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Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 31
我下个月开始上班 I start work next month
Huang An and her new colleague Fang Hong at a café. Vocab: 工作 / 上班 / 下班 / 开始 / 公司 / 同事 / 经理 (work, go to work, get off, start, company, colleague, manager). Introduces the two main personas of Bk3.
Dialogue
下个月开始上班 — I start work next month
- 黄安 方红, 你好! 我是黄安. 你下个月开始上班吗? Fang Hong, hi! I'm Huang An. Are you starting work next month?
- 方红 黄安你好! 是的, 我下个月一号开始. 第一次上班, 有点怕. Hi Huang An! Yes, the 1st of next month. First job — a bit scared.
- 黄安 别怕. 我们公司的同事都很好. Don't worry. The colleagues at our company are all friendly.
- 方红 真的吗? 经理是谁? Really? Who's the manager?
- 黄安 我就是你的经理. 我们一起工作一年了. 你以前的工作忙不忙? I'm your manager. We'll work together this year. Was your previous job busy?
- 方红 上个工作不太忙, 但是没意思. 我想试试新的. My previous job wasn't busy but boring. I want to try something new.
Dialogue
我们公司 — Our company
- 方红 黄安, 我们公司是做什么的? Huang An, what does our company do?
- 黄安 我们做新的网上工作. 你做过这个吗? We do new online work. Have you done this before?
- 方红 没做过. 但是我想学. I haven't, but I want to learn.
- 黄安 好. 上班时间是早上九点到晚上六点. Good. Hours are 9 to 6.
- 方红 中午有时间吃饭吗? Is there time to eat at noon?
- 黄安 有的. 一个小时. 公司也有吃饭的地方. Yes. An hour. The company has a place to eat too.
Dialogue
同事们 — The colleagues
- 方红 我能不能见见同事? Can I meet the colleagues?
- 黄安 可以. 公司里有十个同事. 你认识谢平吗? Sure. The company has ten people. Do you know Xie Ping?
- 方红 不认识. 他做什么工作? Don't know him. What does he do?
- 黄安 他写网上的东西. 我们公司很多人写这个. He writes for the internet. Many at our company do this.
- 方红 我下班可以见他吗? Can I meet him after work?
- 黄安 可以. 我下班介绍你们. Sure. I'll introduce you after work.
Vocabulary
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 工作 | gōngzuò | n./v. | work; job (chapter anchor) |
| 上班 | shàng bān | v. | go to work (separable verb) |
| 下班 | xià bān | v. | get off work (separable verb) |
| 开始 | kāishǐ | v. | begin; start |
| 公司 | gōngsī | n. | company |
| 同事 | tóngshì | n. | colleague |
| 月 | yuè | n. | month (Level 1 revisit; calendar sense) |
| 下个 | xià ge | exp. | next (one); next |
| 上个 | shàng ge | exp. | last (one); previous |
| 经理 | jīnglǐ | n. | manager |
| 黄安 | Huáng Ān | pn. | Huang An (persona — 26, marketing manager at a new-media startup) |
| 方红 | Fāng Hóng | pn. | Fang Hong (persona — 23, just-graduated junior colleague) |
New characters
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 始 | shǐ | begin (in 开始) 开始 kāishǐ — begin; start | |
| 黄 | Huáng | (in 黄安 = Huang An (persona — 26, marketing manager at a new-media startup)) 黄安 Huáng Ān — Huang An (persona — 26, marketing manager at a new-media startup) | |
| 怕 | pà | ||
| 司 | sī | manage; preside (in 公司) 公司 gōngsī — company | |
| 理 | lǐ | reason; manage (in 经理) 经理 jīnglǐ — manager理解 lǐjiě — understand (deeply)有道理 yǒu dàoli — reasonable; makes sense |
Hanzi — writing & recognition
gōng work; labor (chapter anchor; in 工作) Writing
Pictograph: ancient depiction of a measuring tool / carpenter's square. Original sense: "tool / labor." Modern: work, labor — anchors 工作 (this chapter).
zuò do; make (in 工作) Writing
Phono-semantic compound: 亻 (person radical) + 乍 (zhà, phonetic). Original sense: "do / act." Modern: appears in 工作 (work), 写作 (writing), 作业 (homework — Level 3+).
bān shift; class (in 上班 / 下班) Writing
Compound: two 王 (originally jade) flanking 刀 (knife) — "splitting jade with a knife." Extended: "a unit / shift / group." Modern: 上班 (go to work), 下班 (get off), 班级 (school class — Level 3+).
sī manage; preside (in 公司) Writing
Original sense: "manage / preside / be responsible for." Modern primarily appears in compounds: 公司 (company, this chapter), 司机 (driver — taxi-driver Level 1 reuse), 上司 (boss — Level 3+).
shǐ begin (in 开始) Recognition
tóng same; together (in 同事 / 同意) Recognition
jīng undergo; pass (Bk1 ch1 + Bk2 ch10 revisit; in 经理) Recognition
lǐ reason; manage (in 经理) Recognition
yuè month; moon (Level 1 revisit; calendar sense) Recognition
Grammar
工作话题入门 — V不V 疑问句 Work-topic intro — the V不V question form
V不V 疑问句是中文最自然的"是 / 不"问句之一. 例: 累不累? (tired or not?), 难不难? (hard or not?), 想不想去? (want to go or not?). 跟"吗"句相比, V不V 句听起来更直接 / 口语化. 工作话题里很多形容词 (累 / 难 / 简单 / 复杂 / 忙) 都用 V不V 来问. 注意: (1) 多音节动词只重复第一字: 喜欢 → 喜不喜欢. (2) "不"在中间是轻声.
The V不V question form is one of Mandarin's most natural yes/no questions. Examples: 累不累? (tired or not?), 难不难? (hard or not?), 想不想去? (want to go or not?). Compared to 吗-questions, V不V is more direct / colloquial. Work topics use V不V constantly with adjectives (累 / 难 / 简单 / 复杂 / 忙). NOTES: (1) Multi-syllable verbs only repeat the first character: 喜欢 → 喜不喜欢. (2) The middle 不 is neutral tone (light bu).
- 你的工作累不累? Nǐ de gōngzuò lèi bu lèi? Is your job tiring?
- 我下个月开始上班. 你呢? Wǒ xià ge yuè kāishǐ shàngbān. Nǐ ne? I start work next month. You?
- 我们公司的同事好不好? Wǒmen gōngsī de tóngshì hǎo bu hǎo? Are our colleagues nice or not?
- 经理来不来? Jīnglǐ lái bu lái? Is the manager coming?
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