Newbie - I'm hot!

I've got a couple sentences here that both talk about being "really hot." 今天真热！ 我真的很热！ One uses 真 and the other uses 真的. Anybody have any tips regarding this little nuance?

Sparechange, I recall one of the recent lessons talking about one character adjectives and one character nouns not requiring a 的 to separate them. Perhaps something similar is going on here.

My Chinese professor backs that statement up. 很好的朋友， for example, versus 好朋友。 At least, I think that's how it is.

Also, note that if you were to say 我真很热， you'd get a very awkward series of tones. The "de" may simply break up the fourth tones and make the sentence more palatable - on the other hand, it may be an aspect of the child's insistent and plaintive tone, emphasizing how very hot he is.

hi sparechange, and all, 真 (zhēn) is used when preceding an adjective, as in: 今天真热 (Jīntiān zhēn rè) It's really hot today. 真的 (zhēn de) is used when preceding an adverb. As in the second case: 我真的很热！ (Wǒ zhēn de hěn rè!) I am really hot! 很 (hěn), 非常 (fēicháng), etc., are adverbs, modifying the adjective.

Hi Amber Since we are on a grammar kick. As usual the Expansion Sentences are great reinforcement (along with The Fix) but often opens up new question. Another favorite puzzle for me is '別' which I use as 'don't' when I use 別 + verb . Is this ok? The expansion sentence and translation is : 好了，你別說了。 (OK, you don't need to say it.) If this was the typical boyfriend-girlfriend arguement. How would a guy respond when the love of his life is giving him the pouting, not talking, leave me alone routine. OK “be like that” don’t talk “to me” just -- 好了，別說了 not that I would ever need it with my lovely wife. Mike

...very strange..the links in the expansion don't work..the arrow tremble a little but doesn't change into the hand..it's impossible to get the sound. I've tried a couple of other lesson and it's the same! I'm the only one?? michele

I 'd like to ask about in the Expansion section, the sentence "none of us knew". This is something that happened in the past and yet there is no "le " on the end. I expected it to be "Women dou bu zhidao le".

Not a particularly language related query, but can any of the Shanghai long-termers let me know when the summer heat & humidity eventually subside! This is my first summer here and I must admit it's more than I can take (don't know what I'd do if my flat and office weren't air-conditioned!). I'm hoping by mid-September we're back down to more sensible temperatures! Thanks.

hi mikeinjubei, You could say: 好吧，不说算了。 Hǎo ba, bù shuō suànle. Here, because you are not telling her to not speak, you're just agreeing, you don't use 別 (bié) + verb.

user11695, You're right, there is no 'le' so the sentence shouldn't be in past tense, I will have that fixed right away! It should read: "None of us know."

Thanks Amber That sounds nasty 好吧，不说算了。 Hǎo ba, bù shuō suànle. If she were Chinese would this be the next step in one of those dramas played out on the streets of Shanghai all the time ? Are you just taking the female side in this since in the end we guys always end up saying, were sorry and have to do something nice to make up for some unknown embarrassment to her that we have committed. Mike

Hi Michele, I left you a note on your conversation inbox. :-)

If you want it to rain just play that really annoying umbrella song by rihanna. That was response for all the UK's flooding when it was at no 1 in the charts.

Hi, In Hangzhou, where I am, fall is comming finally! I have a follow up question for anyone who has mastered this: the r sound as in 热 or 人。 Does anyone have advice on learning this sound? Is anyone else struggling to make it?

With regard to michele's problem with sound, I am facing something similar. I cannot hear the sound links using firefox, but I can using IE. 为什么？

P.S. This is also the case with dialogue and the vocabulary. No sound if I use firefox, which is my preferred browser. If this could be addressed soon I would certainly appreciate it. 谢谢!

"真 (zhēn) is used when preceding an adjective, as in: 今天真热 (Jīntiān zhēn rè) It's really hot today. 真的 (zhēn de) is used when preceding an adverb. As in the second case: 我真的很热！ (Wǒ zhēn de hěn rè!) I am really hot! 很 (hěn), 非常 (fēicháng), etc., are adverbs, modifying the adjective." It is right, an other example: XXX 真有意思。(XXX is really interesting) XXX 真的很有意思。(XXX is really very interesting)

As mentioned at the beginning of the class, hot can mean "hot" temperature-wise, and sexy. In English, I don't hear often "I am hot" (temperature). People tend to say "It is hot." or "I am sweating." Am I right?

Does "dou" always immediately follow the pronoun it is modifying or intensifying? Is it equivalent to the us in "all of us are hot, tired, etc.?" I've seen it mainly following pronouns in the cpod lessons but does it work with non-human animate beings-- All of the birds are flying south or inanimate nouns All of the orders have been lost When do you use everyone vs women dou?

mariama To start off with, try smiling when saying "ren2" or "re4" or any Mandarin word starting with "r" and that might do it. The western "r" is produced with the lips rounded, as if placing them around a fat straw. The tongue is placed just about the same place as the English "r" (not terribly rolled back), or maybe even a little tiny bit forward. But, the big difference is the lack of rounding of the lips. Once you are used to making the sound, then you don't need to smile to pronounce it properly. Perhaps the academic team can confirm or correct, but this is how I've explained it to others.

During the podcast, Jennie mused, "I'm a hottie." Is there a Chinese equivalent to express that someone is extremeley attractive?

Is it me or does the re4 in the dialog sound ... I don't know different to the kind of emphatic fourth tone I'm used to. It sounds to me that it goes up in tone in the middle.... Jenny's pronounciation in the case does seem to be very much more the 4th tone I was expecting.. Is this a colloqial thing? Or am I just confused... Trevor

mariama, Yes, I'm struggling with the Mandarin "r". Mainly because every native speaker I've heard to date pronounces it differently. Really frustrating. :) I've found the Pronunciation section of this site, as well as John Pasden's blog (URL below) to be very helpful in this regard. http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/pronunciation/

真羡慕你们上海人。在这里一点冷（在瑞典）

Regarding the mandarin "r". I struggled with it a lot at first too, but I think I have it down now. The "r" sound is similar to but much softer than the "zh" sound. For example, the word for this, zhe4 这 is very similar to re, but without your tongue touching the top of the roof of your mouth. I hope that helps.

热(re4)....hot 暖(nuan3)....warm 烫(tang4)....burn, hot When you get burned, 烫 is the best suitable word for crying. 哎哟(ai1yo1) is OK too.

Mariama, try to pronounce your "r" like trying to say the letter y & r at the same time. Like this "yren", my Chinese friends say I pronounce it very well. It keeps the tongue off the rough of your mouth. I try to say the rhyme yrow, yrow, yrow your boat... It takes practice for us foreigners!!

Hahaha...I just listened to the podcast and I don't know if its my pc or the connection but it played it back really fast. Ken and Jenny sounded like Minnie and Mickey mouse. Anyone else have this problem? It was amusing.

When using FireFox, try using the IE Tabs plug-in that helps FireFox emulate the IE browser for web sites designed primarily for IE browser. I use it and don't have any problem with using FireFox for Chinesepod.com !

Off the topic Today you can enjoy watching a total lunar eclipse. I missed the Perseid meteor shower this month due to bad weather, but it looks like we are going to have a clear sky tonight here. The first URL is a related article in Chinese, and the second is in English. The Chinese one is very worth reading because it illustrates the astronomical event very specifically. http://tech.sina.com.cn/d/2007-08-28/07401701800.shtml http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070824_ns_eclipse.html

Jenny老师 I don't know why we don't say this more often. It seems like every one of your countrymen tries to compliment anyone who says 2 words of Chinese but we never do the same to you. 哇，你英文说的很好哦！真的！真的啊！ I can hear you doing the polite self-depracating thing, 我说实话呀！ "Hottie" isn't an easy word to use properly. But Jenny老师 just dropped it in perfectly.

@Chris, It's already starting to cool down! The mornings are getting cooler, which is a sure sign of the end of summer/beginning of fall. I find the end of September and most of October to be quite nice, with November iffy and December pretty cold.

@mikeinjubei, not that I've ever needed something like this with my lovely wife, either, but how about: 好了，你不说也行！(hǎole, nǐ bù shuō yě xíng) It seems a little softer than using 算了.

@davelandis (and others), that problem with Firefox and not being able to hear the audio should be fixed now. If it's not, please message either myself or Eileen and we'll look into it.

johnb Yea I like that better. Of course purely for theoretical use. Since my wife is not Chinese nor learning (yet) she gets angry when I do speak to her in Chinese.

我热死了！

Hi everyone thanks for the tips :)

Hottie is 辣妹/la4 mei4. A yummy mummy is辣妈。Chinese is so liberal.

Jenny, Sounds like the Spice Girls were thinking Chinese! johnb Sound works in Firefox. Kudos to all for fixing it quickly.

hmmm,i am a chinese,but i am want to pratise spoken english,and my skype account is colour23,and i like to help your chinese

在这里很热,我一天洗几个澡,每天都去游泳. it is very hot here,i take more than a bath every day,and go swimming every day.

oh,badly,when i post my comment,and the voice is dispare,发表评论的时候,声音就没有了.

tuoni: yep, the podcast on my laptop sounded more like Alvin & the Chipmunks to me, but try 'The Fix' option - that was OK....

the comment box won't let me use capitals properly for some strange reason. All being well i'll be in harbin from october, so i guess there's not going to be much chance of being too hot there. i'll be looking forward to minus 30 winters. At last, proper snow.

leeinengland, I am seeing exactly the same problem. Are you using Windows 2000 by any chance? I wasn't sure what was causing the cursor to get jacked around like this, but now that you mention it, yes, it's capital letters! But not all capital letters... just these - GHIJ NOPQ TUVWXYZ I have no idea why it's just those, but that could be a clue for the developers

Also, these characters have the same problem: z ! ^ |

Although this may have been suggested before, I would like to bring it up for my sake. One suggestion for CP is to allow the option of hiding lessons that have already been marked as "Studied". It's a bit frustrating to click Lessons, scroll down, click number tabs, click the lesson and click the section,...you get the point. It takes too many clicks. As long as you have the option of hiding and showing the previously studied lessons, hiding the studied lessons will be helpful. Another suggestion is to incorporate the bookmark/folder list feature to allow quicker navigation on the bottom left portion of the page for direct navigation, instead of current listing options. Incorporating a tree interface isn't too difficult to implement but can be a great help with the navigation. Since I am in the mode of suggesting ideas, it would also be great to add the sequence of strokes under vocabulary section with larger picture!

nobody mentioned that the picture is unrelated to the lesson, so I am doing it : the picture is unrelated to the lesson.

fixed now

I can't pronounce the word "re"... it's really a tongue twister for me.. I'm freakin' out!

nicolas, That's strange. We never changed the photo for this lesson...

Nicolas, You're right. this lesson has nothing to do with showers or gold.

John, very strange. next time it happens, I'll clear my cache to see if it's where the problem comes from in Firefox.

got it again I was right, it's a cache problem I send a mail to support (even if it's not an issue for me)

How can we spell re to give us a clue how to really pronounce it? warm, meat...they are difficult to pronounce for me.

I always think of it as rjerr So basically a 'rj' sound then an 'errrrr' sound. Make the j really soft, and merge it into the r. The best way is to keep imitating Jenny until you've got it right!