jiùjiu)、阿姨 (āyí)——mother side/). And I have a lot of cousins.（堂兄弟 (tángxiōngdì)、堂姐妹 (tángjiěmèi)——father side/表兄弟 (biǎoxiōngdì)、表姐妹 (biǎojiěmèi)——mother side）.

Oh, bad news for the guy in the dialogue...

@blubberingfool,

Yes, the 'numbering system' does work "down" as well, e.g. 大妹 (dàmèi)、二妹 (èrmèi)、三妹 (sānmèi)、大弟 (dàdì)、二弟 (èrdì)、三弟 (sāndì), etc. And yes, 小妹 (xiǎomèi)/小弟 (xiǎodì) means the youngest sister and brother.

Hey guys, don't forget to use pinyin when you introduce new vocab in the comments of Newbie lessons. (I went ahead and added it in for Jenny's and Cassie's comments.)

Happy learning!

Thank you John, I will be more careful next time!Oops,sorry, I just used all chinese discussion on another newbie lesson, just can't help!^_^

Happy learning~~~

Hi cassielin,

We are always happy for your contributions! Don't worry.

Why would John be worried about a day of girly talk? I hear he's pretty good at it,hehe ;)

So,just to clarify how the 大姐 [dàjiě] in this dialogue would address her sisters:

Does:

二姐 in this dialogue equate to 三妹【sānmèi]...3rd youngest sister?

三姐 equate to 二妹[èrmèi]...2nd youngest sister

B equate to 小妹【xiǎomèi] ..youngest sister? or do you use 妹妹【mèimèi]...for youngest sister?

..or is the counting the other way around?

talking about universal whoa's,wa's,wow's [I agree...perhaps it has something to do with the expression on the face when one is surprised],I've noticed the same with words for mum,dad,and baby to some extent.

Although I fully support ChinesePod's efforts to encourage the use of pinyin at the lower levels, I think it should mentioned that lower-level learners need not rely on others to use pinyin.  Firefox users can use the Chinese perapera-kun translator add-on (although, sadly it hasn't been updated for the new version of Firefox), or if you don't use Firefox, you can use the Google/Kingsoft Chinese/English dictionary (I think this is for PC users only).  Both of these are free. 

xiaophil,

Does the Google/Kingsoft dictionary work as a popup translator like perakun? I'm always interested in checking out alternatives.

Yes it can.  However, I was just thinking that it might be a bit hard for some of us to figure out how to do it.  (I learned through trial and error.)

After you install it, if you go to the lower-right tray, you should see the dictionary's icon.  Right click on it and select the (T) option.  This action can be used to enable and disable the function. 

Hope this is clear.

I'd also like to know how the father of the girls in this dialogue would address them and refer to them.Would it be?:

大女儿[dànǚér]..big daughter 或者 [huòzhě] or  第一女儿 [dìyīnǚér]..first daughter,或者 or 一女儿 one  daughter ?

第二女儿[dìèrnǚ ér] 或者 二女儿

三女儿[sānnǚ ér] ..number 3 daughter

四女儿[sìnǚ ér ]..number 4 daughter  或者..or ... 小女儿[xiǎonǚ ér]..youngest daughter.Are both ok?

Thanks heaps xiaophil.I'll give it a crack.Do you have an opinion on how it stacks up compared with perakun?

I like perakun as a pop-up translator better for two reasons.  One, I think that perakun handles idioms better, and it tends to translate Mandarin into more commonly used English words.  Two, perakun works only in my browser, so I don't have to turn it off when working with other programs. 

The Google/Kingsoft dictionary is definitely worth having, though.  If you look up a word, it not only searches its own database but also searches online dictionaries. Also, you can translate any word you want.  Not just Chinese words on webpages.

One final note.  The Google/Kingsoft link I provided above has a comment section.  It will probably be useful to read the first comment.

Hope it works out.

@xiaophil

If you go to the Perakun development blog: [http://perapera.wordpress.com/] you can download a temporary update that works with the newest version of Firefox.

xiaophil,

I downloaded it and tried it before I saw your last post and my initial impression came to the same conclusion;that it didn't handle idioms or short phrases as well as perakun.There's a sound icon which doesn't seem to work except on English words.Having read your last comment I'm interested in seeing how it goes in other spheres.It's nice to have a backup popup for those times when you just know perakun has it wrong though.So I'll see how it goes then.

songyian,

Thanks for mentioning the update for firefox so perakun can work.I had been holding off updating firefox for exactly that reason.

bababardwan

It is my understanding that you aren't saying 1st, 2nd, 3rd but #1, #2, #3. So from the oldest sister's point of view the #2 older sister of the girl in this story would be the #1 younger sister.

第二姐 = 大妹  di4er4jie3 = da4mei4

第三姐 = 第二妹  di4san1jie3 = di4er4mei4

Someone correct me if I am wrong...

@ bababardwan

The father would address his daughters as follows, however the former ones are more common than the latter ones.

大女儿 dà nǚ'ér or 第一个女儿 dì yī ge nǚ'ér

二女儿 èr nǚ'ér or 第二个女儿 dì èr ge nǚ'ér

三女儿 sān nǚ'ér or 第三个女儿 dì sān ge nǚ'ér

小女儿 xiǎo nǚ'ér or 第四个女儿 dì sì ge nǚ'ér

@ orangina

The oldest sister would address her younger sisters as follows,

大妹 dàmèi

二妹 èrmèi

小妹 xiǎomèi

songyian

Thanks!  That is exactly what I was waiting for.

songyian or anybody else

It seems http://perapera.wordpress.com/ is blocked in China.  Well, that is frustrating.  I tried downloading it through a proxy, but I couldn't access the app this way.  Any tech people out there know a way around this?

Thanks Connie and orangina,

A couple of supplementary clarification questions.

As 小女儿 can be referred to as 第四女儿 or 四女儿,I take it using these latter two to are fine and don't imply that there must be a 5th [or more] daughter?

More important question:

Is 大妹 older than 二妹，who in turn is older than 三妹，who is in turn older than 小妹 [who is the youngest] ?

大妹 is oldest, 小妹 is youngest. 大妹 is the most senior of the younger sisters. I myself am a 中女儿... just kidding, made that last one up.

@bababardwan, exactly, 大妹 is older than 二妹，who in turn is older than 三妹，who is in turn older than 小妹 [who is the youngest].

And, 小女儿 means the youngest daughter, it may be the fourth daughter, fifth daughter,... tenth daughter...

has chinesepod given up on providing the lesson text in pdf.? this is about the third lesson without any pdf., why has this occurred.

huh?

aryeh

I can download the pdf ok

shenyajin,

Thankyou very much for clarifying.

aryeh,

As I've only just come back online,I can't vouch for 11 minutes ago,but a pdf is certainly there now [I didn't check earlier as I personally virtually never use them].Perhaps refresh your browser and check again.Good luck.

This is one important lesson for me 因为我有三个姐姐 (because I have 3 sisters). Luckily all are younger than me. 没有打接

Hello,

       can someone explain to me the difference between "zhe4 ge5" and "zhe4 me5"??

I've seen them both used now. I know that ge5 is used as a measure word, so what about me5? Are there any rules when to use it?

Also I want to mark it slightly differently in my flash cards for practice purposes.

Thanks

vallance

这么 so

那么 so. in that case. well,....

both serve to emphasise adjectives

例句 li4ju example sentence:

你对他那么好干嘛(你呀)? ni2 dui4 ta1 na4me hao3 gan4ma (ni3 ya- superfluous)  what are you doing treating her so well?

我对他这么好跟你有什么关系? wo3 dui4 ta1 zhe4me hao3 gen1 ni3 you3 shen2me guan1xi  what's me treating her so well got to do with you?

我是你老婆啊!wo3 shi4 ni3 lao3po2 a  I'm your wife!

哦! 对了，我一时给忘了 o4! dui4le, wo3 yi1(or4)shi2 gei3 wang4 le  oh! that's right, i forgot for a moment.

both also act to qualify space

zhe2me indicates close proximity

na4me indicates projection to another space from the space of the speaker.

miantiao

             Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated

The dictionary quotes zhe4me as a pronoun and gives lots of meanings for it. Does anyone have any tips for how they learn words like these?

Seems a bit confusing to find words again that you think you have already learnt! I guess thats why "context" is always mentioned in the pod casts but I does make it hard when trying to memorise words from English through the flash card app!

@xiaophil,

Someone could email you the .xpi extensions, and then you could drag them to an open firefox window and it will install. Send me a PM with your address and I can send them.

I understand that 姐姐 jiějiě is also a way of addressing a female friend/ companion or is this derogatory? 

vallance

also very similar to 这样zhe4yang4 and 那样na4yang4

那么 na4me like that. in that way

这么 zhe4me like this. in this way

那样 and 这样 are usually used before verbs, whereas 那么and 这么 are used before adjectives

@aryeh I had no trouble opening the pdf. Try clearing your case and trying again. If you still have trouble pls let me know.

@miantiao you're back mate! Nice Ned avatar. Are you back in China?

Joachim says
5 hours ago

I understand that 姐姐 jiějiě is also a way of addressing a female friend/ companion or is this derogatory? 

一般称呼比较年轻的女性为 小姐 但是小姐也可以是蔑称

称呼年龄比较大的女性为 大姐

@xiaophil

looks like @nahan answered your question. emailing the file would probably be easiest. that's unfortunate wordpress is still blocked in china.

hey matt_c

not yet mate, fly out 13th.

I have one 弟弟 (dìdi), and two 妹妹 (mèimèi) :-), one of them got married a few days ago :-)

@chanelle77, thanks for sharing! 很漂亮，很幸福的一家！

我通常聽到這句 “這麽多！”

我也有大姐，二姐，三姐和大哥。我是五個孩子中最年輕的。

@ewong, 我很羡慕你们，无论是童年还是现在都一定过的很快乐。我是独生女(single child), 就觉得有个兄弟姐妹真好！

Great lesson, I have 3 younger sisters so I will be able to use this expression with my friends

They are my elder sister.

i dont have any sisters..

Cpod, this lesson does not appear in search results.

Working on it :)

Now that was quick!

I hope you haven't been waiting all day for my post! :)

If I have 3 younger sisters, would I say 我有三个妹妹 (wǒ yǒu sān gè mèimei) or 我有三口妹妹 (wǒ yǒu sān kǒu mèimei)?