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Study in the app →Mandarin Chinese · HSK 3.0 Band 2 · Chapter 23
春天到了 Spring is here
Ma Shan and Bai Wen at the park as the seasons turn. Learn: 季节 (season) + the four-season set (春 / 夏 / 秋 / 冬) + 暖 (warm) / 凉快 (cool / pleasant) + clothing vocab (衣服 / 穿). Introduces a major sentence pattern: 越来越… (gradual change of degree).
Dialogue
春天到了 — Spring is here
- 马山 白文, 你看. 春天到了! Bai Wen, look! Spring's here.
- 白文 真的. 天气越来越暖. Really. The weather's getting warmer.
- 马山 你看, 公园里的花也越来越漂亮. Look — the flowers in the park are getting more and more beautiful too.
- 白文 我喜欢春天. 不冷也不热. I love spring. Not cold, not hot.
- 马山 春天最舒服. 我也最喜欢. Spring is the best. I love it too.
Dialogue
一年四个季节 — Four seasons in a year
- 白文 北京的春天有多长? How long is spring in Beijing?
- 马山 不太长. 一年四个季节: 春, 夏, 秋, 冬. Not very long. Four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn, winter.
- 白文 夏天最热, 冬天最冷吗? Summer is hottest, winter coldest?
- 马山 对. 春天暖, 秋天凉快. 春天和秋天的衣服一样. Right. Spring is warm, autumn cool. You wear the same clothes in spring and autumn.
- 白文 今天可以穿什么? What can I wear today?
- 马山 一件就好. 不要穿太多. Just one layer. Don't overdress.
Dialogue
夏天越来越热 — Summer's getting hotter and hotter
- 白文 春天真好. 但是夏天可能要来了. Spring is so nice. But summer's probably coming.
- 马山 是啊. 北京夏天越来越热. Yeah. Beijing summers are hotter and hotter.
- 白文 热的时候我不太舒服. When it's hot I don't feel great.
- 马山 你跟我说过. 夏天我们可以早起走走, 中午休息. You told me. In summer we can take morning walks, rest at midday.
- 白文 好. 我也试一试. OK. I'll give it a go too.
Vocabulary
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 季节 | jìjié | n. | season |
| 春 | chūn | n. | spring (Bk1 ch15 revisit; formal placement) |
| 夏 | xià | n. | summer |
| 秋 | qiū | n. | autumn |
| 冬 | dōng | n. | winter |
| 越来越 | yuè lái yuè | adv. | more and more (X) — chapter grammar anchor |
| 越 | yuè | adv. | the more … (in 越来越) |
| 暖 | nuǎn | adj. | warm |
| 凉快 | liángkuai | adj. | cool; pleasantly cool |
| 衣服 | yīfu | n. | clothing |
| 穿 | chuān | v. | wear (clothes) |
New characters
| 汉字 | Pinyin | POS | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 暖 | nuǎn | warm | |
| 花 | huā | (in 烟花 = fireworks) 烟花 yānhuā — fireworks | |
| 夏 | xià | summer | |
| 秋 | qiū | autumn; harvest 中秋 Zhōngqiū — Mid-Autumn (festival short form)中秋节 Zhōngqiū jié — Mid-Autumn Festival秋天 qiūtiān — autumn (recall Bk2) |
Hanzi — writing & recognition
chūn spring Writing
Associative compound: 屯 / 艹 (plants growing) over 日 (sun) — "plants growing under the sun = spring." Bk1 ch15 introduced 春. Reinforced here as the first season in the four-season set.
xià summer Writing
Compound: 一 (one) over 自 (self) over 夂 (slow steps / footstep). Original sense: "the Xia dynasty / great / heartland." Extended: "summer." A complex character — practice writing it multiple times. Pairs with 冬 (winter) as the seasonal extreme.
qiū autumn; harvest Writing
Compound: 禾 (grain radical, looking like a stalk of rice) + 火 (fire). Original sense: "burning grain stubble after harvest = autumn / harvest season." Modern: autumn. The 禾 (grain) radical heads agricultural characters.
dōng winter Writing
Compound: 夂 (slow footstep / ending) over 冫 (ice radical, the 2-dot variant — same as 凉 ch5 and 冷 ch7). Original sense: "the year's end, with ice = winter." Modern: winter. Continues the 冫 cluster.
yuè exceed; cross (in 越来越) Recognition
nuǎn warm Recognition
liáng cool (revisit ch5) Recognition
yī clothing (Level 1 revisit; in 衣服) Recognition
chuān wear; pierce Recognition
Grammar
越来越… — 程度逐渐加深 越来越… — getting more and more X
"越来越 + adj"表示某种状态随着时间逐渐加深或变化. 句式: 主语 + 越来越 + 形容词. 例: 天气越来越冷 = "the weather is getting colder and colder". 越来越好 / 越来越漂亮 / 越来越快. 注意: (1) 后面只能是 形容词 或 心理动词 (喜欢 / 想), 不能是普通动词 (吃 / 跑). (2) 程度副词不能加在 越来越 后面: 不能说"越来越很冷". (3) 否定式: 越来越不 + adj (越来越不舒服). (4) 看似是"越… 越…"的简化, 但不一样. "越…越…"是"X 增加, Y 也增加"——越多越好 ("the more the better"). 越来越是单方向的"越变越 X".
越来越 + adj expresses gradual intensification over time. Pattern: Subject + 越来越 + adj. Example: 天气越来越冷 ("the weather is getting colder and colder"). Common forms: 越来越好 / 越来越漂亮 / 越来越快. RULES: (1) Only adjectives or stative verbs (喜欢, 想) follow 越来越 — not action verbs (吃, 跑). (2) Don't add a degree adverb after 越来越: *越来越很冷 is wrong. (3) Negative form: 越来越不 + adj (越来越不舒服 = "more and more uncomfortable"). (4) DON'T CONFUSE with 越…越… ("the more X, the more Y") — that's a parallel pair: 越多越好 ("the more, the better"). 越来越 is one-direction gradual change.
- 天气越来越暖. Tiānqì yuè lái yuè nuǎn. The weather is getting warmer and warmer.
- 春天越来越漂亮. Chūntiān yuè lái yuè piàoliang. Spring is becoming more and more beautiful.
- 我越来越喜欢北京. Wǒ yuè lái yuè xǐhuan Běijīng. I like Beijing more and more.
- 白文的中文越来越好. Bái Wén de Zhōngwén yuè lái yuè hǎo. Bai Wen's Chinese is getting better and better.
Pronunciation
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